Amanda Berry, missing since 4/21/2003 Cleveland, OH(Found Safe!)

[Blonde]

Well he saved the state some money

[trimmonthelake]

yes, CW618

it is what it is . . . .

 

 

[MuffyBee]

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/09/04/20320005-ariel-castros-death-is-last-slap-to-victims-faces-psychologist-says?lite
Ariel Castro's death is 'last slap' to victims' faces, psychologist says
September 4, 2013

Kidnapper and rapist Ariel Castro's apparent prison suicide may deprive his victims of a vital sense that justice has been done, a leading psychologist said Wednesday.
"Going forward now these girls are going to have to find a way of healing without a sense of justice," said Dr. Linda Papadopoulos, a U.K.-based psychologist and author. "We want the sense of justice when we heal. Sometimes we have to heal without it, and sadly that is what they will have to do."
She added: "He decided his fate, something they were never ever ever able to do for themselves. He had ultimate control. To some extent this was in a way his last slap to their faces --  'I’ve got this over you'."
 
Survivors of such experiences may also feel great grief, said Eva Usadi, a New York City-based therapist specializing in first responder and combat trauma. 
"The grief comes from there being no real justice," she said.  "That’s what victims want even when the perpetrators go to jail for all their lives. But, on some level, there is no way to regain what’s been truly lost, which is innocence, a sense of the world being safe. And so this produces deep grief."

While Castro’s death may make his victims anger and grief, they may also feel relief, according to Dr. Nihara Krause, a British clinical psychologist who specializes in the effects of trauma.
“I think a lot of it just depends on the person and on their coping techniques,” she said. It could feel like “a huge positive in terms of an immediate relief … Sometimes it can positively make people free to remember without threat."
Krause advised survivors of this sort of trauma to “use every strategy to get it out. Write down whatever you’re remembering or express it to somebody."
She added: "But most importantly, remind yourself that whatever you’re thinking of are memories, they’re not real – that’s the most important thing.  That’s part of trauma, you tend to experience it as if it were real. They are memories, no more than that.”


Comments

[MuffyBee]

I was waiting for this, and here it is...

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/public/2013/09/04/ariel-castro-commits-suicide-in-prison.html
Ariel Castro hanged himself with bed sheet
Officials promise ‘thorough review’ after Cleveland abductor’s suicide in Orient facility
September 4, 2013

 
Castro, 53, was found hanging in his cell at 9:20 last night at the Correctional Reception Center in Orient, Ohio. The prison medical staff performed CPR before Castro was taken to the Wexner Medical Center at Ohio State University where was pronounced dead there at 10:52 p.m.

Gorniak said her autopsy found marks on the body “consistent with hanging” with a prison bed sheet. She said she was not aware of any suicide note being found. A final autopsy report will not be completed for six to eight weeks, she said.

Castro was in protective custody in a cell by himself, but was not on suicide watch at the prison south of Columbus. Corrections officers were supposed to check on him every 30 minutes at staggered intervals, explained JoEllen Smith, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

Prison officials were huddling this morning reviewing the incident.

“A thorough review of this incident is underway,” Smith said in a statement last night.

It was the 7th suicide in an Ohio prison this year and the 35th since 2008.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio today called for a full investigation of the circumstances of Castro’s death.

“As horrifying as Mr. Castro’s crimes may be, the state has a responsibility to ensure his safety from himself and others,” ACLU Executive Director Christine Link said. “Questions remain whether Mr. Castro was properly screened for suicide risk and mental illness. Prisons officials must address these issues, not only to fully account for how Mr. Castro was able to commit suicide, but also to prevent this from occurring again.”

Link said prisons should take the opportunity to “assess the entire system to ensure those most in need are provided treatment” for mental health issues.
 
Tim Schafer, operations director with the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association, saw many suicides during his years as a corrections officer. Schafer said he had no knowledge about how Castro hanged himself, but since most prisons cells by design don’t have beams or pipes overhead, inmates find other ways.

