Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, Michelle Knight Update: Women reportedly chained by neck and waist
(CBS/AP) Chains were hanging from the ceiling of a room in a Cleveland home where three women, Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus, were found alive Monday after being missing for a decade, law enforcement sources told CBS affiliate WOIO.
PICTURES: Ohio women missing for nearly a decade found alive
A source told a WOIO reporter that the three women were chained up in the house for years by the neck and waist.
Knight was last seen in 2002, Berry in 2003 and DeJesus in 2004. Berry kicked out the lower portion of a screen door to free herself from the home Monday and called 911, Cleveland police officials said at a news conference Tuesday morning.
"Help me. I'm Amanda Berry," she told a 911 dispatcher, the AP reported. "I've been kidnapped and I've been missing for 10 years and I'm, I'm here, I'm free now."
A six-year-old child who was also found in the home is believed to be Berry's daughter, police said.
Two of the women were often held in the basement, and one woman was held in a room upstairs, multiple sources told WOIO.
The station reports that one of the women told police she had gotten pregnant more than once, but she lost the babies after she was beaten by her captor.
At least one of the women, Gina DeJesus, knew Ariel Castro, 52, the owner of the home where she was held captive and who has been arrested in connection with the case, WOIO reports. Family members told the station that Castro was a relative of DeJesus' best friend.
Castro has also been to at least two vigils for the missing women, WOIO also reported.
A sign outside the home of DeJesus' parents read "Welcome Home Gina."
The women appeared to be in good health and were taken to a hospital to be evaluated and reunited with relatives..All three were released from Metro Health Medical Center on Tuesday morning. Police said they were taken to an undisclosed location in the suburbs.
Castro's two brothers, 50 and 54, have also been arrested in connection with the case, though they did not live at the home, police said.
Complete coverage of the missing Ohio women on Crimesider