Profiles: Who’s who in the Cleveland missing women case

TORONTO – The three women who were found Monday in a house in Cleveland after being missing for years have been released from hospital, where they were evaluated and reunited with relatives.

Authorities aren’t saying whether the women were restrained, or whether any of them had been sexually assaulted. But they believe that a six-year-old girl who was found in the home is the daughter of one of the women.

Three brothers, all in their 50s, have been arrested.

While many details are still unknown, we take a closer look at the missing women, the suspects and the neighbours involved in the rescue in the Cleveland missing women case.

THE MISSING WOMEN

Michelle Knight

Police said Michelle Knight disappeared in 2002 at age 20 and is 32 now. Little details are known about the circumstance of her disappearance as her case did not attract much local media attention.

In an interview with Knight’s mother on Cleveland.com, Michelle’s grandmother Deborah Knight said authorities and family members believed her granddaughter left on her own accord after being angry that her son was removed from her custody.

Michelle Knight’s mother Barbara Knight, however, said “she and Michelle were close, and she never believed that her daughter would disappear without a trace, without so much as an occasional phone call.”

Amanda Berry

“Help me. I’m Amanda Berry,” she told a 911 dispatcher. “I’ve been kidnapped and I’ve been missing for 10 years and I’m, I’m here, I’m free now.”

The woman’s voice was frantic and breathless, and she was choking back tears. On a recorded 911 call Monday, Amanda Berry said  she had been taken by someone and begged for police officers to come to the home on Cleveland’s west side before the man returned.

Berry escaped Monday after a neighbour, Charles Ramsey, heard her scream inside a house.

VIDEO: Dramatic 911 call from Amanda Berry who was missing for 10 years

Berry disappeared at age 16 on April 21, 2003, when she called her sister to say she was getting a ride home from her job at a Burger King. Berry is now 27, according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

Berry’s cousin Tasheena Mitchell told Ohio newspaper The Plain Dealer she couldn’t wait to have Berry in her arms.

“I’m going to hold her, and I’m going to squeeze her and I probably won’t let her go,” she said.

Berry’s mother, Louwana Miller, who had been hospitalized for months with pancreatitis and other ailments, died in March 2006. She had spent the previous three years looking for her daughter, whose disappearance took a toll as her health steadily deteriorated, family and friends said.

A 6-year-old girl was also found in the home Monday, and Cleveland police Deputy Chief Ed Tomba said in a press conference Tuesday that the girl is believed to be Berry’s daughter.

He declined to say who the father is or where the child was born.

Georgina “Gina” DeJesus

About a year after Berry disappeared, Gerogina DeJesus vanished at age 14 on her way home from school. Known to her family and friends as “Gina,” the young girl was described as having a birthmark on her right leg and pierced ears.

In 2006, according to the BBC, two men were held for questioning and later released after police did not find Georgina at their property.

On Monday, a sign outside the home of DeJesus’ parents read “Welcome Home Gina.”

READ MORE: Infamous confinement cases in North America

THE SUSPECTS

Pedro Castro

According to the Daily Mail, 54-year-old Pedro Castro told reporters last July that forensic crews excavating a lot for the body of missing Berry was a “waste of money.”

Authorities were working on a tip from a man who said he knew where to find Berry’s remains. The lead proved to be false after nothing was found after the site was dug up.

Ariel Castro

Julio Castro, who runs a grocery store, said his nephew Ariel Castro, 52, is the homeowner of the house where the women were found.

In 2000, before the women vanished, Ariel Castro reported a fight in the street, but no arrests were made, Public Safety Director Martin Flask said. In 2004, officers went to the home after child welfare officials alerted them that Ariel Castro, a school bus driver, apparently left a child unattended on a bus, Flask said.

No one answered the door at Castro’s house, and police later determined there was no criminal intent, he said.

Onil Castro

The youngest of the three, little details have yet been revealed about 50-year-old- Onil Castro.

INTERACTIVE MAP: 3 missing women found alive in Ohio case

THE NEIGHBOURS

Charles Ramsey

A neighbour, Charles Ramsey, told WEWS-TV he heard screaming Monday and saw Berry, whom he didn’t recognize, at a door that would open only enough to fit a hand through. He said she was trying desperately to get outside and pleaded for help to reach police.

“I heard screaming,” he said. “I’m eating my McDonald’s. I come outside. I see this girl going nuts trying to get out of a house.”

READ MORE: Charles Ramsey describes Amanda Berry rescue

Ramsey, who thought the incident was a domestic situation, broke apart a section of the door, allowing the woman escape.

Anna Tejeda

Neighbour Anna Tejeda was sitting on her porch with friends when they heard someone across the street kicking a door and yelling.

Tejeda, 50, said one of her friends went over and told Berry how to kick the screen out of the bottom of the door, which allowed her to get out.

Speaking Spanish, which was translated by one of her friends, Tejeda said Berry was nervous and crying. She was dressed in pajamas and old sandals.

At first Tejeda said she didn’t want to believe who the young woman was. “You’re not Amanda Berry,” she insisted. “Amanda Berry is dead.”

But when Berry told her she’d been kidnapped and held captive, Tejeda said she gave her the telephone to call police, who arrived within minutes and then took the other women from the house.