Rare News Desk
CLEVELAND — Tests have confirmed that alleged kidnapper Ariel Castro is the father of a 6-year-old girl who was rescued from his house with three women this week, the state’s top prosecutor said Friday.
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Attorney General Mike DeWine’s office confirmed Castro’s paternity in a news release. He said that a sample of Castro’s DNA was taken Thursday and forensic scientists worked through the night on the case.
The girl is the daughter of Amanda Berry, who authorities said was held for about a decade in Castro’s house in Cleveland along with Gina Dejesus and Michelle Knight. Castro is being held on $8 million bond.
The development in the case comes a day after prosecutors said they may seek the death penalty against Castro: Police allege he impregnated one of his captives at least five times and made her miscarry by starving her and punching her in the belly. The allegations contained in a police report also said another one of the women, Amanda Berry, was forced to give birth in a plastic kiddie pool.
Prosecutor Timothy McGinty said his office will decide whether to bring aggravated murder charges punishable by death in connection with the pregnancies that were terminated by force.
“Capital punishment must be reserved for those crimes that are truly the worst examples of human conduct,” he said. “The reality is we still have brutal criminals in our midst who have no respect for the rule of law or human life.”
Castro, a 52-year-old former school bus driver, is being held under a suicide watch in jail, where he is charged with rape and kidnapping.
A sample of Castro’s DNA was delivered to state crime investigators Thursday afternoon and scientists rushed to process it and enter it into a national database to see if it links him to other crimes, Lisa Peterson Hackley, spokeswoman for Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, confirmed in an email Friday.
McGinty said Castro will be charged for every act of sexual violence, assault and other crimes committed against the women, suggesting the counts could number in the hundreds, if not thousands.
Among the chilling details in the police report:
— Berry, now 27, told officers that she was forced to give birth in a plastic pool in the house so it would be easier to clean up. Berry said she, her baby, now 6, and the two other rescued women had never been to a doctor during their captivity.
— Michelle Knight, now 32, said her five pregnancies ended after Castro starved her for at least two weeks and “repeatedly punched her in the stomach until she miscarried.” She also said Castro forced her to deliver Berry’s baby under threat of death if the baby died. Knight said that when the newborn stopped breathing, she revived her through mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
— All three women said Castro chained them up in the basement but eventually let them live on the home’s second floor. Each woman told a similar story about being abducted after accepting a ride from Castro.
During his brief arraignment Thursday, Castro tried to hide his face, tucking his chin inside his shirt collar. He appeared to close his eyes during the hearing and awkwardly signed documents while handcuffed. He did not speak or enter a plea.
In court, prosecutor Brian Murphy said Castro used the women “in whatever self-gratifying, self-serving way he saw fit.”
Kathleen DeMetz, a public defender assigned to represent him at the hearing, didn’t comment on his guilt or innocence or object when prosecutors recommended bail be set at $5 million. The judge, instead, ordered Castro held on $8 million.
Castro was arrested Monday, when Berry broke out of his run-down house and called police while he was away. Police found the two other women inside. The women had vanished separately between 2002 and 2004, when they 14, 16 and 20.
Berry and former captive Gina DeJesus, 22, went home with relatives on Wednesday. Knight was reported in good condition at a Cleveland hospital.
The police report gave a detailed account of their escape, beginning with Berry’s discovery that a door was unlocked, leaving only a bolted outer door between her and freedom.
Berry feared it was a test: She said Castro occasionally left a door unlocked to test them. But she called to neighbors on a porch for help and was able to get out.
Police then entered the house and found the other women, who threw themselves into the officers’ arms.
Castro’s two brothers, who were arrested with him but later cleared of involvement in the case, appeared in court on unrelated charges Thursday and were released.
Years before the women’s abductions and abuse, Castro terrorized the mother of his children, beating her and locking her indoors, her relatives said in interviews Thursday with The Associated Press.
Monica Stephens, Castro’s former daughter-in-law, who now lives in Florida, met Castro’s son in 2002. They married in 2004 but split up in 2006. Stephens on Thursday recalled conversations with her ex-husband in which he said he and his mother were beaten by Castro.
“They were like hostages in their own house,” she said.
Relatives say that in 1996, Figueroa finally left Castro after he hit her for the last time. After one particularly bad beating, Figueroa ran outside with one of her sons, crying out to neighbors just as the captive women did.
“The neighbors went across the street to get her,” Elida Caraballo said. “And that was the last time she ever stepped in the house.”
Some relatives of Castro have said they were shocked by the allegations against him. An uncle, Julio Castro, said it’s been difficult news to absorb.
Associated Press writers Meghan Barr, Mike Householder and freelance reporter John Coyne in Cleveland; Brendan Farrington in Florida; and Dan Sewell in Cincinnati contributed to this report.
Copyright The Associated Press
