House involved in kidnap, rape case demolished

CLEVELAND (AP):

With several swipes from the arm of an excavator and applause from spectators, a house where three women were held captive and raped for a decade was demolished Wednesday, reduced to rubble in less than an hour and a half.

The demolition had the look of a neighbourhood celebration, but some residents have been troubled by guilt for failing to notice tell-tale signs of the women's imprisonment, like windows boarded up from the inside and the kidnapper's practice of keeping visitors from going past the front room.

"It's haunted them, I think, in the sense of how could they not have known," said city Councilman Brian Cummins, who watched the demolition.

The home was torn down as part of the plea deal that spared Ariel Castro a possible death sentence, and forced him to turn over the deed to the house and pay for it to be razed. He was sentenced last week to life in prison plus 1,000 years.

GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

One of the imprisoned women, Michelle Knight, showed up early Wednesday before the work began. She made a brief statement and released balloons into the air.

"Dear Lord, give the missing people strength and power to know that they are loved," said Knight, who had rosary beads hanging from her neck. "We hear their cry. They are never forgotten in my heart. They are caterpillars, waiting to turn into a butterfly. They are never forgotten, they are loved."