Ariel Castro, the man who has been sentenced to life in prison for holding three Cleveland women captive for a roughly decade before their rescue this year, was found hanged in his cell and is believed to have committed suicide, Ohio officials said.
Castro, 53, was found in his cell at the Correctional Reception Center in Orient Tuesday evening, a prison spokeswoman told the Associated Press. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.
The spokeswoman, JoEllen Smith, says Castro was found hanging in his cell about 9:20 p.m. Tuesday at the prison in Orient. Prison medical staff performed CPR before Castro was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The three women disappeared separately between 2002 and 2004. They escaped May 6, when one of them broke part of a door and yelled to neighbors for help. Castro was arrested that evening.
Castro was sentenced Aug. 1 to life in prison plus 1,000 years on his guilty plea to 937 counts including kidnapping and rape.
Justice was swift for Castro after Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight were rescued by neighbors. Berry gave birth to a daughter, now 6, fathered by Castro while she was held in brutal conditions in his home, which was later demolished.
Castro, who pleaded guilty ostensibly to avoid the death penalty, gave a lengthy farewell at his sentencing a few weeks ago in a rambling, self-justifying speech attempting to explain his actions. At one point, he claiming the abuse included consensual sex.
"These people are trying to paint me as a monster. I am not a monster. I am sick," Castro told Judge Michael J. Russo. "I hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive me," he said later.
Knight, the only one of his victims to ultimately face him in court, would not forgive.
"I spent 11 years in hell," Knight told Castro at his sentencing. "Now your hell is just beginning. I will overcome all that happened, but you're going to face hell for eternity.
"From this moment on, I am not going to let you define me or affect who I am," Knight continued. "I will live on, but you will die a little more inside each day as you think of those 11 years and the atrocities you inflicted on us.... The death penalty would be the easy way out. You don't deserve that. We want you to spend the rest of your life in prison."
During court hearings, officers told of how the women were chained to poles in the basement or to a bedroom heater, or kept at bay in a van. One woman was forced to wear a motorcycle helmet while chained in the basement and, after she tried to escape, had a vacuum cord wrapped around her neck, officials said.
Castro repeatedly starved and beat Knight each time she was pregnant, forcing her to miscarry five times, authorities said. Castro also forced Knight to safely deliver on Christmas Day 2006 the child he fathered with Berry. That same day, prosecutors said, Castro raped Knight yet again.
Castro "tormented me constantly, especially on holidays," Knight said at Castro's sentencing. "Christmas was the most traumatic day because I didn't get to spend it with my son. No one should ever have to experience what we went through. Not even an enemy."
据《洛杉矶时报》9月3日报道，美国俄亥俄州官员称，因非法囚禁三名女子长达10年左右而被判终身监禁的美国男子阿里尔•卡斯特罗当天晚间吊死在监狱中，据信是自杀。
俄州监狱系统发言人史密斯说，工作人员3日晚9时20分发现卡斯特罗吊在自己的牢房之中，怀疑是自杀。监狱的医务人员对他实施了心脏复苏措施，随后将其送往俄亥俄州立大学医护中心。医院方面在晚上11点前宣布了卡斯特罗的死讯。
另据英国《每日邮报》和美国《纽约每日新闻》的消息，卡斯特罗确系上吊自杀身亡。
现年53岁的卡斯特罗8月1日被判终身监禁，外加1000年刑期，他本人也对包括绑架和强奸在内的937项罪名供认不讳。出于安全考虑，卡斯特罗被安排在单独的牢房里，狱警每30分钟来看他一次。据信他就是在这30分钟的间隙上吊的。
警方已经将卡斯特罗吊死的消息通知了其家人，卡斯特罗与前妻育有一子三女。俄亥俄州有关部门表示，将对此事进行调查，以明确监狱方面是否遵守了规章制度，以及是否可以采取措施避免该悲剧的发生。
卡斯特罗在2002年到2004年期间绑架了三名女子，分别是阿曼达•贝里，吉娜•德 吉苏斯和米歇尔•奈特，其中贝里还在被囚期间给卡斯特罗生了一个女儿，现已6岁。卡斯特罗对她们进行了惨无人道的折磨，奈特在其折磨下流产了5次。今年5 月6日，贝里砸破门向邻居呼救，三名受害人这才逃出魔窟。
警方在5月6日晚逮捕了卡斯特罗。美国联邦调查局（FBI）在搜查他的房屋时发现，他 曾在2004年写了一封遗书，声称要自杀。在卡斯特罗被判刑后，其辩护律师施拉克特和温特劳布在接受采访时表示，他的当事人有反社会倾向，希望研究人员对 此加以分析，以便给阻止类似暴行提供线索。
卡斯特罗曾为自己辩护说：“这些人试图把我描绘成一个怪物，但我不是怪物。我生病 了。”他后来又补充说：“我希望你们能宽恕我。”但唯一出庭的受害人奈特说，她无法原谅卡斯特罗。“我在地狱里待了11年，如今你的地狱生涯刚刚开始。我 会想办法走出过去的阴影，而你的余生都将在地狱里度过。”