Today we discussed the survival story of three women, Michelle Knight, Amanda Barry and Gina To Jesus, each of them was stolen from their lives at a young age, locked away and subjected to unimaginable horrors. They endured torture, assault, and suffering beyond comprehension. Yet through it all they held on to hope, believing that one day they would be free. Over a decade after that night mare began, that day
finally came. Amanda Berry seized her chance and made a daring escape, leading to the capture of the man who kept them imprisoned. Because of her bravery, the three women were finally free, and a monster named Ariel Castro was locked away. This is the story of the Aerial Castro kidnappings and the three women who survived. Hell.
My name's Ben, I'm Nicole, and you're listening to Wicked and Grim, a true crime podcast.
The following material more mature audience listener. Happy Pie Day.
Huh oh, yeah, I guess it is, that's your response.
Yeah, it's three point one four, it's day.
I would not have evenized that today.
Oh well, it's Pie Day and Saint Patrick's Day is coming up as well.
It is, isn't it on Monday or something? I can't remember.
I think it's Monday the seventeenth. So make sure you wear green when you go back to work on Monday, because you're gonna probably get pinched by that annoying person in the office for workspace who's always like yeah too, chipper, Yeah, the one that we just want to like throw the hot coffee in their face on Monday mornings. Oh wow, that one.
Wow.
We want to. We don't, but we want, you know.
Yeah, there's probably some parties this weekend then, celebrating Saint Patti's Day.
I'm assuming most likely getting their green beer on and everyone's Irish for the day sort of thing.
Back in our day, we used to do stuff like that. We've gone to a couple but now I'm just like, I think the hockey game's on and I'm making homemade parrogis, so that sounds better.
I might put a drop of green food coloring in a beer. Why not? Well, yeah, that's about it.
You're not going to go party your face off, I don't think, are you?
No? But I will make sure I wear green just in case I run into someone who's going to try and pinch me, like you.
Well, I feel like I'm not the annoying person in the office. I'm just whoa your wife?
Are you saying I'm the annoying person in the office because you and I are the only people in the office.
Oh okay, we're thinking about the two of us. I don't know. We take turns on that front.
I think, okay, I can't argue that.
Actually, yet of mine, you would on a daily basis be more annoying than me.
Thank you. I would say, wow, that hurts a little bit. Wow, thank you. Anyways, betrayal aside, well, come.
On, it's okay. The problem with this, and we've talked about this before, is because I'm like, I like quiet and Ben doesn't like quiet. So you probably come across more annoying to me because you're you like loud and you like having music on, and and for someone who enjoys quiet, that can be a lot sometimes.
And for someone who thrives with background noise, like white noise or music or whether it's like lack seeing chill waves or something, when it's just dead silent, I get so nervous and uneasy.
And I'm just like, yeah.
Anyways, I think we should get into this case. Have you heard the story of an aerial castro and the kidnappings? A.
Yeah, it's a pretty big one, isn't it.
It is a pretty big one. And actually there was I talked about it briefly later on, but there was a moment when these three women were finally you know, they got away, right. One of the people who helped them get away and neighbor, he made like viral sensation on YouTube at the time for his YouTube interview or sorry, his news interview. Okay, so this story was not only a massive story on news, but it was a massive
internet culture story as well. So it was it was a huge story in two different fronts, right, yeah, okay, So I think with that we should just get into it. Okay, let's do it. On August twenty third two, on thousand and two, twenty one year old Michelle Knight left a relative's house in Cleveland, Ohio. She was leaving with one goal in mind, getting to a custody hearing for her two year old son, Joey. Now, unfortunately, she never made it.
Lost in trying to find her way, Michelle ran into a familiar face, Ariel, a man that she knew and was the father of one of her friends. She didn't hesitate when he offered her a ride. You know, she was trusting him without a second thought. Now that trust, unfortunately, would cost her everything. Now. Michelle's childhood had never been easy. Her family struggled to make ends meet, and she often
found herself responsible for looking after her own siblings. On top of that, she claimed to have endured abuse at home as well. At just fourteen, she had had enough and ran away, choosing the uncertainty of the streets over the pain she faced at home. Now. Eventually she did return home and tried to get back on track by finishing school. Then, at eighteen, she became pregnant, allegedly as
the result of an assault. Her son, Joey, became her and higher world after that, But in two thousand and two, after an incident involving her mother's boyfriend, who, according to reports, was intoxicated and caused Joey to suffer a serious injury, authorities stepped in. Michelle lost custody and Joey was placed in foster care. That day, as she walked through the streets of Cleveland, she was hoping to take her first steps towards bringing her son home. Instead, she walked straight
into a nightmare. Ariel was forty two at the time, working as a school bus driver and playing music in the local music scenes. A bit of a band guy, I guess. He seemed ordinary enough, and when he offered Michelle a puppy, something she thought Joey would love when he finally got home. She was so excited. He told her they could stop by his house pick it up before going to the hearing. When he gave her a ride. Now, unfortunately there was no puppy.
Oh my goodness. Okay, that would have got me too.
Yeah, So imagine that someone you know, you know, your friend's dad is like, I'll give you a ride to go to your hearing, Like you're walking right, yeah, kind of like, shit, where am I going? Which street is it on? I'll give you a ride. I know where it is. And if, in fact, if you want, I got a litter of puppies at home right now, that'd be the perfect present for your son.
Yeah, like coming home, the homecoming present exactly.
And so Michelle was just thrilled with this idea. It was perfect. She was getting helped to go, you know, get her son back, should have this puppy, this thing that they could share and be a family again. However, that was clearly not what Ariel had in mind.
WHOA, Yeah, okay, she didn't stand a chance, because, yeah, it's hard, especially when you know the person right, and if they're like your friend's dad. I don't think you would think twice.
Really, I don't think so.
Huh.
And Michelle didn't know it yet, but Ariel had likely been waiting for a moment like this for a while, you know, a chance to act on this like dark fantasy sort of situation.
Her in particular.
