Third Ohio captive may need face surgery
One of the women held captive in an Ohio home for 10 years has such severe injuries she may need facial reconstruction - amid reports she still has not been re-united with her family.
The Huffington Post reports this morning that Michelle Knight, freed last week as the longest held of four captives in a dungeon-like Cleveland house, was raped repeatedly and miscarried at least five times.
Her grandmother Deborah Knight told CBS News she would probably need facial reconstruction surgery.
"When she was severely beaten, he beat her so badly in the face that she has to have facial reconstruction and she's lost hearing in one ear," she said.
Michelle told police that her alleged captor, Ariel Castro, repeatedly raped her over the years she spent trapped in his home by starving her and punching her in the abdomen, according to the Huffington Post article.
When she was released from hospital on Friday, a Metro Health spokesman said: "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."
Her whereabouts this week remain a mystery. She has not yet been reunited with her family and has rebuffed attempts by her mother and grandmother to see her.
Overnight her grandmother said Michelle still had not seen her family.
"No, we haven't (seen her) - on her request. She does not want to be seen by family," Deborah Knight said.
However, one of Michelle's two brothers, Freddie Knight, did go to the hospital and visited with his sister immediately after the three women were found.
"Her skin was white as a ghost," said Freddie Knight. "She told me she was excited to start a new life."
Michelle's Knight's trauma reportedly began long before her capture, according to media reports this morning.
As a high school student, she was raped by several classmates, became pregnant and left school, a family member told the New York Daily News.
At home, her mother's boyfriend became violent. According to local television station WOIO, the man was jailed for breaking Knight's son's arm.
The other women who were freed from Castro's house, Amanda Berry, 27, and Gina DeJesus, 23, as well as Berry's 6-year-old daughter who was born in captivity, left the hospital earlier in the week.
Michelle Knight was 20 when she disappeared in August 2002. Amanda Berry went missing at age 16 in 2003 and Gina DeJesus went missing at age 14 in 2004.
All three victims told police they were kidnapped after accepting a ride in Castro's car in the same area of Cleveland.
