Found: 15 Stories About the Survival and Rescue of Kidnapping Victims
Our hearts sink when we hear the story: a small child is abducted from their home and vanished without a trace. We cling to our own kids a little tighter knowing that it can happen to anyone. We hope for a miracle, but know the reality is once they've been gone for more than a few days, they will never be found alive. But sometimes, often in the most miraculous ways, they are found--months, even years, later.
The 15 stories here recount the stories of some of the worlds most famous kidnapping cases, and shows how the victims survived the cruelty and were ultimately rescued.
The 15 stories here recount the stories of some of the worlds most famous kidnapping cases, and shows how the victims survived the cruelty and were ultimately rescued.
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Excerpt
Introduction
A person’s disappearance, no matter how unusual, doesn’t necessarily mean that the individual is dead. Instead, the person might have been kidnapped and is being held hostage.
There are criminals who abduct average people off the streets not far from their homes and hold them hostage for a wide variety of reasons. In earlier decades, the motive for such abductions was mostly money to hold the victim for ransom. This was the case in high-profile kidnappings, such as those of John Paul Getty III and Frank Sinatra Jr., where the targets were the children of wealthy celebrities.
In recent decades, a more sinister motive has appeared. Perverted and demented individuals, usually loners, snatch women, children, or teenagers and hold them hostage as sex slaves and domestic servants. This was the motive in high-profile cases like that of the Cleveland Three. The frightening aspect of such cases is that these people can be held hostage for years, even as long as a decade, before they are rescued or have escaped.
These cases should make us wonder what’s going on in our neighbors’ homes. There’s a good chance that such a victim could be found in your own town or neighborhood and you didn’t even realize that he or she was there.
A Decade of Terror: The Cleveland Three
The case of Gina DeJesus, Amanda Berry, and Michelle Knight caught the imagination of America and the world and it’s easy to see why. The three women were held hostage and used as sex slaves for over a decade in the heart of one of America’s great cities.
The women were held in a house on a fairly ordinary street in a quiet working class neighborhood, yet the neighbors didn’t realize that they were there, even though they were kept there for years. They didn’t even realize that one of them had a child. Worst of all, the drama played out in the same neighborhood where the women lived. They were being held in bondage and used as slaves in their own neighborhood, not far from their family homes.
Missing for Years
Cleveland residents learned of the horror in their midst on May 6, 2013, when a 911 operator received a frantic call for help from a woman named Amanda Berry. She had been missing for 10 years. She told the operator that she and two other women who had been missing were being held hostage in a house on Seymour Street on Cleveland’s west side, not far from where they had grown up.
Police went to the house and discovered that two other women, Knight and DeJesus, were being held there by the Castro brothers. At the time of their rescue, Knight had been held for 11 years and DeJesus for nine. Their ordeal immediately sparked fear and controversy because the police had been searching for the three for years.
Berry had escaped from the house with a child by simply climbing through a broken door and running to a neighbor’s home. At the neighbor’s home, she talked a man into letting her use the phone.
Slavery in the Neighborhood
Perhaps the worst part of the ordeal was that the women were being held hostage by people their families knew. One of the Castro brothers reportedly played in bands at a nightclub owned by DeJesus’s uncle.
Neighbors had known the Castro brothers, including Ariel Castro, who owned the house for years – they had lived there since 1991. One neighbor, Victor Pratts, lived across the street from the Castros for the entire time and had never seen the women. The first time another neighbor, Charles Ramsey, saw one of the women was when Amanda banged on his door and asked for help.
The neighbors didn’t realize what was going on in their own neighborhood. Many of them knew the Castros and actually liked them, yet they obviously didn’t know what was happening in their midst.
The Vanishing Girls
Perhaps the worst and most baffling part of the trio’s captivity was that their disappearance had been news in Cleveland for a decade. The city’s newspaper, The Plain Dealer, and TV stations had been covering their vanishing for years. Police, neighbors, family members, journalists, and even the FBI had been searching for them for years.
The first of the girls who vanished was Amanda Berry, who went missing in May 2003. A week later, somebody used Amanda’s cell phone to call her mother. All authorities knew was that she was probably abducted. Gina DeJesus disappeared in April 2004 – she was 14 and didn’t come home from middle school. Gina had decided to walk in order to save $1.25 in bus fare.
Marches for the girls were organized by Berry’s mother, Louwana Miller. Police searched aggressively and even raided a house on the West Side where they thought DeJesus might be held.
By 2009, the FBI had joined in, and its agents now believed the disappearances of Berry and DeJesus were linked to the September 2007 disappearance of a girl named Ashley Summers. All three vanished in the same five-block area of Cleveland’s west side. Strangely enough, agents didn’t link Knight to the disappearances.
