by John Glatt
“We would play hide-and-seek [and] take showers in the creek,” said her best friend, Lisha Jacome. “It was her favorite place.”
Amanda went to Wilbur Wright Middle School and knew Angie and Emily Castro, who were also pupils there. She was a good student with a reputation as a “girly girl,” who dreamed of becoming a fashion designer when she grew up. She loved rap music and was a big fan of Eminem, putting his posters on her bedroom wall.
“She was always so smart,” her cousin Tina Miller said. “Mandy was always in the magnet programs at school.”
After spending a short time at John Marshall High School, where she was in the gifted student program, Amanda studied online at home. Her sister, Beth, had recently married a young man named Teddy Serrano, who had moved into the house.
At sixteen, Amanda got a job at Burger King on West 110th Street and Lorain Avenue, just three blocks away from her home. The petite five-foot-one-inch teenager had waist-length wavy blond hair, and had her left eyebrow pierced to keep up with the latest trend.
She loved Tommy Hillfiger and Nautica clothes, although she was careful never to mix them. She adored costume jewelry and collected necklaces, including a gold one spelling out AMANDA and another with a Playboy bunny.
Amanda loved to stay out late and party, drinking beer and smoking marijuana, but she always stayed clear of hard drugs.
In mid-March 2003, Amanda started dating Danizo Diaz, a tall, handsome sixteen-year-old Latino boy whom she first met after taking his order at Burger King’s drive-through window. Diaz drove a white Dodge Intrepid convertible and was known to everyone as “DJ.” Amanda told friends she thought the relationship looked promising.
* * *
At 2:00 P.M. on Monday, April 21, Amanda Berry kissed her mother good-bye and left for her shift at Burger King, wearing her maroon uniform.
“I love you,” Louwana told her. “Have a good day at work.”
It was the day before her seventeenth birthday, and her mother had organized a party. Before leaving, Amanda had carefully placed $100 in crisp new bills in her bedroom drawer to get her nails done later that night and buy a new outfit. A stack of gift-wrapped presents lay on her bed.
But there was something troubling Amanda that day. She had just heard that her brother-in-law, Teddy Serrano, who also worked at Burger King, was having an affair with a female worker there. The affair had started a month earlier, and when somebody told Amanda, she was devastated.
That afternoon, she tearfully called her mother several times for advice on what to do. Later, Teddy Serrano would tell police that he had seen Amanda “upset and crying,” making calls on her new cell phone.
Although her shift ended at 8:00 P.M., Amanda left half an hour early. She walked into the employee dining area and sat down next to Stephanie Torrence, who was waiting for her daughter to finish work. Amanda mentioned it was her birthday tomorrow and she was getting her nails done later. She was going to walk home, she said, as she had no money on her. Torrence offered to walk her home, but Amanda declined.
At 7:36 P.M. Amanda officially clocked out of Burger King, saying good-bye to Torrence a couple of minutes later. Then she started walking north on West 110th Street, still wearing her Burger King uniform with her black bag slung over her shoulder.
* * *
As Amanda Berry left the Burger King parking lot, Ariel Castro drove past her in his maroon Chevy van, with his youngest daughter, Arlene, in the passenger seat. Amanda had been on his radar for some time, as he had often seen the beautiful blond employee behind the counter.
Amanda too noticed when his van drove past her, thinking she recognized a girl she knew in the front seat.
After pulling into a driveway a few houses ahead and letting Arlene out of the van, Castro made a U-turn and drove back along West 110th Street.
Several minutes later, Amanda was talking to her sister, Beth, on her cell phone, as the maroon van pulled up alongside her. Then a smiling Ariel Castro opened the window, asking if she wanted a ride home. Amanda said yes.
“Gotta go, I’ve got a ride,” she told Beth breathlessly. “I’ll call you back.”
Then Amanda Berry got into Ariel Castro’s van and he sped off down West 110th Street.
* * *
As soon as Amanda was inside the van she realized Arlene was not there. But before she could say anything, the pudgy middle-aged driver with the porkpie hat and goatee introduced himself as Ariel Castro. He asked if she knew his son, Ariel, Jr., who used to work at that Burger King and his daughter Angie. Amanda said she knew both of them.
