The History Of Ariel Castro Kidnapping Trial

By now, everyone in America has heard the name Ariel Castro. Castro is known for holding three adolescents captive in his Cleveland home for over a decade. Media coverage in the Cleveland area exploded, and a nation was invested in finding these three captives alive (Berry et al. 74-75). In the eyes of the law, justice was initially served in the Ariel Castro kidnapping trial because he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole (Glatt 316). However, Castro received better treatment than his victims, and committed suicide one month after his sentence, so the sliver of justice that was originally served, was now an injustice to his captives.

Ariel Castro was abused early in his life and felt abandoned when his mother moved to the United States and left him with his grandmother. After four years, Castro’s mother finally moved him to the Pennsylvania, but later relocated to Cleveland. He led a normal teenage life (Glatt 7-10). However, things changed once he met Grimilda Figueroa, better known as Nilda, and she became his common law wife. Beatings regularly sent Nilda to the hospital, and even caused an inoperable brain tumor (Dastagir). The couple did have three children together, Arlene, Angie and Ariel Jr., but after fourteen years of violence, Nilda finally left Ariel

191). On August 23, 2002, he captured his first victim, Michelle Knight. Michelle was incredibly distracted the day Castro entered her life. She was desperately trying to reach a hearing in order to regain custody of her toddler, Joey. While asking for directions in a Dollar Store near her home, Castro said he knew exactly where to find the court. But first he made a stop by his house, where he supposedly had free puppies. Michelle followed him into the shack to pick out a puppy for her son, and would not regain freedom for eleven years