Kidnapper Ariel Castro agrees to deal to avoid death penalty
Posted July 26, 2013 11:49 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A Cleveland man accused of kidnapping and holding two girls and a young woman captive for 10 years has agreed to a plea deal to avoid the death penalty, The Associated Press reports.
In exchange, Ariel Castro, 53, who was scheduled to go on trial on Aug. 5 for 977 charges, will be sentenced to life without parole plus a minimum 1,000 years, a judge said Friday morning.
The three women, Amanda Berry, 27, Gina DeJesus, 23, and Michelle Knight, 32, were kept bound in chains or rope and endured starvation, beatings and rape.
Knight suffered several miscarriages after beatings by Castro and he was charged with murder in the fetuses’ deaths.
The women disappeared separately between 2002 and 2004 when they were 14, 16 and 20 years old. Each said they had accepted a ride from Castro.
They escaped from Castro’s house on May 6 when Berry kicked out part of a door and called to neighbours for help. The sexual predator was arrested within hours and has been behind bars since.
With files from Reuters