Then Amanda noticed that he had driven past her home on West 111th Street, and asked where they were going. Castro replied he was taking her to see Angie at his house.
A few minutes later they arrived at 2207 Seymour Avenue, and Ariel Castro pulled into the back of the driveway. He invited her inside to see his daughter, leading her in through the back door and into the kitchen.
“Angie could be in the bathroom,” Castro told her, taking Amanda up some stairs. On the way, they passed a closed door with a large hole in it. Amanda looked in and saw a woman inside. She asked who it was.
“It’s my roommate,” he replied.
Then Castro led her into a bedroom with an en suite bathroom at the far end, edging her against the wall. Suddenly, Amanda became nervous and told him to let her go, or he’d be in trouble with the police.
When Ariel Castro suddenly grabbed her, she started screaming. He muzzled her mouth with his hands, threw her to the floor and raped her.
Afterward, he duct-taped her wrists and legs together and taped her mouth shut. He put a motorcycle helmet over her head, and carried her downstairs into the pitch-black basement, where he chained her around the waist to the large center support pole.
Then he went up the stairs and locked the basement door behind him, leaving Amanda helplessly chained with the motorcycle helmet over her head.
* * *
When Amanda Berry didn’t arrive home after work, Louwana Miller immediately knew something was wrong. Her daughter was always punctual and was so excited about her birthday party the next day. She also knew that Amanda would never go anywhere without taking her phone charger or a change of clothes. There was also the hundred dollars in her bedroom drawer left untouched.
“Mandy waited all week for that party,” said Louwana. “All her clothes are here. No way would she leave with her Burger King outfit on.”
Over the next few hours, Louwana and Beth phoned around to all Amanda’s friends, asking if they had seen her. Then at 12:33 on Tuesday morning, Louwana went to the First District Cleveland Police Department office on West 130th Street, to report her missing.
“Mom is concerned,” read Amanda’s missing person’s report. “Mom claims there have been threats made against her at work. Cannot reach her on her cell phone. States this is unusual for her daughter.”
The following morning, Detective Brent Scaggs interviewed Louwana and Beth at their home. They described Amanda as a “good kid” who had never done anything like this before. They were concerned for her safety.
In fact, Louwana had already printed up fliers with Amanda’s photo and a brief description, which friends were now handing out around West 110th Street and Lorain Avenue.
“Mother also stated that [today] is Amanda’s birthday and a birthday party is planned,” wrote Detective Scaggs in his report. “Amanda took no money or change of clothes with her on the day that she left. She only had her Burger King work clothes. When ask[ed] about Amanda using drugs or alcohol they stated she does smoke weed and drinks beer but does not use any hard drugs. Mother and sister supplied me with info on Amanda’s friends.”
Louwana also told the detective that Amanda had called her from work before she disappeared, upset about her son-in-law Teddy Serrano’s affair.
Detective Scaggs then interviewed Serrano. He readily admitted the affair, saying it had upset Amanda and “he was going to kick the ass” of the
person who had told his wife about it.
“He and his wife have worked things out,” the detective wrote. “He does not know who told on him.”
After leaving the house, Detective Scaggs drove to West Ninety-ninth Street to interview Amanda’s boyfriend, Danizo Diaz. DJ said he had spoken to Amanda several times on Monday, and they had arranged to meet at 10:00 P.M., after she had her nails done. Amanda was supposed to call him to arrange a meeting place, but she never had.
At around midnight, DJ said he had received a call from Amanda’s cell phone, but his phone battery was almost dead and he could not hear anything.
“But he knows it was Amanda,” wrote the detective, “because he had caller ID and it was her cell number.”
He said that he had then gone out all night in his convertible, searching for Amanda.
“To be honest with you,” DJ told the detective, “I think she was kidnapped.”
From then on, DJ would become the prime suspect in Amanda Berry’s disappearance.
* * *
Ariel Castro was now in possession of Amanda’s cell phone, and was carefully listening to every message left for her by her worried mother, sister and boyfriend. Every day he would listen to their increasingly frantic calls. In time, he would even erase the messages to make room for new ones.
