A Special You Tube Thank You from Former Ohio Kidnap Victims Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus & Michelle Knight … Victims No More, They Are Getting Their Lives Back

THE FOLLOWING IS THE DEFINITION OF COURAGE.

The Ohio kidnap victims get their life back with love and support of family friends, loved ones … and you!

The three young women held captive in a Cleveland home for almost a decade break their silence and thank the public for their support in a public statement posted on YouTube. Kudos to the three young woman for taking their lives back and not allowing the animal who took so much for them to define them and ruin their lives forever.  Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight were held captive by Ariel Castro in an unspeakable house of horror for a decade.

Smiling and appear upbeat, Amanda Berry, Michelle Knight and Gina DeJesus speak separately in a three-minute, 30-second video released on YouTube.

“I may have been through hell and back, but I am strong enough to walk through hell with a smile on my face and my head held high,” Knight says, reading from a statement. “I will not let the situation define who I am. I will define the situation. I don’t want to be consumed by hatred.”

Knight says she is building a “brand new life.”

THANK YOU FROM AMANDA BERRY, GINA DEJESUS & MICHELLE KNIGHT

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

They say they appreciate the community’s financial help and prayers. DeJesus’ mother, Nancy Ruiz, is quick to thank the Cleveland Courage Fund. The fund is a bank account set up to receive donations to help the three women make the transition from 10 years of captivity to independence. It has received $1.05 million from 9,200 donors, and some of the money has flowed to the women and their families already.

In the video, an off-camera voice asks DeJesus what she would say to people who have contributed to the fund and have helped her and her family. “I would say thank you for the support.”

Berry calls the support unbelievable.

“Everyone who has been there to support us has been a blessing,” she says. She adds that she is getting stronger each day but continues to seek privacy.

Let’s hope these three young ladies are back on their way to getting some semblance of normalcy in their lives and are allowed to.

Ariel Castro Accused of Kidnapping Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus & Michelle Knight Indicted on 329 Charges Including Murder, Kidnapping and Rape

THE FACE OF EVIL …

Ariel Castro, the man accused of kidnapping and holding Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight for a decade has been indicted on 329 charges, including murder, kidnapping and rape. The indictment returned by a Cuyahoga County grand jury was a who’s who of sick and twisted depravity of crimes perpetrated upon the three woman he kidnapped, sexually abuses and held captive for a decade in his Ohio home. The list included 2 counts of aggravated murder, 139 counts of rape, 177 counts of kidnapping, 7 counts of gross sexual imposition, 3 counts of felonious assault and 1 count of possession of criminal tools.

A Cuyahoga County grand jury returned the indictment Friday against Ariel Castro, a former school bus driver fired last fall.

Castro, 52, is accused of kidnapping Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight and holding them captive along with a 6-year-old girl he fathered with Berry.

The grand jury charged Castro with two counts of aggravated murder related to one act, saying he purposely caused the unlawful termination of one of the women’s pregnancies. Castro also was indicted on 139 counts of rape, 177 counts of kidnapping, seven counts of gross sexual imposition, three counts of felonious assault and one count of possession of criminal tools.

Cuyahoga County prosecutor Tim McGinty said the indictment covers only the period from August 2002, when the first of the women disappeared, to February 2007.

The indictment refers to the women as Jane Doe 1, Jane Doe 2 and Jane Doe 3 and gives a glimpse into the circumstances of their captivity.

The aggravated murder counts stem from the unlawful termination of Jane Doe 1′s pregnancy in late 2006 or early 2007, the indictment says.

Ariel Castro was arrested May 6, 2013 after Amanda Berry was able to scape from Casto’s ‘House of Horrors’ by breaking through a door at the home, yelled to neighbors for help. She was able to borrow a cell phone from and tell the 911 operator, “Help me. I’m Amanda Berry. I’ve been kidnapped, and I’ve been missing for 10 years, and I’m, I’m here, I’m free now.”

DNA Test Confirm that Ohio Kidnap Suspect Ariel Castro Fathered 6 Year Old Girl Rescued from Cleveland House of Horrors

In what is probably considered the most obvious conclusion of a DNA paternity test ever, it has been confirmed that Ariel Castro is the father of the 6 year old girl who was also rescued from Castro’s House of Horrors earlier this week. Officials also entered Castro’s DNA profile into a national database to see if it links him to other crimes. The profile didn’t match any other Ohio cases, but national results were still pending. Castro has been charged with 4 counts of kidnapping and 3 counts of rape of Amanda Berry, Gina Dejesus and Michelle Knight.  Kidnap victim Amanda Berry is the mother of the six year old girl.

As relatives of the Cleveland kidnapping and rape suspect recounted claims of his unnerving paranoia and violent outbursts, DNA testing confirmed the man accused of holding three women captive for nearly a decade is the father of a 6-year-old girl who also escaped from the house.