The Aftermath
The dramatic escape and rescue of the three prompted a media frenzy that so far has shown no signs of abetting. The reason for much of the attention was obvious – it is known that the three women were going through hell inside the Castro house.
The three women were raped constantly by Ariel Castro, who also beat and tortured them. Prosecutors later filed 446 charges against Castro. They also allege that Castro beat and tortured one of the women so she would miscarry her child.
Berry gave birth to a baby daughter who grew into a six-year-old child, and Ariel Castro was the father. This girl escaped with Berry from the home.
The three women are now making media appearances with the help of a public relations firm, and in a recent video, they appear polished and well-groomed. All three are now living in Cleveland with their families and will probably soon reap the windfall from book deals and other media tie-ins.
Castro is still in jail in Cleveland awaiting further hearings and an eventual trial. Prosecutors recently announced that they will not seek the death penalty against him, as many in the community demanded. Castro’s brothers face lesser charges.
The incredible case of the Cleveland Three is far from over, even though their captivity has ended. The future of the three women is unknown, but the city of Cleveland still faces a lot of soul searching because of the trauma the women went through.
Bibliography
Atassi, L. (2013, May 6). Berry, DeJesus, Knight found alive, police source confirms. Retrieved July 16, 2013, from Cleveland Plain Dealer: http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/05/tv_station_reports_berry_dejes.html
Botello, G., & Castillo, M. (2013, May 10). Neighbor feels 'fooled' by Cleveland abduction suspect. Retrieved July 16, 2013, from CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/07/justice/ohio-kidnap-suspects-profile
Crow, C. (2013, June 12). Ariel Castro willing to plead guilty to some charges to avoid death penalty, lawyer says. Retrieved July 16, 2013, from Cleveland Plain Dealer: http://photos.cleveland.com/plain-dealer/2013/06/ariel_castro_willing_to_plead_6.html
James, S. D. (2013, July 9). Cleveland Kidnap Women Move From Victims to Survivors. Retrieved July 16, 2013, from ABC News: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/cleveland-kidnap-victims-move-victims-survivors/story?id=19617465#.UeVi3I21GGE
Kroll, J. (2013, May 6). Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus: When they disappeared, what happened in the years before they were found. Retrieved July 16, 2013, from Cleveland Plain Dealer: http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/05/amanda_berry_and_gina_dejesus.html#incart_maj-story-1
Pinckard, C. (2013, May 7). Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, Michelle Knight megablog: Ongoing updates. Retrieved July 15, 2013, from Cleveland Plain Dealer: http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/05/amanda_berry_gina_dejesus_mich.html
A person’s disappearance, no matter how unusual, doesn’t necessarily mean that the individual is dead. Instead, the person might have been kidnapped and is being held hostage.
There are criminals who abduct average people off the streets not far from their homes and hold them hostage for a wide variety of reasons. In earlier decades, the motive for such abductions was mostly money to hold the victim for ransom. This was the case in high-profile kidnappings, such as those of John Paul Getty III and Frank Sinatra Jr., where the targets were the children of wealthy celebrities.
In recent decades, a more sinister motive has appeared. Perverted and demented individuals, usually loners, snatch women, children, or teenagers and hold them hostage as sex slaves and domestic servants. This was the motive in high-profile cases like that of the Cleveland Three. The frightening aspect of such cases is that these people can be held hostage for years, even as long as a decade, before they are rescued or have escaped.
These cases should make us wonder what’s going on in our neighbors’ homes. There’s a good chance that such a victim could be found in your own town or neighborhood and you didn’t even realize that he or she was there.
A Decade of Terror: The Cleveland Three
The case of Gina DeJesus, Amanda Berry, and Michelle Knight caught the imagination of America and the world and it’s easy to see why. The three women were held hostage and used as sex slaves for over a decade in the heart of one of America’s great cities.
The women were held in a house on a fairly ordinary street in a quiet working class neighborhood, yet the neighbors didn’t realize that they were there, even though they were kept there for years. They didn’t even realize that one of them had a child. Worst of all, the drama played out in the same neighborhood where the women lived. They were being held in bondage and used as slaves in their own neighborhood, not far from their family homes.
Missing for Years
Cleveland residents learned of the horror in their midst on May 6, 2013, when a 911 operator received a frantic call for help from a woman named Amanda Berry. She had been missing for 10 years. She told the operator that she and two other women who had been missing were being held hostage in a house on Seymour Street on Cleveland’s west side, not far from where they had grown up.
