Cousin Of Alleged Cleveland Kidnapper Details Captivity Home

CLEVELAND (CBSDFW.COM) -- Eddie Castro, speaking to KRLD's Joe Gomez, says he is the cousin of 52-year-old Ariel Castro, who has been arrested in the kidnapping of three women in Cleveland.

The women, who police believe were held captive for nearly a decade, were discovered Monday in a home just south of downtown. Three men, all brothers, were arrested in connection with the kidnappings.

Eddie says he was born and raised in the home where police found the girls, and that his father eventually sold the house to Ariel. He says the home wasn't that big, so news of his cousins' arrest is shocking.

"You walk in the front door and there's just a little living room in the front room, you have the staircase right there in front of the front door. You have a little dining room and then a kitchen... and a little bathroom. Then the upstairs had three bedrooms, one was really small -- and then the basement was partially finished and that was very small too."

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Eddie says that his cousin Ariel was reclusive and would only go to other family members homes for family functions.

"What I've heard is that many of the windows were boarded up and... some of the family members that even drove by would ask 'why does he live like that?' He's a single guy according to what we all thought."

He also reveals that Ariel was apparently divorced close to the same time the women in Cleveland are said to have gone missing.

"It was ironically around the same time all this happened. It was like 10 to 12 years ago, so it kind of makes sense in retrospect," says Castro.

Castro says that he hasn't had contact with Ariel in several years and that they both share a large family who are completely devastated by the news.

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