Ariel Castro, charged with rape and kidnapping, remained jailed Friday under a suicide watch on $8 million bond while prosecutors weighed more charges, including some that might carry the death penalty. Public defender Kathleen Demetz, who said she is acting as Castro’s adviser while he awaits a full-time attorney, said Friday she can’t speak to his guilt or innocence and said only that she advised him not to talk to reporters.

Prosecutor May Seek Death Penalty for Cleveland House of Horrors Kidnap, Rape Suspect Ariel Castro of Victims Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus & Michelle Knight

Ohio prosecutor may seek the death penalty for the  Cleveland “House of Horrors” kidnap and rape suspect Ariel Castro. MAY!!! Let me repeat that, MAY???!!! What else would one do with this POS? Not only did Castro kidnap and hold captive Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight for a decade, he repeatedly raped them as well. Add to it the reported five miscarriages that Michelle Knight suffered at the hands of beatings from Castro. MAY? You had better seek the DEATH PENALTY against this comp pice of human waste. These three woman need to know that he is dead and never going to harm them again. Nothing is more permanent than dead.

An Ohio prosecutor says he may seek the death penalty against the man accused of imprisoning three women at his home for about a decade for forcing them to suffer miscarriages.

Cuyahoga County prosecutor Thomas McGinty says Ohio law calls for the death penalty for the “most depraved criminals who commit aggravated murder during the course of a kidnapping.” He says aggravated murder charges could be filed related to pregnancies terminated by force.

Ariel Castro is being held on $8 million bail. The 52-year-old former school bus driver was under a suicide watch in jail, where he was being held on kidnapping and rape charges for holding three women — Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight — inside his home for about a decade.

14 Year Old Missing Ashley Summers Disappeared in 2007 From Same Cleveland Neighborhood Where Berry, DeJesus, and Knight Went Missing

Where is missing Ashley Summers? 

14 year old Ashley Summers has been missing since 2007 and was initially presumed to have run away from home after a family dispute, but when she was never seen or heard from again. Summers went missing in the same neighborhood where Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight went missing.  Sound familiar? Michelle Knight, one of the three missing women who were recently rescued after a decade of captivity from Ariel Castro’s House of Horrors, along with Berry and Dejesus, was also considered a runaway when she disappeared in 2002. Sound familiar? Could this be the break that was needed to help find Ashley Summers, Cleveland’s 4th missing girl?

Missing Ashley Summers

Ashley Summers was 14 years old when she disappeared in 2007 from the same Cleveland neighborhood where Berry, DeJesus, and Knight went missing. She was presumed to have run away from home after a family dispute, but when she was never seen or heard from again, authorities began to suspect she was being held against her will. Summers’ grandmother claimed she saw Ashley in a car in November 2007, with short, dyed-blonde hair. In a 2009 Oprah segment about the disappearances of Summers, Berry, and DeJesus, FBI Special Agent Phil Torsney seemed to discount this, saying “there’s been no legitimate sighting of Ashley since she left her house.”

Click on map for larger pic

Map locations of missing girls:

• Location A: Amanda Berry was last seen at a Burger King at W. 110th  St. and Lorain Ave. in Cleveland, OH.
• Location B: Gina  DeJesus was last seen five blocks away, at W. 105th St. and Lorain.
• Location C: Ashley Summers was reported missing from her family’s house at W. 96th St. and Madison Ave., about a mile and a half from where Berry and DeJesus disappeared.
• Location D: The neighborhood is about three and a half miles away from Ariel Castro’s house at 2207 Seymour Ave., where Berry, DeJesus, and Knight were found after a decade of captivity. Summers’ step-grandmother said that Ashley actually went missing from her great uncle’s house on Holmden Ave. in Cleveland’s west side. If that was the case, Holmden Ave. is less than a mile away from 2207 Seymour Ave.

Is it possible that there is a connection? Authorities had previously speculated, as reported from a 2009 CNN report, that the three girls who went missing were linked. Could the disappearance of Ashley Summers be linked to Ariel Castro? Who knows at this point as one would think that it was unthinkable for Castro to do what he did for a decade to Amanda Berry, Gina Dejesus and Michelle Knight. How many more victims might there have been? Is it possible that Ariel Castro could be involved with the disappearance of Ashley Summers? Who knows, but questions certainly need to be asked and it needs to be investigated. Who would have thought Castro could have kept three girls captive for a decade? If he is capable of that, Castro is capable of pretty much anything.

Amanda Berry, 16, vanished on April 21, 2003, after she left her job at a Burger King at about 7:30 p.m. But she never made it to her home just a few blocks away, the FBI says. Berry has pierced ears, a pierced left eyebrow and a scar on her lower abdomen. She would now be 22.

Georgina DeJesus was last seen at a pay phone around 3 p.m. on April 2, 2004, as she headed home from school. She and a friend had called the friend’s mother seeking permission for a sleepover at DeJesus’ house, but the answer was no.

Ashley Summers, last seen July 6, 2007, has a heart-shaped tattoo with “Gene” on her upper arm. She was initially reported as a runaway after a family argument. “But the problem is, she’s never been seen again,” Wilson said. Summers, 14, would now be 15.