Cleveland Captives & Ariel Castro Suicide - Merge

[happy atheist]

Heard on today's news that there was initially a fourth girl but she disappeared. Am guessing this is not Ashley Summers as the timing does not work out.

However, cannot find any linkage. I heard a piece on radio in the car this evening that one of the girls had reported a fourth being there when they were first captured. So 2002/03 I'm supposing. Maybe I dreamt it?

I saw that, too. Michelle Knight allegedly said that there was another girl there for awhile, and then one day she was gone. I think this would have been before Amanda and Gina were abducted.

I also saw a picture of Michelle Knight. She is light-skinned, if the picture is real. It was a black and white copy of photo, pretty bad quality.

[Irishy]

I kinda feel awful for Michelle Knight. To come out after 11 years locked up, and find that you were never registered as missing and no one was really looking for you. How utterly shit.

[Diana]

Apparently Charles Ramsey was not the only hero, that man Angel Cordero http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKH0vXYvkBowas with him and broke the door and helped Amanda get out , looks like the press is ignoring him, maybe because he doesnt speak english.

And i heard in the news that Michelle have lost hearing from constant beating in the head, dont know if its true.

[tropaka]

I just saw a bit of an interview with Michelle's family - they described her as mentally challenged and there was a mention of an estrangement with her mother. Is it correct that she was never reported missing or is it just the mother never told her sibling(s)?

I am wondering how helpful/harmful it is after a situation like this to come home to crowds of media/onlookers around and overhead.

[tropaka]

Did anyone see this one coming - McDonalds reaches out to Charles Ramsey

http://www.thestar.com/business/2013/05 ... scuer.html

[Peas n carrots]

I kinda feel awful for Michelle Knight. To come out after 11 years locked up, and find that you were never registered as missing and no one was really looking for you. How utterly shit.

Yeah the poor girl. Apparently she had a brother who DIDN'T EVEN KNOW SHE WAS MISSING. Apparently he was estranged from the mother as well. The mother also moved to Florida a couple years ago and really hasn't bothered trying to find her daughter. On top of that I read an interview with Michelle's mother and she said she hasn't gone up to see her daughter yet. WTF??? I would venture to guess most mothers would find any way possible to go find their lost child. Sounds like this mother may be a basketcase.

[Diana]

Did anyone see this one coming - McDonalds reaches out to Charles Ramsey

http://www.thestar.com/business/2013/05 ... scuer.html

I hope mc donals also contacts with Angel, http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/national/angel-cordero-claims-he-was-first-to-help-cleveland-women-not-charles-ramsey so according that Angel was actually the first helping Amanda, and Charles is getting all the merit for being funny with the press.

[mockingbird]

They're investigating the 911 calls. I think it's deserved, especially the woman who answered Amanda Berry's call and didn't stay on the line with her. http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ss ... aj-story-1#incart_maj-story-1

[tropaka]

Michelle was reported missing according to CNN

'Knight was the first reported missing, in August 2002. She was 21. A police report on her disappearance described her as having "mental abnormalities," but her mother told "Today" that Knight only suffered from asthma.'

Apparently she is refusing to see her mother. The mother made a rather vague statement earlier today. It seems there might have been anger because a child was taken from Michelle shortly before her disappearance.

ETA

http://radaronline.com/exclusives/2013/ ... ght-today/

Michelle’s mother, Barbara Knight, 50, left her home in Naples, Florida, on Tuesday to head to Cleveland to see Michelle, but the mother and daughter have not yet been reunited, she told the TODAY show on Wednesday.

Barbara told TODAY’s Savannah Guthrie she never gave up hope she’d see Michelle again and looks forward to introducing Michelle to the sister she has never met, 10-year-old Katie, who was born after her half-sister disappeared in August 2002.

At the time of Michelle’s disappearance, she was 20-years-old and at odds with her mother.

Michelle was in the midst of a custody battle over her young son at the time. There was speculation that she ran away from home.

“Certain people said she didn’t want nothing to do with me but still in my heart I thought no, because I knew my Michelle,†Barbara told TODAY. “They figured she just left because of the baby and everything.â€

Barbara also said she filed a missing persons report with authorities after Michelle vanished.

“They told me if she breaks the law or they spot her, they’ll let me know but nothing happened.â€

She said her sons have been reunited with Michelle, but she has not yet seen her.

“I don’t want her to think that I forgot about her,†Barbara said. “Hopefully whatever happened between us, if something did – I hope it heals because I really want to take her back to Florida with me.â€

Barbara added that at this point, she knows little about what had happened to her daughter.

SHOCKING PHOTOS: Elizabeth Smart Evidence In Kidnapping Case

“There was a detective who called me, but he just said it was my daughter,†she said, adding that she missed his call and that the detective had left work when she called back. “I didn’t get a hold of anyone.â€

Watch the video on RadarOnline.com

Barbara now lives in Naples, Florida with her second husband Tom Hudson and members of his family.

[GolightlyGrrl]

Rush Limbaugh needs to die in a fire.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/07/l ... -benefits/

[Claddagh]

Thank God they were found alive! I hope they can get the help they need and start to heal.

Rush Limbaugh needs to die in a fire.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/07/l ... -benefits/

This just makes me want to vomit. :angry-banghead:

These women have been through a horrible and traumatic ordeal and people are already making victim blaming and snide remarks.

[polabear]

This sucks...

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/ ... ey-8702415

Charles Ramsay has been convicted of domestic violence multiple times. Not breaking the link since its the smoking gun

[tropaka]

it sucks worse - Mr. Ramsey's story varies wildly from the Angel Cordero (who says he opened the door) and the woman whose phone was used to call 9/11 - they are both say Ramsey arrived on the scene after Amanda was out of the house.

