2000-Cleveland Police go to the home of Ariel Castro, where the three women, Amanda Berry, Michelle Knight, and Gina DeJesus were found.
August 23, 2002- Knight vanishes at age 21, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, being last seen at her cousin’s house.
April 21, 2003- Berry disappears at age 16, after calling her sister to say she was getting a ride home from her job at Burger King. The restaurant’s location was just a few blocks from her home.
April 28, 2003- An unidentified person uses Amanda Berry’s cellphone to call her mother, Louwana Miller, and told her “I have Amanda.” The caller added that “She’s fine and will be coming home in a couple of days,” according to Time, citing the FBI. Authorities are not sure whether the call was a hoax.
April 2, 2004- DeJesus vanishes while walking home from school around 3 p.m., shortly after calling her mom on a pay phone to say she would be home soon.
2004-Police officers went to the Castro home after Castro, then a school bus driver, had apparently left a child unattended on a bus, according to City Safety Director Martin Flask. Ultimately, police determined there was no criminal intent on Castro’s part, he said.
2004-Police looking for DeJesus tell the public they are seeking a Hispanic man driving a light-color, older-model, compact car with a license plate that includes the letters “SMS,” driving in the area where DeJesus disappeared from, according to NBC.
2006- Berry’s mother, Louwana Miller, dies of heart failure at age 43. She told a Cleveland Plan Dealer reporter that she wanted the case on the news; instead “She’s [Berry] faded away from the whole world,” Miller said. “It just kills me. This is killing me.”
2006-Another girl, Ashley Summers, 14, disappears in the same neighborhood as Berry and DeJesus.
2009: The FBI asked for the public’s help in looking for Summers, Berry, and DeJesus. “
Around 2010-Elsie Cintron, who lives three houses away from the Castro house, said that her daughter saw a naked woman crawling in the backyard several years ago and called police. “But they didn’t take it seriously,” she said.
November 2011-Israel Lugo, who lives near the home, said he heard pounding on some of the doors of the house where the women were found, and called police. Police officers came, knocked on the front door, and no one answered. They walked to the side of the house, then left. The Cleveland Police deny both the reports by the neighbors.
July 20, 2012-Cleveland Police dig up a backyard looking for Berry’s body, after a tip-off from an inmate. The dig didn’t turn up anything.
May 6, 2013: Charles Ramsey, a next door neighbor to Castro, heard screaming at the Castro house while he was eating. He went over and kicked the door open to let out a girl, who told him she was Amanda Berry. “When she told me it didn’t register,” he said. Then, when he started calling 911, he realized. “I thought this girl was dead,” he thought to himself. Police officers came to the house. Later, 30-40 officers went inside the house and came out with the two other women and a baby. Ramsey said it was very odd that they were all in there. “Not a clue that a girl was in that house, or anybody else against their will,” he said. “He’s somebody you look, and you look away because he’s not doing nothing but the average stuff, there’s nothing exciting about him, well, until today.”
May 6, 2013: Along with Ariel Castro, 52, his brothers Onil Castro, 50, and Pedro Castro, 54, were taken into custody. Charges have not been filed yet, but are expected to be soon.
May 7, 2013: Ariel Castro’s son Anthony, 31, told the Daily Mail that he doesn’t have much contact with his father, but when he did go to the house he wasn’t allowed in a lot of areas. 'There were places we could never go,“ he said. ”There were locks on the basement. Locks on the attic. Locks on the garage.”
May 8, 2013-Ariel Castro has been charged with four counts of kidnapping and three counts of rape, while his brothers Pedro and Orin, who were arrested with him, have been cleared from any involvement in the case.
Note: Authorities are asking for the public to report any suspicious activity regarding the case to 216-522-1400.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
