'There is hope for everyone,' ex-captive says as Castro house demolished - CNN

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" border="0" height="360" id="articleGalleryPhoto001" width="640"/>Former captive Michelle Knight, center, talks with reporters on Wednesday, August 7, outside the home of her captor, Ariel Castro, in Cleveland. Knight was on hand as workers began tearing down the house of horrors where Castro held her and two other women for years.

Here is a view of the house where Castro held the three women captive. Demolition on the house began early August 7.

Ariel Castro listens in the courtroom during the sentencing phase of his trial Thursday, August 1, in Cleveland alongside defense attorneys Craig Weintraub, left, and Jaye Schlachet. He pleaded guilty last week to 937 counts, including murder and kidnapping, in a deal that dropped a possible death penalty in exchange for life in prison plus 1,000 years. Here's a look at the moments leading up to his sentencing.

Michelle Knight speaks during the sentencing phase for Ariel Castro Thursday, August 1, in Cleveland. "I will live on," Knight said in her statement to Castro. "You will die a little every day."

Castro enters the courtroom Friday, July 26. He was arrested in May and accused of holding three young women captive for nearly a decade.

video released on YouTube on Monday, July 8, thanking people for support and privacy. Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight escaped from a Cleveland home on May 6 after being held captive for nearly a decade." border="0" height="360" id="articleGalleryPhoto006" width="640"/>Amanda Berry vanished a few blocks from her Cleveland home on April 21, 2003. She was 16. She spoke in a video released on YouTube on Monday, July 8, thanking people for support and privacy. Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight escaped from a Cleveland home on May 6 after being held captive for nearly a decade.

Georgina "Gina" DeJesus was last seen in Cleveland on April 2, 2004, on her way home from school. She was 14 when she went missing.

Knight was last seen on August 22, 2002, when she was 21.

FBI agents and other law enforcement officers stand outside Castro's home in Cleveland on May 9.

Castro hangs his head while talking with his public defender, Kathleen DeMetz, during his arraignment on May 9.

Ariel Castro was charged on May 8 with kidnapping the three women.

Investigators remove evidence from the house on Seymour Avenue in Cleveland where the three women were held.

An FBI forensics team meets outside the house where three women were held as they investigate the property.

Cleveland Deputy Chief of Police Ed Tomba, center, speaks at a news conference to address details of the developments.

FBI agents remove evidence from the house May 7.

A police officer stands in front of the broken front door of the house on May 7, where the kidnapped women escaped.

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• NEW: Michelle Knight releases balloons outside home before demolition begins
• Plans call for the house to be torn down and the lot cleared in a single day
• Ariel Castro held three women captive in the house
• Castro pleaded guilty to 937 counts, including murder and kidnapping

Cleveland, Ohio (CNN) -- Just before the Cleveland house where she'd been held captive for a decade was to be torn down, Michelle Knight celebrated by handing out and releasing yellow balloons.
Knight was on hand Wednesday morning as workers began tearing down the house of horrors where Ariel Castro held Knight and two other women for years.
"I want the people out there to know, including (abductees') mothers, that they can have strength, they can have hope. And their child will come back," she told reporters outside the house.
Castro forfeited the house on Seymour Avenue as part of a plea deal with prosecutors that took the death penalty off the table in exchange for a life sentence, plus 1,000 years in prison.
Demolition began around 7:30 a.m. as an aunt of another former Castro captive, Georgina DeJesus, made the first hit on the house, operating a hydraulic excavator with assistance.
Before the demolition, Knight gave out yellow helium-filled balloons to people gathered in the neighborhood. Then, standing not far from the house where she lived an 11-year nightmare, she led a group in releasing the balloons, which she said represented abducted children who were never found.
"I go from here as being a motivational speaker and let everybody know that they are heard, that they are loved, and that there is hope for everyone," she said.
The goal is the tear the house down and get the property filled in, graded and seeded in a single day, according to Gus Frangos, president of Cuyahoga Land Bank, which is supervising the demolition.
Castro's friends and family removed personal items from the home Monday, including musical instruments and photographs. Police said most of the items removed Monday were personal items left over after investigators collected evidence.

Frank Ochberg on Ariel Castro's house

See photos taken inside Castro's home

Family collects items from Castro home

Ariel Castro's sentencing for the kidnapping and rape of three women in Ohio will be issued Thursday, August 1. During the trial, the prosecution presented images from inside the house that reveal the disturbing conditions in which they were held. A model of the house was also included.

Chains constrained the women in the basement.

Castro had a gun in the home and told Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Detective David Jacobs he would "show to the girls as a form of control." Asked whether he had ever forced the girls to play Russian roulette, Castro told Jacobs that he didn't remember it, "but if the girls said it, it probably happened."

Amanda Berry spent most of her time in this bathroom with her daughter.

Stuffed animals lie on a bed in the house.

Castro describes himself as a sexual predator in a letter.

Berry and Michelle Knight were forced to wear a helmet the first time Castro sexually assaulted them, according to Andrew Harasimchuk, a detective with the sex crimes unit.

Toys and other belongings are piled in a bedroom.

The FBI agent interviewed on the stand said Castro would make the women wear a brown wig on the rare occasion he let them out of the home.

Chains ran through the walls in the house, the prosecution said.

The pole to which the women were chained in the basement is pictured running through an upstairs bedroom.

Stairs led down to the basement.


Evidence photos from Castro's trial
Evidence photos from Castro's trial
Evidence photos from Castro's trial
Evidence photos from Castro's trial
Evidence photos from Castro's trial
Evidence photos from Castro's trial
Evidence photos from Castro's trial
Evidence photos from Castro's trial
Evidence photos from Castro's trial
Evidence photos from Castro's trial
Evidence photos from Castro's trial
Evidence photos from Castro's trial

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Evidence photos from Castro's trial


Castro victim returns to Cleveland house where she was held for 11 years
Castro pleaded guilty to 937 counts, including murder and kidnapping. The charges stem from his kidnapping, rape and assault of three women: Knight, abducted in 2002; DeJesus, abducted in 2004; and Amanda Berry; abducted in 2003.
Castro is the father of Berry's 6-year-old girl, DNA tests confirmed.
Berry also visited the house, collecting pictures drawn by her daughter.
Ariel Castro's son: I won't visit dad in prison
Berry and her daughter escaped from the home with the help of a neighbor on May 6, calling police in her now famous 911 call: "Help me, I am Amanda Berry. I've been kidnapped, and I've been missing for 10 years. And I'm here. I'm free now."
Castro reconfigured the 1,400-square-foot home to keep their whereabouts a secret, FBI agent Andrew Burke testified during the sentencing. The back door was outfitted with an alarm, bedspreads and curtains obscured parts of the home, and a porch swing was placed in front of the stairs leading to the rooms where Castro held the three hostage.
Why so many high-profile crimes in Cleveland?