“Most cases they’re not dangling from the ceiling. They will tie a bed sheet around the window bar and around their neck, stand and then drop. It usually snaps their neck. A lot of times they end up in a kneeling position. You might not even see them at first, especially if the lights are low.”

Schafer said corrections officers are often scapegoated in suicides, but they may not be at fault because prison staffing cuts over a number of years has increased the inmate to officer ratio to 7.3 to 1.

“Being overcrowded and understaffed is a dangerous thing for everybody involved, whether you’r e staff, offender or taxpayer.”
 
On Aug. 1. Castro was sentenced on Aug. 1 to life in prison plus 1,000 years after pleading guilty to 937 counts that included kidnapping and rape.

Castro had been transferred to the Orient facility in early August from the Lorain Correctional Institution.
 
At his sentencing, Castro told the judge he was addicted to pornography, had a “sexual problem” and had been a sex-abuse victim himself long ago.

The sentence imposed by Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Michael Russo followed a rambling 16-minute statement in which Castro blamed his actions on a sexual and pornography addiction that led to compulsive behavior.

“I do want to let you know there was harmony in that home,” the former school-bus driver told a courtroom packed with media members as well as Knight. “I was a good person.”

But Knight, as well as family members of the other victims, gave a strikingly different account of their years of captivity.

“I spent 11 years in hell,” Knight said. “Now your hell is just beginning. I will overcome all that happened, but you will face hell for eternity.”

Prosecutors had agreed to take a possible death-penalty charge off the table in exchange for Castro’s plea.

[MuffyBee]

Check out the prosecutor's view of Ariel Castro's suicide.  I especially agree with the mayor's comment, bolded by me in blue.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/cleveland-kidnapper-ariel-castro-committed-suicide-prison-cell/story?id=20149818
Cleveland Kidnapper Ariel Castro Committed Suicide in Prison Cell, Condemned by Prosecutor
September 4, 2013

Ariel Castro, who was convicted of kidnapping, torturing and imprisoning three young women for over a decade in his Ohio home, committed suicide by hanging in his prison cell. He was characterized as a degenerate and a coward by the prosecutor from his case.

"These degenerate molesters are cowards," Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty said in a statement. "They con and capture vulnerable children. This man couldn't take, for even a month, a small portion of what he had dished out for more than a decade."

"Let this be a message to other child kidnappers: There will be a heavy price to pay when you are caught," he said. "You won't enjoy the captive side of the bars."
 

"Inmate Ariel Castro was found hanging in his cell this evening at 9:20 p.m. at the Correctional Reception Center in Orient. He was housed in protective custody which means he was in a cell by himself and rounds are required every 30 minutes at staggered intervals," Smith said in a statement.

Castro was not on a suicide watch, which would have required constant observation.

"A thorough review of this incident is underway and more information can be provided as it becomes available pending the status of the investigation," the statement concluded.

A public relations company that has represented Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus said that Castro's former captives will not be commenting on the matter.

DeJesus' brother told ABC News that they are aware of Castro's death and are all doing okay so far.

Castro's attorney Jaye Schlachet told ABC News' Cleveland affiliate WEWS-TV that the defense team had requested for a forensic psychologist to evaluate Castro when he was in the county jail and the state's prison reception center.

"Local and state authorities denied our requests," Schlachet said in the statement. "There is an institutional failure beyond Ariel Castro and the citizens of Ohio are entitled to something better. It's just sad."

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson said focus should remain on the survivors.
More...

Video at Link

[MuffyBee]

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-cleveland-kidnapper-ariel-castros-suicide-a-just-end-20130904,0,1188054.story
Ariel Castro's suicide: A just end
September 4, 2013

Sometimes, true justice — as opposed to the courtroom kind — arrives so quickly that we are taken by surprise.

The presumed suicide of Ariel Castro, who imprisoned three women for about a decade in his Cleveland home, is a perfect example. His apparently self-inflicted death is the coda to a case that might have dragged on for years, but instead flowed swiftly through the system to this ultimately satisfying conclusion.
 
