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Sunday, November 15, 2026Nov 15

Michelle Knight says she now forgives kidnapper

FILE - In this Thursday, June 26, 2014, file photo, Michelle Knight smiles during an interview in Cleveland. During an interview on Sunday, Oct. 19, 2014, Knight, one of the three women held captive in a Cleveland home for about a decade, said she has been able to forgive her kidnapper, Ariel Castro, and find peace in her life. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak, File)
FILE - In this Thursday, June 26, 2014, file photo, Michelle Knight smiles during an interview in Cleveland. During an interview on Sunday, Oct. 19, 2014, Knight, one of the three women held captive in a Cleveland home for about a decade, said she has been able to forgive her kidnapper, Ariel Castro, and find peace in her life. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak, File)

CHARDON, Ohio (AP) – One of the three women held captive in a Cleveland home for about a decade told a crowd she has been able to forgive her kidnapper and find peace in her life.

Knight, who was kidnapped in August 2002 when she was 21, said she realizes now that Ariel Castro had a disease, and therapy has taught her that what he did hadn’t been his fault, The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer (http://bit.ly/ZLrDkm) reported.

Knight, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus broke out of the house in May 2013 after suffering years of torture. Knight said it wasn’t until about a year and a half after her rescue from Castro’s home that she reached a breakthrough.

“I was able to say his name, Ariel Castro,” the 33-year-old Knight said. “I was able to forgive him.”

Knight made the comments during an interview conducted by a radio host on Sunday at Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin High School in Chardon, Ohio.