I don't know if it was with her in particular. I think Michelle was just wrong place, wrong time sort of thing. Okay, So when the two got to his home at twenty two oh seven Seymour Avenue, he led her inside, and then before she could react, the door shut behind her, and the world as she knew it disappeared. Ariel wasted no time. He wrapped an extension cord around Michelle's neck, tied her arms and legs together, and then shoved a sock in her mouth to silence her scream.
Holy shit.
Then he looked at her dead in the eyes and said you're not going to leave for a long time.
Okay, you know, she's obviously just panicking, I'm sure, But then she also is a super important thing too that is probably making her panic even more that she's missing, Yeah.
Just thinking about Joey, her son, right, yeah, I mean she begged for him to let her go, right, sobbing that she needs to go get Joey and go.
So yeah.
Now, in response that, Buriel tore the only photo that she had of Joey into tiny pieces in front of her. Wow, he'd ripped them up and just let them fall to the floor. And he told her you'll never see him again.
Oh my, Okay, that's that's something, ain't Yeah.
He kept her chained in the basement, a place that had no light, no warmth, and no way out. For days. She was left in the dark a motorcycle helmet strapped to her head to muffle the screams that she tried to let out. Now, this, of course, was only the beginning. Ariel assaulted her relentlessly, beating her multiple times a day. Whenever she cried out, he cranked up the music to
drown her out as well. He controlled everything when she ate what she wore, where she slept, what she was allowed to do, what she was allowed to have, and worst of all, what happened to her own body. At some point, he gave her a small piece of comfort, a pit bull, a puppy that she ended up naming Lobo. But the moment the dog bit Ariel, in an attempt to protect her, Ariel snapped the dog's neck right in front of her. Oh gosh, yeah, it wasn't just cruelty.
It was a message directly to her. If she thought that anything could protect her, she was wrong.
Uh huh.
There was no one else in that house. He lived alone, his ex having taken their children and left years ago. There was no chance of visitors stumbling upon the horrors hidden within those walls. Michelle's mother, Barbara, was the one who filed the missing person's report. The details were all there, her last known outfit, her struggles with getting lost or confused, But instead of treating her case as urgent and a
disappearing persons person, police assumed that she had just run away. Instead, they believed that losing custody of her son Joey, had been enough for her to leave on her own will.
Doesn't seem like that is in character of her.
Really, No Now, Fifteen months later, her name was removed from the missing person's database. It was as if she had never existed at all.
Why the hell was it removed.
Police believed that she left on her own free will and not a missing person. Okay, Now, her mother kept searching, but report suggests the rest of the rest of her family barely made an effort, whether they assumed that she had left or you know, they had simply given up one way or another. Michelle was for the majority of it mostly forgotten.
Okay, in that short of a time span. That's that is so sad.
It is with no answers, no sign of her anywhere. Her son was eventually adopted by another family.
No Now.
Once she tried to escape, but the punishment was so brutal for that attempt she feared ever trying again. Her neck and back were injured so badly that the pain stayed with her. She later said, quote, we had no way to get out of that house, and even if we tried, we got hurt. And yes, she said we because by then, when she had said that statement, Michelle was not alone in that house. See, seven months after Michelle had vanished. Sixteen year old Amanda Barry was getting
ready for her shift at a fast food restaurant. It was April twenty first, two thousand and three, the day before her seventeenth birthday. She considered calling in, thinking that she'd rather start celebrating early. Now she had everything might have been different for her for the rest of her life, but instead, she went to work. She finished her shift and started walking home, only a few blocks from her house.
As she walked, she noticed a vehicle parked at an odd angle in a driveway, forcing her to kind of walk around it. Now inside, she saw a man and a young girl. The girl looked familiar. Amanda smiled, thinking she recognized her from middle school. After she had passed it and walked by, the vehicle started moving. The man pulled up beside her and offered her a ride home, and that's when she realized the girl that she thought
she recognized was no longer in the car. When she asked about her, the man casually explained that his daughter had already you know, left the vehicle and was at his house and asked if she wanted to come see her. Amanda hesitated, but she had gone to school with two of his daughters, and she recognized this one specifically in the vehicle right. So she assumed that this man was trustworthy, so she said yes. What she didn't know was that
neither of his daughters actually lived with him. They stayed at another neighbor in another neighborhood with their mother, far from the house Amanda was about to enter. When they arrived at his home on Seymour Avenue, the man told her that his daughter must be in the bath or something because she wasn't around the home. While they waited,
he offered to show her round the house. He led her upstairs, passed a bedroom where another young woman was sleeping a Manda didn't know it then, but that woman was Michelle, now twenty two years old and held captive for months. Ariel then forced Amanda into another bedroom. That's when his tone changed. He told her to take off her pants. When it was over, he wrapped her wrists and ankles and tape tightened the belt around them for good measure, and he took her to the basement.
Holy shit, Okay, just two things. Is The problem is the guy is so trustworthy, like his background and his story and stuff, just it just has the potential to so easily like lure these girls in.
Well it just so happens that, Yeah, they know him from connections from somewhere a friend, right, So it's assuming he's trustworthy, not that he has a background that is trustworthy.
Well, exactly like you never assume though that your friends are someone you go to school with their day is is just peer evil? Yeah, and so I think, I mean, so both of these, like there's a sexual assault aspect to both of them, and I think you're being very like discreet about that, but it is Hey, yes, correct, because I was wondering about that with the first one because I know you said assault but okay.
Yeah, I'm implying it, but I'm not saying it. Let's just put it that way.
Yeah.
So, now, when she was in the basement, a motorcycle helmet was strapped onto her head and she was chained to a pole. Before he left, he told her she if she stayed quiet, that he would take her home. Now, that of course was a lie. Now, the thrill Castro had felt after abducting Michelle had likely dulled over time. It was seven months later and he needed that rush again, and that's why, or most likely why he took Amanda. Now, just like Michelle, she was in the wrong place at
the wrong time. He saw an opportunity and acted without hesitation. On that first day, she was left alone in the dark with only a television for company. She screamed, she cried, and she begged for help, but no one came. Meanwhile, her family reported her missing almost immediately, and soon Amanda found herself watching the news in Castro's basement, seeing her mother and sister plead for her safe return.
Oh man, I've never even really thought of that. You know how they could be watching these things missing people like that? Yeah, that is brutal.
