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Missing Women Identified in Cleveland; Amanda Berry's 911 Call; Friends & Neighbors React
Aired May 06, 2013 - 23:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Good evening, I'm Erin Burnett and this is a special live edition of OUTFRONT. We have breaking news tonight.
Three women who went missing in separate cases more than a decade ago have been found together by police in Cleveland, Ohio. According to sources with the Cleveland Police Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight were found in a house on a residential area near Cleveland. They've been identified as Amanda Berry who disappeared at age 16 on April 21st, 2003, Gina DeJesus who went missing at age 14 in 2004 and Michelle Knight who vanished in 2002 when she was 20.
They were found today when a neighbor saw a woman later identified as Amanda Berry screaming from inside the house. The neighbor who found them, Charles Ramsey told his story to ABC News, Net 5.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHARLES RAMSEY, NEIGHBOR: Heard her screaming, I'm eating my McDonalds. I come outside, and I see this girl going nuts trying to get out on the house. So I go on the porch--I go on the porch and she says, "Help, me get out. I've been here a long time." So, you know, I've figured this is domestic violence, it's abuse. And she comes out with a little girl and she says, "Call 911, my name is Amanda Berry."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And here is the call that Amanda Berry, missing since April 2003 made to 911.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
911 DISPATCHER: Cleveland, 911.
AMANDA BERRY, KIDNAP VICTIM: Help me, I'm Amanda Berry.
911 DISPATCHER: You need police, fire or ambulance?
BERRY: I need police.
911 DISPATCHER: OK, and what's going on there? BERRY: I've been kidnapped and I've been missing for 10 years and I'm here, I'm free now.
911 DISPATCHER: OK. And what's your address? Tell me ...
BERRY: I can't hear you.
911 DISPATCHER: It looks like your phone needs some --
BERRY: I'm using his phone.
911 DISPATCHER: OK, stay there with those neighbors, and talk to the police when they get there.
BERRY: OK.
911 DISPATCHER: OK. Talk to the police as soon as they get there.
BERRY: OK. Hello?
911 DISPATCHER: Yeah, talk to the police as soon as they get there.
BERRY: OK. I'm -- I mean right now, I need them now ...
911 DISPATCHER: We'll get -- as soon as we get the car open.
BERRY: No, I need them now, before he gets back.
911 DISPATCHER: All right, we're sending them, OK?
BERRY: OK, I mean like right now.
911 DISPATCHER: Who's the guy -- who's the guy here on charge -- who's the guy who went out?
BERRY: His name--
911 DISPATCHER: All right, how old is he?
BERRY: He's like 52.
911 DISPATCHER: All right and I'll--
BERRY: I'm Amanda Berry, I've been on the news for the last ten years.
911 DISPATCHER: OK, I got that. I already--And you said, what was his name again? And is he white, black or Hispanic?
BERRY: Hispanic.
911 DISPATCHER: What he's wearing?
BERRY: I don't know 'cause he's not here right now, that's why I got away.
911 DISPATCHER: But when he left, what was he wearing?
BERRY: I don't know ....
911 DISPATCHER: The police are on their way.
BERRY: OK.
911 DISPATCHER: Talk to them when they get there, OK?
BERRY: I need -- OK.
911 DISPATCHER: I told you they're on their way, talk to them when they get there, OK?
BERRY: I would. OK.
911 DISPATCHER: Thank you.
BERRY: Bye.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BURNETT: The women were then taken to Metro Health Medical Center. They're reportedly suffering from severe dehydration and malnutrition although doctor say that their condition is good tonight. A 52-year old man, as you heard Amanda Berry just say his age is in custody.
Let's get to Leila Atassi a reporter with "The Cleveland Plain Dealer" who's on the phone now.
Leila, you've been covering the story for years, the search for the women. This has to be some of the most shocking news that you have ever heard.
LEILA ATASSI, REPORTER, CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER: It's absolutely stunning, the entire city is glued to this and that that part of county is a crush of residence and media who are just completely flabbergasted that this is the result of all these years of searching for these young women.
