The man accused of kidnapping three women and keeping them prisoner for a decade kept his head down and said nothing during an arraignment hearing Thursday, where he faced charges of rape and kidnapping and had a bond set at US$8 million.
Ariel Castro, 54, was also barred from making any contact with the victims or their family members. The former Cleveland school bus driver was wearing handcuffs and a blue windbreaker and had uncombed hair during the brief court appearance before he was led away by police.
He faces four kidnapping charges against three young women who disappeared when they were in their teens or early 20s and were allegedly kept for 10 years imprisoned in a home he owned. The fourth kidnapping charge is related to the daughter born to one of the young women while she was in captivity.
Castro also faces three rape charges -- one against each of the women he is accused of abducting.
He did not enter a plea Thursday on any of the charges.
The prosecutor in the case said the charges were related to Castro's "premeditated" decision to "snatch three young ladies from Cleveland's west-side streets to be used in whatever self-gratifying, self-serving way he saw fit."
"They re-emerged thankfully and miraculously three days ago at the home of Mr. Castro," assistant county prosecutor Brian Murphy said in court. "Today the situation is turned, your honour. Castro stands before you a captive, in captivity, a prisoner. The women are free to resume their lives that were interrupted and also with the promise and the hope that justice will be served."
Kathleen DeMetz, a public defender who represented Castro in court, said he would be transferred from a city jail medical unit, where sex crimes suspects are normally held along with those considered a suicide risk.
Brothers not involved
Castro's two brothers, Pedro, 54, and Onil, 50, also appeared in court Thursday to face unrelated misdemeanour charges related to drug abuse and carrying open containers of alcohol. They were originally picked up by police in relation to the abductions, but police now say they were not involved and Ariel Castro is the only suspect in the investigation.
"There is no evidence that these two individuals had any involvement in the commission of the crimes committed against Michelle, Gina, Amanda and the minor child," Cleveland prosecutor Victor Perez told reporters at a news conference Wednesday evening.
Police discovered the three women and the six-year-old child on Monday after Amanda Berry made a daring escape from the home and called 911 from a neighbour's house.
Police arrived at the home within minutes and found the two other missing women -- Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight -- and the six-year-old child that investigators confirmed is Berry's daughter.
The three brothers were picked up by police a short time later.
Now in their 20s and 30s, the women vanished separately between 2002 and 2004. At the time, they were 14, 16 and 20 years old.
Daughter speaks out
Castro's daughter, Arlene Castro, appeared on ABC's "Good Morning America" on Thursday. She tearfully described being embarrassed and devastated upon learning of her father's suspected role in her good friend Gina DeJesus' kidnapping. Arlene was walking home from school with DeJesus in April 2004 just before she disappeared.
"I would like to say I'm absolutely so, so sorry," she said. "I really want to see you Gina and I want you to meet my kids. I'm so sorry about everything."
According to a Cleveland police report, the three victims told officers that, in each case, Ariel Castro offered them a ride home and ended up taking them to his house at 2207 Seymour Ave., just outside Cleveland's downtown core.
Cleveland's deputy police chief Ed Tomba said police do not believe there are any other victims "where (Castro) is the suspect."
With files from The Associated Press
