by John Glatt
Judge Russo ruled that the presentation could proceed, explaining sentencing hearings were not bound by the rule of evidence, and other relevant information was often introduced.
Assistant County Prosecutor Anna Faraglia then called the State’s first witness, Cleveland police officer Barbara Johnson.
“Can you lay out for the court,” asked Faraglia, “the conditions that you observed when you went into the house at 2207 Seymour?”
“I remember it was very dark,” said Officer Johnson, “because I didn’t take my flashlight with me because it was a bright sunny day. But fortunately I had a flashlight on my firearm.”
Johnson told the court how she and Officer Anthony Espada encountered obstacles on their way up the stairs, like heavy curtains and furniture. As they reached the top, Espada yelled out, “Cleveland police! Cleveland police!”
“Then you hear some pitter-patter steps,” said Johnson, “and I can hear someone running. But it stopped and … I kind of shined the flashlight, so whoever it was could see we were the police. We waited for Michelle Knight as she literally launched herself into Officer Espada’s arms … just choking him and she just kept repeating, ‘You saved us! You saved us!’ She then came over to me and jumped in my arms. As I’m trying to re-holster my weapon her legs are wrapped around me, so it was kind of hard to get my weapon back in my holster.”
Soon afterward, Johnson had seen another face “peeping around the corner of the doorway.” When Espada asked her name, she meekly replied, “Georgina DeJesus.”
The assistant prosecutor then asked Johnson about the three women’s condition when they were put in an ambulance outside the house.
“All three of them were … thin, pale, scared,” she testified. “Still kind of reluctant and not really sure what was happening. There was a lot of talking. They were very nervous, saying all kinds of things that happened to them.”
“Do you recall,” asked Faraglia, “some of the details they were giving you about what happened to them?”
“I didn’t ask a lot of questions,” she said, “I just let them talk. I do remember at one point looking at Amanda and asking her, ‘Well, how about when you had your daughter? Didn’t you go to the hospital?’ And she said, ‘No, I had my daughter here at the house. Michelle delivered her for me.’ And I was just dumbfounded. I couldn’t believe it.”
The next witness was MetroHealth Medical Center ER physician Dr. Gerald Maloney, who was on duty when the three women came in. He told the court that they all appeared “very emotionally distraught,” as they spoke about being imprisoned and sexually assaulted in a house for many years.
“Miss Knight in particular related that she’s been pregnant,” he testified, “and had been subject to both deprivation of food and physical assault to try and induce a miscarriage. All three related various sorts of physical assault as well.”
The doctor said Michelle did not want any male nurses or physicians in the room during her examination.
“Without getting into specific detail,” asked Faraglia, “were there various documentation given to you, with regards to what sort of sexual assault the women underwent?”
“Yes,” he replied, “they related information regarding the sexual assaults to us, and also to the sexual-assault nurse examiner.”
“And in a very general description, of what nature would those assaults be?” she asked.
“Forcible rape,” he replied. “Multiple repeated times. Again it was against their will and they suffered physical harm while they were raped.”
* * *
The next witness was Detective Andrew Harasimchuk of the Cleveland Police Department’s Sex Crimes Unit, who had interviewed the victims at the MetroHealth Medical Center just hours after their escape. The detective told Assistant Prosecutor Max Martin that it was “very chaotic” at the hospital that night.
One by one, the women had told him how Ariel Castro had lured them back to his house, using his daughters as bait. Once there, Castro had physically attacked them and brought them down to his basement, where he chained them to a pole and put a motorcycle helmet on their heads.
Then Martin asked the detective to outline his investigation into the case.
“I interviewed Ariel Castro,” he said. “I visited the crime scene. I read dozens of reports … and examined hundreds of photographs. I reviewed hundreds of pieces of physical evidence that were taken from the house. I reviewed written materials kept by the victims during their years of captivity.”
“And what did your investigation reveal?” asked the assistant prosecutor.
“After reviewing all that evidence, it was determined that Ariel Castro, and Ariel Castro alone, was the only person involved in this incident.”
Harasimchuk said that Castro had imprisoned all three women, restraining them with chains or locking them inside a room, as well as depriving them of food, and bathroom and bathing facilities. He had repeatedly raped them “vaginally, orally or anally,” as well as inflicting physical and emotional abuse.
The assistant prosecutor asked how the 977-count indictment against Castro had been arrived at.
“Some of these charges reflect specific instances of assault that were reported to me by the victims,” he testified, “or through the investigation of various written materials. The abuse was continuous and without interruption during the time they were held captive.”
Then Craig Weintraub stood up to cross-examine the witness, asking what Amanda told detectives about when she discovered she was pregnant with Jocelyn.
“She did inform law enforcement,” said the defender, “that despite the circumstances of being kidnapped and held hostage, and any sort of Stockholm syndrome that may have been in effect, she did use the words … that it was consensual. Is that correct?”
“That is correct,” Harasimchuk replied.
“Thank you,” said Weintraub, as he sat down at the defense table, next to a smirking Ariel Castro.