BURNETT: And can you tell me, I mean you've been covering this over the years but give us a sense, Leila, of the neighborhood. I mean, there have been reports that these women or at the time they were girls were abducted within a very small area. I mean -- and now here they are, all together in this one house. How close is this house to where they live, to where they were taken? Can you set -- explain to people the proximity here?
ATASSI: Quite close. It's within the Clark (inaudible) neighborhood which is a very tight-knit community. This was an area that was very well-combed during the time that Gina DeJesus and Amanda Berry were missing. And in 2006, there was actually -- one tip came in that people believe that there was -- well, there was reason to believe that Gina De Jesus made -- might have been buried in -- under the garage floor of one of the houses in that neighborhood and the police spent 10 hours searching, digging up that garage floor and they were unable to find anything in the ground and took, you know, the occupants of the house into custody and question them and nothing was found on that but it was another development in this very agonizing missing person case.
BURNETT: And, when, you know, people are already starting to say well there's similarity in this case to Jaycee Dugard. We know that they're -- we believe on our understanding right now that there is one child, obviously we don't know exactly where that child came from but there is the assumption of where that child came from at this point. Is this -- in your view, when you think about people trying to say, well this is -- this could be a similar situation of someone abducted as a young girl and brainwashed and becomes, for lack of a better word, some sort of a slave of an older man. Does this sound like that to you or from your covering and is that not a comparison you'd make?
ATASSI: That's a chilling, chilling parallel for sure. It seems that Berry and listening to that 911 call that you played is very aware of her circumstances even 10 years in captivity hasn't caused her to forget where she comes from or what brought her to this, you know, these circumstances locked away for so long and yelling for help from the back door. It's just chilling that in the -- it's a parallel to the Jaycee Dugard case. It's just overwhelmingly strong.
BURNETT: And let me ask you a little one other question here in terms of your understanding of neighbors. Did the neighbors here, you know, our understanding is that they never saw anybody but this man, that you would have had three women and possibly a child who were never physically seen. Is that also what you've heard or did people perhaps see them and not really knew who they were and didn't ask questions? Do you know which it was at this point?
ATASSI: What we're hearing now is that the neighbors who knew him thought that he was a fairly nice guy. One neighbor said that they would frequently get together and eat ribs and, you know, a sort of have a good time and nobody said that he -- that there was any indication that there were -- these people living in his house being closed off from the rest of the world. I mean everybody said he was, you know, he would ride four-wheelers with one neighbor, people knew him and he wasn't a recluse by any accounts that we've heard so far. So, it's just so shocking to the people in the neighborhood.
BURNETT: Leila, thank you very much for sharing your reporting with us. Leila, as we said, is with the Cleveland Plain Dealer which has been reporting on this story for years with these missing women.
Joining me now is John Walsh, former host of "America's Most Wanted". And John, what do you make of this situation? I mean the parallel is obviously that are being joined with the Jaycee Dugard case. Obviously there's a lot of unanswered questions but perhaps the most important one, what Leila just raised, that 911 call where Amanda Berry clearly was distressed, knew who she was, knew what the problem was and reached out. What does that say to you?
JOHN WALSH, FORMER HOST, "AMERICA'S MOST WANTED": First of all, listening to that 911 call, you can hear the terror in Amanda's voice, "You've got to get here and save me before he comes back." There's two heroes tonight, there's Amanda Berry for taking the opportunity to get out that door and yell for help and save her life probably Gina DeJesus' life, probably Michelle's life and the child that may have been fathered by this pervert, this psycho, and Charles Ramsey, the guy who was walking by and you heard him say it on the top of your show. "You know, it's a white girl yelling and I'm a black guy and I thought it was a domestic abuse," but he cared enough and he was smart enough and had the courage to go up and save that girl's life, her child's life and the two other women. There's a couple heroes here tonight and I know what it's like first hand to search for a missing child. I know what it's like to not knowing, it kills you, it breaks your heart and people say it broke Amanda Berry's mother's heart and she died of a broken heart. And probably, Amanda doesn't even know that her mother is dead but this is -- I could do cartwheels tonight and I hope someday I meet Charles Ramsey 'cause I'm going to give him a big hug.