Did Castro kill himself because his conscience got the better of him?

Doubtful.

In court, when he had the opportunity to come clean, he took virtually no responsiblity for his grotesque crimes.  “I’m not a monster,” he said. “I’m sick.”

He had been victimized as a child, he said. He had become an unwilling sex and pornography addict. He had only beat his first wife “because she wouldn’t quiet down.”

Contrary to accounts of rape in the journals kept by his three victims, he maintained that sex with them was consensual, that there was “harmony” in the home, and that he never beat or tortured anyone.

“I feel like the FBI let these girls down,” he said.

The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction said Wednesday that it would investigate Castro's death. That's appropriate and right, given the circumstances.

But we already know one important thing. Ariel Castro didn’t kill himself out of remorse. He overdosed on self-pity.

[flamom]

 
Good outcome lmo
  time to focus on healing now that the monster no longer exists

[MuffyBee]

Good outcome lmo
  time to focus on healing now that the monster no longer exists

    

[cookie]

Good riddance I say!

[MuffyBee]

http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-ariel-castro-body-claimed-20130906,0,1000256.story
Ariel Castro's body is claimed as interrogation details emerge
September 6, 2013

The family of Ariel Castro, who killed himself while serving jail time for kidnapping and torturing three women for a decade in Cleveland, has claimed his body while questions have arisen whether the horrific episode that shocked the nation might have been ended sooner.

The body of Castro, 53, was turned over on Friday morning to a funeral home selected by the family, Franklin County coroner Dr. Jan Gorniak told the Los Angeles Times. Gorniak had conducted the autopsy on Castro and ruled he had committed suicide by hanging.
 
No family members attended the transfer of the body, Gorniak said by telephone. There were no details on what final arrangements the family will choose.
More...

[BabsKats]

http://news.yahoo.com/cleveland-kidnapper-tapes-show-called-victims-mother-nbc-162506876.html

9/6/13


CLEVELAND (Reuters) - Cleveland kidnapper Ariel Castro made a phone call to the mother of one of his victims, saying her daughter was still alive and "she's my wife now," according to interrogation tapes obtained by NBC TV and broadcast on Friday.

Castro, who committed suicide on Tuesday by hanging himself with a bed sheet in his cell at an Ohio prison, told investigators after his arrest in May that he used the cell phone of victim Amanda Berry to call her mother, the tapes showed. He then quickly hung up before hearing any response.

It was unclear when Castro claimed to have made the call. Berry disappeared in 2003 and was held captive in Castro's house until May 6 when he left a bedroom door unlocked, allowing her to reach the front of the house, alert neighbors and escape.

 

[MuffyBee]

As it should be, imo. 

http://nation.time.com/2013/09/24/childs-name-deleted-in-cleveland-kidnapping-case/
Child’s Name Deleted in Cleveland Kidnapping Case
September 24, 2013

(CLEVELAND) — A judge says the name of a girl fathered by a Cleveland man who held her mother captive for a decade will be deleted from the public court record.

The decision by Cuyahoga (ky-uh-HOH’-guh) County Common Pleas Judge Michael Russo involves the daughter of kidnapper Ariel Castro and one of his three victims, who gave birth on Christmas 2006. The Plain Dealer reports the prosecutor asked to have the child’s name deleted from court records to protect her privacy.

The child’s mother, Amanda Berry, kicked out the door of Castro’s house in May and yelled for help, freeing herself, the 6-year-old girl and two other women. DNA evidence confirmed that Castro was the girl’s father.
 

[MuffyBee]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/23/ariel-anthony-castro_n_3973878.html
Ariel Anthony Castro, Son Of Cleveland Kidnapper, Says 'I Am Not My Father'
September 23, 2013

[BabsKats]

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/national_world&id=9282140

Thursday, October 10, 2013


COLUMBUS, Ohio (KABC) -- A new report suggests that it's possible that Cleveland kidnapper Ariel Castro died during auto-erotic asphyxiation, not suicide.


