Source: Women helped each other survive
WOIO's Scott Taylor says sources tell him the kidnapped women, Amanda Berry, Michelle Knight and Gina DeJesus, would share food when Ariel Castro allegedly starved them.
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Post by: Filed under: 3 Missing Teens Found in Ohio • Crime & Punishment |
Hostin: Castro could face murder charges
The prosecutor may pursue murder charges against Ariel Castro for the pregnancies he allegedly terminated illegally. CNN Legal Analyst Sunny Hostin analyzes the case against Castro.
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Post by: Filed under: 3 Missing Teens Found in Ohio • Crime & Punishment • Sunny Hostin |
Relief and joy in Cleveland
Anderson Cooper looks back at the emotional week in Cleveland after three women missing for years, Amanda Berry, Michelle Knight and Gina DeJesus, were found alive.
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Post by: Filed under: 3 Missing Teens Found in Ohio |
Hornbeck's advice on life after kidnapping
Shawn Hornbeck vanished in 2002 in Missouri and was held captive for four years starting when he was 11 years old. When police found him in an apartment with another little boy who was missing, the discovery gave hope to Gina DeJesus' family.
The woman who was found on Monday in a Cleveland house with two other women, Amanda Berry and Michelle Knight, had been missing for three years at the time. It would be six more years until her family saw her again, but they never lost hope she was alive.
Now DeJesus and the other women are free physically, but the trauma could be difficult to overcome. Hornbeck has been through a similar ordeal and wants other kidnapping survivors to know it's possible to heal and move on.
"From day one, my family was there for me to let me know that I was safe and I was OK and I had nothing to worry about anymore. And to me, that's what helped me out the most, was knowing that I had their support," he says.
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Post by: Filed under: 3 Missing Teens Found in Ohio • Crime & Punishment |
How Castro allegedly instilled fear
Ariel Castro, charged with four counts of kidnapping and three counts of rape, would allegedly pretend to leave his Cleveland house and then punish his captives if they tried to escape. He trained them, through fear, to stop trying to break free.
CNN's Pamela Brown reports that sources say Monday was the first opportunity Amanda Berry had to try to escape. She hit a breaking point and somehow knew Castro was gone from the house. She screamed for help, drawing the attention of neighbors who ran to the commotion and helped break through the front door so she could get out with her 6-year-old daughter.
Report: Knight delivered Berry's baby
Cleveland Councilman Bill Cummins says a police report states Michelle Knight was threatened with her life if Amanda Berry's baby didn't survive birth. She apparently was forced to assist with delivering the baby six years ago.
The women, missing for years, were found Monday in a Cleveland house with another woman who disappeared in the area named Gina DeJesus. School bus driver Ariel Castro is charged with four counts of kidnapping and three counts of rape.
Cummins says the report includes details about at least one of the women having multiple miscarriages due to the "savage" physical duress she was put under as a means of abortion.
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Post by: Filed under: 3 Missing Teens Found in Ohio • Crime |
Hero Angel Cordero helped rescue Berry
CNN's Maria Santana spoke with Angel Cordero, a man who helped save the three women and child found in Ariel Castro's Cleveland house.
Cordero is very familiar with the neighborhood as he regularly visits his friends who live across the street from the crime scene. He was having dinner Monday night when he heard Amanda Berry, who had been missing for 10 years, screaming from inside Castro's house. Cordero thought the house was on fire until Berry told him she had been kidnapped.
When he tried to open the glass door, he realized it was locked with a chain. Berry was trapped on the other side where she was able to open only the inside door. After Cordero broke through the bottom, Berry escaped with her six-year-old daughter. Police later found the two other women, Michelle Knight and Gina DeJesus, inside the house.
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Post by: Filed under: 3 Missing Teens Found in Ohio |
When kidnapped become brainwashed
Kidnappers and their victims often develop complex relationships that seem unfathomable on the surface. Former LAPD psychologist Kris Mohandie calls a victim's attachment to a kidnapper primitive, and part of survival.
In some cases, Stockholm Syndrome is a factor in that bond. It can be the reason victims don't try to leave even when they have the opportunity to escape. Fear and a sense of having no power are also part of the emotional turmoil that can prevent someone in captivity from breaking free.
CNN's Randi Kaye reports on cases where the victims experienced brainwashing or psychological trauma.
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Post by: Filed under: 3 Missing Teens Found in Ohio |
Psychological trauma in captivity
Laura Cowan survived an abusive polygamous marriage for four years. She was beaten, tortured and mentally traumatized before she escaped. Now she counsels other victims who were held captive.
Cowan knows from experience why a victim doesn't run away even when given the opportunity to leave. She says victims can suffer from Stockholm Syndrome; they try to please the captor to survive.
Stressing the importance of speaking out and getting involved, Cowan credits her own escape to a stranger at the post office who recognized she was in trouble.
It was only after eight years of therapy that Cowan was able to regain her voice, share her story and help others. She tells Anderson Cooper that healing is possible, but takes time.
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Post by: Filed under: 3 Missing Teens Found in Ohio • Crime |
2008 dash cam video: Police stop Castro
Dash cam video from 2008 shows the suspect in the Cleveland kidnapping case, Ariel Castro, stopped by a police officer. CNN's Martin Savidge reports.
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