CLEVELAND, Ohio – Cleveland kidnapper Ariel Castro will spend the rest of his life behind bars.
He was sentenced today to life without parole for his crimes.
He pleaded guilty last week to hundreds of charges related to the kidnapping and rape of three women he held for around a decade.
Judge Michael Russo emphasized Castro will never get out of jail.
The life sentence was imposed on aggravated murder charges related to the forced miscarriage by one of the victims. Most of the other sentences are set to run consecutively.
In a rambling statement, Castro insisted, “I’m not a monster.” The 53-year-old former school bus driver told the court he knows what he did is wrong and he’s not trying to excuse it. Finally, he apologized to Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus and their families for his actions.
Addressing the court during hearing, Knight, who suffered the forced miscarriages, “I thought I would never see her family again. I worried about would happen to me and the other girls every day. Nobody should ever have to go through what I went through.”