Ariel Castro's FBI Tapes Released After Suicide; Talks About Several Close Calls, Speaking With Amanda Berry's Mother [Video]

Just days after Cleveland abductor Ariel Castro committed suicide, footage from his FBI interrogation tapes emerged in which he explained two close calls that could have led to his capture.

The 52-year-old former school bus driver was sentenced to life imprisonment, plus 1,000 years with no chance of parole for kidnapping, beating and raping Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight for 10 years ago. Castro kidnapped the women between 2002 and 2004 and fathered a 6-year-old child with Berry. He also beat and starved Knight when she became pregnant, forcing her to miscarry five times. The women were freed on May 6 after a neighbor helped rescue them from Castro's home.

During the FBI interrogation, Castro detailed the two times he almost got caught including once when a girlfriend was suspicious that a TV was on in the room where he was holding one of three young women, NBC's Today reported.On Tuesday, he committed suicide in his jail cell after serving one month of his life sentence, reports Cleveland.com. "She says, 'what is that, you have a TV on up there?' My heart started beating and I was like, OK, she's probably catching on to something," Castro says.

In another incident, Castro says, he should have been spotted on surveillance tapes at the school where he abducted DeJesus.

Asked if that was a close call, Castro replies, "yeah."

He also tells FBI agents that he used Amanda Berry's cellphone to call her mother.

"I said something ... that I have her daughter and that she's OK," Castro tells the FBI interrogators.

He says he told Berry's mother that "She's (Amanda) my wife now, something like that, you know, probably not the exact words."

Then, he says, "I hung up. We didn't have a conversation."

He also describes what happened on the day Berry escaped and alerted neighbors, ending the ordeal for the three young women.

Castro says Berry's' daughter, whom he had fathered, was always asking him why he locked all the doors in the house. On the day he was captured, he says, he left a bedroom door open.

"I let my guard down," he tells the FBI agents.

Watch the footage below:

Halloween benefit set for Castro victim Michelle Knight

A Halloween benefit is planned for Oct. 12 in Hinckley for Michelle Knight, one of three Cleveland women held captive for more than a decade by Ariel Castro.

Castro, a former school bus driver, was sentenced to life in prison plus 1,000 years on Aug. 1 for kidnapping and sexually assaulting Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Knight while holding them captive in his Cleveland home. A month after his sentencing, Castro hanged himself in his cell.

Michelle Knight

The small family-owned senior care facility hosts a Halloween party every year to collect donations of food and other items for charity. This year, Debra Porter said she wanted to help Knight and conduct a fundraiser in her honor.

“I know her well,” Porter said. “She loves Halloween and she’ll be here for the whole event.”

The Halloween themed party will include trick or treating in the woods for children up to age 11, wagon rides, hot dogs, chili tasting and soda.
There also will be live entertainment from Outback Ray featuring exotic animals, performance by Esto Jazz and karaoke.

In addition to the entertainment, you can also enter a chili, soup and stew cook-off with the price of admission. The grand prize is $100. To enter to the chili contest, email Dan Donner at cddonner2@gmail.com.

Fundraiser attendees are asked to dress appropriately for the weather as the event is outdoors, and to bring a chair.

The fundraiser cost is $25 for adults, $10 for children ages 4-11 and free for children 3 and younger.

Tickets are available at B&B trophy at 1317 Pearl Road in Brunswick, or at HealthSource of Brunswick at 1659 Pearl Road.

Tickets also are available online at michelleknightbenefit.myevent.com.

Contact reporter Loren Genson at (330) 721-4063 or lgenson@medina-gazette.com.

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO!!! MICHELLE KNIGHT SINGING "HERO"

MICHELLE KNIGHT kidnapped victim sings "HERO" by Mariah Carey

Published on Sep 17, 2013 BY brocoelunico 

Featuring Michelle Knight at the Ohio Hispanic Heritage Coalition Mi Familia Picnic
September 14, 2013 in Lorain Ohio

Exclusive photos of Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, Michelle Knight taken when were they found.

Copyright 2013 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Ariel Castro suicide: Interrogation tape reveals Cleveland kidnapper called Amanda Berry’s mom to say, ‘She’s my wife now’

In the hours after his arrest, Ariel Castro told police that he let his 'guard down' the day Berry escaped from his home, ending his captives' decade-long nightmare, according to video obtained by NBC News.

NBC News obtained footage taken from Ariel Castro's police interrogation after he was arrested in May.

NBC News obtained footage taken from Castro's police interrogation after his arrest in Maand broadcasted segments of it on the "Today" show Friday.

In the tape, the shackled sex fiend sheds tears while sharing details how he raped and abused Amanda Berry, Michelle Knight and Gina DeJesus, and how he feared he'd be found out during the decade he kept them in captivity.

Castro hung himself with a bed sheet in his prison cell.

BILL PUGLIANO/GETTY IMAGES

The home that once served as a terrible dungeon where Ariel Castro brutalized Amanda Berry, Michelle Knight and Gina DeJesus. The home was torn down in August. 

RELATED: ARIEL CASTRO'S FAMILY PLANS PRIVATE FUNERAL

His family is planning to cremate him in a private service after recovering his body from the Franklin County coroner's office, relatives told the Daily News.