* * *
A few nights after she arrived, Amanda Berry tried to escape. But Ariel Castro easily overpowered her, holding her down as he taped her legs and mouth, savagely raping her again. Then he chained her back to the pole, placed a motorcycle helmet on her head and left her in the dark basement.
The next day he brought Amanda upstairs to the bathroom, where he raped her again, before bringing her into a bedroom and chaining her bound and gagged to a heater.
From now on, Ariel Castro would freely sexually assault Amanda whenever he felt like it.
9
“I HAVE YOUR DAUGHTER”
On Monday April 28, one week after Amanda Berry went missing, Cleveland’s WEWS-5 led off its ten o’clock news with the story. A tearful Louwana Miller appeared on camera, pleading for any information to find her daughter.
“It’s been a whole week and it’s getting harder,” she sobbed. “Somewhere between home and [Burger King] something happened. Nobody can figure it out.”
A reporter called it “a mystery” and Cleveland police were completely baffled.
“Her sister is posting Amanda’s picture,” said the reporter. “She fears the worst but hopes for the best.”
Then, as Amanda’s face came up on screen, Beth Serrano appealed for her to come home, if she was watching.
“I’m hoping she’s out there somewhere,” said Beth. “I mean, I don’t care. Just come home. I hope nothing happened to her [and] maybe somebody’s got her, drugged her or something. Just bring her home.”
Ariel Castro watched the newscast from his living room at 2207 Seymour Avenue. A few minutes later, he picked up Amanda’s silver cell phone and dialed Louwana Miller’s number on speed dial.
“I have your daughter,” he told her. “She’s healthy and okay.” But when Louwana asked to speak to Amanda, he rang off. Two minutes later he called back.
“He said Mandy was going to be his wife,” Louwana recalled in 2005. “He wanted to marry her. Mandy wanted to be with him. And then he hung up and that’s the last I heard.”
After dialing Amanda’s number and leaving several messages, Louwana called FBI Special Agent Robert Hawk, who was leading the investigation. Hawk believed it might be a hoax and Amanda was part of it, as the caller had said she was fine and would be home in a couple of days.
* * *
Michelle Knight was also watching the news bulletin that night, with more than a little interest. Earlier, Ariel Castro had burst into her bedroom, where she was still chained, and turned on the television.
“If you watch the news tonight,” he told her cryptically, “you might find there’s a tragedy in Cleveland.”
The moment she saw Amanda’s face on the television screen, she realized that “the Dude,” as she now called him, had kept his word and kidnapped another girl.
“The reason why he turned on the TV,” Michelle said later, “is that he wanted me to know that there was another girl in the house.”
But it would be several weeks before her captor brought a young blond girl, wearing a pair of boy’s pajamas, into Michelle’s room. Beforehand, Castro told Michelle to put a blanket over her naked body and hide the chains. Although he introduced the girl as his brother’s girlfriend, Michelle immediately recognized her from the television news. She was embarrassed for Amanda to see the filthy conditions she was imprisoned in. The floor was covered with rotten sandwiches and pizza slices and it stank of urine.
“There were flies flying around the room,” Michelle said. “It was pretty disgusting.”
But as soon as Amanda saw Michelle she smiled warmly.
“I think she was happy to see there was another person there,” said Michelle, “and she wasn’t alone.”
Michelle also noticed how clean and fresh Amanda looked and that she was wearing clothes, while she was naked in chains and had not showered in months.
Then Castro led Amanda out of the room and it would be months before the girls saw each other again.
* * *
On May 3, 2003, the Cleveland Plain Dealer ran its first story of Amanda Berry’s disappearance in its “Law & Order” column. Under the headline CLEVELAND FBI SEARCHING FOR MISSING GIRL, it offered an unspecified reward for any information leading to her whereabouts.
“Authorities need help finding Amanda Berry,” it began. “The FBI and Cleveland police said Amanda left work at 7:30 P.M. in a car with an unidentified driver. FBI agent Robert Hawk said the agency is treating the case as a kidnapping.”
