Suspect in Cleveland Kidnapping Had Contact With Police
CLEVELAND — The police had been called two times to a house where three young women from Cleveland, who disappeared about a decade ago and who friends and relatives feared were gone forever, were found on Monday, the authorities said on Tuesday. In 2000, the owner of the house, Ariel Castro, had called the police about a fight in the street. In 2004, the authorities interviewed Mr. Castro, a driver, after he “inadvertently” left a child on a school bus.
Neither of those visits by the authorities resulted in any arrests, nor was there any indication about the dramatic discovery for which Mr. Castro is now being held. But at a news conference on Tuesday, the police and investigators said that they were slowly starting to unravel the thread of events that led up to the escape of the women after one of them, Amanda Berry, tried to force her way through the front door of the house on Seymour Avenue.
On Tuesday the authorities said Mr. Castro, 52, was one of those arrested in connection with the case. Two of his brothers, Pedro, 54, and Oneil, 50, were also arrested.
The saga started to unfold on Monday when Ms. Berry told a dispatcher that she had been kidnapped and pleaded for the police to come before the man who was holding her captive returned. The 911 call was released by the authorities to local news media.
“I’m Amanda Berry, I’ve been on the news for the last 10 years,” she said.
Angel Cordero, 32, was heading to his car when he heard a woman scream, “I need help! I need help! I have been kidnapped for 10 years.” A neighbor, Charles Ramsey, told local television reporters that the screams drew him to the house as well.
“She had the door open a crack, but there was a chain she could not open,” Mr. Cordero said.
Mr. Cordero said that both men kicked through the door as a woman screamed, “Open the door, open the door, he is coming back.” Ms. Berry came out with a little girl in plastic shoes and ran to a house across the street.
“She looked dirty and was screaming,” Mr. Cordero said, referring to Ms. Berry. “She had on green pants and a small white shirt and old-looking shoes. Her teeth were yellow and dirty and her hair looked messy, as well.”
“The baby was crying a lot and was very nervous,” he said. “She probably never saw a car or anything before.”
The police arrived shortly thereafter.
“I did not go inside the house because I thought he would kill me,” Mr. Cordero said.
On Tuesday, the police in Cleveland said they still had to fully interview Ms. Berry and the other two women, as well as the suspects, to get a complete picture of why and how they ended up in the house. Gina DeJesus, who along with Ms. Berry had been missing since she was a teenager, and Michelle Knight who was 20 when she vanished, followed Ms. Berry out of the house after the police arrived.
Chief Michael McGrath, of the Cleveland Division of Police, said it was because of Ms. Berry’s “brave actions” that the other two women were able to escape as well.
Also in the house was the girl, a 6-year old, believed to be Ms. Berry’s daughter. The authorities did not release the identity of the child’s father, nor did they reveal more details about the condition of the women, saying that they were concerned with their emotional well-being.
Ms. Berry, who is now 27, was last seen leaving her job at a Cleveland Burger King in April 2003. Almost exactly a year later, Ms. Dejesus, now 23, disappeared as she was walking home from school. The police said on Tuesday that Ms. Knight had not been seen since August 22, 2002, and that a missing persons’ report was made by a family member the next day.
The police said they were executing a search warrant at the house, at 2207 Seymour Ave.
The authorities said they discovered the previous calls to the house after they combed through their databases following the discovery of the women. Martin Flask, the director of public safety in Cleveland, said there was no indication of criminal intent by Mr. Castro in relation to the school bus incident, and as far as the authorities could determine, there was no record any of the neighbors, bystanders or other witnesses or anyone else had ever called about the women in relation to the house where they were eventually found.
The women appeared to be physically unharmed, the authorities said shortly after they were discovered.
On Tuesday, they were released from MetroHealth hospital, where they had been taken to the emergency room and described as in “fair condition,” the hospital said. It said they were reunited with their families.
“The nightmare is over,” Stephen D. Anthony, special agent in charge of the Cleveland division of the F.B.I., said.
On Monday, television images showed neighbors lining the streets, applauding as emergency vehicles whisked the women away.
Mike Iwais, 35, a grocery store owner who lives near the house where the women were found, said he would see Mr. Castro strolling around the neighborhood, in nightclubs or restaurants. Mr. Iwais, who has lived in the neighborhood for 35 years and like Mr. Castro went to Lincoln West High School, said Mr. Castro played in a Latin music band at a club called Belinda’s.
“But I never saw anybody going in or out of his house except him. Not even one person,” Mr. Iwais said. " We all thought he lived alone because he was always by himself going in and out of the house. Sometimes he would sit on his porch and drink beer.”
“He would have beers with people, other guys in the neighborhood, in their yards or on their porches, but he would never invite anyone over,” Mr. Iwais said. “And sometimes, you would say hello to him and he would not acknowledge you. It was strange.”
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