According to a report from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, the 53-year-old Castro was found with his pants and underwear pulled down to his ankles.

 


The state forwarded those facts to police to consider the possibility of auto-erotic asphyxiation, whereby individuals achieve sexual satisfaction by briefly choking themselves into unconsciousness.

It was also revealed in the report that prison guards failed to check on Castro in the hours before he killed himself on Sept. 3 and falsified observation logs.


 

[MuffyBee]

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-10-18/news/sns-rt-usa-ohiomurders-20131018_1_ariel-castro-cleveland-kidnapper-kim-palmer-cleveland
Neighbor of Cleveland kidnapper charged with murders from 1990s
October 18, 2013

CLEVELAND, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Increased scrutiny of missing
person cases in a Cleveland neighborhood following the arrest of
kidnapper Ariel Castro led to charges against a neighbor for the
murders of two women in the 1990s, the FBI said on Friday.

Elias Acevedo, Sr., 49, was charged late Thursday with the
kidnapping, rape and murder of his 30-year-old neighbor, Pamela
Pemberton, found strangled in 1994, and another woman believed
to be Christina Adkins, a pregnant 18-year-old who disappeared
in 1995. He also is charged with the rape of two young girls.

"Because the public became more aware and investigators were
determined and relentless, people were re-interviewed and there
was an increased interest in these missing person cases," FBI
spokeswoman Vicki Anderson said.

Acevedo, who lived on the same block as Castro, was arrested
in June at his Seymour Avenue residence after police questioned
Castro's neighbors and discovered that Acevedo was a convicted
sex offender who had failed to report his current address.

Acevedo became a suspect in the Adkins and Pemberton murders
after the FBI re-examined the disappearance of other missing
women from the Seymour Avenue neighborhood in the aftermath of
Castro's arrest, according to a statement from the Cuyahoga
County prosecutor's office.
 
Cleveland's Seymour Avenue garnered international attention
after three women - Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry and Gina
DeJesus - were found with Berry's 6-year-old daughter in a
dilapidated home owned by 53-year-old Castro. The women had been
missing for about a decade - Castro had fathered the child.

While incarcerated, Acevedo's DNA was linked to a 1993 rape
that occurred near the location where Pemberton's body was
found. The FBI then linked Acevedo to the 1995 disappearance of
Adkins, last seen in the vicinity of Seymour Avenue.

Acevedo has confessed to the murders, which means
authorities will not seek the death penalty, according to Joe
Frolik, spokesman for the Cuyahoga County prosecutor's office.

Acevedo led authorities to a spot near a highway where he
had put Adkins' body in a manhole 18 years ago, according to the
FBI and prosecutors.

The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office is in the
process of positively identifying what are believed to be
Adkins' remains after her identification card was found nearby.

Castro pleaded guilty to 937 charges and was found hanged in
his prison cell just a month into a life sentence. His death was
ruled a suicide by the Franklin County coroner but an
investigation into his death by prison officials has called into
question whether he died accidentally while performing a sex
act.

The indictment against Acevedo includes 115 kidnapping
charges and more than 173 charges of rape involving Adkins,
Pemberton and the repeated rapes over a period of months of two
girls, starting when they were 8 and 11 years old. He was also
charged in the 1993 rape of his brother's common-law wife.
 
Acevedo is scheduled to be arraigned in Cuyahoga County
Common Pleas court Monday. He has not yet been assigned a
lawyer, according to court documents.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.kvue.com/news/228866321.html
Cleveland kidnap trio go separate ways to tell survival story
October 22, 2013

(ABC News) --  The three Cleveland women who survived a decade of imprisonment and torture together are going separate ways to tell their harrowing story.

Amanda Berry, 27, and Gina DeJesus, 23, announced a book contract this week, but Michelle Knight, 32, declined to be part of the deal to relive their 10 year in captivity at the hands of Ariel Castro.

