Police in Cleveland trying to figure out how man hid abducted women for a decade

Three women, Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight, missing since 2003, 2004 and 2002, respectively, were found alive in a house on Cleveland’s West Side late Monday night.

The women were kidnapped and held for years. They were rescued after Berry made a dramatic escape and rushed to a stranger who loaned her a cell phone to use to call 911.

Police have arrested Ariel Castro, a Cleveland school bus driver, in connection with the case — as well as two of his brothers. None of the men have a criminal history.

M.L. Schultze, web editor for WKSU radio, said the community has held regular commemorations for the missing women in the years since their disappearance.

And, she said, police didn’t give up either.

“The fugitive crimes task force got involved. The FBI got involved. There was continual hope that something was going to happen,” Schultze said. “Honestly, there was also continuing fear that something bad was going to be the result.”

The three women were taken to a local hospital where they were held for observation over night — but they seem to be in fine physical condition.

“But you have to wonder, after 10 years or more, what kind of mental state they’re in,” Schultze said.

The women were released from the hospital Tuesday morning.

What’s really striking about all of this, Schultze said, is these women were kept, for nearly a decade, were kept so close to their homes.

“I think the families … are saying ‘we had a feeling something was nearby,'” Schultze said.

Sylvia Colon, a cousin of Gina DeJesus, said she’s numb — in disbelief — that her cousin is home.

“We always held out hope. We always believed, most certainly that Gina would come home. That thought process has always been led by Gina’s mom, Nancy, who never for one day believed that Gina was dead. She always believed that Gina was alive and would return home,” Colon said. “She was right.”

Colon called it surreal, that her cousin was held captive in a house so close to where she grew up.

“it’s dumbfounding to me, considering when Gina first had gone missing, we looked in that neighborhood,” she said. “I remember it as if it were yesterday. We looked and we looked and we looked.”

Colon hasn’t been able to see DeJesus yet — she’s letting her parents and siblings reconnect first, and making sure DeJesus gets the help she needs.

But she said her whole extended family — a big one, she says — is looking forward to getting their chance.

“(We’re) over the moon excited about seeing her. But we also need to be patient and wait,” she said. “But, boy, when we do it, it’s going to be a celebration.”