crimes and misdemeanors

Cleveland Kidnap Victims Documented Their Horrible Ordeal

CLEVELAND, OH - MAY 9: In this handout from the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office, Ariel Castro, 52, is seen in a booking photo May 9, 2013 in Cleveland, Ohio. Castro is accused of kidnapping and sexually assault three women for about ten years while he held them captive in his house. (Photo by Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office via Getty Images)
Photo: Handout/2013 Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Office

Confessed Cleveland kidnapper Ariel Castro plans to tell his own story at his sentencing hearing tomorrow, hoping to make people see “the other side of Ariel Castro,” his sister told CNN. But he’s not the only one with an account to share:  Prosecutors said in a memo filed Wednesday that the three women he kidnapped individually and then held captive for years kept diaries documenting their horrific experience. “The entries speak of forced sexual conduct, of being locked in a dark room, of anticipating the next session of abuse, of the dreams of someday escaping and being reunited with family, of being chained to a wall, of being held like a prisoner of war,” the document says, according to the Associated Press. The full memo is available via the Cleveland Plain Dealer, but fair warning, it is … unpleasant.

The memo describes how Castro allegedly lured one victim, Michelle Knight, into his car “with promises of a puppy for her son. It notes that Castro “used chains to deprive [his victims] of their liberty and freedom.” It offers the detail that the house only had one bathroom, on the first floor, which the victims were not allowed to use. “They only had access to plastic toilets in the bedrooms. They were emptied infrequently.”

Kidnap Victims Documented Their Horrible Ordeal