Ariel Castro claims a ‘sexual addiction’

By Eliott C. McLaughlin and Pamela Brown

Ariel Castro’s victims were subjected to a “complete and comprehensive captivity,” a forensic psychiatrist said Thursday during the Cleveland kidnapper’s sentencing hearing.

Dr. Gregory Saathoff told the court he wrote, “The scope and magnitude of Ariel Castro’s crimes is unprecedented,” but he said that an examination of the defendant showed “no psychiatric illness whatsoever.”

Already in the testimony, witnesses have recounted Castro forcing the girls to play Russian roulette, throwing money at them after sexually abusing them, his admission that he’s a “criminal” and “sexual predator” and the measures he took to keep the women’s whereabouts a secret.

Testimony in the Thursday hearing kicked off with Barbara Johnson, the Cleveland police officer who first responded to kidnapper Ariel Castro’s home. She recalled finding Michelle Knight and Georgina DeJesus after hearing the pitter-patter of footsteps in a dark room.

Knight “literally launched herself” into another officer’s arms,” Johnson said, “legs, arms, just choking him. She just kept repeating, ‘You saved us! You saved us!’ ”

Johnson said the kidnapping victims were scared, pale, talkative and didn’t want to be left alone.

After the women were rescued in May, Castro was quick to tell police that his brothers had no involvement in the kidnappings and it was in that context that he told authorities, “I’m a criminal,” but he showed no remorse at that time, said Det. David Jacobs of the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Office.

Asked why he kidnapped the women, Castro told Jacobs it was to “purely satisfy his sexual needs,” the detective said.

” ‘I knew what I did was wrong.’ He said that more than once,” Jacobs said, explaining how Castro cooperated with police.

Click here for a livestream during the sentencing proceedings.

Castro had a gun in the home that he told Jacobs he would “show to the girls as a form of control.” Asked if he had ever forced the girls to play Russian roulette, Castro told Jacobs that he didn’t remember it, “but if the girls said it, it probably happened.”

FBI agent Andrew Burke said he had been familiar with DeJesus’ and Amanda Berry’s disappearances prior to their discovery earlier this year. Asked if he remembered the moment he saw them, Burke recalled first laying eyes on the three adult victims and Berry’s daughter in an ambulance outside Castro’s home.

“I’ll never forget it,” Burke said, explaining the women appeared dehydrated and malnourished. “It was surreal to me. I had been involved in the missing persons investigations for quite some time.”

Shown photos and a model of Castro’s home, Burke described a residence equipped with an alarm on the back door, a bedspread separating the kitchen and living area, a porch swing obstructing a flight of stairs and a curtain over the stairs leading to the area where the women were held captive.

The door to the room where Berry and her daughter were held had no doorknob and could be secured from the outside. Because the windows in that room were boarded up from the inside, Burke said, a hole was cut in the door for ventilation.

Authorities also found a “significant amount” of cash in a washing machine in the house. On occasion, Castro would throw the money at the women after sexually abusing them and require that they pay him to pick up any special items for them when he left the house, the agent said.

Also found in the home was a handwritten letter in which Castro described how he victimized his captives and declared, “I am a sexual predator,” Burke said. The letter also noted that Castro himself had been sexually abused as a child and mentioned an addiction to pornography and masturbation.

On cross-examination, Burke said the Castro also expressed remorse and said he was sick and mentally ill, but the FBI agent did not concur with the defense’s characterization of the letter as a suicide note.

Gerald Maloney, the emergency room doctor on duty when the three victims were taken to the hospital, described them as “very much emotionally fragile at the time” and said Knight requested that no male physicians attend to her.

The women told Maloney that they had been sexually and physically abused and, at times, deprived of food during their years of captivity.

Castro lured DeJesus into his car in 2004 by asking her for help locating his daughter, said Det. Andrew Harasimchuk, recalling DeJesus’ statement to him. Castro then told DeJesus he had to go home for money before asking her for help moving a speaker, the detective said.

She became uncomfortable, and Castro told her she had to leave through a different door than the one she entered through. When she walked through that door, she found herself in the basement of his home, Harasimchuk said. Castro then chained her to a center support pole in the basement, bound her hands with plastic ties and sexually assaulted her, the detective said.

All three women told Harasimchuk that they had been repeatedly raped “vaginally, orally and anally” during their captivity, he said.

Castro pleaded guilty last week to 937 counts, including murder and kidnapping, in a deal that dropped a possible death penalty in exchange for life in prison plus 1,000 years.

At the beginning of his hearing, a shackled Castro, flanked by his lawyers and wearing an orange prison uniform and eyeglasses, quietly told the judge he understood the reporting requirements of his sex-offender status, should he ever be released, which is unlikely given the plea deal.