After four days, he brought her upstairs and chained her to a radiator in a bedroom. Over time, he started asking if she wanted anything to pass the time, and she requested something to write in, so he gave her a diary, one of those ones with like a little tiny lock in key, the ones that I mean, you can lock it and not open it, but if you really want to open it, you can open it in like two seconds.
Yeah.
So one of her first entries, she wrote this quote, you never know what you've got till it's gone. I just can't wait to go home. I'm seventeen now but don't have a life, but he told me I'm young and will go home before summer another two months. That, of course, was another lie. A week after abducting Amanda, Ariel made a chilling phone call to her family. He
taunted them. He referred to her as quote Mandy, which was a nickname only those closest to her new, and used the fact that he knew it shook the family to their core. He also claimed that Amanda wanted to be with him. The call nearly led to his downfall. Now, at the time, the FBI were in the beginning stages of developing technology to trace cell phone signals. So they had this technology, but it was quite new at the time, but it only worked while the cell phone was on.
Investigators were able to track the signal within two blocks of Aerio Castro's house and staked out the area four weeks. However, after the call, he never turned the phone on again.
Okay, and did he do that intentionally? Then knowing I don't know, Okay, that seems so odd.
Yeah. So they had traced the call to an area within two blocks, staked it out for weeks, but nothing came of it, and eventually they gave up.
Oh so close, say, but yet so far exactly.
Now, when I was researching that, I was like, why the fuck did they give up? They have the location within two blocks, right, However, they don't know if that cell phone call came from inside a vehicle. They don't know if it was a mobile person, you know, maybe visiting a home.
That's very true, actually.
And even if they could say, you know what it is one of these houses, they do not know that going into a house they're going to find the girls. They could be held at a different location, those sort of things. So there's so many questions in gray areas that of course they can't you know, start busting into homes and being like, let's see those sort of things.
Right, Well, yeah, exactly, it could totally have been to someone on the road and who pulled over exactly in a different area to make this call.
Yeah, so the cell phone signal was traced to two blocks, but they did not know if those two blocks were you know, within reason of the actual case. However, in hindsight, it was now Over the years, thousands of reported sightings surfaced. Some claimed that Amanda had been seen in different cities, while others believed that she was actually dead, but her family refused to give up hope. Without a body, they chose to believe that she was still out there and
still alive. Now, Amanda kept writing in her diary, addressing almost every other entry to her mother, or almost every entry to her mother. In fact, now her mother's name was Luna, and she never stopped searching for her daughter. But in two thousand and six, she passed away from heart failure at just forty three.
Oh no. While she was still in like correct oh no.
Now, her family believed that it wasn't just heart failure failure. They believed that it was it was a broken heart. It was great shit. Amanda never got to see her again.
It's unclear exactly how she found out that her mother had died, but she and Michelle were sometimes allowed to watch TV, as we already discussed, and their own missing persons cases frequently were covered at some point after learning the truth, whether it was on TV or a news report or whatever, of her mom's passing passing, Amanda kept writing in her diary, but she changed the way that she addressed her entry. Instead of addressing her mother, she simply wrote mother in Heaven.
Okay, that is literally enough to just make you sob Yeah.
When Amanda was first taken, Michelle only caught a brief glimpse of her before she disappeared into another part of the house. After that, months passed before they saw one another again. Now, Ariel likely kept them apart to prevent them from forming any kind of alliance. Right if they spend time together without him watching, who knows what they'd get up to, what they'd say, would they talk about them, would they plan an escape? It's only up for imagination
in all honesty. Now, even with two women already locked away in his house, Ariel wasn't satisfied. He wanted more. A year after Amanda's abduction, he set out to find yet another victim, and this time he made a promise if he brought another girl into the house, he would finally let Amanda go bullshit, it was another lie. By then, the rush from taking Amanda obviously had faded, just like before,
and he wanted to feel that power again. The longer he waited, the more he fixated on the next abduction, and when the opportunity presented itself, he took it. Just five blocks from where Amanda had been taken. Ariel ran into his own daughter, Arlene, who was walking home from school with her friend, fourteen year old Gina. To Jesus, Now, the girls had planned to hang out together that day, but when Arlene's mother said no, Gina started making the
long walk home alone. She called her mom to let her know that she was on her way, but she would never arrive home. Arlene was the last person to see Gina before she vanished. Now, Gina knew who Ariel was through her friend Arlene, right, but Ariel also knew Gina's fathers. There's more than one connection here which made them made, you know, Ariel seem extremely trustworthy. It's when his vehicle pulled up beside her on the sidewalk, she
wasn't exactly alarmed. He asked her if she wanted to see Arlene, and when she said yes, he told her he needed help finding her. He didn't know exactly where she was at the moment, so you know, the request did seem unusual. She got in the vehicle knowing the guy, but of course he didn't take her to go find Arlene. When they reached his house, he asked Gina to help him move some equipment, and that's when she started to
feel a little uneasy. Instead of showing her what needed to be moved, he started grooming himself in front of her, what the shit, trimming his eyebrows, his mustache, his nose hairs, and then he turned his attention to her. He touched her inappropriately, and she panicked, warning him that she's much younger than him, and you know he can go to jail, right yeah. His response was a little unsettling. He told her, well, okay, like,
you can leave, but there's just one condition. You have to use a different door than the one you came out it came inside it. Now Relieved, Gina didn't have didn't hesitate, She'd ask questions about what fucking door she gets to leave in? Just that she gets to leave, right So he led her towards the basement door, and as soon as she stepped down to the basement, that's when he grabbed her. Yep, the first time he tried to chain her up. The restraints were too or sorry,
weren't tight enough, and she managed to break free. She bolted for the stairs. Now, Ariel lunged, catching her before she could escape, but she fought back, landing several hard kicks and screaming for help, but it was useless. He had already cranked the volume on the radios in the basement and in the living room upstairs, drowning her out. Completely overpowering her. He locked the chains in place. Then he left her there alone in the basement, just as he had done with the others.
And the others I'm assuming are hearing this too, most likely and know exactly like what's going on, which is brutal.