Instead, Knight will tell her story first in a three-part appearance on Dr. Phil McGraw's show, which will air beginning Nov. 4.
More...

Video at link.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/04/justice/michelle-knight-dr-phil-interview/?sr=google_news&google_editors_picks=true
Michelle Knight tells Dr. Phil, 'I was tied up like a fish'
November 4, 2013

Dr. Phil previews his exclusive interview with Michelle Knight tonight on AC 360 at 8 p.m. ET on CNN.

(CNN) -- Six months after she was freed from the "house of horrors" where Ariel Castro held her captive for 11 years, Cleveland kidnapping victim Michelle Knight is speaking out.
In an exclusive interview with Dr. Phil McGraw scheduled to air Tuesday and Wednesday, Knight describes a moment when Castro trapped her in a room and tied her up with an orange extension cord.
"I was tied up like a fish," she said, "an ornament on the wall."
In excerpts of the interview posted on the show's YouTube channel, Knight says Castro taped her mouth shut with duct tape. She tells McGraw she once picked a lock to try to escape, drawing an ominous warning from Castro: "Now you're gonna be punished."
 

Knight, 32, was 21 years old when she was reported missing.
Before their rescue, Knight's disappearance generated less publicity and attention than the kidnappings of Berry and DeJesus, and a level of mystery still surrounds her case.
But since their rescue, Knight hasn't shied away from speaking out.
"After 11 years, I am finally being heard, and it's liberating," she said in a powerful statement at Castro's sentencing describing the abuse she endured.
"You took 11 years of my life away, and I have got it back. I spent 11 years in hell, and now your hell is just beginning," she told Castro. "I will overcome all this that happened, but you will face hell for eternity."
When crews demolished the 1,400-square-foot house where Castro held them captive, Knight was there, handing out yellow balloons to onlookers.
She said she was at the demolition site in part to remind relatives of abducted children that all is not necessarily lost.
"I want the people out there to know -- including the mothers -- that they can have strength, they can have hope, and their child will come back," she said.
Since their release, accounts have depicted Knight as someone who cared for the other victims during their captivity while also enduring great suffering herself.
A family friend of one of the victims said this year that Castro used Knight as his main "punching bag."
The friend said Castro hit Knight with a variety of objects, including hand weights. She has suffered vision loss, joint and muscle damage, and other problems from her time in captivity.
According to an initial incident report obtained by CNN, Knight said she became pregnant at least five times while in Castro's home.
When that happened, she told investigators, Castro "starved her for at least two weeks, then he repeatedly punched her in the stomach until she miscarried."
Knight said Castro ordered her to deliver Berry's child, according to a police source familiar with the investigation.
 
Video at Link

[Sister]

 

[MuffyBee]

http://www.wfaa.com/news/national/psychic-sylvia-browne-dies-at-77-in-California-232845551.html
Psychic Sylvia Browne dies at 77 in California
November 21, 2013

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Sylvia Browne, a psychic whose frequent appearances on shows such as "Larry King Live" made her a popular personality, has died at a hospital in San Jose, Calif. She was 77.
 
Browne said she could help people communicate with their dead loved ones as well as see the future.

Browne was criticized after telling the mother of Ohio kidnapping victim Amanda Berry in 2004 that her daughter was dead. Berry and two other women were later found alive. They had been held captive for years.
 

[MuffyBee]

http://www.wfaa.com/news/entertainment/236940271.html
Memoir for man who helped free 3 Cleveland women
December 22, 2013

CLEVELAND (AP) — The Ohio man who famously put aside his Big Mac to help rescue three women held captive in a Cleveland house for more than a decade has signed a contract to publish his memoirs.
Charles Ramsey has signed with Cleveland publisher David Gray & Co.
 
According to The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer (bit.ly/1dvRJZt), Ramsey's co-author will be freelance writer Randy Nyerges.
The former U.S. Senate staff speechwriter co-wrote "Day of the Dawg" with former Cleveland Browns defensive back Hanford Dixon.
The women also have books coming out.