BURNETT: Yeah. And John, a couple of mysteries here. I mean, they are many but I want to ask you about a couple of them. One is where they were kept. The understanding, I know you just heard they reported there from the Cleveland Plain Dealer talking about the suspect, the 52-year-old Hispanic man describing him as someone who would do ride four wheelers of his neighbors, not a recluse, have ribs, so people knew who he was. And it appears at this point that no one ever saw these other -- these women and this child. So, were they hidden in a basement? Where were they?
WALSH: They were probably in this house and you know, Erin, people always think that it's the pervert under the bridge with the trench coat that's a flasher. These guys hide in plain sight. I mean, you talk about Jaycee Dugard kept in a backyard for 18 years. Even neighbors complain. Sheriffs went to the house. That guy, Phillip Garrido, they're a captive there, violated his probation and went to jail for a month and came back and his deranged wife had kept Jaycee in that backyard.
They're hiding in plain sight these people and it is just a miracle and a wonderful miracle that these three women are alive, this child is getting help right now. And again, it's the public that's stepped up to help police. People have looked long and hard for these girls and they were right there. But I'm not surprised.
BURNETT: Right.
WALSH: I'm not surprised at all, you know. We have dealt -- dealt with many cases of where the pervert has kept these people, boys and girl -- women as sex slaves and hiding in plain sight and nobody even knew about it.
BURNETT: But in this case, I'm trying to have -- understand what might have happened or how it all came together because, you know, you have other cases where things happen and the people get found and there's miracles but the people who are -- for lack of -- as you said, for lack of better word, sex slaves, they aren't necessarily the ones who speak out because they are brainwashed and they are in this horrible psychological state. But in this case, it was one of the women. So, I'm curious from your perspective, do you think something happened and suddenly she realized and was afraid to reach out? Or was, for all that time, was she trying to reach out? And suddenly, he was coming and going all the time, so.
WALSH: I'm sure he was. I'm sure he was bringing them what -- limited food they got. I mean, most of the people that have got -- been gotten back alive were kept as toys and sex slaves and, you know, we talked about Shawn Hornbeck, a young boy that was kidnapped at 11 years old and he -- he -- when he saw his kidnapper get sick of him because he was now 14, he went out and kept the -- you know, kidnapped a younger boy. And he said, "This man may kill us at some point," and he saved himself.
But at some point, Amanda must have said, "This is my window. This is my window of opportunity to put my life at risk, my child, that they think it's a child fathered by this guy, only a speculation," but at some point, she must have went, "I've got to take this chance and Charles Ramsey was the guy who saved her life. And then it's just incredible but somewhere she got the courage up to stick her head out that door and say, "Help me please, help me."
BURNETT: And, what can you tell us John about the man here, Ariel Castro, the suspect, 52-year-old Hispanic man? What can you tell us given the very limited information we have about him at this point which was that he was not a recluse, visible in the neighborhood, and did not appear to have a record of any sort?
WALSH: This is a very, very sick pervert. No matter what the circumstances were, he kept three people in that house that should have been somewhere else. Three people and who should've been with their parents, the two teenagers, Michelle Knight, and nobody is talking about her because she was probably, as an adult, probably, nobody really looked for her. Police always assume that a 20-year-old woman --
BURNETT: Right.
WALSH: -- decided to runaway, that's the saddest thing about this. But he's a pervert. He did something horrible. He kept to -- took those people from their families. He took those girls from their families and I hope to God he pays the ultimate price for this and that we never see him on the street again, ever.
BURNETT: All right. Well, John -- John, thank you very much. We really appreciate your taking the time and later on in the program, we're going to be talking to psychologist to talk about what -- what is it about human beings that can make them get in these situations. You know, to be -- if you -- if it is a situation of brainwashing or believing in something, how does that happen? We're going to talk about that later on in the hour.
But right now, I want to bring in Councilwoman Dona Brady, Amanda Berry lived in her ward, Gina DeJesus disappeared from her ward. Dona, we appreciate your taking the time. You know, we were talking to Leila Atassi, the Cleveland Plain Dealer. She was talking about what a shock this is that it's a small tight-knit community, that it had been searched exhaustively--
DONA BRADY, CLEVELAND COUNCILWOMAN: Yeah, I happened to hear --
BURNETT: And now this happens tonight. How big of a shock is this for you Dona?
