Ariel Castro, now collectively remembered as a monster who kidnapped Amanda Berry and two other women, beating and raping them for 10 years in his Ohio home, has been indicted on 329 counts of rape and kidnapping. Since police entered his home in early May, a number of pieces of evidence and accounts of his past have come to the surface. It appears that his secret was well-guarded as he maintained a normal relationship with family and neighbors, aside from a few strange behavior patterns such as taking a suspiciously long time to open the door and boarding up windows.
Below is all the vital information on the case and the man behind it.
Puerto Rican background: Castro, 52, left his native Puerto Rico 40 years ago when he was just a boy. He left with his mother Lillian following the divorce of his parents. Family members said his father, Pedro, was "a good dad" prior to the separation. While the young Castro lived on the island, he played music in various Latin bands, something he carried over to his life in Ohio. He left behind several family members, including aunts, uncles and cousins, who were devastated by the news of his arrest. Aida Castro, a cousin of Ariel, told the New York Daily News that she and her family have become slowly ostracized by residents of the island. Residents give them dirty looks on the street. While Castro was too young to make a name for himself on the island prior to his departure, he is sparking outcries by leaders, including Puerto Rico's governor, Alejandro Garcia Padilla, who called the association of Castro with the island and its people "offensive."
"In the same way that the United States isn't the shootouts and killings that happen so frequently in the schools. In the same way that we can't say that the United States is Timothy McVeigh or Jim Jones, the one who did the massacre in Guyana," Padilla said. "In the same way that one can't say that the Middle East is Osama Bin Laden or in the same way that one can't use so many negative examples of so many countries to define a country, Puerto Rico is not that person's atrocity."
Prior domestic abuse charges: Castro had a common-in-law wife by the name of Grimilda Figueroa, with whom he fathered four children, three daughters and a son. They remained together from 1981 to 1990 and were never married. Figueroa died last year. According to the Los Angeles Times, reports of domestic violence against her started surfacing in the 1990s. In 1993, she claimed Castro had abused her in her home on Seymour Avenue in Cleveland. She is said to have suffered from a blood clot in her brain and two dislocated shoulders. She allegedly lost a tooth in the incident as well. In 1994, however, she failed to testify and said in a statement later that Castro saw her the day of the hearing and offered her money to keep her quiet. Ismail Figueroa, her father, recently told reporters that Castro would lock her inside a second-floor apartment in the house where the two resided. He kept a close eye on her and often refused to let her leave the house.
"He also told me, 'You know what will happen to you if you do testify,' " Figueroa said in the statement. "I knew that he would find me and assault me again ... I was unable to offer my testimony before the grand jury. I did not tell anyone about the threats."
Her case against him was dropped. In 2005, a domestic abuse file on Castro at the Cuyahoga County Domestic Relations Court stated that he had previously threatened to kill his wife and daughters. Paul W. Ragan, New Life Lodge, a Drug & Alcohol Treatment Center in Burns, Tennessee, said that it is common for domestic abusers to extend their violence to those outside the family. He wrote that Castro probably had issues with sociopathy, which is perhaps why he was able to convince the women he kidnapped to get into his car. He said it was not yet clear whether or not drugs or alcohol played a role in Castro's abusive tendencies.
"In Castro's case it may be as he got older, he progressed from predominantly intrafamilial violence to kidnapping adolescent girls whom he controlled through systematic physical and sexual violence," Ragan wrote. "He had the sociopathic instincts of how to psychologically terrorize, demoralize, and 'break down' his victims with beatings chainings, rapes, and basement imprisonment."
He reports that men make up 90 percent of domestic abuse cases, and that many who are found guilty of such abuse are "bent on the total control of a woman." Puerto Rico in particular has a domestic abuse problem, according to Human Rights Watch. Approximately 20,000 cases of domestic violence are reported annually on the island, with 3,000 reports of sexual abuse.
Fairly well-known in the neighborhood: Castro's sociopathy can also be seen in his involvement in the neighborhood. He volunteered to search for the missing women after he had kidnapped them and joined neighborhood watch patrols. He attended the vigils in the community while the women remained locked in his home, Global News reported. Still, many in the community never knew him very well and simply regarded him as a nice man, whose uncle owned a local store. He was remembered for playing in Latin music groups. On a Facebook page that allegedly belongs to him, he expressed a love for his family and "liked" pages about bikes and guitars, the Toronto Sun reported
"He seemed adept at the psychological torture of allowing his prisoners to watch city vigils highlighting their disappearances. He participated in these gatherings and vigils and even interacted with one of the victim's family members," Ragan wrote of Castro's public demeanor. "His seeming ability to maintain a detached demeanor while present in the community suggests antisocial personality."
Castro made his living for some time as a school bus driver in Cleveland. He lost his job in 2012 when he made an illegal U-turn with children in the vehicle. Residents were shocked to find out that their neighbor, described as a "normal" man, was behind the kidnappings all along.
"I've been here a year. I barbeque with this dude, we eat ribs and what not and listen to salsa music," said Charles Ramsey, the man responsible for freeing the three women. "Not a clue that that girl was in that house or that anyone else was in there with."
Claims of abusive childhood: Not long after his arrest, Castro told police he was "cold blooded." He blamed his twisted acts on the fact that he had an abusive childhood, a fact that has not yet been proven. Family members allege that this claim is false. Psychologists also suggest that there's evidence that his claim is untrue and typical of someone with a sociopathic personality.
"Castro expressed a measure of regret once he was captured, and called himself a 'sexual predator,' not far off the mark there!" Michael Stone, a forensic psychiatrist at Columbia University, told Latin Times. "But blamed his behavior on childhood trauma or adversity of some 'unspecified' sort but what about the 2 brothers? How come they ended up better?"
His family has since expressed a desire for the utmost punishment for Castro. His brothers, Pedro and Onil, who were also initially arrested in the case before police found no conclusive evidence of involvement, said their brother deserved to suffer for his crimes, the Guardian reported. His daughter told reporters that he is "dead to her."
"This monster is a goner. I hope he rots in that jail. I don't even want them to take his life like that. I want him to suffer in that jail to the last extent. I don't care if they even feed him," Onil, 50, said.
The case: The 52-year-old is accused of kidnapping Michelle Knight, now 32, in August 2002; Amanda Berry, now 27, a day before her 17th birthday in April 2003; and Gina DeJesus, now 23, in April 2004. His primary modus operandi was offering the women rides to their homes, and instead he would take them to his home, where he berated them and made them afraid to leave. He often spied on them, testing them by "leaving" the house to see what they would do. It is confirmed that he fathered a child, now 6 years old, with Berry after raping her. He allegedly impregnated Knight multiple times and forced abortions by starving her and punching her in the stomach until she miscarried.
He was arrested in early May after Berry called the police. She said she and the other women were allowed to leave the house only twice and were under heavy surveillance. He allegedly served the women cake on the date of their abductions as an "anniversary" celebration. He pleaded not guilty to his crimes prior to being indicted.
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