It’s been eight years since three missing women miraculously broke free from the Seymour Avenue house where they were held captive for about a decade.
The news was enough to stop Clevelanders in their tracks as they reeled from the unexpected news.
Amanda Berry broke free from Ariel Castro’s house with her daughter on May 6, 2013. She turned to a neighbor for a phone.
Here’s what she said on the 911 call:
Berry: Help me. I’m Amanda Berry.
Dispatcher: Do you need police, fire or ambulance?
Berry: I need police.
Dispatcher: Okay. What’s going on there?
Berry: I’ve been kidnapped, and I’ve been missing for ten years and I’m here — I’m free now.
That call came in at 5:51 p.m., WKYC recounted in an in-depth review of the case and what’s unfolded since May 6, 2013. That’s when the neighbor, Charles Ramsey, ditched his McDonald’s order and sprang into action to help Berry escape the house.
Police responded and rescued Berry and the two other women who had been trapped inside: Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight, who has since changed her name to Lily Rose Lee.
Castro ended his own life in his cell in 2013, shortly after he pleaded guilty to more than 900 charges and was sentenced to life in prison plus 1,000 years.
Lee, when she was still named Knight, was kidnapped in 2002 at age 21. Berry was next in 2003, when she was 16. DeJesus was 14 when she was kidnapped in 2004, Fox 8 reports, also explaining what the women have done since escaping captivity:
Now, Berry serves as a missing persons advocate at Fox 8. DeJesus co-founded Cleveland Missing with her cousin, and deems May 6 her “other” birthday. Lee has published books and started the nonprofit Lily's Ray of Hope, among other accomplishments the trio has made since returning to freedom.
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