BRADY: How big of a shock is this for me?
BURNETT: Yes.
BRADY: Well -- you're talking about how big of a shock is it to me that they're found in this situation?
BURNETT: And that they're found at all. I mean, I know that at the -- you know, people have been looking for years but many had, you know, we're hoping against hope at this point.
BRADY: Absolutely. And the thing of it is that as soon as -- as soon as they came across, you know, the wire that, first of all there was a phone call that the police said Amanda Berry actually called and said, "I'm Amanda Berry and you know, and I'm alive." You know, that came across first and I got chills and the second thing that came through was that it was positively identified and she was with Gina DeJesus and another woman. And so, you know, it was very shocking but, you know, actually I jumped with joy that they have been found.
BURNETT: Yes, I mean it is -- it is a miracle. What at this point do you know Dona, if anything, about the suspect here, the 52-year old man Ariel Castro? Do you know any more information about him?
BRADY: I only -- I have only heard that he was arrested, that he was a bus driver for the -- in the Municipal School District and that's all I know about him.
BURNETT: And -- yeah.
BRADY: And I did hear that he had been dismissed in November.
BURNETT: Dismissed in November and did you -- did they give you any reason as to why or no?
BRADY: No, I asked that and I haven't gotten that information yet.
BURNETT: OK, obviously that's an important new detail for us here as we are learning about this as well.
BRADY: Right.
BURNETT: I know Dona for the -- you know, for all these years that this neighborhood has been searched and it has been brought up to us by reporters also who have said that this was not a case where law enforcement neglected to look at a sex offender or neglected to look at somebody with a record. They looked everywhere, by all accounts according to our understanding.
BRADY: Yes. BURNETT: How do you think it's possible because you know the neighborhoods, you know the houses, you know what it's like there. For these three women and this child, if indeed that's the right number of people as we understand it to be right now. To be completely hidden for so long in a house like that in that neighborhood.
BRADY: Well, to be clear, Amanda Berry and her mother and her sister lived in my ward where they were -- where Amanda disappeared, OK? And, you know, DeJesus disappeared from my ward for about five blocks away. So, it is, you know, that's the situation.
BURNETT: OK, well, Dona, thank you very much. We appreciate your taking the time tonight as we try to gather more information about this story.
As you heard the latest from Dona which we're going to look into is that the suspect who's been arrested, Ariel Castro, who is a bus driver at the Cleveland Municipal School District have been dismissed in November from his job but she was not sure why but that was the information that she had for us there.
Coming up, Marc Klaas, his 12-year old daughter Polly was kidnapped from her home and later killed in 1993.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Marc Klaas, his daughter Polly was kidnapped from her home at a slumber party at knife point when she was just 12 years old. She ended up dying in 1993. Klaas has now dedicated his life to trying to stop this from happening to other people. He is the president of the KlaasKids Foundation.
Good to talk to you again sir and obviously, this story ending in a miraculous fashion tonight. What's your reaction in terms of I mean, so much time has gone by here? People think of Jaycee Dugard as a case where somebody was found after many years but this has got to be incredibly unusual.
KLAAS: Well, it certainly is. But first before I get to that, I want to emphasize something that it's only been alluded to that you have brought up and that's the fact that the thing that differentiates this particular case from the Dugard case, from the Hornbeck case, from the Elizabeth Smart case is that this is a situation where the victims themselves affected their own release.
BURNETT: Right.
MARC KLAAS, PRESIDENT, KLAASKIDS FOUNDATION: I mean, Amanda Berry was not to be denied in this so this is a very unusual and very different.
Now, how does this make me feel? Years gone, I was thinking that you know, we've had six months of inclement and traitorous weather in this country. We had a mass shooting that took the lives of many, many children. We had a terrorist attack that kill people and solid in a horrible way one of our premier sporting events. We had a -- recently, we had a fertilizer plant blow up like an atomic bomb and killed many, many people. We have a completely ineffective government, this is the tonic that America needs right now to feel good about itself. This is that bigger story.
