Ariel Castro: ‘I Am a Sexual Predator. I Need Help’
In a chilling letter allegedly written by Ariel Castro, the Cleveland kidnapping suspect admits to his crimes but blames his three female victims for getting into the car with him in the first place.
In a chilling letter allegedly written by Ariel Castro, the Cleveland kidnapping suspect admits to his crimes but blames his three female victims for getting into the car with him in the first place.
Details of the letter–which was reportedly a suicide note written in 2004–were tweeted late Wednesday night by Scott Taylor, a reporter for Cleveland TV station WOIO. According to Taylor, Castro wrote: “I am a sexual predator. I need help.” In a separate tweet, Taylor says that Castro wrote, “They are here against their will because they made a mistake of getting in a car with a total stranger.”
The reporter continued to tweet snippets of the letter, including one in which Castro is alleged to have written that he wanted to kill himself and give all of his money to his victims.
According to CBS News, Castro claimed in the letter that he was abused by his parents growing up and that he was raped by his uncle.
The three women — Amanda Berry, 27, Gina DeJesus, 23, and Michelle Knight, 32 — escaped from Castro’s house Monday after being held captive and in horrific conditions there for about a decade. According to the police report, the women were subjected to rape, brutal beatings, forced abortions and death threats, and were held in chains.
CBS News:
Knight has told investigators Castro forced her to deliver a baby born to one of the other women, and he warned her if the baby were to die, he would kill her.
Knight told police, according to the report, that Castro impregnated her “at least 5 times,” but that each time he would starve her and then punch her in the stomach to induce a miscarriage.
…According to the police report, Knight said Castro threatened to kill her if Berry’s baby died. Knight told police the newborn girl stopped breathing at one point, so she “breathed for her,” giving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to keep her alive.
Castro, 52, has been charged with four counts of kidnapping and three counts of rape. He made his first court appearance Thursday morning, where a judge ordered he be held on $8 million bond. His two brothers had also initially been taken into custody, but prosecutors aren’t bringing any charges against them because they say there’s no evidence to indicate the two men were involved.
— Posted by Tracy Bloom.
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