Ariel Castro, right, Pedro Castro, center, and Onil Castro in court today. (REUTERS)
CLEVELAND — A Cleveland man was arraigned Thursday on charges of rape and kidnapping after three women missing for about a decade and one of their young daughters were found alive at his home earlier in the week.
Ariel Castro looked down at the ground for almost the entire court proceeding, biting his collar and signing documents with his handcuffed hands. He didn’t speak. Bond was set at $8 million.
STORIES
» Inside Ariel Castro’s Cleveland house, where Amanda Berry, Michelle Knight and Gina DeJesus were held captive
» Castro’s vile ‘suicide’ note blames kidnap victims
» Fiend Castro was school bus driver for kidnap victim Gina DeJesus
» Tears of joy as plucky survivors back in arms of loved ones
VICTIMS
The women found alive after a decade in captivity endured lonely, dark lives inside a dingy home where they were raped and allowed outside only a handful of times in disguises while walking to a garage steps away, investigators say.
The 52-year-old former school bus driver has emerged as the lone suspect.
Assistant county prosecutor Brian Murphy said the women were beaten repeatedly and sexually assaulted. He said Castro used the women “in whatever self-gratifying, self-serving way he saw fit.”
Castro lured the women into his vehicle, according to court documents filed Thursday.
At his arriangment, his lawyer said the fiend was on unemployment benefits. The case is set to go before a grand jury in Cuyahoga County.
Kathleen DeMetz, a public defender who represented Castro in court, said he would be transferred from a city jail medical unit — where defendants charged with sex crimes or considered a suicide risk are normally held. She said he would probably under suicide watch while at the county jail.
Castro did not have a chance to talk to his two brothers, who were arrested and cleared without charges, DeMetz said.
Castro has been charged with four counts of kidnapping — covering the captives and the daughter born to one of them — and three counts of rape, against all three women.
The women and Castro have given lengthy statements to police that have helped build their case, said Deputy Police Chief Ed Tomba.
None of the women, though, gave them any indication that Castro’s two brothers, Pedro and Onil, who’ve been in custody since Monday, were involved, Tomba said. Prosecutors brought no charges against the brothers, citing a lack of evidence.
At the hearing, Pedro, 54, pleaded no contest to a a July 2011 open container charge. The judge dismissed open container and drug abuse charges against Onil, 50.
Castro’s brothers released from police custody after the hearing.
“Ariel kept everyone at a distance,” Tomba said.
In newly released police audio tapes, a 911 dispatcher notifies officers on Monday that she’s just spoken to a woman who “says her name is Amanda Berry and that she had been kidnapped 10 years ago.”
An officer on the recorded call says, “This might be for real.”
After police arrive at the house, women can be heard crying in the background. Then an officer tells the dispatcher: “We found ’em. We found ’em.”
Tomba said of Berry, “Something must have clicked and she saw an opportunity and she took that opportunity.”
He said the women could remember being outside only twice during their entire time in captivity. “We were told they left the house and went into the garage in disguise,” he said.
Also in the house was Berry’s 6-year-old daughter. A paternity test on Castro was being done to establish whether he fathered the child.
While prosecutors announced charges against Castro, federal agents searched a vacant house near where the women had been held. Officials would only say their search was an attempt to get evidence in the case against Castro, but they refused to say what they found or what led them there.
Castro was in custody and couldn’t be reached for comment. A brother-in-law has said the family was shocked after hearing about the women at the home.