BURNETT: It is, it is a miracle and what is your understanding or your thought about what happened because that is what's different in this is case is you know, if they talk about people getting brainwashed and how you can get -- enter a world like this and not be able to exit it? But in this case clearly, Amanda Berry did, is it possible she always wanted to or was she brainwashed for a while and something happened and then suddenly she said, I now am aware and I'm not going to take this anymore?
KLAAS: You know, I thought about this long and hard because it's so hard to put yourself in the place of the young girl in the hands of a determined predator particularly once they've been isolated. How was that child going to react? I know that in my mind, you just don't go with the guy, you take your chance, stand in your ground where you are. But that's looking at it from an adult male perspective. I think it's a fascinating question is to how one individual was able to marginalize three women and children, at least five individuals in a house over the course of a decade without being discovered? What kind of restraints did he have these girls in? What kind of fear was he inflicting upon these girls? Exactly, what is in the mind of this particular monster?
BURNETT: And on that font, what is your view? You've seen the street where they were found and obviously, the neighborhood has been described as a very tight-knit one. Reporters who have covered the story have said the neighborhood was searched exhaustively, people who have lived nearby have said they -- they saw the man come and go. And he in fact seemed interactive is not a recluse with other people which means he came and went. But they were never visible, not the women and not the child. So were -- I mean they either agreed to hide or they were forcibly hidden?
KLAAS: Sure and I wound imagine there might be some combination of both. I'm sure there was intense intimidation placed upon these girls. I'm sure that they were afraid for their lives. Every moment that they've been alive since their youth and their innocence was stolen over a decade ago. But at least this young girl Amanda was able to find the courage to do what she needed to do to rescue not only herself but the others that were in the house. Again, I'm not a psychologist Erin. And I can't put myself in the mind of a young girl in the arms, in the hands, in the grip of one of these horrible predators. But hopefully we'll be able to get some kind of education, some kind of illumination from this case that will serve other young girls better in the future.
BURNETT: I -- I hope so too and I know for so many it's so hard to understand how -- how a little girl could -- could take that and up in this situation. But as we have seen again and again, it does happen. And it needs to be dealt with. Thank you very much. Good to talk to you and we appreciate your time. And next we're going to hear from the neighbor that lived next to the house where the women were found today. And talk about this very issue where they ever seen? Or was it only the predator that was seen? We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
BURNETT: And welcome back with the special live edition of OUTFRONT tonight. Breaking news, three women who went missing in separate cases more than a decade ago have been found together by police in Cleveland, Ohio. And now a significant development weekend report, three people have been arrested in relation to this case. Three, the first, the man we've told about. Fifty-two-year-old Ariel Castro, the other two, his brothers, also reportedly in custody. We don't yet know their ages. But these three men that have been taken into custody are all brothers.
According to sources with the Cleveland police, Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight were found in a house in a residential area near Cleveland, they've been identified. Amanda Berry disappeared at age 16 on April 21st 2003. Gina DeJesus, went missing at age 14 in 2004, and Michelle Knight was 20 when she vanished in 2002. They were found today when a neighbor saw a woman and later identified as Amanda Berry screaming from inside the house. The neighbor who found them, Charles Ramsey, told his story to ABC News Net 5.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAMSEY: Heard her screaming, I'm eating my McDonalds. I come outside, and I see this girl going nuts trying to get out on the house. So I go on the porch--I go on the porch and she says, "Help, me get out. I've been here a long time." So, you know, I've figured this is domestic violence, it's abuse. And she comes out with a little girl and she says, "Call 911, my name is Amanda Berry."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And here is the call that Amanda Berry missing since April 2003 made to 911.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
911 DISPATCHER: Cleveland, 911.
BERRY: Help me, I'm Amanda Berry.
911 DISPATCHER: You need police, fire or ambulance?
BERRY: I need police.
911 DISPATCHER: OK, and what's going on there?
BERRY: I've been kidnapped and I've been missing for 10 years and I'm here, I'm free now.
911 DISPATCHER: OK. And what's your address? Tell me ...
BERRY: I can't hear you.
