Woman among 3 held captive in Ohio home returns to site; wants park, statue to replace house

8/3/2013

CLEVELAND — Residents of the Cleveland neighborhood where three women were held captive for a decade say one of the women visited the neighborhood and expressed her wish that a park and a statue of an angel replace the home where Ariel Castro beat and raped them.

WEWS television station reports that 32-year-old Michelle Knight thanked neighbors for their support and smiled and took pictures with well-wishers on Friday, a day after she spoke in court at Castro’s sentencing.

Castro pleaded guilty to the crimes last week and was moved Friday from jail to an Ohio prison to begin serving his sentence of life without parole, plus 1,000 years.

His house, a drive-by attraction, has been fenced off and under police guard since the women escaped in May. It will be demolished.