Yeah. The day Gina disappeared, her mother Nancy called the police right away, but investigators didn't treat her as a missing child at first. They assumed that she had just run away. By the time the search actually began, something especially disturbing happened. Ariel himself joined the search. Of course he did, yep, because he was friends with Gina's father, has already mentioned, he joined in. He helped pass out flyers, attend vigils and standing beside the very people desperate to
find her. In fact, a year after she went missing, he even comforted Nancy at a vigil, all while knowing exactly where her daughter was.
What a complete piece of shit.
He likely involved himself for several reasons. First, to stay close to the investigation, you know, figuring out how it's moving. On any close hand information he can get the better right And Second to avoid suspicion. Now since Gina had been last seen with his daughter, it might be important to kind of avoid that suspicion at all possible now. Third, because he got a sick thrill from.
It that is so disturbing. Hey, yeah, just to be the reason behind this, but then still be like standing by your and taking the role as a friend. Basically to the father, you're not a friend, clearly no.
Now. For the first few weeks after he took Gina, he mostly left her alone, but on May seventh, two thousand and four, he assaulted her for the first time, and after that it became a regular horror. He changed Gina and Michelle together in the same room, forcing them to share a single, filthy mattress. They would remain there for the rest of their captivity. Whenever Michelle tried to protect Gina in any assault situation, Ariel would retaliate, making
her suffer even more. He abused them while the other was still in the room, making them witness and watch each other's pain brutal. Within twenty months, he had taken all three women within five blocks of each other inside his house. They were kept in squalor, tied up, starved, and subject to constant torment. They suffered from depression, various illnesses, bed bugs, and had no way to escape. Michelle was left naked from during the first winter, given only a
thin sheet for any sort of warmth. For the first eight months, she wasn't even allowed to shower. In fact, Amanda was kept in a room barely bigger than a closet, sleeping on a filthy, dirty mattress. She had used a bucket as a toilet, forced to live within the stench in the small walls that she was given as a room. Whenever Ariel allowed her to shower, it always came with an unsettling condition. She had to shower with him.
Oh man, this is just a complete nightmare.
Now. Whenever they cried for help, he made sure that no one would hear. As I mentioned already, he cranked up the volume on stereos on radios, blasting music loud enough to drown out whatever screams would come from within the walls of that home. Amanda just tried to numb herself, but she refused to let what was happening get uncounted. She kept a secret record in her diary, the one that he had given her, making each assault with a
number at the top of the page. So every time she was assaulted, she would mark it down secretly without him knowing. That way she can account for it all, count the times and hoping that when this fucking nightmare ends, he can pay for each and every single one.
Okay, she's smart, Hey.
Yeah, now. Michelle became pregnant multiple times, four maybe five, but each time Ariel made sure that she miscarried by beating her brutally. Whoa yeah. He'd starve her and attack her stomach until the pregnancies would come to an end. The damage was so severe that she was left unable to ever have children again.
I was honestly wondering that.
Unfortunately, there was just no way out. The windows were boarded up, the doors locked tight, and escape was met with constant psychological warfare. To keep them on edge, he played mind games. Sometimes he would pretend to leave the house, only to quiet at least sneak his way back in and check to see if anyone had tried to escape. He'd warned them that if they ever did, he would kill them. So then that way, you know, they might think, is he out of the house, is he gone? Well,
I don't know, he might have snuck back in. We don't know.
Just completely keeping them on edge at all times exactly.
Now, his control didn't stop at physical captivity. He like physical captivity or like these these mind games that we go, That's what I was looking for, the mind games. He manipulated them emotionally, turning them against each other. There was calculated rewards and punishments. He created a twisted system where they could each earn cash allowance to buy food or essentials, but only it came with a catch. He can take
it away too from punishments. So he fueled distrust between them, basically giving out rewards, taking back things, making him making them like jealous or angry at each other when they got rewards and they didn't. That sort of situation now, he really few the distrust, especially between Amanda and Michelle. When he first brought Gina into the house, he gave her the nicest room and let her eat first, making
sure resentment grew. He would buy them small gifts not out of kindness, but making them believe that there was some level of care to them as well, making them dependent of him, and then of course taking things away on top of it.
What a sick mind. This guy has, just the even the thought process though, that he has behind all this stuff. It's I don't know, it's hard to comprehend for me that someone would think that way.
You know, well, if you think that's bad. One of the cruelest games that he played was with Gina. One day, he forced her to play Russian roulette.
Oh my goodness.
Now, if you don't know what Russian roulette is, it's a very demented game where you put a single bullet in a revolver, you spin that revolving chamber.
M hm.
You put the gun up to your head and you pull the trigger. Do you get an empty, empty shot or do you get the bullet? So he did this. He handed her the gun, saying that there was a single bullet inside, and he told her they would take turns pulling the trigger. Now, at that point, Gina is holding a gun in her hand with potentially a bullet in it. She believed that there was never leaving that house,
but she had one thought. If she had to play, she wanted to chant the chance to aim it directly at him instead.
Right, Oh okay.
Now she did pulled the trigger and nothing happened. Of course, there was no bullet in the gun. It was just a sick, fucking twisted mind game. There was no hope of getting it ended right then and there and escaping. Whether it was her life or Aeriel's life.
Well, yeah, he wouldn't be playing that game if there was a bullet in there exactly.