Defense attorney Craig Weintraub told the court that his client accepts “full responsibility” for his conduct. Noting that Castro promptly took responsibility for his crimes, Judge Michael Russo said that given the scope of the crimes, “I don’t know that this could’ve been any more dignified.”

With a model of Castro’s home in the courtroom, another defense attorney, Jaye Schlachet, said he did not approve of anything but the victims’ impact statements being introduced during the sentencing hearing. He also mentioned doctors’ reports and photos as other examples of things he felt shouldn’t be presented in court.

Russo later responded that he wanted to see records pertaining to the case and hear testimony to ensure that “the court can reach and appropriate sentence.”

Castro is expected to speak at length during his sentencing, delivering a statement that his sister promises will allow people to see “the other side of Ariel Castro.”

He’ll give a rather lengthy statement, explaining his life and who he really is, his sister, Marisol Alicea, told CNN on Wednesday night.

“(People will) see the other side of Ariel Castro … not the monster that everyone thinks he is,” she said, adding that she was in no way defending her brother.

“He must pay for what he did.”

Alicea said she doesn’t plan on attending the sentencing with others in her family, fearing the evidence will be too graphic.

Hearing to last hours

The sentencing hearing is expected to last hours and include witness testimony and evidence, a Cuyahoga County court source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told CNN.

Prosecutors want to make sure there’s a record going forward in case of a future appeal, should Castro want to try to get out of prison, said the source who was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. Prosecutors also want the court and the public to understand the impact Castro’s actions had on his victims and the community.

At least one of Castro’s victims, Knight, will likely make an impact statement during the hearing, Alicea said. An official with direct knowledge of the investigation also said Knight intends to speak.

In a handwritten note, posted Wednesday on the Cleveland Police Community Relations Facebook page, Knight said she was overwhelmed with the support she has received from “complete strangers.”

“It is comforting. Life is tough, but I’m tougher,” she wrote. “Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, she became a butterfly. Thanks.”

The other two women — DeJesus and Berry — will not be present in the court, according to the attorney representing the three women. They could make a videotaped statement, or a family member could talk on their behalf.

Evaluating a kidnapper

Prosecutors also have submitted an evaluation of Castro’s confinement and abuse of Knight, DeJesus and Berry that was compiled by acclaimed psychiatrist Frank Ochberg, considered a pioneer in trauma science.

The evaluation was part of the prosecution’s pre-sentencing report, which has been submitted to the court.

The evaluation — using statements, medical records, videotaped interviews and transcripts — painted a horrifying picture of physical and emotional abuse at the hands of Castro that included brutal beatings and repeated rapes that resulted in pregnancies that he would end by punching the women in the stomach.

“He appeared to be evolving in an ever more dangerous direction, capturing younger and younger women, telling his captives he was hunting for replacements,” Ochberg wrote.

Castro abducted Knight, Berry and DeJesus separately over a two-year period between 2002 and 2004, according to investigators.

Promise of a ride

In each case, Castro lured the women into his car with the promise of a ride, according to court documents submitted by Timothy McGinty, Cuyahoga County prosecuting attorney.

Castro “enticed” Knight to go inside the house, where she would be held captive in the next 11 years, with “promises of a puppy for her son.”

The documents also say that Castro “serially abused (Knight, Berry and DeJesus) physically, emotionally, and sexually on a daily basis.”

All three women kept diaries, with Castro’s permission, providing many of the details used in the case.

Knight suffered “the longest”

The women and Berry’s 6-year-old daughter were held in Castro’s 1,400-square-foot home. DNA tests have confirmed that Castro is the child’s father.

In the evaluation, Ochberg wrote that Knight, who was kidnapped first, suffered “the longest and most severely.”

“But it was Michelle who served as doctor, nurse, midwife and pediatrician during the birth (of Berry’s child). She breathed life into that infant when she wasn’t breathing,” he wrote.

“At other times, she interceded when Castro sought to abuse Gina, interposing herself and absorbing physical and sexual trauma. But each survivor had a will to prevail and used that will to live through the ordeal.”

When freedom came

The women were freed in May after Berry shouted for help while Castro was away.

Neighbor Charles Ramsey said he heard their cries as he was sitting down to eat.

“I see this girl going nuts trying to get out of a house,” he told CNN affiliate WEWS. “I go on the porch and she says, ‘Help me get out. I’ve been in here a long time.'”

Finally free, Berry pleaded for a phone.

“Help me, I am Amanda Berry,” she frantically told a 911 operator. “I’ve been kidnapped, and I’ve been missing for 10 years. And I’m here, I’m free now.”

In early July, Berry, DeJesus and Knight released a YouTube video offering their thanks to all those who have helped them since they were freed. They have not faced their captor and tormentor since their rescue.

“I want to thank everyone who has helped me and my family through this entire ordeal. Everyone who has been there to support us has been a blessing,” Berry said in the video. “I’m getting stronger each day.”