[mockingbird]

That's too bad about Ramsey - I'm not sure what the differences are with his 911 call and his later story. I feel like it'd be hard to make up a hero story on the spot calling 911 so part of it has to be true? In his Anderson Cooper interview he said Angel was there first and he helped Angel break down the door.

I found this interview with Michelle's mom: http://www.wkyc.com/news/article/298700 ... -hospital-

There was another article I read on Cleveland.com yesterday, that said they thought she ran away because she lost custody of her child while she was in an abusive relationship. The suspected "mental problems" are (per her mom) part of? why she was readmitted to the hospital this morning, not something that was going on before she was kidnapped. It's interesting that there's been no contact between the two of them... seems like they were estranged before, so I'm not sure how that is going to end. All three of the women will probably have a long road to recovery.

[FiddleDD]

I just read an article where Michelle's mother said she didn't have any pictures of her anymore. I can't even imagine. The way she said it it almost sounded like she'd gotten rid of them or something.

I feel extra bad for her... At least the other girls are going home to loving homes, plus it sounds like she may have been treated worse than the other girls. I mean, five miscarriages?!?

[Mama Mia]

ugghhh... some idiot talking head on cnn is being asked about how it could have been kept a secret for so long .. and she starts off okay saying how the captor acted very normal and blended in.. then veers into 'well in many low income neighbors there is a street and keep it secret mentality, that things will be dealt with at the neighborhood level and to keep the police out' ... wtf.. does she have ANY sort of proof that was what was going on ??? it sounds like various neighbors called when they saw suspicious things, and the police didn't do anything. and mostly he kept them cowering inside afraid to breath. arghghh.

[Effie]

That's exactly what I thought of too! It is horrifying. And Donoghue researched it very thoroughly -- the issues with sensory perception and so on that the child had are totally plausible. I wonder if the child(ren?) in this situation will suffer in the same way? To have to deal with that on top of everything else...I can't imagine.

Actually I think the child(ren) will manage to cope with the situation better than the others. I'm thinking of Felix Fritzl, who apparently did very well after being imprisoned in the basement for his whole life (5 years).

He delights all who meet him. He spends his days stroking the trees in the garden, picking up grass, staring at the sky in wonderment. The doctors believe he is young enough to forget; besides, he never knew what Grandad was doing when he took his mother off to her sleeping quarters and the lights went dim.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/artic ... z2Sn2cwdhf

4 years later:

Felix has since virtually forgotten his time in the cellar. He attends a local school, among children who know nothing of his terrible past.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/fe ... z2Sn25iwdN

[Irishy]

So the brothers seem to be completely uninvolved. I wonder how they were ever implicated in the first place. Both their lives ruined by this association and initial finger pointing.

[Dollypeeps]

They got arrested only cos they where there when he got arrested from what I have read Irishy.

I wonder if the child was the trigger for the escape attempt that led to their freedom.

[Grannie2times]

$8,000,000 bond for the monster.

[Lainey]

I found some interesting sites about two of these women from around the time that they were abducted:

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/d/d ... rgina.html

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/b/berry_amanda.html

It won't let me c&p an excerpt, but there's some interesting info there, untainted by hindsight. It says that Gina was naive, trusting, and still learning to read (so vulnerable), and that police were seeking a Hispanic man who had been asking for her at her school. They believed he was driving a light-coloured car. It also says that her parents had taught her never to accept a ride from anyone, even one of her uncles or one of her father's friends. Wasn't Ariel Castro one of her father's friends?

In Amanda Berry's case, there was an unverified report that she got into a white car with three male occupants. It also mentions the bit about the phone calls, with the man telling her mother that Amanda was his wife. One source had said at the time that all of Amanda's BK uniforms were found in her house, so they thought she came home and changed (that's weird; doesn't make sense).

It is so sad that Amanda Berry's mother died before she ever found out that Amanda was still alive. It sounds like she pretty much completely gave up hope after that fraud, Sylvia Browne, told her that Amanda was dead. :(

[Letgo]

So the brothers seem to be completely uninvolved. I wonder how they were ever implicated in the first place. Both their lives ruined by this association and initial finger pointing.

Didn't the brothers live in that house? I thought they did, and if so, HOW could they be uninvolved? Having padlocks on interior doors is not normal. I can see on a basement door to protect small children from going down to a possibly unsafe area, or if someone had guns or a hobby to protect-something fragile. But he seems to have several padlocked doors and would not allow others in the house. That is odd. If those brothers lived there they HAD to have known something. Others reported hearing screaming; anyone else living there would have heard that, thumps, voices, crying, etc. Am I wrong? Did the brothers live elsewhere?

[Coy Koi]

The brothers didn't live there. As for the neighbor reports, there is still a lot of conflicting information on that. According to some news sources, multiple neighbors report calling police over seeing naked women on leashes in the back yard, but the women say that never happened to them.

[Letgo]

Thank you, Coy Koi. If they didn't live there then it makes sense that they were not charged. But did they have NO idea of their brother's oddness? His perverse behavior? Wasn't there anything?

[Coy Koi]

I read an article saying that Ariel Castro's son said that his father's two brothers were both long-term alcoholics who were barely able to even hold a conversation, so it's not too hard to believe they wouldn't have noticed that something was amiss. And that son and one of his daughters (who was best friends with victim Gina DeJesus) both report that they weren't close with their father but that they did talk to him within the last few weeks and had been to the house briefly, and had no clue what was going on. They seem likely credible to me.