Ariel Castro charged with kidnapping, rape of 3 Cleveland women

• Chilling police report details the horror of victims%27 long captivity
• No evidence that Castro%27s brothers were aware of victims
• Castro is scheduled for arraignment Thursday morning

CLEVELAND — A man accused of imprisoning three women in a house here for more than a decade was charged Wednesday with multiple counts of kidnapping and rape in an unfolding case that has horrified the nation.

Ariel Castro, 52, faces three counts of rape and four counts of kidnapping involving victims Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight. The three vanished between 2002 and 2004. Castro was also charged with kidnapping in connection with Berry's 6-year-old daughter, who was also found at the home Monday and who police believe was fathered by Castro.

A police report obtained by Cleveland TV station WKYC paints a chilling portrait of the women's ordeal, including beatings, chained confinement, starvation and death threats. The report alleges that Castro impregnated Knight five times, forced her to starve for weeks at a time and punched her in the stomach until she miscarried. Castro, the report said, also forced Knight to deliver Berry's baby in a plastic kiddie pool and threatened to murder Knight if the newborn died.

Castro is scheduled to be arraigned at 8:30 a.m. Thursday. Additional charges against the former school bus driver could be filed at a later date.

The felony charges against Castro came 48 hours after Berry — now 27 — made a frantic flight from Castro's Seymour Avenue home early Monday evening. Authorities say that may have been the first opportunity any of the victims had to escape. According to the police report, Berry told police that Castro forgot to lock the "big inside door" of the home when he left Monday to a nearby McDonald's.

The report said Castro lured the victims into his car on separate occasions and kept their presence in his west Cleveland home a secret for more than a decade. All three were chained up in the basement, but Castro eventually freed them to live on the second floor.

The women had been outside Castro's home just twice since their kidnapping, but kept just steps away at a detached garage on the property. Even for those brief moments outside, Castro allegedly forced the women to disguise themselves in hats, wigs and sunglasses, Cleveland Deputy Police Chief Ed Tomba said.

Castro's brothers, Pedro and Onil, were also arrested Monday. But Victor Perez, chief deputy prosecutor for Cleveland, said there is no evidence that either brother — who did not live at Ariel Castro's home — were involved in any crimes against the women or Berry's daughter.

"Ariel kept everyone at a distance," Tomba said. "You didn't go into his house. You called before you came over. He ran the show. He was the big bully."

Pedro and Onil have court hearings Thursday on outstanding misdemeanor warrants, Perez, the prosecutor, said.

According to the police report, Knight told police she was in the area of West 106th Street and Lorain Avenue when Castro offered her a ride home in August 2002. But he took her to his house where he chained her up in the basement, the report said. Berry was walking home in April 2003 from Burger King when Castro offered her a ride home, the report said. Castro told Berry that his son also worked at Burger King. DeJesus told police that Castro initially approached her with Castro's daughter — a schoolmate, the report said. Castro later returned without his daughter and told DeJesus that he would give her a ride to his house so they could hang out, the report said.

Knight, now 32, remains in a Cleveland hospital. But Berry, 27, and DeJesus, 23, returned to their Cleveland homes earlier Wednesday, where they were surrounded by family and friends.

DeJesus, wearing a fluorescent yellow-green hoodie, stepped from a car, and gave a thumbs up as the crowd chanted "Gina! Gina!" A woman then pulled her into a tight embrace and hustled her inside through a forest of flowers and balloons.

Nancy Ruiz, DeJesus' mother, thanked those who had helped the family over the past nine years. "Even the ones that doubted, I want to thank them the most," she said. "They're the ones that made me stronger, the ones that made me feel the most that my daughter was out there."

Gina's aunt, Sandra Ruiz, called on friends, relatives and the media "to give us time and privacy to heal."

Ruiz also called on the community to help search for Ashley Summers, another young woman from the area who went missing at the age of 14 in 2007.

Berry arrived at her sister's home accompanied by her daughter. They were also greeted by a porch covered by balloons, flowers, teddy bears and a huge sign that read: "Welcome home, Amanda."

It was her first sight of the modest, two-story home since she disappeared on April 21, 2003 — a day before her 17th birthday. Berry's mother, Louwana Miller, never gave up hope that her daughter would surface. But she died in 2006.

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A tearful Beth Serrano, Berry's sister, spoke briefly to reporters in front of the house to thank the public and the news media for their support and to request privacy for the family "until we are ready to make our statements."

Berry, DeJesus and Knight were freed after Berry's screams for help alerted a neighbor, who helped free her. After she called 911 from a borrowed cellphone, police arrived at Castro's home, where they checked the basement and then walked to the second floor.

Berry, who arrived home in a convoy escorted by police, had been with her family at an undisclosed location since Monday's rescue.

Police have said they were delaying any intense debriefing of the victims until they adjust to their unexpected freedom.

Separately, information has surfaced on Ariel Castro's relationship with Grimilda Figueroa, mother of four of his children. In 2005, Figueroa got a temporary protective order against Castro after she complained that he broken her nose, ribs, dislocated her shoulder and knocked out her tooth.

Castro threatened multiple times to kill her and a daughter, Figueroa's attorney wrote on the petition. Since 1997, Figueroa had sole custody of the children fathered by Castro. They lived with her full time in a house on Liberty Avenue in Cleveland. But, the attorney wrote, Castro "frequently abducts daughters and keeps them from mother."

The protective order that barred Castro from coming near her or the children noted that Castro has access to firearms and deputies attempting to enforce the order should "proceed with caution."

Castro challenged the order and when Figueroa's attorney was unable to appear at a November hearing, the judge dissolved the protective order on Nov. 21, 2005.

Contributing: Doug Stanglin, USA TODAY; Associated Press