For three women, a decade of captivity ended late Monday with frantic 911 call. The victims have been identified as Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michele Knight. All three women disappeared from the same Cleveland, Ohio street between 2002 and 2004. A former school bus driver identified as 52-year-old Ariel Castro has been arrested in the case along with his two brothers, Onil and Pedro.
Authorities still have few details about the women’s years in captivity and their escape, but they did praise Amanda Berry’s brave actions on Monday night. "The real hero here is Amanda. She's the one that got this rolling. Without her, none of us would be here today,” Cleveland Deputy Chief Ed Tomba said.
While Castro was out, Berry got to a door that would only opened wide enough to fit a hand through and began screaming to get the attention of neighbors. Charles Ramsey heard her screams and kicked the door in to free her. Berry escaped with her 6-year-old daughter and called 911 immediately.
"Help me, I am Amanda Berry," she told the 911 operator. “I've been kidnapped, and I've been missing for 10 years. And I'm here, I'm free now."
She identified her captor as Ariel Castro and demanded that police be sent immediately. “I need them now before he gets back!” she said.
Berry disappeared in April 2003 just one day before her 17th birthday. Knight vanished the year before at age 20 and DeJesus disappeared at age 14 in 2004. The women were reunited with their families Monday night at a Cleveland hospital where their health was evaluated.
Authorities have not yet charged Castro, 52, or his two brothers, ages 50 and 54.
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