Ariel Castro, who had been sentenced to life in prison plus 1,000 years for kidnapping and raping three women and murder, committed suicide in his prison cell on Tuesday evening, CNN reported.
Castro reportedly hanged himself with a bedsheet in his cell at the Correctional Reception Center in Orient, Ohio, the state's Department of Corrections said. He was pronounced dead at 10:52, according to representatives at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.
Castro held captive three young women, Amanda Berry, Georgina DeJesus and Michelle Knight for close to a decade, and was recently sentenced to life in prison plus 1000 years by the courts.
Some will see his death as "a happy ending to this story, and a quick ending and justifiable," his attorney Craig Weintraub said. "But we're in a civilized world and no one should really be celebrating this."
Castro had pleaded guilty to 937 counts, including murder and kidnapping charges, in exchange for sparing him the death penalty. While kidnapping, raping and assaulting his three abductees, he also fathered one of their babies.
The three women were subjected to torture at his house before escaping. At his trial, Castro claimed he had been sexually abused as a child.
A New York Post headline read "Rot In Hell," now that Castro is dead.
