Michelle Knight
c/o MetroHealth Systems
2500 Metrohealth Drive
Cleveland, Ohio 44109
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/05/09/the-forgotten-victim-cleveland-s-michelle-knight.html
After ten years in Cleveland’s house of horrors, the oldest kidnapping victim is finally free. Now all she has to do is get back to her family, reports Christine Pelisek.
Loud
cheers greeted Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus as they arrived at their
homes Wednesday afternoon, almost one decade after they were abducted,
subjected to prolonged sexual and psychological abuse, and were
apparently bound with ropes and chains, in the Cleveland house of
horrors.
The
happy homecoming came on the same day that 52-year-old Ariel Castro was
charged with four counts of kidnapping and three counts of rape, and
police officers pulled out over 200 items of evidence from Ariel
Castro’s home on Seymour Avenue.
Castro
reportedly only let the women, who he forced to wear disguises, outside
twice in 10 years to walk from the house to the garage. Castro was
arraigned this morning in a Cleveland Municipal Court and is being held
on bond for $2 million in each case. His brothers, Onil and Pedro, were
not charged in the kidnapping after police interviewed the women and
Castro, who waived his rights to stay silent and spoke with
investigators.
Berry,
27, and her six-year-old daughter, Jocelyn, arrived first to her
sister’s home with a police escort. The front porch was covered with
balloons, cards, and Teddy Bears. A big sign read “Welcome Home Amanda.”
A few hours later, 23-year-old DeJesus, who pulled down a hoodie over
her face, gave a thumbs up to the crowd before she ran into her family’s
home, which was being protected by the red beret-sporting Guardian
Angels.
Some
family members of Michelle Knight, who is reportedly 32, are saying
that they are still waiting for their moment to celebrate. Knight is
reportedly receiving medical care in a hospital after FBI agents
interviewed her on Tuesday. Knight was reportedly beaten regularly by
Castro in the face and suffered hearing loss. According to a leaked
police report, Knight got pregnant five times while in captivity,
miscarrying each time after Castro pummeled her.
“I’ve
been trying since day one to see her,” says Knight’s grandmother
Deborah. “Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus have been reunited with their
family. We are just sitting here waiting. We are trying to get in touch
with her. She has no one there for her right now.”
“We need to get all the family together,” she added.
Knight suffered from a mental condition that made her frequently confused, and she went by the nickname, “Shorty.”
“There
was no one looking for her when she disappeared,” says Deborah’s
granddaughter Tiffani White. “I want her to know that there is someone
there for her. To find out she was in a basement is devastating… I have
gone through hell and high water to come here to see her. It doesn’t
seem like she has support but she does. We just want to hear from her
mouth that she is ok. We want her home.”
Deborah,
who lives only a few miles away from Seymour Avenue, says she has
mostly been relying on media reports to find out the latest news on her
granddaughter’s situation. Michelle’s mother, Barbara, recently flew in
from Naples. Barbara, who was interviewed by WKYC, said that Michelle
was currently being treated for a mental health condition. "By my
understanding, she is having methro, methamphetamine, I can't even
pronounce it, mental problems and there are some other problems too,
with her."
Knight’s
brother, Freddie, reportedly visited her in the hospital Monday. He
told CNN that he was kicked out of the house when he was 14, and didn’t
even know his sister was missing.
The
story of Knight, the first known abduction, is less well known. Knight
was 20 years old when she disappeared in 2002 near her cousin’s house
near West 106th Street and Lorain Avenue, shortly after her own son,
Joey, had been taken from her custody.
“She
had problems with a case worker,” said Deborah. “After that we never
saw her again… We tried to get the baby. He is out there someplace and
we have no idea where he is.”
Family
members say Knight was just a regular everyday kid who loved music,
especially music by Christina Aguilera. “I used to babysit her,” says
Nellie White, who was married to one of Deborah’s sons. “When she found
out I was pregnant with Tiffani she was so excited. She was a really
bright girl. She was not out of control. She was the best kid ever.”
Deborah
said Michelle’s life changed dramatically in her mid-teens when two
boys allegedly sexually assaulted her in a school bathroom. They pulled
her into the bathroom and raped her, says Deborah. Deborah says Knight
became pregnant after the attack. “She recovered and took care of the
baby with her mom’s help,” she said.
The
day after she disappeared, her mother, Barbara, filed a missing person
report. The report mentioned that Knight suffered from a mental
condition that made her frequently confused, and she went by the
nickname, “Shorty.”
Deborah
said her granddaughter’s case went nowhere because she was 20 years old
at the time of her disappearance and they weren’t 100 percent sure she
was abducted. She also thought Knight may have ran off because she was
upset over losing custody of her son. “We thought she might have been
with friends she knew.”
Barbara Knight who spoke to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, said she never believed her daughter would run away and kept searching for her.
“I know she was an adult at the time,” said Barbara’s stepson Frank. “But the Cleveland Police, they lack a lot.”
Deputy
Police Chief Ed Tomba admitted on Tuesday that the bulk of the
investigations had centered on Berry and DeJesus. Knight, he said, “was
the focus of very few tips.”
The
fallout over Castro’s dirty deeds has affected many lives, including
his former Gruepo Fuego bandmates he once played with. Band manager
Miguel Quinones told The Daily Beast that he has received hate phone
calls and emails since the story broke. He has had to deal with
promoters who don’t want to have anything to do with a band affiliated
with Castro. Quinones said that Castro only played with the band twice
in 2008, and he got rid of him because he was always late.
“He
was not an active member of the band,” he says. “He makes the band look
bad. We have been getting emails from people talking negative about the
band and the phone calls…I spoke to the promoters and told them I am
talking to the media. The promoters were calling me concerned. I already
made a statement on Facebook.”
Quinones,
who knows Castro’s family says they are devastated by what happened.
“His family is in shock,” he says. “The uncles are in shock, too. He
comes from a great respectable family in the community. The family has
been here for over 50 or 60 years.”
Castro’s
family isn’t the only ones who are shocked by Castro’s sinister
behavior. Rafael Davila says he met Castro 20 years ago when he needed
some work done on his car. A friend recommended Castro, who at the time
was working as a part-time mechanic. Davila said Castro was generous and
would always fix his car on the cheap. He would oftentimes sit around
and watch Castro fix his car, and chat. “He had aspirations,” he said.
“He talked about making money from playing in a band. He was a prince.
He was wholesome like John Ritter. I never heard him swear.”
Davila,
who said that Castro was devastated over his divorce, said he was
shocked when he heard the news. “I thought. It can’t be. Now, he is more
like a Latino Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.”
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