In the days following Amanda’s disappearance, her mother embarked on a relentless campaign to keep her story in front of the Cleveland media. Nervous and chain-smoking Newport cigarettes, Louwana Miller aggressively courted local journalists to keep the story alive, praying that heavy media exposure would eventually lead to her daughter being found.
One morning, Louwana arrived at the 19-Action News studios demanding to speak to investigative reporter Bill Safos. When he came out, she handed him one of her homemade missing person posters, with Amanda’s photograph and description.
“And just seeing [Louwana’s] face,” recalled Safos. “The tears in her eyes and how desperate she was with that handmade poster. I thought a mother shouldn’t have to go through this, so I paid a lot of attention to her.”
Safos and a cameraman then drove to Louwana’s house, where he interviewed her in Amanda’s bedroom. It was exactly as she’d left it the day she disappeared. Her rosary was hanging on the doorknob and her Eminem posters on the wall by her CD collection. Her clothes were folded neatly on the bed.
Then Louwana opened a drawer, showing Safos the hundred dollars of Amanda’s birthday money, lying untouched.
“That was the red flag to me,” said Safos. “A kid’s not going to run away without money.”
Louwana also befriended Plain Dealer columnist Regina Brett, who would devote many of her columns to Amanda over the next few years, becoming personally involved in the search.
On May 11, three weeks after Amanda went missing, Brett wrote about Louwana’s desperate battle to find her daughter.
“Louwana can’t sleep or eat,” read her column. “She lives on cigarettes and blind faith. Sitting on the couch in a cloud of smoke, she uses the coffee table as a desk, with two phones ready, a stack of business cards from detectives and FBI agents.”
Brett described how Louwana avoided her daughter’s bedroom, which lay untouched in suspended animation, as it was just too painful. And how every time the phone rings, she prays it’s Amanda.
“I don’t know if she’s out there being held,” said Louwana. “I don’t know if she’s out there lying on the side of the road somewhere. Who gave her th
at ride?”
Three days later, FBI Special Agent Robert Hawk told the Plain Dealer that several people were now being interviewed in connection with her disappearance. He said investigators now believed that Amanda Berry had got into a white four-door sedan with three men inside. What he didn’t reveal was that Amanda’s boyfriend, Danizo Diaz, who owned a similar car, was now the prime suspect.
In the initial police report, Detective Scaggs had expressed some surprise that a sixteen-year-old would be driving such a flashy sports car. So investigators impounded DJ’s four-door white Dodge Intrepid convertible for forensic examination and searched his home. DJ was also given a lie detector test, which he passed.
Agent Hawk also revealed that Louwana Miller had received a mysterious phone call from her daughter’s cell phone a week after her disappearance. The FBI were still trying to determine if it was a hoax.
* * *
Louwana had now recruited a crack team of volunteers who pinned up MISSING posters and yellow ribbons to trees and telephone poles all over Cleveland. They also went farther afield, distributing the posters to truck stops and post offices all over the East Coast.
The poster, which had two photographs of Amanda, read:
MISSING
AMANDA BERRY
MISSING FROM CLEVELAND, OH
IF YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION ABOUT AMANDA: CALL THE CLEVELAND, OHIO FBI (216) 522-1400
Date Missing: 4/21/03
Date of Birth: 4/22/86
Age at Disappearance: 17 years
Race: Caucasian
Sex: Female
Height: 5’1”
Weight: 110 lbs.
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Sandy Blonde, long
Other: Surgical scar on lower Abdomen and pierced left eyebrow
Last Seen Wearing: Burgundy Burger King shirt, black pants And a black hooded jacket Amanda was last seen walking home from work at the Burger King at W. 110th and Lorain in Cleveland, Ohio on April 21, 2003. She has not been seen or heard from since
AMANDA IS BELIEVED TO BE ENDANGERED
* * *
Even though Ariel Castro now had two girls hidden at 2207 Seymour Avenue, he still had Lillian Roldan over to stay. One night, she heard Michelle Knight’s television in an upstairs bedroom and asked him who was watching it.