3 Cleveland Girls kidnapped 10 years ago FOUND ALIVE (UPDATE)

CLEVELAND — The man accused of holding three women captive for a decade in his home terrorized the mother of his children, frequently beating her, playing twisted psychological games and locking her indoors in the years before their relationship disintegrated, her relatives say.

Several relatives of Grimilda Figueroa, who left Ariel Castro years ago and died last year after a long illness, painted a nightmarish portrait of Castro’s family life as authorities made public horrifying details of the abuse endured by the imprisoned women.

In interviews with The Associated Press on Thursday, the relatives described Castro as a “monster” who abused his wife and locked his family inside their own home. Their views were at odds with those of some of Castro’s family and a neighbor, who knew the former school bus driver only as a happy and respectful man.

Figueroa’s relatives said Castro savagely beat her, pushing her down a flight of stairs, breaking her nose and dislocating her shoulder, among other injuries. Her sister, Elida Caraballo, said Castro once shoved Figueroa into a cardboard box and closed the flaps over her head.

“He told her, ‘You stay there until I tell you to get out,’” said Caraballo, who cried as she recounted her late sister’s torment. “That’s when I got scared and I ran downstairs to get my parents.”

Castro, to frighten his wife, kept a mannequin wearing a dark wig propped up against a wall and sometimes drove around the neighborhood with it, relatives said.

“He threatened me lots of times with it,” said Angel Caraballo, Castro’s nephew, who used to play with his cousins at the house where the kidnapped women were found. “He would say, ‘Act up again, you’ll be in that back room with the mannequin.’”

[link to www.toledoblade.com]

way less then 50% as always

Last Edited by Chrit on 05/10/2013 12:55 PM

And we are to continue to think that this man never committed a violent act on a female before his marriage? I find that hard to believe. The dude sounds psycho from the get go. They should be digging up the yard of every house he has ever lived in.

Instead, this rapidly vanishes off the news

Found it! not Amanda's child, Michelle's child before she was abducted.

Tell you something else, look who the lawyer is that was hired...

I've only talked about it once on here but when the guys kicked in my door when I was a kid and took me for a little car ride and got charged for kidnapping Jay defended them in court. Imagine that.... I do respect Jay we have talked but he is a "hammer", he is also a grand a hour just to talk too minimum. He also just did my buddies divorce, it was sticky.

Snip; Michelle, who is said to have suffered terrible injuries including hearing loss at the hands of Ariel Castro, was released from the hospital Friday and expressed her gratitude to the community.



She authorized the release of a statement that said: “Michelle Knight is in good spirits and would like the community to know that she is extremely grateful for the outpouring of flowers and gifts.”

And while Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus had joyful reunions with their families, Michelle’s mother retained lawyer Jay Milano, trying to gain access to her daughter, according to several reports.

“Barbara just wants to be a part of the healing process,” Milano told WKYC-TV.



But Michelle, 32, and her mother have a troubled history and Barbara, who lives in Florida, flew to Ohio on Tuesday but has not been allowed to see her daughter.

Michelle made it clear she did not want visitors.

Knight disappeared in August, 2002 when she was 21 years old.

Her mother told a news outlet that Michelle was assaulted at age 17 and believed police did not take the incident seriously.

She was bullied in high school and dropped out. She then gave birth to a son and the child was later taken away from her. Her mother has said that Michelle had a relationship with an abusive man who she believes abused the child, setting in motion a series of events that led to authorities removing the toddler from her care.

When Knight was abducted some thought she had run away because of her troubled life.


[link to radaronline.com]

Last Edited by Chrit on 05/10/2013 04:35 PM

Thank you for finding that.

*edit*

oh the first part is you personally? I misread what you were saying.

Last Edited by Tangy on 05/10/2013 04:44 PM

Thanks Chrit for keeping this thread updated.