The next witness was Joshua Barr, a forensic scientist with the Ohio BCI. Under Assistant Prosecutor Max Martin’s questioning, Barr described examining Castro’s .357-caliber Luger revolver and finding it in good working order. He had also examined the rusty chains found in the house, testifying they were almost one hundred feet long and weighed ninety-two pounds.
“Was it also your organization that determined the paternity of the minor child that was found in the house?” asked Martin.
“Yes,” said Barr.
“Paternity was established that Ariel Castro was the father of the minor child found in the home?”
“Yes.”
FBI Special Agent Andrew Burke then took the stand, describing how he had coordinated the multiagency investigation at the beginning. He testified how he had organized the victims’ medical treatment, as well as arranging for them to be reunited with their families. Over the ensuing weeks, he supervised their ongoing medical and psychological care.
“Based on your knowledge of the course of the investigation,” asked Max Martin, “have each of the victims been in need of ongoing medical care, as a result of their captivity, abuse and victimization by Ariel Castro?”
“All of the victims’ needs are ongoing,” Special Agent Burke replied. “I don’t know if anyone could expect anything different, really. They’ve made dramatic improvements from the time that I’ve spent with them. They are with the people that love them. They are getting world-class medical, psychological care. But you can’t turn off ten years of systematic, sustained psychological, sexual and physical abuse like a light switch.”
Then Martin asked about the scale model of the 2207 Seymour Avenue house in the middle of the courtroom.
“That model was created by the FBI’s operational project unit in Quantico,” he explained. “They took measurements from the house, using … a surveyor’s measurement tool. And then they constructed this house as a scale model, one inch equaling one foot.”
Burke said that each of the model’s rooms had
been painted in the actual color of each room in the house. And it was used during the victims’ questioning, so they could describe exactly what room they were in during each incident they described.
The assistant prosecutor then asked about Burke’s first visit to 2207 Seymour Avenue, just hours after the escape.
“Well, it was surreal to me,” Burke replied. “I’ve been involved in the missing-persons investigation for quite some time and it was a difficult experience.”
Martin then asked Special Agent Burke to explain how the defendant had transformed his residence into a prison. Then using photographs taken inside the house, which were displayed on a large TV screen at the front of the courtroom, Burke described a crude system of alarms and mirrors Castro had rigged, as well as heavy curtains and other materials to block off certain areas of the house.
Upstairs on the second floor, Burke pointed out how Castro had removed all the inside doorknobs, attaching slide locks on the outside, so he could lock in his prisoners. As Castro had boarded up all the windows with wood, he had cut a small hole in the bottom panel of the bedroom doors for ventilation. He had also cut a hole in the ceiling of the tiny bedroom Michelle and Gina shared, so a fan up in the attic would pump air down.
The assistant prosecutor then showed the court a photograph of Castro’s basement, asking about a large support pole in the center.
“That’s a pole … that the women were restrained to at various points,” Burke explained. “[It] was used to restrain the women in the early stages of captivity.”
He also pointed out an old washing machine at the far end of the basement, where investigators had discovered more than $22,000 in cash.
“Did Mr. Castro use his cash … to run an internal barter system, if you will, with his victims?” asked Martin.
“On occasion,” replied the agent.
“And would he,” Martin continued, “after sexually abusing them, throw money at them, saying, ‘Here, you’re being paid for the sex?’”
“There were reports of that.”
The assistant prosecutor then asked about a handwritten letter, dated April 4, 2004, that had been found near the kitchen counter.
“I know that to be a letter written by Ariel Castro,” said Burke.
“Does he describe himself,” asked Martin, “through his own choice of words as, ‘I am a sexual predator’?”
“Yes,” he replied.
“Does he describe his victimization of the women in this case?”
“Yes.”
In his cross-examination, Craig Weintraub asked if his client’s letter had expressed remorse.
“He wrote something to the effect that he was sorry for his conduct,” said Burke.
“Hopefully you will agree with me too,” continued Weintraub, “that … he was unsure of, but certainly believed and expressed in his letter, that he was sick and mentally ill. And other than that he had no explanation for why he could possibly do something like this?”
“Yes,” replied Burke, as Ariel Castro looked on dispassionately.
Then Weintraub asked if he agreed it had been a “suicide letter,” although he had never actually tried to kill himself?
“I don’t know that I would concur that it was written as a suicide note,” replied Special Agent Burke. “It did not give me that immediate impression.”
“Thank you,” said Weintraub. “Nothing further.”
The State’s next witness was Deputy David Jacobs of the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Office, who had interrogated Ariel Castro. He testified that the defendant answered every question posed to him succinctly, even if they were incriminating. During the ten hours of questioning, spread over two days, Castro freely admitted taking the three women and imprisoning them.
“He used the word ‘abduct,’” said Jacobs. “He referenced himself in the interview as a ‘sexual predator.’ I asked him at that point, ‘What do you consider a sexual predator is?’ And he said, ‘Somebody that continually repeats offenses.’”
