It isn't often the country sees a happy ending when young women have gone missing, especially when they have been missing, on average, a decade, but for the families of Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight, that happy ending has come. (H/T Dan Riehl at Riehl World News)
Cleveland police said missing teens Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and a third woman were found in a west side house on Monday.
“This isn’t the ending we usually get,” said MetroHealth Medical Center Dr. Gerald Maloney.
Hundreds of people gathered in the streets near 2207 Seymour Ave. in Cleveland, where the women were discovered. Cleveland police said Berry, DeJesus and Michelle Knight are alive, talking and appear to be OK.
“I heard screaming… And I see this girl going nuts trying to get outside,” said Charles Ramsey, a neighbor who found the women. “I go on the porch and she said ‘Help me get out. I’ve been here a long time.’ I figure it was domestic violence dispute."
“She comes out with a little girl and says ‘Call 911, my name is Amanda Berry’… When she told me, it didn’t register.” He said he made the call and gave Berry the phone. When police arrived, officers asked him if he knew who he rescued.
Angel Cordero, who spoke Spanish, told NewsChannel5's Stephanie Ramirez that he helped break down the door. He said there was a child who was about 4 or 5 years old with Berry, as well as other children inside the house. He said he recognized Berry from posters.
Cleveland police said three suspects are in custody.
Berry was last seen in 2003 when she was called her sister to say she was getting a ride home from work at the Burger King on West 110th Street and Lorain Avenue. She was set to turn 17 the day after her disappearance. Her mother died of heart failure in 2006.
On April 2, 2004, 14-year-old DeJesus went missing while walking home from Wilbur Wright Middle School. She was last seen around West 105 Street and Lorain Avenue. Her mother, Nancy Ruiz, said she believed DeJesus was sold into human trafficking.
“I always said it from the beginning; she was sold to the highest bidder,” Ruiz said in April 2012.
The remaining families of both women went to MetroHealth Medical Center, where they will be reunited. FBI agents were also at the hospital Monday night as family and friends flocked to see the women.
"I am thankful that Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight have been found alive. We have many unanswered questions regarding this case and the investigation will be ongoing. Again, I am thankful that these three young ladies are found and alive," Mayor Frank Jackson said.
BBC on the child that was rescued with the women:
Police have said a six-year-old was also found at the home. They have not revealed any further details, although a relative of Amanda Berry said she told him she had a daughter.
If Berry was missing since 2003 and the child is six years old, the horrifying assumption would be that her captor(s) impregnated her, then kept her and her child captive.
A happy ending yes, but as details are released it promises to be a heartbreaking story.
[Update] Charles Ramsey, the instant Internet hero, who helped Amanda Berry escape and called 911.
Cleveland's local ABC affiliate caught an interview with Charles Ramsey, the man who found Amanda Berry & Gina DeJesus.
Key quote from the interview: "I knew something was wrong when a little pretty white girl ran into a black man’s arms. Something is wrong here. Dead Giveaway."
[Update] More at Plain Dealer, CNN and Fox News
[Update] Daily Mail has pictures inside the house the three women and one child were held captive.
[Update] Business Insider reports neighbors reportedly claim they called the police multiple times after seeing suspicious activities and weren't taken seriously.