Now. Michelle was the most defiant of all three. She never gave Ariel the respect that he wanted, refusing to even say his name. In fact, she only called him dude. She talked back, she challenged him, and she never fully submitted, and of course Ariel hated that now. Later Michelle explained why he couldn't break her, why she never gave in, and this is what she said, quote, he wanted to break me, and that's something he couldn't do, because you
can't break someone who's already broken. You can only make them stronger. Oh man, Hope was the only thing they refused to let go of, whether it was clinging to the belief that their families would never stop searching, or just small acts of defiance, like fantasizing about poisoning Castro with rat poisoning. It was the only thing that kept them going. Now. At first he kept them separated, locked away in different rooms, but on me twenty third, two
thousand and four, he brought them together. But this wasn't out of kindness. It was so that they could watch a show. It was America's most wanted. The episode featured both Amanda and Gina's Missing person's case. Their families were interviewed, pleaing for their safe return, and watching it was gut wrenching for them. Gina later said that after seeing it, she couldn't even stand to look at at Ariel again, but she had to pretend to be his friend to survive. Michelle, however,
wasn't mentioned at all in the show. Unlike Amanda and Gina, she barely had any media coverage after she disappeared. Now Ariel used this against her. He told her it was because no one cared enough to look for her. Every time Amanda's mother appeared on the news begging for her daughter's return, he made sure Michelle saw it. Now whenever they were brought together, the women spoke to each other
however they could, though Ariel tried to prevent it. He would put gates up, you know, keep them apart, and forbade them from talking at all. Now, when he wasn't watching, they'd slip notes or drawings under doors, finding small ways to communicate despite his isolation efforts. On the rare occasion that Ariel left them alone in the house, they tried to reclaim pieces of themselves. They danced, they sang, they watched the Vampire Diaries, pretending just for a moment that
life was normal. Sometimes he let them step outside, but only in the backyard a garage, and of course he made sure that they were wearing disguises, things like a helmet or wigs, ensuring no one would recognize them. Then Amanda turned twenty and everything changed. She suspected that she was pregnant. For some reason, Ariel didn't force her to miscarry like he had with Michelle. He let her carry the baby to term. On Christmas Day of two thousand
and six, Amanda went into labor. There was no hospital, there was no doctor. In fact, Ariel had bought a plastic baby pool for her to give Burthen and he forced Michelle to help deliver the baby. When Amanda fought through the labor, Ariel was just sitting back in a rocking chair, casually flipping through a book on childbirth, offering
no help or assistance whatsoever. Now, when the baby was delivered, it wasn't breathing at first, and Ariel threatened to kill Michelle if she didn't get that baby's life saved, if she didn't get it breathing again, because.
She would know how to do this kind of.
Stuff, I know, right, So desperate, she blew air into the baby's mouth, doing everything she could in a makeshift CPR, and finally the child took a breath.
Oh thank goodness.
Amanda named her newborn daughter, Jocelyn. For the women, Joscelyn became a bright spot of light in the darkest place imaginable that they were trapped in. She gave them a reason to keep going. But Ariel's delusions only grew after Joscelyn was born. He started calling Amanda his life. He told them they were all a family. Now, this is actually quite common in cases like this that this quote unquote family mentality from the captors seems to take place. Now,
of course, it's just fucking delusion. But for whatever reason, it happens. Now. For the most part, Jocelyn was hidden from the world, just like the three women were, but unlike them, Ariel occasionally let her outside. She went to the backyard, the park, even church services with him. And just to think, this guy was going to church, imagine sitting next to this fucking piece of shit.
Yeah, and wouldn't people be like, where the hell did you get this kid from?
I'm sure he had his stories, yeah, I guess. Yeah. He even took her to visit his family, including his mother Lilian.
What the actual shit.
Yeah, Jocelyn apparently called Lillian grandma or grandmother, and it's unclear if she believed that the child believe whatever stories he fed. But whenever she asked questions or sim chose whether she asked questions, I mean, or simply chose to accept things as they were, she never really raised any alarms on where this kid came from. Now. Meanwhile, Amanda lived in constant fear of Ariel and what he might
do to her daughter. In one of the strangest moments during their captivity, the women watched breaking news in August of two thousand and nine. That's when a story came on, a story we may recognize J C. Dugert. She had escaped after eighteen years in captivity. The women were glued to the updates on this story, fascinated by it, by the idea of someone surviving and living through it all and finally getting free. What's the most strange about this situation? Though?
Regarding the j. C. Dugert situation, Ariel Castro made a comment quote that guy was crazy.
What he doesn't want to become compaired to the same as the same basically.
I guess not. He's talking about Philip Garrido, the man who captured Jacy Dugard and held her for eighteen years. In fact, jac gave birth to a daughter. He very much so got this family mentality, same sort of thing he held her in captivity, and Ariel's doing the exact same thing, and he didn't, for whatever reason.
In his deluded mind.
See the parallels between the two of them, and if he did, he refused to acknowledge it.
Wow, I mean, it's not surprising that he, in his mind would say he's completely different than that.
Yeah. And the women actually pointed out the parallels in the story directly to him like this is us though, and when they pointed it out, he simply asked them, quote, are you going to write a book about this?
Oh? Gosh.
Yeah. Now, Ariel must have felt invincible. He kept them hidden for so long that he wasn't afraid of getting caught. He even allowed friends and family to visit the house, making the women hide whenever someone came over. Now, during one visit, the women were locked in the basement while Ariel's daughter Arlene was upstairs. They were so close to calling out for help to Arlene, but the fear that Ariel was still there and what he would do to them kept them silent. In twenty ten, police raided the
house next door. They were right there, so close to freedom, but again they were too afraid to take a risk and call out for help. Another time, when family came over, Ariel hid them in a van. They sat inside, knowing that just feet away were people who could save them if they only knew, but again they just could not call out.
Well, the consequences for them would be terrible.
Yeah. Now, when police were investigating Gina's disappearance, they did look in a look at her connections, including a friend that she had Ariel. This should have led them straight. Sorry, friend, Arlene, this should have led them straight to Ariel, but instead
they focused on Gina's stepfather, Fernando. Fernando later said that during questioning, he told police they were looking at the wrong man and he pointed directly at Ariel instead, even mentioning his violent tendencies, but nothing ever came of it. Now the FBI claimed that there was no record of this warning coming from Fernando. One of the closest calls came from Ariel's other daughter, Angie. Apparently that family really likes her a names.
Well, yeah, it's kind of messing you up at.
Times, Arlene, Angie and their father Ariel. So now she received a strange voicemail, likely a pocket dial, you know when you sit on your phone pocket on someone right now. On the recording was a young woman that could be heard in the background screaming get away from me. Angie was alarmed. She reported it to police, hoping that they would find who made the call. Traced the number but
concluded it came from a different phone, not Ariels. Many people question if there was a mistake made in tracing that phone call m and believe it did come from Ariel's phone.
