Three women who went
missing separately about a decade ago, when they were in their teens or early
20s, had been tied up but were found alive Monday in a residential area just
south of downtown, and three brothers were arrested, police said.
One of the women told a 911 dispatcher the person
who had taken her was gone, and she pleaded for police officers to come and get
her, saying, "I'm free now."
Cheering crowds gathered Monday night on the street
near the home where police said Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight
had been held since they went missing and were found earlier in the day.
Police didn't immediately provide any details of
how the women were found but said they appeared to be in good health and had
been taken to a hospital to be reunited with relatives and to be evaluated.
They said a 6-year-old also was found in the home.
On a recorded 911 call Monday, Berry declared,
"I'm Amanda Berry. I've been on the news for the last 10 years."
She said she had been taken by someone and begged
for police officers to arrive at the home on Cleveland's west side before he
returned.
"I've been kidnapped, and I've been missing
for 10 years," she told the dispatcher. "And I'm here. I'm free
now."
Berry disappeared at age 16 on April 21, 2003, when
she called her sister to say she was getting a ride home from her job at a
Burger King. DeJesus went missing at age 14 on her way home from school about a
year later. They were found just a few miles from where they had gone missing.
Police said Knight went missing in 2002 and is 32
now. They didn't provide current ages for the other two women.
Police said one of the brothers, a 52-year-old,
lived at the home. They released no names and gave no details about the others
arrested or what charges they might face.
Dozens of police officers and sheriff's deputies
remained at the scene late Monday awaiting a warrant to search the building
where the women and the child were found.
Loved ones said they hadn't given up hope of seeing
the women again. Among them was Kayla Rogers, a childhood friend of DeJesus.
"I've been praying, never forgot about her,
ever," Rogers told The Plain Dealer newspaper. "This is amazing. This
is a celebration. I'm so happy. I just want to see her walk out of those doors
so I can hug her."
Berry's cousin Tasheena Mitchell told the newspaper
she couldn't wait to have Berry in her arms.
"I'm going to hold her, and I'm going to
squeeze her and I probably won't let her go," she said.
Berry's mother, Louwana Miller, who had been
hospitalized for months with pancreatitis and other ailments, died in March
2006. She had spent the previous three years looking for her daughter, whose
disappearance took a toll as her health steadily deteriorated, family and
friends said.
Mayor Frank Jackson expressed gratitude that the
three women were found alive.
"We have many unanswered questions regarding
this case, and the investigation will be ongoing," he said in a statement.
At Metro Health Medical Center, Dr. Gerald Maloney
declined to go into details about the women's conditions.
"We're assessing their needs, and the
appropriate specialists are evaluating them as well," he said at a news
conference, which concluded with a round of applause from a large gathering of
area residents.
In January, a prison inmate was sentenced to 4 1/2
years after admitting he provided a false burial tip in the disappearance of
Berry, who had last been seen the day before her 17th birthday. A judge in
Cleveland sentenced Robert Wolford on his guilty plea to obstruction of
justice, making a false report and making a false alarm.
Last summer, Wolford tipped authorities to look for
Berry's remains in a Cleveland lot. He was taken to the location, which was dug
up with backhoes.
Two men arrested for questioning in the
disappearance of DeJesus in 2004 were released from the city jail in 2006 after
officers did not find her body during a search of the men's house.
One of the men was transferred to the Cuyahoga
County Jail on unrelated charges, while the other was allowed to go free,
police said.
In September 2006, police acting on a tip tore up
the concrete floor of the garage and used a cadaver dog to search
unsuccessfully for DeJesus' body. Investigators confiscated 19 pieces of
evidence during their search but declined to comment on the significance of the
items then.
No Amber Alert was issued the day DeJesus failed to
return home from school in April 2004 because no one witnessed her abduction.
The lack of an Amber Alert angered her father, Felix DeJesus, who said in 2006
he believed the public will listen even if the alerts become routine.
"The Amber Alert should work for any missing
child," Felix DeJesus said then. "It doesn't have to be an abduction.
Whether it's an abduction or a runaway, a child needs to be found. We need to
change this law."
Cleveland police said then that the alerts must be
reserved for cases in which danger is imminent and the public can be of help in
locating the suspect and child.
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