Triple kidnapping suspect Ariel Castro of Cleveland, Ohio, may face the death penalty if convicted in the alleged kidnapping and rapes of three women inside his home. Castro currently sits in jail in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, under $8 million bail.
Prosecutors said they will likely pursue further charges on top of the suspected kidnappings of Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight. "This horrific brutality and torture that the victims endured for a decade is beyond comprehension," said Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty.
The New York Daily News reported that if McGinty and the prosecution have their way, Ariel Castro, 52, could face "hundreds if not thousands of charges" arising from his alleged role as mastermind of the kidnapping and imprisonment of the three women. "I fully intend to seek charges for each and every act of sexual violence...all his attempted murders, and each act of aggravated murder he committed by terminating pregnancies that the offender (Castro) perpetuated against the hostages." McGinty said. Castro is accused of coercing a number of miscarriages after he allegedly raped the women. One of the former captives, Berry, reportedly has a six-year-old girl from her time in Castro's home.
Thus far, Castro, a former school bus driver, has seven counts filed against him for rape and kidnapping. Castro's mother, Lillian Rodriguez, blamed her son's actions on what she referred to as her son's "sick"-ness. "I'm suffering very much," she said, offering condolences to the women.
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