[h=3]Associated Press[/h]
AFP/Getty ImagesAriel Castro is arraigned at Cleveland Municipal Court on Thursday.
CLEVELAND—A Cleveland man was arraigned Thursday on charges of rape and kidnapping after three women missing for about a decade, as well as a child born during the period, were found alive at his home earlier in the week.
The man, Ariel Castro, looked at the ground for nearly the entire court proceeding, biting his collar and signing documents with his handcuffed hands. He didn't speak. Bond was set at $2 million on each case, for $8 million total.
The 52-year-old former school-bus driver has emerged as the lone suspect.
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.
While many questions remain about how Mr. Castro maintained such tight control over the women for so many years before one of them made an escape Monday, the horrors they suffered are beginning to come to light.
Police say the women were apparently bound by ropes and chains at times and were kept in different rooms. They suffered prolonged sexual and psychological abuse and had miscarriages, according to a city official briefed on the case.
Mr. 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 Mr. Castro have given lengthy statements to police that have helped build the case, said Deputy Police Chief Ed Tomba.
None of the women, though, gave them any indication that Mr. Castro's two older brothers, who've been in custody since Monday, were involved, Mr. Tomba said. Prosecutors brought no charges against the brothers, citing a lack of evidence.
"Ariel kept everyone at a distance," Mr. Tomba said.
The women, now in their 20s and 30s, vanished separately between 2002 and 2004. At the time, they were 14, 16 and 20 years old.
AFP/Getty ImagesAriel Castro is arraigned at Cleveland Municipal Court on Thursday.
CLEVELAND—A Cleveland man was arraigned Thursday on charges of rape and kidnapping after three women missing for about a decade, as well as a child born during the period, were found alive at his home earlier in the week.
The man, Ariel Castro, looked at the ground for nearly the entire court proceeding, biting his collar and signing documents with his handcuffed hands. He didn't speak. Bond was set at $2 million on each case, for $8 million total.
The 52-year-old former school-bus driver has emerged as the lone suspect.
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.
While many questions remain about how Mr. Castro maintained such tight control over the women for so many years before one of them made an escape Monday, the horrors they suffered are beginning to come to light.
Police say the women were apparently bound by ropes and chains at times and were kept in different rooms. They suffered prolonged sexual and psychological abuse and had miscarriages, according to a city official briefed on the case.
Mr. 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 Mr. Castro have given lengthy statements to police that have helped build the case, said Deputy Police Chief Ed Tomba.
None of the women, though, gave them any indication that Mr. Castro's two older brothers, who've been in custody since Monday, were involved, Mr. Tomba said. Prosecutors brought no charges against the brothers, citing a lack of evidence.
"Ariel kept everyone at a distance," Mr. Tomba said.
The women, now in their 20s and 30s, vanished separately between 2002 and 2004. At the time, they were 14, 16 and 20 years old.