Finding Me: A Decade of Darkness, a Life Reclaimed: A Memoir of the Cleveland Kidnappings

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Starzyk, Edith (May 7, 2013). "Ariel Castro fired as Cleveland school bus driver for leaving bus and going home "to rest" ". The Plain Dealer. Archived from the original on May 10, 2013 . Retrieved May 13, 2013. Morabito, Nate (April 17, 2013). "Amanda Berry and grandfather reunite". WJHL. Archived from the original on August 1, 2013 . Retrieved July 9, 2013. Astonishing. After reading Hope: A Memoir of Survival in Cleveland, I was curious why the third victim featured in it so little, although all of the girls seem to be on good terms and wish each other well. In reading this, it's clear that the perpetrator's first victim had already suffered so much before she ever even got into the car with Ariel Castro (bitter poverty, abuse, homelessness, having her son taken by CPS), and that she was isolated from the other girls and treated very differently. It makes total sense to me that she chose to write her own story, and I hope that she and her son have the chance to connect sometime when he's older. But while DeJesus and Berry had homes to go to, Knight didn't. Sure enough, her family turned up, but she wasn't interested; she moved into the sheltered accommodation. "My mother says she always loved me, when she never loved me at all. All the things she said on the news: we owned a farm, I had a horse. I never lived on a farm, I never had a horse. Just be real. That's all I want from her, to be real." Barbara Knight denies she was a bad mother and last autumn told an US TV show: "Her point of view has been altered by that monster and what he did to her. What I've heard that she said about me breaks my heart."

I do have a bit of a problem with Michelle's story in it saying part of it has been fictionalized. HOWEVE Loving and studying everything criminology, this memoir just blew my mind completely out of the water. To heal. I'd like you to get your stomach sorted. I'd like you to be healthy, physically and mentally. I hope you can fulfil your dream. I don't know whether it will be running a restaurant or singing, but I know you've got the confidence and discipline to do it. But it will be a lot of hard work." Jones, tough, polished and immaculate, starts to wobble. She dabs her eyes. Did he ever show her kindness? She talks about the time he bought her a dog, and her eyes well up. "I loved the dog with all my heart. I cherished it. I named it Lobo. I thought, this is going to be amazing. I have somebody I can take care of." Amanda Marie Berry (born April 22, 1986) disappeared on April 21, 2003, the day before her 17th birthday. [44] She was last heard from around 8:00 p.m. when she called her sister to tell her that she was getting a ride home from her job at a Burger King at the corner of Lorain Ave & W. 110th St. [19] The FBI initially considered her a runaway until a week after her disappearance, when an unidentified male used her cell phone to call her mother. He said: "I have Amanda. She's fine and will be coming home in a couple of days". [45] [46]This was tough to read, I can only imagine the horrible reality that these three girls faced when they were kidnapped by this Monster. I UN-apologetically sobbed three times while reading and I'm in awe at how they could live through hell for ten years. There was more then one time where an observant neighbor could have intervened or would have learned something was wrong by taking a step closer. The monster in this book targeted and preyed on these two girls dehumanizing them over and over as he used their bodies and took away their freedom.

Seitz, Colleen (August 7, 2013). "Michelle Knight held captive for decade by Ariel Castro hands out yellow balloons on Seymour Avenue". newsnet5.com. Archived from the original on August 10, 2013 . Retrieved August 7, 2013. For Michelle it was her son Joey that gave her the will to keep living. The day she had been kidnapped she was on her way to a court hearing about regaining custody of him. Abuse in the home by her mother’s boyfriend led to Joey being put in protective custody. Unfortunately, Michelle never made it to court, but she also never lost sight of her son. She even spoke to him as though he were there with her in the house of horrors. Glatt, John (2015). The Lost Girls: The True Story of the Cleveland Abductions and the Incredible Rescue of Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry, and Gina DeJesus. London: Macmillan. ISBN 978-1250036360. We are playing pool on Knight's micro table, and she is laughing at my inability to manoeuvre the tiny cue. She loves sport: last night she went to basketball, today she is off to a baseball match. Peggy Jones says Knight's appetite for life never ceases to astonish her. She goes to the theatre, she goes to concerts, she is a night owl. "I can't keep up with her. When we travel and she wants to go clubbing, I just can't do it." Daddy' is a 'monster': Ariel Castro's daughter blasts fiend after women freed from Ohio hell house". May 10, 2013.a b c Steer, Jen (May 6, 2013). "Cleveland police: Missing teens Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus found alive, appear to be OK". newsnet5.com. Archived from the original on May 12, 2013 . Retrieved May 13, 2013. Castro, Ariel (June 2004). "Gina DeJesus' disappearance has changed her neighborhood". Plain Press. Archived from the original on May 15, 2013 . Retrieved May 13, 2013.