CLEVELAND, Ohio – Three women held captive in a Cleveland home for a decade issued a YouTube video Monday night in which they thanked the public for the encouragement and financial support that is allowing them to restart their lives.
Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight broke their public silence in the 3-minute, 30-second video posted at midnight. They said the support and prayers of family, friends and the public is allowing them rebuild their lives after what Berry called “this entire ordeal.”
The women had gone missing separately between 2002 and 2004, when they were 14, 16, and 20 years old. Cleveland resident Ariel Castro has pleaded not guilty to a 329-count indictment alleging he kidnapped them off the streets and held them captive in his two-story home.
The 52-year-old former bus driver fathered a 6-year-old daughter with Berry and is accused of starving and punching Knight, causing her to miscarry. He was arrested May 6, shortly after Berry broke through a door at the homeand yelled to neighbors for help.
Knight said in the video, filmed July 2, that she is building a “brand new life.”