Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight Face Years of Therapy, Trauma

 

Amanda Berry, middle, her older sister, left, and her six-year-old daughter in the hospital yesterday



Old missing persons pictures of Amanda Berry, left, and Gina Dejesus



Hero Charles Ramsey being interviewed, May 6, 2013


By Nicholas Stix

Anyone who heard the 911 tape of Amanda Berry talking to a cold-hearted 911 operator without knowing otherwise, would think a child was talking, not a 25 or 26-year-old woman. Likewise, yesterday’s hospital picture above of Berry, her six-year-old daughter, and her older sister depicts an Amanda Berry who appears to be at most 16.

Berry’s captivity apparently caused a form of arrested development in her voice and appearance. However, one thing her trauma and deprivation did not arrest was her will to rescue the daughter who was herself the spawn of her captivity and sex slavery.

It will take years of treatment for Amanda Berry, her daughter, Gina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight to become reasonably whole again. But make no mistake: This ordeal will never fully leave them.

Police and FBI investigators do not yet know if Berry, her daughter, DeJesus, and Knight were the only victims of their abductors. At a press conference this morning, one Cleveland PD official said that his department has not yet been inside the house at 2207 Seymour Avenue. Only the FBI evidence team was inside the house at that point. (But that can’t be right. As hero Charles Ramsey said yesterday, 30-40 cops swarmed into the house, searching for additional victims and suspects.)



Kidnapping-rape suspect Ariel Castro, 52, undated


The three suspects, Castro brothers Ariel, 52, Pedro, 54, and Oneo, 50, are all in custody, but have yet to be charged. A police official said this morning that the three suspects’ will get “their constitutional rights,” can be held for 72 hours, a grand jury will be empaneled, and that the suspects will be charged by the Cuyahoga District Attorney’s Office.

Ariel Castro owns the home at 2207 Seymour Avenue; his brothers have homes of their own.

The victims have not yet been formally interviewed by police, who are treading softly, initially, and letting the women be reunited with their families. One official described the scene at the hospital last night as “chaotic.”

When the victims were kidnapped, Gina DeJesus was 14, Amanda Berry was 16, and Michelle Knight was 20. Knight was reported missing on August 22, 2000.

Ariel Castro worked at the time as a bus driver. Police say that they do not know whether he used his job to “allegedly” kidnap the girls. Ariel Castro no longer worked as a bus driver, and police are investigating the circumstances under which he left his job.

An uncle of the suspects said that Ariel had come into money.