CLEVELAND, Ohio (WJW) – “Help me. I’m Amanda Berry. Dispatcher: Do you need police, fire or ambulance? Amanda Berry: I need police. Dispatcher: Okay. What’s going on there? Amanda Berry: I’ve been kidnapped, and I’ve been missing for ten years and I’m here; I’m free now.”
On May 6, 2013, a nightmare that three young women had lived for more than a decade began its end.
Amanda Berry made that 911 call after escaping from Ariel Castro’s house on Seymour Avenue with the help of a neighbor.
She had been kidnapped by Castro in 2003 at the age of 16.
Another girl was also there.
Castro kidnapped Michelle Knight at the age of 21 in 2002. She is now known as Lily Rose Lee.
In 2004, Castro kidnapped 14-year-old Gina DeJesus.
All three women were restrained, sexually assaulted, and abused.
From that 911 call, investigators uncovered what has been called a “house of horrors.”
Castro was sentenced to life in prison plus 1000 years in August of 2013.
He was found hanging from a sheet in his cell in September of that year and pronounced dead.
In that time, the house has been torn down, and the women honored for their courage.
Amanda Berry became a member of the FOX 8 family in 2017 to help find people across Northeast Ohio.
Gina DeJesus says May 6 is her “other” birthday.
She is the co-founder of Cleveland Missing.
Lee has released a memoir and a song about her survival.