NP and tangy I sent ya a PM on it

Last Edited by Chrit on 05/10/2013 05:14 PM

got it, thank you.

yea , same here. Thanks Chrit !!

wow...this hurts to read but I guess it makes sense in a sad way. Glad someone is there for her.

Snip; Michelle Knight has finally been released from hospital and is staying at the home of Gina DeJesus after she refused to see her mother.

Michelle became the third and final victim to leave the hospital where she was being treated for the physical and mental abuse she endured over ten years allegedly at the hands of Ariel Castro, who is accused of routinely beating and raping his three victims.


The hospital said she is in good spirits and grateful for the fund created to aid the victims.


But she has refused to see her mother Barbara, choosing instead to stay with her fellow captive.

A family friend who talked to Nancy DeJesus said the DeJesus family is taking Michelle Knight in because she says Gina is her only family left in Cleveland.





[link to www.dailymail.co.uk]

I would like to find out who Michelle's father is or was even...

Was bouncing ideas off people about why Michelle Knight’s mother would hire the number one criminal defense lawyer in the city and in my opinion the state to make contact with her daughter? I mean if your daughter was missing for a decade and did not want to talk to you would you think I need a criminal defense lawyer?

One thought was the mother is looking to get a piece of the daughters money for whatever movie contract she signs for the story..kinda makes sense

The other one is the same reason my friend needed a criminal defense lawyer for his divorce, to make sure his wife signed a contract to never talk about him. With all that happened to Michelle before she was even abducted by her family, from the rape that was never taken care at the age of 17 to the taking of her daughter by mother through the courts, the mother maybe trying to secure by force being omitted from any part of the story!

Or a little of both “you’re not going to talk about your family without compensation” type of deal.

Michelle has no money but she will end up needed a lawyer to protect her from her mother at this rate, it is ugly.

Too bad the mother wasn't able to be there for Michelle to help her keep her child. Maybe even pitch in and help out with the baby/child?

If Michelle doesn't want to see her, she's an adult and shouldn't have to. Not many women that wouldn't want to see their mother without a real good reason, especially when she needs the love and support more than ever.

On CNN last night, they said Michelle Knight has a mental disability and implied that's the reason why Castro forced her to miscarried, because he didn't want babies with mental problems. Amanda Berry, on the other hand, is normal and pretty, and that's why her baby was allowed to live.

I don't know how true the Michelle Knight mental illness allegation is since this is coming from CNN.

Thoughts anyone?

This is all just a story concocted by the gov't/media to get people to start spying on their neighbors and report any "suspicious" behavior. Of course "suspicious" can mean whatever anyone doesnt agree with such as, cleaning a mean ol gun, growing a garden, reading the bible, fill in the blank.

I don't know, this is just my opinion. If you take ANY young girl/woman, abuse her in an unknown manner for an unknown length of time, by an unknown number of people, then force her to carry to term a child by rape. None of these things were ever addressed or treated. Then add the abduction and captivity for 10 years and the rapes, pregnancies and deaths of her children. They really want to call it a mental disability? It's a miracle she's alive and kicking.

Castro could have known her childhood history and used it to twist her mind even more.

As for her mother, I don't blame Michelle one bit. I'm not going to go on a rant about it, but, if she were MY mother, I wouldn't have anything to do with her either. I hope she can find an even better lawyer to fight the witch.

Last Edited by Texan Buckeye on 05/10/2013 08:27 PM

Thank you for letting them go

Snip; Friends started calling Jennifer Summers on Monday night and telling her to turn on the news: Three kidnapped women had been freed, and there was a chance that one of them was Summers’ daughter, who disappeared in Cleveland six years ago.


“Oh, my God,” Summers remembers thinking. “Let’s hope it’s Ashley.”

It was not. So while Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight are all beginning to adjust to open society again, and while their families can finally start catching up on lost years, the family of Ashley Summers still waits.


[link to rockcenter.nbcnews.com]




Last Edited by Chrit on 05/10/2013 09:42 PM

How sad. When they heard about the DNA, they probably had mixed feelings. I hope they can find some measure of comfort in believing they will continue searching.