911 DISPATCHER: It looks like your phone needs some --
BERRY: I'm using his phone.
911 DISPATCHER: OK, stay there with those neighbors, and talk to the police when they get there.
BERRY: OK.
911 DISPATCHER: OK. Talk to the police as soon as they get there.
BERRY: OK. Hello?
911 DISPATCHER: Yeah, talk to the police as soon as they get there.
BERRY: OK. I'm -- I mean right now, I need them now ...
911 DISPATCHER: We'll get -- as soon as we get the car open.
BERRY: No, I need them now, before he gets back.
911 DISPATCHER: All right, we're sending them, OK?
BERRY: OK, I mean like right now.
911 DISPATCHER: Who's the guy -- who's the guy here on charge -- who's the guy who went out?
BERRY: His name--
911 DISPATCHER: All right, how old is he?
BERRY: He's like 52.
911 DISPATCHER: All right and I'll--
BERRY: I'm Amanda Berry, I've been on the news for the last ten years.
911 DISPATCHER: OK, I got that. I already--And you said, what was his name again? And is he white, black or Hispanic?
BERRY: Hispanic.
911 DISPATCHER: What he's wearing?
BERRY: I don't know 'cause he's not here right now, that's why I got away.
911 DISPATCHER: But when he left, what was he wearing?
BERRY: I don't know ....
911 DISPATCHER: The police are on their way.
BERRY: OK.
911 DISPATCHER: Talk to them when they get there, OK?
BERRY: I need -- OK.
911 DISPATCHER: I told you they're on their way, talk to them when they get there, OK?
BERRY: I would. OK.
911 DISPATCHER: Thank you.
BERRY: Bye.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BURNETT: The women were taken Metro Health Medical Center. They're reportedly suffering from severe dehydration and malnutrition. Although we are told they're in good condition. There's a picture there of Amanda Berry, her sister and what we believe to be the child that was also found in that house today.
Angela Garcia, whose aunt lives next to the house where the women were found today joins me now on the phone. Angie, thank you very much for taking the time. I know that your aunt was unable to talk to us, because she speaks Spanish. But tell me, you know, she lived next door. Did she ever see anybody other than the man, Ariel Castro?
ANGELA GARCIA, AUNT LIVES NEXT TO SUSPECTS' HOUSE: Well, she said that, yeah, even his mom used to come to that house. But I don't think they noticed nothing.
BURNETT: They didn't notice any--not the women or not the girls, not the child?
GARCIA: No, nobody even us that was outside every single day never, never, never no clue of -- nothing. No suspicious, nothing.
BURNETT: And you were outside everyday on the porch so you would have seen everything?
GARCIA: No. Not today because I went out for a little bit and she called me -- she's here with me but the only thing is that she don't speak English. But she's here and she was the one that let them borrow the phone for them to call. They have the address and everything record.
BURNETT: Yes. Yes and Angie we just -- I don't know if you heard but we just reported that two more men have been taken into custody in relation to this case, Ariel Castro's -- two of his brothers. Did you ever see any -- you talked about his mother coming by but did you ever see anyone else, any other family members, his brothers?
GARCIA: One -- one guy in a bicycle and then he had a friend coming to his house because he used to play guitar and everything but I don't know how they never noticed nothing. BURNETT: And what -- what was Ariel Castro like? Was he friendly? Was he -- were moved? What was he like?
GARCIA: Well, to be honest from my side -- view, no, he was saying just hi, like yesterday were was out there like around 5:00, 6:00 and he came in a convertible car and he just came in the driveway and he just waved hi, and that was it. That's all he do. But when he was drinking, he used to cross the street to the next neighbor on the side, our neighbor and drink with them.
BURNETT: So when he was drinking, he was social but otherwise it sound -- was he -- he wasn't -- yeah.
GARCIA: Otherwise serious, educated, not talking at all.
BURNETT: I'm sorry, say what was your theory again, Angie?
GARCIA: I'm saying that he's serious all the time, never talk to nobody, only when he was drinking.
BURNETT: Only when he was drinking. But -- but just to make sure we understand, your aunt -- you were -- you were outside often and you never saw any of these women, any child ever?