In the interrogation video, the 53-year-old former bus driver admitted to taking the three women prisoner and appeared shocked that he was able to get away with it for so long.

Speaking to two detectives, Castro described a moment a decade ago when an old girlfriend heard a TV in the room where he was holding Knight, his first victim, shortly after he abducted her in 2002.

TODAY SHOW

Castro told police he once called Amanda Berry's mother to say the girl was his 'wife' now. He also said police should have caught him after he kidnapped DeJesus in 2004 because there were surveillance cameras outside of her middle school.

"She seen that I had a TV on in the upstairs room,'' Castro tells the cops. "And she says, 'What is that? You have a TV on up there?'"

RELATED: ARIEL CASTRO DEAD: CORONER CONFIRMS SUICIDE

"And my heart started beating, and I was like, 'Okay, she's probably catching onto something," he says.

"It was a close call?" one cop says.

AP

Castro hung himself on Tuesday in his jail cell.

"Yea," Castro replies.

Castro also said video surveillance cameras near Gina DeJesus' middle school should have recorded him when he abducted the then-14-year-old In April 2004.

RELATED: WHAT IS SOCIOPATHIC DISORDER? ARIEL CASTRO'S CONDITION EXPLAINED

"You said we could've broke the case right then and there," one of the detectives says.

AARON JOSEFCZYK/REUTERS

Ariel Castro stood between attorneys Craig Weintraub (left) and Jaye Schlachet as his sentencing hearing. The 53-year-old was serving life in prison plus 1,000 years when he was found hanging in his cell.

"Because they had surveillance cameras," Castro replies.

Castro said he once used Amanda Berry's cell phone to call her mother to say Berry was OK.

"I think I said something ... that I have her daughter and that she's okay and that she's my wife now — something like that, you know, probably not the exact words,'' Castro tells the detectives.

RELATED: ARIEL CASTRO DEAD: CLEVELAND KIDNAPPER OF 3 WOMEN HANGS HIMSELF

KIICHIRO SATO/AP

Castro hung himself in his cell at the Correctional Reception Center in Orient, Ohio, south of Columbus. Above, a cell at the jail, though not the one where Castro was kept. 

He hung up soon after, he says.

Berry's mother, Louwana Miller, died in 2006.

Berry, along with a daughter fathered by Castro, escaped from the house with the help of a neighbor on May 6, leading to the discovery of the two other victims.

Castro told the cops that Berry's daughter often complained about locked doors in the home.

HENNES PAYNTER COMMUNICATIONS / HANDOUT/EPA

Castro pleaded guilty to 937 counts of rape, kidnapping and other charges for his crimes against Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight (left to right).

RELATED: ARIEL CASTRO'S HOUSE OF HORRORS DEMOLISHED

On the day the women escaped, he left a bedroom door open, allowing Berry to slip out.

"I know I let my guard down," he told the detectives.

None of Castro's victims have offered a public response to Castro's suicide, which came barely a month after he was sentenced to life in prison plus 1,000 years.

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty denounced him as a coward.

"This man couldn't take, for even a month, a small portion of what he had dished out for over a decade," McGinty said.

With News Wire Services

On a mobile device? Watch video here.

Vi

Judge rules the name of Amanda Berry's daughter must be redacted from public record

A judge has ordered that the name of Amanda Berry's daughter must be redacted from public records involving the kidnapping case. The girl was born while Berry was held hostage by Ariel Castro.The Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The name of a child born to Amanda Berry during her captivity will be deleted from the public record involving the kidnapping case, a judge has ruled.

Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Michael Russo on Friday ordered the child's name redacted from all filings in the case. Authorities said Berry, who was held for nearly a decade, gave birth to the child in a small swimming pool. DNA evidence confirmed that Ariel Castro was the father.

County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty sought to have the child's name deleted "in this case in order to respect and protect the minor child victim's personal right to individual privacy,'' a prosecutor's filing said.

When Castro pleaded guilty earlier this summer, the child's name was listed in a public filing. McGinty's office said it was inadvertent and wanted to have the name redacted.

Castro, 53, committed suicide Sept. 3 in prison, just weeks after he was sentenced to life in prison plus 1,000 years for the tortures of Berry, Michelle Knight and Gina DeJesus, whose captivity in Castro's home on Seymour Avenue in Cleveland lasted nearly a decade.

The child was 6 when the women were found in May.

Also on Friday, Russo allowed seven vehicles that were seized from Castro to be turned over to his attorneys. They include a 2004 Harley Davidson, a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee and a 1989 Toyota Tacoma. Authorities also will turn over a yellow neck chain, an empty wallet, a white hat and a photo of his daughter.

Authorities seized the wallet's contents and $238 from Castro.

ARIEL CASTRO DEAD!!!!

Ariel Castro was found DEAD hanging in a jail cell at 9:20pm and was pronounced dead at 10:52pm on September 4, 2013

He was found hanging in a jail cell... DO YOU THINK HE COMMITTED SUICIDE OR WAS KILLED...Like the cliche' says "let em hang themselves"