FBI pressing other Cleveland missing person cases
CLEVELAND --

The FBI says the rescue of three women held in captivity over a decade in Cleveland has revived public interest in separate cases involving a 14-year-old girl and 18-year-old woman who disappeared years ago.
[link to www.wkyc.com]

Maybe Michelle's mother was involved in abusing her and ultimately selling her into slavery?

Interview with Barbara Knight, mother of Michelle Knight:
[link to www.wkyc.com]

Whether or not you agree, it's an interesting read:

Inside the mind of Ariel Castro

I promise you that what Castro is charged with creating in Cleveland—a “home” where three women were allegedly held in ropes and chains, beaten and raped, where children were either enslaved or aborted—will turn out to be a magnified version (perhaps 2X, perhaps 100X) of the home in which he was raised. There, Casto reportedly maintains in an alleged suicide note which may have been written in 2004 and was found inside his home, that he was emotionally, physically and sexually abused by relatives. ..........
............................
............................

He might have noted that he and his brothers are all reportedly psychologically hobbled, chained to pathology of one kind or another (supposedly, including addiction). He might have noted that two of his adult brothers still live with their aging mother, like hulking, disempowered infants, like, one might wonder, prisoners.

You don’t take three women hostage and make them abort repeatedly and beat them and humiliate them and sexually attack them if you have true, loving feelings for your mother. But you might do that, if you deny all your primal, murderous rage toward that woman, because it is too psychologically threatening to feel it at five or six or thirteen or fifty years old, and it ends up erupting out of you—directed at every female you see, including your own wife and daughters.

Read more: [link to www.foxnews.com]


Happy Mothers Day.

this statement is key to how the family of Castro was programed to be submissive. He made everyone a slave.

I could not keep a cat in a cardboard box by force let alone my wife, it is programing.

Obviously this is a very old story she is telling.

Snip; Years before when authorities say Ariel Castro kidnapped two teenage girls and a young woman and held them captive in his basement, he terrorized the mother of his children, viciously beating her and locking her inside the house, her relatives said Thursday.

In interviews with The Associated Press, relatives of Grimilda Figueroa, who died after a long illness last year, described Castro as a "monster" who abused her in demented ways. He once shoved her into a cardboard box and closed the flaps over her head, said Elida Caraballo, her sister.

"He told her, 'You stay there until I tell you to get out,'" recalled Caraballo, who cried as she recalled her late sister's torment. "That's when I got scared and I ran downstairs to get my parents."



[link to abcnews.go.com]

Can't believe this story, it's amazing, been hearing about it on our local radio station every day. Feel so bad for those girls and their families, but happy they're alive. Just Wow! Hope they fry that guy.

shhhh

No, I wouldnt necessarily be throwing the bs flag so soon. Unless youre one of those who just believes everything the govt/media tells you?

there are some stories that are BS and some stories that really just are some crazy f***ed up stories. This is one of those crazy messed up stories that people wish were never true. Unfortunately, these women had to live this horror. Amanda Berry is a real person, I went to school with her. Gina DeJesus too but she went to another school in Cleveland. Not everything is a conspiracy you know.

Mommy and family have apparently hot-tailed it out of Dodge too.

Welp.

Related reading by a delightful man, who was unfortunate enough to have Borat for his younger brother...which may explain why he became a psychologist....

[link to www.amazon.com]

In The Science of Evil Simon Baron-Cohen, an award-winning British researcher who has investigated psychology and autism for decades, develops a new brain-based theory of human cruelty. A true psychologist, however, he examines social and environmental factors that can erode empathy, including neglect and abuse.

Based largely on Baron-Cohen's own research, The Science of Evil will change the way we understand and treat human cruelty.

After reading the article, I also have the feeling that there is something not right with Michelle's mother. My gut tells me she is bad news. Also, read in an article posted in this thread that the brother had been kicked out of the house by the mother when he was a teen.