Concern over 'missed clues' in Cleveland kidnapping case

Concerns are rising in the US over possible missed clues in the Cleveland kidnapping investigations.

ABC News reports that investigators came to Ariel Castro's doorstep in 2004 after he was accused of leaving a child on a school bus. It seems they left after no one opened the door.

The US network aired dashcam footage showing another of Castro's brushes with the law, when he was confronted by police for not wearing a motorcycle helmet.

But the most serious concerns were raised over the claims of two Cleveland brothers, Eric and Brian Poindexter.

The two say they believe they saw kidnap victim Gina DeJesus moments before she disappeared.

They called police to report a man in in a grey SUV with licence plate 'ELLIOTC' talking to the girl.

Moments before, they claim, the man had cut them off in traffic, doing a U-turn to approach the girl.

"I don't believe [police] listened to me at all or checked it all," said one of the brothers.

Cleveland Police responded swiftly to the claims: "We can say definitively that we have no record of this report," they said in a statement to ABC News.

On Friday, a DNA test confirmed another dark twist in the story of three women imprisoned in a house for about a decade - kidnapping and rape suspect Ariel Castro is the father of a 6-year-old girl who escaped from the house along with the women, a prosecutor said.

As the investigation into the women's ordeal continued, the FBI also said no human remains were among more than 200 pieces of evidence collected from the house.

Two of the women, including the one who gave birth to the girl, returned to relatives' houses earlier this week. The third woman, Michelle Knight, was released from a hospital on Friday with a request that her privacy be respected.

"Michelle Knight is in good spirits and would like the community to know that she is extremely grateful for the outpouring of flowers and gifts," the statement said.

No information would be provided about Knight's next steps, said MetroHealth Medical Center spokeswoman Phyllis Marino.

Castro remained in jail under a suicide watch on $US8 million bond while prosecutors weighed what charges they might bring against him, including the possibility of charges carrying a death penalty. He is already charged with rape and kidnapping.

Castro was represented at Thursday's hearing by public defender Kathleen Demetz, who said she is acting as Castro's adviser if needed until he's appointed a full-time lawyer once he's charged by a grand jury.

She said she can't speak to his guilt or innocence and said only that she advised him not to give any media interviews that might jeopardise his case.

Family members have portrayed Castro as a "monster" who terrorised the mother of his children, frequently beating her, playing twisted psychological games and locking her indoors.

The stories, repeated in separate interviews by members of Castro's extended family, have surprised people who knew him as a musician who played bass in several bands around Cleveland the last two decades.

Miguel Quinones, manager of a group Castro played with twice as a backup bass player about five years ago, said on Thursday he had nothing bad to say about Castro based on his own experiences.

A police report alleged that Castro impregnated one of his captives at least five times and made her miscarry by starving her and punching her in the stomach.

The report also said another one of the women, Amanda Berry, was forced to give birth in a plastic kiddie pool.

Tests by the state attorney general's office on a sample of Castro's DNA confirmed that he is the father of Berry's 6-year-old daughter, who was rescued from his house, the office said on Friday.

After her release, the girl returned home with Berry, 27. Officials also were entering the DNA profile into a national database to see if it links him to other crimes.

The three women said Castro chained them up in the basement but eventually let them live on the home's second floor. Each woman told a similar story about being abducted after accepting a ride from him.

The FBI has not recovered human remains in its search of the house, spokeswoman Vicki Anderson said on Friday. Agents removed more than 200 pieces of evidence, she added, declining to say what was found.

Berry and former captive Gina DeJesus, 22, went home with relatives on Wednesday.

A missing-person report on Knight filed one day after she disappeared in 2002 said without elaboration that she had a mental condition and was often confused about her surroundings.

Knight, now 32, was removed from a national missing persons database in 2003 after Cleveland police couldn't locate anyone to confirm whether she was still missing, based on police policy in such cases, the department said.

"Despite this, Cleveland police kept Michelle Knight's missing person's case open and checked on the case numerous times," the city said. "Records indicated Cleveland police checked on the case as recently as November."