Damn, that is so close. Hey.
Yeah. At one point police thought Amanda's case had been solved. In twenty twelve, Robert Wilford, a convicted murderer, suddenly claimed that he'd also killed Amanda Barry. Investigators had no reason to doubt him. He even passed the lie detector test, which as we know, is quite reliable.
Yep.
But he told them he could lead them right to her remains. It wasn't the outcome anyone wanted, but for Amanda's family, it meant closure. So police searched where he directed them to, which was an area which was eerily close to where she'd actually be held was being held captive, but they found nothing, no remains. Then everything changed. On May six of twenty.
Thirteen, two and thirteen.
Hey, yes, Joscelyn, who had been more given more freedom in the house than the other women, went downstairs. A moment later, she ran back up to Amanda and said this, I don't find daddy. Daddy's nowhere around. And then Amanda noticed something else. For the first time in ten years, her bedroom door was unlocked. She didn't know if it was another one of Ariel's tests, but it didn't matter. She knew this was their chance. He wasn't in the house.
The door was unlocked. She made her way downstairs, heart pounding all the while. Jocelyn was right, there was no sign of him. Now, the front door had an alarm, but beyond that was a storm door, and that's what posed a real problem. It was padlocked shut. She managed to get through to that storm door and yanked it open just enough to squeeze her arm through and start screaming outside for help. Now upstairs, Gina was frozen in fear, terrified the ariel had actually caught Amanda, and that's why
she was screaming. She told Miss Michelle to stay put instead of running for help, Just stay here, right, We don't want to get hurt too.
Yeah.
Now, across the street, seventy five year old Aurora Marty heard these screams, and when she saw the arm reaching through the dorm, she rushed over. The first thing Amanda said upon Aurora meeting her was I'm Amanda Barry. Oh no, now Marty, sorry. Aurora Marty barely spoke English, but she knew that name.
Yeah.
She shook her head in disbelief, and she said, you can't be Amanda.
Amanda's dead, right, Okay, that's what the world thinks right now.
Yeah, hm. Now, because of Aurora's elderly ages seventy five, she had some arthritis and she struggled to help Amanda pull that door open. Then a man by the name of Charles Ramsey saw what was happening. There was I mean, there are some different accounts on what exactly happened next, but what is certain is that Amanda begged for help getting that door open, and Charles grabbed the other side of that door and tried to force it open, but
it's padlock shut and they couldn't get it. So when that didn't work, he started kicking at the bottom of the door and told Amanda to do the same on the inside. So she did, both of them beating at the door on the bottom panel. It finally gave way just enough for her to crawl through. Charles Ramsey would
later give an interview that went viral. As we kind of talked about at the very beginning, his shock and disbelief mixed with his unexpected way of delivering it in a bit of a humorous way, ended up in a viral YouTube video called dead giveaway that now to this day has over thirty seven million views on YouTube. But yeah, at that moment, there was nothing funny about it. Obviously maybe in hindsight, I mean a little bit, that's his way of maybe playing off the traumatic moment. But it
went viral on YouTube. It went viral across the news and the world. These girls were safe. But before we get ahead of ourselves, let's talk about still within this moment where her six year old daughter in her arms, Amanda ran. She sprinted to the neighbor's house and called nine to one one. Now Charles was also calling nine wood one at that exact moment, so they had multiple people getting of the line. Her voice was shaking in
fear that Ariel would come back at any moment. She was still terrified that he was going to hurt her, kill her anything. Even though she was now safe, she had people around her protecting her, she was still terrified that he would get to her.
Well. She also has like her daughter to think about too now right.
Exactly now, police were immediately dispatched. Two minutes later they arrived. When they pulled up, they saw a woman waving them down, little girl in her arms. Now, at first they didn't know what to think. They're like, Okay, what's going on. You know someone's claiming you know, they're Amanda Berry. Sure, whatever, it's probably some crazy person. Who knows. But when they pulled up and they realized the situation, they were back on the radios to dispatch. This is real. This could
be Amanda Barry. Then she said something, said something that made their blood run cold. There's more girls in that house. Two officers forced their way inside through the same broken storm door that Amanda had escaped through. They searched the basement first, it was empty, and one of them climbed
the stairs, yelling Cleveland Police. Now Michelle had no idea what was happening, but when she finally worked up the courage to find out, she opened her door and there was an officer standing right in front of her.
Oh man, I just got goosebumps from this.
The moment she realized what was happening, she ran into his arms, held him tight and said, you saved me, You saved me, and she refused to let go.
Oh my goodness, I can't even imagine this, the emotion going through her brain.
Hey yeah, Now the officer could barely hold back his emotions and tears. Oh yeah, him too, and he asked if there was anyone else inside, and that's when Gina stepped out of another bedroom for the first time in over a decade. The three women were outside the house. Michelle was now thirty two years old, Amanda was twenty seven, and Gina was twenty three. Police wasted no time in
broadcasting a description of Ariel Castro's vehicle. He was very quickly found pulling into a McDonald's parking lot and arrested on the spot at six sixteen pm. One of his male relatives was in the car with him at the time as well, and soon after police announced that they had also arrested to other men, Ariel's brother brothers, Pedro
and O'Neil. All three were taken in for questioning. O'Neill had been the one with him in the vehicle at the time when he was caught, which raised suspicions, but after investigations, police determined that neither brother had any involvement.
Okay, yeah, I'm like, I didn't think they did.
They were released without charges.
They were probably just as shocked as what the fuck's going on here?
Most likely most likely probably knew.
Their brother was kind of weird, but then didn't think. I'm sure he was capable of this exactly.
Now, the rescue made headlines across the world. Instead of celebrating her freedom, Michelle was rushed to the hospital, though she complained of chest pains and trouble breathing at the time. Now, she was so small when she escaped that house. She was just eighty four pounds.
Wow. Seriously.
In fact, police had mistaken her for a child at first when they found her.
Oh Man.
At the hospital, doctor discovered that she had a bacterial infection in her stomach, and in fact, she had only a few days left to live.
If went untreated seriously, and they would not have known this, she would have died.
She was about to die. If she didn't escape that day, she would have died.
