COLUMBUS, Ohio – The man who kidnapped three young Cleveland women and held them captive for a decade is dead.
Ariel Castro, 53, hanged himself in his prison cell at the Correctional Reception Center in Orient last night.
Castro’s brother-in-law, Juan Alicea, says the prison warden notified the family of Castro’s death about two hours after the former school bus driver was pronounced dead.
Alicea says the family is angry because they learned about the death from news media reports before they were notified by the warden.
Corrections officials say Castro was held in a cell by himself in an area where guards are supposed to check on inmates every 30 minutes.
Castro was found hanging in his cell around 9:20 p.m. Prison medical staff performed CPR before Castro was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, spokeswoman JoEllen Smith said.
An investigation is underway into the death.
Castro was sentenced Aug. 1 to life in prison plus 1,000 years on his guilty plea to 937 counts including kidnapping and rape for abducting, raping, and torturing Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight.
The three women disappeared separately between 2002 and 2004, when they were 14, 16 and 20 years old. The women and Berry’s six-year-old daughter, who was fathered by Castro, were freed in May when Berry called out to neighbors as she tried to break through a door. Castro was arrested that evening.