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May 9, 2013

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Cleveland house had ropes and chains

Source: Agencies | May 9, 2013, Thursday | Print Edition

As authorities prepared charges against three brothers suspected of keeping three women captive for nearly a decade in Cleveland, police said yesterday they found chains and ropes used to tie up the victims but no human remains at the house where they were held.

Euphoria over the rescue of the women on Monday gave way to questions of how their imprisonment in a house on a residential street went undetected for so long.

Several neighbors said they had called police to report suspicious activity at the house in a dilapidated neighborhood on Cleveland's West Side, where Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, Michelle Knight and Berry's six-year-old daughter escaped from their captors.

But police denied those calls from neighbors were made.

"We have no record of those calls coming in over the last 10 years," Cleveland Police Chief Michael McGrath said.

McGrath said he was confident police did not miss opportunities to find the women.

Meanwhile, Berry arrived at her sister's house yesterday for an emotional reunion with her family.

Television images taken at the rear of the home showed someone carrying a small child, thought to be the daughter Berry bore during her time as a prisoner.

When Berry's car drove up, Jessica Duna, a 50-year-old housekeeper who lives in neighborhood, said: "Oh my God, it just stopped my heart. It's just sad that her mother isn't here right now. Its heartbreaking."

Posters hanging on the home's front verandah, surrounded by flowers and balloons, declared: "We never lost hope Mandy" and "Welcome home."

FBI agents were searching through the house where the women were believed held since vanishing between 2002 and 2004 from the same neighborhood, McGrath said.

"We have confirmation that they were bound, and there (were) chains and ropes in the home," he said.

No human remains were found, Cleveland Safety Director Martin Flask said separately.

McGrath said the women had been allowed outside "very rarely" during their captivity. "They were released out in the backyard once in a while," he said.

McGrath said the women were in good physical condition, "considering the circumstances."

The three suspects were expected to be charged by the end of the day, McGrath said.

One suspect, Ariel Castro, 52, who was fired from his school bus driving job in November for "lack of judgment," was arrested almost immediately after the women escaped on Monday.

Brothers Pedro Castro, 54, and Onil Castro, 50, were taken into custody a short time later.

The women's imprisonment came to a dramatic end after a neighbor, drawn by the sound of screams, broke through a door to rescue Berry, whose 2003 disappearance as a teenager was widely publicized in the local media. He helped her place an emergency call to authorities.

Berry, now 27, was found with her daughter, conceived and born during her captivity, along with DeJesus, 23, who vanished aged 14 in 2004, and Knight, 32, who was 20 when she went missing in 2002.

Cleveland Mayor Frank Johnson said welfare officials had visited the house in January 2004 because Castro was reported to have left a child on a school bus.

But no one answered the door and the ensuing inquiry found no criminal intent.

Questions have mounted about why the women's captivity escaped notice.

"We didn't search hard enough. She was right under our nose the whole time," said Angel Arroyo, a pastor who had handed out flyers in the neighborhood.

Aside from the school bus incident, city officials said a database search found no records of calls to the house or reports of anything amiss.

Israel Lugo, a neighbor, said he called police in November 2011 after his sister saw a girl at the house holding a baby and crying for help. He said police came and banged on the door several times but left when no one answered.

About eight months ago, Lugo said, his sister saw Ariel Castro park his school bus outside and take a large bag of fast food and several drinks inside.

"My sister said something's wrong ... that's when my mom called the police," he said. Lugo said police came and warned Castro not to park the bus in front of his house.

Another neighbor, Anthony Westry, said a little girl could often be seen peering from an attic window.

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