Kidnapped women held in 'dungeon' for decade

Friends and relatives stand in front of the family house of Gina DeJesus, one of the three women who were held captive for a decade, as it stands decorated by well-wishers on Tuesday in Cleveland, Ohio. [Photo/Agencies]

Trio reunited with families as police release two brothers of suspect

An ex-school bus driver accused in the abduction ordeal of three young Ohio women was due in court on Thursday to face charges he kidnapped and raped the women, whom authorities said were held captive in the dungeon-like confines of his house for 10 years.

As two of the women received jubilant homecomings from loved ones on Wednesday and the third remained in a hospital, authorities in Cleveland disclosed details of the isolation and brutal treatment they endured before being freed this week.

Officials said the women were apparently bound by ropes and chains at times and were kept in different rooms. They endured starvation, beatings and sexual assaults. One of them had several miscarriages deliberately induced by their captor.

Their imprisonment came to an end on Monday after neighbors, drawn to the house by cries for help, broke through a door to rescue Amanda Berry, whose disappearance in 2003 the day before her 17th birthday was widely publicized in the local media.

The recording of her frantic emergency call that evening, in which Berry declared "I've been kidnapped and I've been missing for 10 years and I'm here. I'm free now", has been replayed countless times on television news broadcasts around the world.

Rescued with Berry, now 27, was her 6-year-old daughter, conceived and born during her confinement, and two fellow captives - Gina DeJesus, 23, who vanished at age 14 in 2004, and Michelle Knight, 32, who disappeared at age 20 in 2002.

Ariel Castro, 52, who was fired from his job as a school bus driver last fall, was charged on Wednesday with kidnapping and raping the women. He was scheduled to be arraigned in court on Thursday morning, prosecutors said.

His two brothers, Pedro Castro, 54, and Onil Castro, 50, were initially arrested as suspects in the case but were not charged after investigators determined they had no knowledge of the abductions or captivity of the women, police said.

However, the two brothers were also slated to appear in court on Thursday on unrelated outstanding misdemeanor warrants.

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