What what? Okay? That is unreal.
Yeah. Thankfully she recovered, But the damage that she inflicted during this whole ordeal was going to last a lifetime. H huh because of his relentless assaults. As I mentioned already, she would never be able to have children. Her eyesight was permanently affected after spending so many years in the dark, repeated beatings, damaged her bones in her face, and at one point Ariel had even shattered her jaw with a barbell.
Whoh, what a monster.
So that alone tells you that how light I was going on the descriptions of their assaults, their various assaults, but none of that compared to the mental toll. There were moments when she considered ending her own life, but every time she reached that breaking point, she thought of her son Joey, and that thought kept her going.
Well, because he was I feel like he was. I mean, he was cruel to all of them, but it seemed like almost her the worst, especially saying you know, no one was looking for her and all this stuff.
Yeah, just terrible. Exactly. Now, after all three of the women were freed, Ariel's house was boarded up and people started coming forward with stories about the house on Seymour Avenue, the house the three girls were captured and held in. One woman, Elsie Centron, who lived just three doors down, said that years earlier her daughter had seen a naked woman crawling in Aeros backyard. Now she called and reported
to police, but nothing ever came of it. Another neighbor, Israel Lugo, recalled hearing loud pounding from inside the home in twenty eleven. It was so alarming that he called police, and officers arrived knocked on the door. When no one answered, they left it of that. Police later admitted that they'd been to Ariel's house twice in the past fifteen years, but they insist that neither visit was related to the women's disappearance. After his arrest, other neighbors painted a completely
different picture of him. They told them he was friendly, He was respectful, always smiling, and kids in the neighborhood even trusted him. He let children ride in the back of his motorcycle through the neighborhood. But Ariel was almost caught multiple times. Long before he kidnapped these three women, he had a long history of violence. Whether he seemed friendly in the neighborhood or not, he had these run
ins with the law. In nineteen ninety four, a neighbor went to check on his property and noticed a chaining fence was missing. When he confronted Ariel about it, Ariel snapped, grabbed a shovel, and attacked him. In two thousand and four, while working as a school bus driver, he was charged with child endangerment and abduction. He had allegedly left a thirteen year old boy alone in the bus, then returned earned drove to Wendy's and told the child to lay down, bitch.
That's quote unquote, before eating in his seat. The fact that this heading inside to eat that.
Is also was like a school bus driver.
Yeah. Now, he later denied saying quote lay down bitch, but when questioned, he claimed that he just totally fraught the kid was there. That's basically what happened. Now. He was suspended for sixty days, but the charges were dropped due to lack of evidence. He kept his job until twenty twelve, when he was fired for leaving the bus unattended in a fire lane for hours. Then there were police reports about his violent abuse of his common law wife.
Now his wife's name was Grimilda Figueroa. The report dated back to nineteen eighty nine. She called the police on multiple occasions, but never followed through with charges. Ariel had allegedly threatened to kill her and their children if she ever did. One report detailed how she asked him where he was going, simple question, and he lashed out and slapped her across the face when she tried to escape he slammed her into the wall and also against a washing machine.
It's almost surprising that she was able to get away from him, Hey, it is.
Another time he brutally stomped on her head with his boots in front of their kids. Now her son managed to run out of the house, and in that split second, she locked Ariel out of the home and called the police. When officers arrive, Ariel tried to run and they caught him by then. The damage that he inflicted on his wife or common law wife, Figueroa was horrific. According to a court petition, she had a broken nose, broken ribs, two dislocated shoulders, and a missing tooth. The repeated head
injuries caused her to develop a brain tumor as well. Allegedly, she finally built up the courage to testify against him in court, but just before she could, Ariel allegedly threatened her once again, this time at the court house entrance, and she never took the stand. Oh Man, Without her testimony, prosecutors didn't have enough evidence and Castro Ariel Castro walked.
Free, okay, Because I'm like, how on earth is someone like this able to even be a bus driver? But like, he just gets away with shit.
Now. He may have been able to get away with that incident, but of course with a new one, with these three survivors, it was going to be a different story, y'all.
Oh yeah, there's no way he can escape this now.
During his trial, he tried to paint himself as the victim. He claimed to have an addiction to adult content and insisted, quote, I'm not a monster. I'm sick, oh man, this nasty bastard. He denied the evidence found in his home, the chains, ropes, locks and everything he used to keep them trapped, and he said that he treated them well. When he was asked about forcing Michelle to miscarry multiple pregnancies, he admitted to it, but he claimed it was always a mutual,
consensual decision. He refused to take responsibility, making excuses all along the way, insisting that he wasn't a bad person, but he knew exactly what he was what he was doing. He kidnapped, he tortured, and he controlled them for decades, and so how can you not be a bad fucking person.
He just thinks in his mind, he's not a bad person.
Yeah, gosh, yeah, honestly, he's a textbook narcissist. He had an inflated sense of self importance, demanded admiration, felt entitled to everything and anything that he wanted, and exploited others
without any sort of sense of remorse. Now, he also had he was also sadistic, let's put it that way, taking pleasure in the suffering that he caused, which is clear because he went out again and again to go seek that feeling of that power, first capturing someone and not only that, but then going out and doing search parties and consoling people like just sick shit. Now, at one point, he admitted that he could have been caught
very early on. He said police would have found him if they just reviewed surveillance footage from Wilbur Wright Middle School, middle school near where he took Gina. Then, in the statement dripping with absolute arrogance, he said, quote, if they would have questioned me, it's possible that it would have ended right there. I feel that the FBI let those girls down.
Oh my goodness, just putting this completely on someone else.
Yeah, deflecting any sort of responsibility. It's your fault that they didn't get found. Like what the fuck?
Yeah, that doesn't make any sense, Like I'm literally holding these girls in captivity. But it's your fault, yeah, that you didn't find them.
Yeah. Now there's no surprise that he was convicted. Uh huh and had his sentencing hearing. Only Michelle So showed up. She had something to say to him. And I'm going to quote one sentence here. Quote. I spent eleven years in hell. Now your hell is just beginning. On August first, twenty thirteen, Ariel Castro was sentenced to life in prison. He pleaded guilty to nine hundred and thirty seven counts of kidnapping and assault in exchange for avoiding the death penalty.
