Three young women who vanished in separate
incidents about a decade ago in the US state of Ohio have been found alive in a
house in Cleveland.
Amanda Berry disappeared aged 16 in 2003, Gina
DeJesus went missing aged 14 a year later, and Michele Knight disappeared in
2002 aged around 19.
.
Their discovery followed a dramatic bid for
freedom by Amanda Berry on Monday, helped by a neighbour.
Three brothers have been arrested in
connection with the case.
Cleveland police said the suspects are Hispanic, aged 50, 52 and 54, and one of
them had lived at the house on Seymour Avenue.
One was named as Ariel Castro, who has worked
as a school bus driver.
Police have said a six-year-old was also found
at the home. They have not revealed any further details, although a relative of
Amanda Berry said she told him she had a daughter.
The girls' family reacted with shock and
delight at news of their discovery, and many people gathered outside the home
where they had allegedly been imprisoned.
"In all this time, 10 years, nobody never
figured nothing about where she was at and this has come to an end and it's
right here on Seymour," said Gina DeJesus' uncle.
A doctor said the three women were in a fair
condition and were being kept in hospital for observation.
"This isn't the ending we usually hear to
these stories," said Dr Gerald Maloney in a brief news conference outside
Metro Health hospital in Cleveland. "We're very happy."
Speaking amid cheers from spectators, he added
the women were able to speak to hospital staff but he declined to give further
details.
The disappearances of Amanda Berry and Gina
DeJesus had been big news in Cleveland, and many had assumed them to be dead.
Little was made of the disappearance of
Michelle Knight, who was older than the other two girls.
Her grandmother, Deborah Knight, was quoted by
the Cleveland Plain Dealer on Monday as saying that the authorities had
concluded she had left of her own accord because of a custody battle over her
son.
The dramatic events unfolded after Amanda
Berry attempted to flee the house when her alleged captor went out.
Neighbour Charles Ramsey said he heard
screaming.
"I see this girl going nuts trying to get
outside," he told reporters.
He said he suggested the woman open the door
and exit, but she told him it was locked.
"We had to kick open the bottom," he
said. "Lucky on that door it was aluminium. It was cheap. She climbed out
with her daughter."
Both Mr Ramsey and Ms Berry called 911.
In her frantic call, released to the news
media, Ms Berry told the operator: "I'm Amanda Berry. I've been kidnapped.
I've been missing for 10 years. I'm free. I'm here now."
She identified her kidnapper as Ariel Castro
and said other women were in the house.
Mr Ramsey said he was stunned by the
developments. He said he had shared barbeques with Mr Castro and never
suspected a thing. "There was nothing exciting about him... well, until
today," he said.
An uncle, Julio Castro, who has a shop nearby,
confirmed his nephew had been arrested, and said Ariel Castro had worked as a
school bus driver. The Cleveland school district confirmed he worked for them,
but did not give specifics.
"I am thankful that Amanda Berry, Gina
DeJesus and Michelle Knight have been found alive," Cleveland Mayor Frank
Jackson said.
"We have many unanswered questions regarding
this case and the investigation will be ongoing."
High-profile cases
Ms Berry was last heard from when she called
her sister on 21 April 2003 to say she would get a lift home from work at a
Burger King restaurant.
In 2004, Ms DeJesus was said to be on her way
home from school when she went missing.
Their cases were re-opened last year when a
prison inmate tipped off authorities that Ms Berry may have been buried in Cleveland.
He received a four-and-a-half-year sentence in prison for the false
information.
Amanda Berry's mother, Louwana, died in March
2006, three years after her daughter's disappearance.
Although much is still not yet known about
this case, it recalled a series of recent high-profile child abduction cases.
Jaycee Lee Dugard was 11 years old when she
was dragged into a car as she walked to a bus stop near her home in South Lake
Tahoe, California in 1991.
She was discovered in August 2009, having
spent 18 years held captive in the backyard of Phillip and Nancy Garrido in
Antioch, some 170 miles from South Lake Tahoe. She had two children.
In Austria, Natascha Kampusch was abducted on
her way to school at the age of 10. She was held for eight years by Wolfgang
Priklopil in the windowless basement of a house in a quiet suburb of Vienna.
She managed to escape in 2006 while Priklopil
was making a phone call. He committed suicide hours after she had fled.
Elizabeth Smart was 14 when she was taken from
the bedroom of her Utah home in June 2002 and repeatedly raped during nine
months of captivity.
She was rescued in March 2003 less than 20
miles from her home. Her abductor, Brian David Mitchell, was jailed for life in
2011.
This is unbelievable……………..
source:BBC news
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