This undated photo released by the Cleveland Police Department shows Ariel Castro.A man charged with kidnapping and raping three women over a decade in his Cleveland home faced arraignment Wednesday on an expanded, 977-count indictment.
The newest charges returned Friday by a grand jury against Ariel Castro expanded on a 329-count indictment filed earlier that covered only part of the time frame of the alleged crimes.
Castro, 53, has been jailed since his arrest on May 6 shortly after the women escaped to freedom. In past court appearances, he has kept his head down, typically responding to a judge’s questions with one-word answers.
Castro has been charged with two counts of aggravated murder related to one act, saying he purposely caused the unlawful termination of the pregnancy of one of the women.
The new, 576-page indictment also charges him with 512 counts of kidnapping, 446 counts of rape, seven counts of gross sexual imposition, six counts of felonious assault, three counts of child endangerment and one count of possessing criminal tools.