Ariel Castro has been charged with the kidnapping and rape of three women held in captivity for years in his home in Ohio, and this morning officials are reporting that he is the father of a six-year-old child born in captivity to one of the victims, Amanda Berry, as reported by the Los Angeles Times.
Forensic scientists worked with a DNA sample from Castro that they received from state officials to confirm "that Castro is the father of the six-year-old girl born in captivity to one of the kidnapping victims," as the office posted on its official website. The child was born at the house of Castro in Cleveland, and had been previously identified as the daughter of Berry.
Berry, now 27, was just 16 when she disappeared in 2003. Michelle Knight, now 32, was 20 when she vanished 2002, and Gina DeJesus, 24, was 14 when she went missing in 2004. All three women were beaten and raped while held in captivity. Berry led the escape on Monday by breaking through a screen door and calling the police with the help of neighbors.
According to a report of interviews with the three victims, Knight told police that she had delivered Berry's daughter in a plastic pool, and had been threatened with death if Berry's child died.
A judge ordered that Castro be held on $8 million bond, including $2 million for each of his victims, who were held in captivity for a decade. Castro, a former school bus driver, is now in jail, charged with four counts of kidnapping and three counts of rape, and prosecutors want to bring additional charges against him.
"I fully intend to seek charges for each and every act of sexual violence, rape, each day of kidnapping, every [assault]," prosecutor Timothy McGinty told KTLA.
Castro is also being charged for murder for allegedly terminating the women's pregnancies.
Knight told police that she had endured five miscarriages during her time in captivity as Castro had allegedly beat her, and prosecutors have said that under Ohio law, that could be counted as aggravated murder, a capital crime. Some of the charges against Castro carry the death penalty, as prosecutors announced on Thursday that they will pursue additional charges when they present the cast to a jury in Cuyahoga County.
Castro's daughter, Angie Gregg, says she never wants to see her father again, though she did have some questions she'd like to ask him.
"When did you think this was gonna be over?" she relayed to KTLA. "How did you think it was gonna end? You're 52 years old, did you think you could carry this [forever]?" Investigators are currently hoping to figure out the answers to these questions, among many others.
Click here to watch the news report on this case by KTLA.
