Cleveland kidnap victims: Berry's baby 'kept us alive'
Two of the women who were held captive for a decade in a ‘house of horrors’ in Cleveland have revealed what helped them survive in a new book.
Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight were raped, tortured and psychologically abused by Ariel Castro for 10 years.
Berry and Dejesus have written a book about their experience in the house. In Hope: A Memoir of Survival in Cleveland, the women explain how the birth of Berry’s daughter Jocelyn kept them alive.
The baby gave them something to believe in and it mellowed their abuser, according to an excerpt published in People magazine.
Berry fell pregnant to Castro in April 2006 after discovering her mother had died. She said she was excited but worried that Castro would be angry.
“I think my mum (sic) sent me this baby. It’s her way of giving me an angel. But I worry about what he’s going to do,” Berry writes.
“Michelle told me that he beat her to make her miscarry (she had five miscarriages). Will he let me carry my baby?”
Castro allowed the birth to take place and appeared delighted to have a new daughter.
Berry revealed she tried to involve Castro in the pregnancy as much as possible. She would place his hand on her stomach so he could feel the baby kick.
Berry wrote of how upsetting and confusing it was for her when she would feel affection for Castro for treating Jocelyn well.
”I know it’s wrong but I feel closer to him. I appreciate that he treats Jocelyn so well and buys her clothes and toys.”
The book also details how the two women, who were kept in a separate room to captive Michelle Knight, were abducted and their early days of confinement.
All three women were captured after accepting a ride from Castro. Berry writes that she watched a silent Castro watch her mother beg for her safe return on the TV news.
“He has an odd look on his face, and then I realise (sic): He’s proud,” she said.
Gina DeJesus, aged 14, was abducted a year after Berry.
“He was always watching us,” DeJesus, now 25, told People.
DeJesus and Berry had little contact with Knight and were not even aware she was in the house for the first few years.
The two women became friends and did what they could to get through their ordeal. When Castro went to work in the evenings, they would watch The Vampire Diaries.
“We would watch the show and then for two hours afterwards, we would talk about what’s going to happen next week,” Berry said.
“But then Castro would come home,” added DeJesus, “He would walk up the stairs and just ruin our whole day.”
On May 6, 2013, Castro forgot to lock the door of Berry’s bedroom and she escaped with her daughter. She then contacted authorities and DeJesus and Knight were rescued.