Police went to the house and discovered that two other women, Knight and DeJesus, were being held there by the Castro brothers. At the time of their rescue, Knight had been held for 11 years and DeJesus for nine. Their ordeal immediately sparked fear and controversy because the police had been searching for the three for years.
Berry had escaped from the house with a child by simply climbing through a broken door and running to a neighbor’s home. At the neighbor’s home, she talked a man into letting her use the phone.
Slavery in the Neighborhood
Perhaps the worst part of the ordeal was that the women were being held hostage by people their families knew. One of the Castro brothers reportedly played in bands at a nightclub owned by DeJesus’s uncle.
Neighbors had known the Castro brothers, including Ariel Castro, who owned the house for years – they had lived there since 1991. One neighbor, Victor Pratts, lived across the street from the Castros for the entire time and had never seen the women. The first time another neighbor, Charles Ramsey, saw one of the women was when Amanda banged on his door and asked for help.
The neighbors didn’t realize what was going on in their own neighborhood. Many of them knew the Castros and actually liked them, yet they obviously didn’t know what was happening in their midst.
The Vanishing Girls
Perhaps the worst and most baffling part of the trio’s captivity was that their disappearance had been news in Cleveland for a decade. The city’s newspaper, The Plain Dealer, and TV stations had been covering their vanishing for years. Police, neighbors, family members, journalists, and even the FBI had been searching for them for years.
The first of the girls who vanished was Amanda Berry, who went missing in May 2003. A week later, somebody used Amanda’s cell phone to call her mother. All authorities knew was that she was probably abducted. Gina DeJesus disappeared in April 2004 – she was 14 and didn’t come home from middle school. Gina had decided to walk in order to save $1.25 in bus fare.
Marches for the girls were organized by Berry’s mother, Louwana Miller. Police searched aggressively and even raided a house on the West Side where they thought DeJesus might be held.
By 2009, the FBI had joined in, and its agents now believed the disappearances of Berry and DeJesus were linked to the September 2007 disappearance of a girl named Ashley Summers. All three vanished in the same five-block area of Cleveland’s west side. Strangely enough, agents didn’t link Knight to the disappearances.
The Aftermath
The dramatic escape and rescue of the three prompted a media frenzy that so far has shown no signs of abetting. The reason for much of the attention was obvious – it is known that the three women were going through hell inside the Castro house.
The three women were raped constantly by Ariel Castro, who also beat and tortured them. Prosecutors later filed 446 charges against Castro. They also allege that Castro beat and tortured one of the women so she would miscarry her child.
Berry gave birth to a baby daughter who grew into a six-year-old child, and Ariel Castro was the father. This girl escaped with Berry from the home.
The three women are now making media appearances with the help of a public relations firm, and in a recent video, they appear polished and well-groomed. All three are now living in Cleveland with their families and will probably soon reap the windfall from book deals and other media tie-ins.
Castro is still in jail in Cleveland awaiting further hearings and an eventual trial. Prosecutors recently announced that they will not seek the death penalty against him, as many in the community demanded. Castro’s brothers face lesser charges.
The incredible case of the Cleveland Three is far from over, even though their captivity has ended. The future of the three women is unknown, but the city of Cleveland still faces a lot of soul searching because of the trauma the women went through.
Bibliography
Atassi, L. (2013, May 6). Berry, DeJesus, Knight found alive, police source confirms. Retrieved July 16, 2013, from Cleveland Plain Dealer: http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/05/tv_station_reports_berry_dejes.html
Botello, G., & Castillo, M. (2013, May 10). Neighbor feels 'fooled' by Cleveland abduction suspect. Retrieved July 16, 2013, from CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/07/justice/ohio-kidnap-suspects-profile
Crow, C. (2013, June 12). Ariel Castro willing to plead guilty to some charges to avoid death penalty, lawyer says. Retrieved July 16, 2013, from Cleveland Plain Dealer: http://photos.cleveland.com/plain-dealer/2013/06/ariel_castro_willing_to_plead_6.html
James, S. D. (2013, July 9). Cleveland Kidnap Women Move From Victims to Survivors. Retrieved July 16, 2013, from ABC News: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/cleveland-kidnap-victims-move-victims-survivors/story?id=19617465#.UeVi3I21GGE
Kroll, J. (2013, May 6). Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus: When they disappeared, what happened in the years before they were found. Retrieved July 16, 2013, from Cleveland Plain Dealer: http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/05/amanda_berry_and_gina_dejesus.html#incart_maj-story-1
Pinckard, C. (2013, May 7). Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, Michelle Knight megablog: Ongoing updates. Retrieved July 15, 2013, from Cleveland Plain Dealer: http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/05/amanda_berry_gina_dejesus_mich.html
