Ariel Castro, the former school bus driver accused of kidnapping three women and keeping them captive in his Cleveland home for about a decade, was charged with murder and more than 300 counts of rape and kidnapping.
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The 329-count indictment charges Castro, 52, with one count of aggravated murder for allegedly causing the unlawful termination of one of his captives' pregnancies and categorizes him as a "sexually violent predator" who committed the murder and rapes in the course of a kidnapping.
Ohio's aggravated murder law includes the death of a fetus "with prior calculation and design."
He also faces 139 counts of rape and 177 charges of kidnapping, seven counts of gross sexual imposition, three counts of felony assault and one count of possession of criminal tools. Those charges are only for the time period of 2000-2007.
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty said that the investigation is still underway and additional charges could follow in a superseding indictment. "Today's indictments represent a first major step in the criminal justice process,'' McGinty said. "Our investigation continues, and we will present our findings to the grand jury.''
McGinty also said after Castro's arrest last month that he would ask the grand jury to charge Castro for every day of the women's captivity and for every instance of sexual assault. A decision on whether prosecutors will seek the death penalty hasn't been made yet.
Amanda Berry, 27, Gina DeJesus, 23, and Michelle Knight, 32, escaped May 6 after having been kidnapped between 200 and 2004. Berry gave birth to a daughter, now, 6, while held captive. The kidnapping counts include the alleged abduction of Berry's daughter, now 6, who was born in captivity.
Knight has told investigators that Castro impregnated her at least five times and that he starved her and punched her repeatedly in the stomach to force her to miscarry, according to a Cleveland police report.
Castro is being held in the Cuyahoga County Jail on $8 million bail.
Lawyers for the three women said in a joint statement that they had "confidence and faith in the prosecutor's office and its decisions."
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