The kidnappers raped their three Cleveland abductees for at least a decade, resulting in several pregnancies and the birth of one little child, broadcast reports today.
Authorities said Tuesday that the rescued 6-year-old girl is believed to be captive Amanda Berry's daughter. Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight were held against their will by three suspected brothers. On Monday night, Berry broke free last night, and called 911.
The three women were forced to have sex with their captors and they became pregnant up to five times, police sources told WKYC-TV.
The babies, other than the 6-year-old found last night, did not survive, those sources said.
Three brothers, between the ages 50 and 54, were arrested last night.
Cleveland Police said they have up to 36 hours to file a criminal complaint against them, news reports said.
Knight, disappeared in 2002, Berry in 2003 and DeJesus about a year after that.
Despite the victims' long captivity, authorities insisted they were constantly working leads all these years.
"We reviewed [tips] them regularly with the family and with our partners in the Cleveland Police Department," said Steven Anthony, the FBI special agent in charge in Cleveland.
The missing women were discovered when a neighbor, who happened to be home from work, heard shouting coming from the house and went to investigate.
"I heard screaming . . . I come outside and I see this girl going nuts trying to get out of her house," neighbor Charles Ramsey told Cleveland's WEWS-TV
"I go on the porch and she said, 'Help me get out. I've been here a long time.' "
Another neighbor then helped break down the door and free the desperate young woman, who they later discovered was Berry.
As soon as she escaped, Berry called 911 from the Ramseys' home:
"Help me, I'm Amanda Berry," she said in the frantic 911 call. "I've been kidnapped and I've been missing for ten years and I'm here - I'm free now."
When police responded to the house they found the other women inside.
Berry disappeared in 2003 after she called her sister to say she was going to get a ride home from her job at Burger King.
It was the day before her 17th birthday.
DeJesus was 14 years old when she went missing about a year later while walking home from her Cleveland middle school.