“Did he tell you why he was abducting young women off the streets of Cleveland?’ asked Martin.
“We got into why he did it,” replied Jacobs, “and his response was, ‘to purely satisfy [my] sexual needs … and I know what I did was wrong.’”
The deputy also described how Castro had admitted to using his gun to control the girls.
“And are you aware that he used the gun … to play Russian roulette?” asked the assistant prosecutor.
“I’d asked him if this incident actually took place,” said Jacobs. “His response was that he didn’t recall. But if the girls said it, then it probably happened.”
“And that he played a trust game,” continued Martin. “He handed an empty revolver to a young woman and said, ‘Here, put it to my head. Pull the trigger. If it’s God’s will that I die, I die. I’ll say my prayers.’ Did he play that game?”
“Yes, he did,” said Jacobs.
Then Jaye Schlachet stood up to cross-examine Jacobs.
“Just one question,” he said. “You went to see him and he completely cooperated with you, didn’t he?”
“I don’t think that’s accurate,” replied Jacobs. “I felt that some of the elements of the crime were minimized, but he was very cooperative through the interview.”
“He talked himself right to the convictions, didn’t he?” said the defender. “And he wasn’t hesitant at all to tell you exactly what happened from his perspective. Right?”
“No, he wasn’t,” said Jacobs.
* * *
The next witness was forensic psychiatrist Dr. Gregory Saathoff, who consults with the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit. Dr. Saathoff said he had reviewed the video transcripts of all the victims’ interviews, as well as interviewing Lillian Roldan.
Assistant Prosecutor Blaise Thomas asked why he had written in his report, “the scope and magnitude of Ariel Castro’s crime is unprecedented.”
“In terms of unrelated victims, the length of captivity and the location,” said Dr. Saathoff, “as well as the fact that most cases of abduction are impulsive in nature and the victim is kept for a matter of minutes or hours. In this case, rather than a short abduction … there appeared to be a strategy here that extended over a period of many years. And this is in fact quite unusual and in fact unprecedented, according to the FBI’s National Center for Analysis of Violent Crime.”
“So he’s in a class of one by himself?” asked Thomas.
“Well, certainly there are cases where there have been longer-term abductions in length,” said the doctor, “but the specific nature of this—to abduct and keep this number of unrelated victims for this length of time within a neighborhood setting is completely unprecedented.”
Then Thomas asked why he had described Castro “as a hoarder of humans.”
Dr. Saathoff explained there was a definite pattern to his choice of victims.
“It was always on the same street,” he said. “These victims were similar in terms of their stature, their age. They were female and they were also very trusting. And his use of ruses in order to get them into his vehicle and … into his house.
“Over the years he exposed them to significant degradation and violence. He enforced control over the most intimately private functions of their lives, which included food, bathing and toileting. So it was really a very complete and comprehensive captivity.”
Thomas then asked about Ariel Castro’s ongoing duplicity with family, neighbors, friends and coworkers, to maintain his control over the situation.
“This is really the most significant part of the case,” explained Dr. Saathoff, “that someone would be able to month after month, year after year devise ways to conceal the situation from family, friends, neighbors. For a time he maintained a relationship with a girlfriend, who was completely unaware that he had these women in the house.”
Dr. Saathoff said he had read Ariel Castro’s April 2004 letter and found two significant quotes in it.
“He st
ated, ‘I live a normal life. I function around others like a normal person,’” said Dr. Saathoff. “In fact he appeared to have done that and was able to live this life around family and friends without them suspecting.
“[I] was also struck with … his statement, ‘I had no idea Gina was so young. She looks a lot older.’ But we certainly know that he was aware that Gina was a classmate of his daughter. He knew his daughter’s age, and therefore to make that statement … caused some skepticism … as to whether or not he was actually being truthful in writing the document and making the statements that he made.”
In cross-examination, Jaye Schlachet pointed out that Castro had also written that he believed he suffered from mental illness.
“Is that right?” asked the defense attorney.
“That’s what the letter states,” replied Dr. Saathoff.
“He talked about mental illness back in ’04 in a letter he wrote. Didn’t he?”
“He wrote, ‘I’m a sexual predator who needs help but I don’t want to get it,’” said Dr. Saathoff.
“Okay, and he talked about being sexually abused himself when he was a child?”
“Yes.”
“And he talked about an addiction to masturbation and pornography and things like that. Didn’t he?”
“Correct.”
“Thank you,” said Schlachet.
“Does any of that excuse his conduct in this case?” asked Blaise Thomas angrily.
“No,” replied Dr. Saathoff.
* * *
At 11:28 A.M., the prosecution called its final witness, Dr. Frank Ochberg, who advises the FBI and the Secret Service on Stockholm syndrome and post-traumatic stress disorder. He had been hired by the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office to consult on the case, and had reviewed the extensive FBI database. Although he had not interviewed the victims, he had read their journals and seen photographs and videos that had been taken during their captivity. He had also reviewed Ariel Castro’s interrogation, and had a face-to-face interview with one of his daughters.