His sentence was extended by one thousand years, ensuring he would never walk free again. Good but Ariel Castro would never even come close to serving his entire time.
Why is that? I have my thoughts? But why is that?
Okay? Well, in prison, he complained constantly. He believed his food was being tampered with, and he accused guards of neglect, and he hated losing any sort of control. Less than two months after, on September third, twenty thirteen, he was found dead in his cell. He hanged himself with a bed sheet.
Okay, I was thinking someone else maybe did the job.
No, he did it on his own.
Huh really seriously, that almost pisses me off that he just did this. I agree, Like, what a complete asshole. He couldn't even handle two months in there.
Yeah, when he forced these three girls over ten years?
Whoa Yeah.
Now, officers found his body approximately twenty seven sorry, exactly twenty seven minutes because they kept track of it after their last rounds of checks. Now, he was found kneeling with a bed sheep tied around his neck and attached to a window hinge. Oddly enough, his shorts were around
his ankles at the time. Now, at first, there was speculation that he may have died of erotic autoerotic exphyxiation, which is where you know, you kind of yeah, you're choking yourself while you're choking yourself, let's put it that way.
Oh my ben Okay.
But after speaking with inmates, authorities learned that Ariel had lost quite a lot of weight in prison, causing his pants to frequently slip down. He was always pulling them up, which they believe explains why his pants were down. Okay, so he went unconscious, his pants slipped and then he died with his pants around his ankles. Now. He left behind a note with a little bit of religious scripture, writing quote, those who confess with their heart will be saved.
In another way, he's another one. He simply wrote quote my kids and grandkids and drew a heart around those words. Other scribbles in the page included names of family members, hearts, flowers, and music notes. I'm going to say one thing right now, Aero Castro, you will never be saved. I'm pretty sure you're going to burn for all eternity if there is any sort of afterlife.
No kidding, this guy deserves nothing.
For the women he tormented, tormented, His death was rather complicated. On one hand, they robbed him of any satisfaction of knowing that he was suffering behind bars. Yes, the same thing you were discussing. But on the other hand, it meant that their nightmare was truly o Ariel Castro was gone and no longer even in this world. That he could never track them down, nothing, He couldn't even write
a book and publish it. When his point of view, those sort of things right, No worry about that man anymore. So rebuilding their lives this was the next step. But it wasn't easy. After a decade in captivity, re entering the world came with its own challenges. All three women suffered from very complex PTSD. After the years that they suffered, Michelle had dreamed of regaining custody of her son Joey, but it unfortunately would never happen. Instead, his adoptive parents
agreed to send photos and updates. It was a painful reality, but Joey had spent most of his life in another home and uprooting him would have been, you know, against his own best interests.
Seriously, But like I was hoping she would at least get to go and see, like, you know, have a relationship with him. Yeamn.
Now, I mean that's possible that when he's an adult he can seek that out. Yeah, But she she gets photos and updates to the very least right now. As part of her healing, Michelle Michelle changed her name one that I'm not going to share here because hey, that defeats the purpose of, you know.
For change her name.
She later would write two books under her birth name, one Finding Me and another Life After Darkness. On May sixteen, May sixth, sorry twenty sixteen, exactly three years after her escape. She got married.
Oh wow, okay, I love.
That Amanda was finally able to raise Jocelyn in a safe and loving home. For Gina, one of the biggest milestones was something most people take for granted, giving a driver's license. It was something that she wanted to do all those years she was locked up. She dreamed of getting her driver's license.
Oh man.
She went back to high school and started building the life that she once had stolen from her. In twenty fifteen, Amanda and Gina co wrote a book with two Polaritizer Prize winning journalists from The Washington Post titled Hope Today. All three women work to help survivors and missing persons cases. Michelle founded Lily Ray of Hope, an organization that provides victims with housing, clothing, education opportunities. Amanda became a news
host covering missing persons cases in Cleveland. Gina is now an ambassador for the Northeast Ohio Amber Alert and founded the Cleveland Family Center for Missing Children's and Adults. And that is the story of the Aerial Castro kidnappings. Sorry I'm stumbling my words at this point. Aerial Castro kidnappings and the three women who survived.
Hell yeah, that is like hell and back. Really my gosh. But I mean cases like this, there's always a little bit of light at the end, you know, where they have their living their life now and they're using their experiences to help other people. Still, it's oh so hard to listen to stuff like this.
Yeah, what they went through, we can't even imagine it's going to affect their lives till the day until the day they die. But they're using it to their advantage to help others, for their advantage, to get them through their tough times. And I know we usually do it to name a single, but today I'm going to name Michelle, Amanda, and Gina. All three are badasses of the day.
Oh yeah, yeah, one percent. The fact that they went through all that and got.
Out, they never lost hope. Yeah, kept pushing forward and the day finally.
Came and that piece of shit scumbag couldn't even last two months exactly, and was treated far better and.
Was complaining about it. Not only did he not last, he was complaining about it.
That is just mind blowing. Hey, yeah, what a complete piece of shit.
Agreed, Well, thank you for being here on this episode. Hopefully you got all the way through this and you're not vomiting by the thought of this man, Aeriel Castro ever existing at all and what he did to someone, because trust me, it makes my stomach churn thinking that someone like that ever existed at all. But at least he's not in this world anymore, and the world is a little bit better off because of that.
Yeah, i'd say so.
If you want to check out our links, they're all on the description of this podcast. We got all our information. Social media is a website. It's all down there. I want to shoot us some message, you can go ahead and do that. If you want to give this podcast a review. We're an indie podcast who are operated, We're researched, we're published, all of that on our own and things like that. Things like reviews really help our show thrive. So thank you so much for what you do being
here and listening. It means the world.
Well done on this. It was a doozy of a case.
It was. I contemplated doing a two parter, but I was like, you know.
Ww bucket, it could be.
I guess, eh, it definitely could be. I was like, you know what, We're just going to do a one large fucking episode and bang this one out.
Well there you go, well done so until next
Episode, Happy pie Day, and stay wicked.