Kidnapper hit with 329 charges
Published:Sunday | June 9, 2013 | 12:00 AM
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP):A man accused of holding three women captive for about a decade in his Cleveland home, sometimes restraining them in chains, has been indicted by a grand jury on 329 charges, including aggravated murder, rape and kidnapping, prosecutors said.
Ariel Castro, 52, is accused of kidnapping Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight, and keeping them inside his the run-down home, along with a 6-year-old girl he fathered with Berry.
A Cuyahoga County grand jury returned the indictment last Friday against Castro, a former school bus driver, who was fired last fall.
He faces two counts of aggravated murder related to one act, saying he purposely caused the unlawful termination of one of the women's pregnancies.
Castro also was indicted on 139 counts of rape, 177 counts of kidnapping, seven counts of gross sexual imposition, three counts of felonious assault and one count of possession of criminal tools.
Cuyahoga County prosecutor, Tim McGinty, said the indictment covers only the period from August 2002, when the first of the women disappeared, to February 2007.
The indictment refers to the women as Jane Doe 1, Jane Doe 2 and Jane Doe 3 and gives a glimpse into the circumstances of their captivity.
The aggravated murder counts stem from the unlawful termination of Jane Doe 1's pregnancy in late 2006 or early 2007, the indictment says.
RESTRAINED IN CHAINS
It says Castro restrained the women, sometimes chaining them to a pole in a basement, to a bedroom heater or inside a van. It says one of the women tried to escape and he assaulted her with a vacuum cord around her neck.
Castro's attorneys have said he would plead not guilty to any indictment.
Castro, during a brief court appearance last month, tried to hide his face, tucking his chin inside his shirt collar, and did not speak.
Castro is being held on US$8 million bail. He has been taken off suicide prevention watch, jail officials said this week. He has told jail guards he won't accept news media interview requests.