GARCIA: Anything, ever, ever, no clue at all that's why we're still in shock because we've been here years outside barbecuing, you know, with friends and stuff and never, never --
BURNETT: All right. Well Angie, thank you very much for taking the time to share your and your aunt's story. Thank you. And I want to go to Ashley Arnett now. She went to school with Amanda Berry starting in the 6th grade and still -- until she disappeared. And Ashley, thank you very much for talking tonight. This must be just a news you never expected to hear. When you hear Amanda Berry's voice on that 911 call and you think back to the girl you knew, what's your reaction?
And it looks like we lost Ashley but we're going to get her back in a moment. We'll work on that. In the meantime, I want to go to Dr. Charles Sophy, a psychiatrist who specializes in cases like this one. Dr. Sophy, good to talk to you sir as always.
DR. CHARLES SOPHY, PSYCHIATRIST: Thank you.
BURNETT: Let me ask you. I have several many questions for you but I guess let's start with this one. The call today from Amanda Barry, someone who was incredibly distressed, incredibly afraid who took this risk for her life to try to save herself perhaps her child and these other women but yet had not been heard from in 10 years. Does that story fit that she have been brainwashed and then suddenly not, or could she have been fighting the whole time and not been visible.
SOPHY: Well, you know, that's a hard question to answer specifically but we don't know if they were tortured, if they were drugged, if they were beaten.
BURNETT: Right.
SOPHY: But whatever it was, today was the day she felt the power or the freedom or whatever it was collecting inside of her and she reached for that help and that's huge in her moving forward in any kind of trauma that has occurred from this. She, not only had her power taken, now she took her power back. So it's really very important that she did that and she got a response from the rest of the community. We jumped to her aid -- to her aid.
BURNETT: I mean it is incredible and as you said, we don't know yet whether they were drugged, whether they were tortured, whether they were brainwashed. It's very unclear. But in a situation of brainwash when we have heard of cases where that has happened before, the woman who was kept hostage by her father in Austria for 24 years, a Jaycee Dugard situation. How does that happen? Many people watch and think that could never happen. How does that happen but yet it does again and again and again.
SOPHY: Absolutely, it is a power differential, someone who's taken your power and though you may struggle and fight toward, there is a certain point when you have to realize and submit and then you give in. And the younger the person is emotionally even though she was 17, emotionally, she may have been 15. The younger emotionally the person is, the quicker they give in and submit because they are used to having a parent over them as power but now they've got other power. They know it's not right but they do submit. They give in and that's where that process of brainwashing begins.
BURNETT: And what about the other person? We really haven't discussed yet at all and that is the child here. And we don't know who this -- whose child, daughter -- this is the daughter of, right, whether it's Ariel Castro or now there's two other men and his brothers who have been taken to custody. It could be one of them. We just -- we don't know at this point. But this child is forever going to be the child of a situation like this.
SOPHY: Absolutely, and we don't know what circumstance was going on within that house at that time but that child was born into that -- and that child, that's the family she was born into. So that's going to be even more work for the mental health side of this, for that child to be taken out of that and reintegrated into a different kind of family and understand and, really, more in the laws of what she was born into even though it wasn't healthy, she -- it's all she knows.
BURNETT: It's all she knew. But Dr. Sophy, can it be done? Can it be done? Can she end up a normal well-adjusted child? What would be the chances of that?
SOPHY: It can be done. Can it be done completely? Depends on the fact of how good the treatment is and how much the treatment focuses on the thinking of what went on there rather than the feeling from these victims, because the more that victims talk about their feelings, the more the feelings become the foundation with which they react to. So the more they use their thought and they let those feelings die, the more they can move forward to get a new foundation of feelings. BURNETT: All right, Dr. Sophy.
SOPHY: Thank you.
BURNETT: Thank you very much. Dr. Charles Sophy is the psychologist and medical director for the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, and as always, we thank him for his time.
I want to bring in Ashley Arnett now, who I, as I've mentioned before, went to school with Amanda Berry starting in the 6th grade until she disappeared. Ashley, what's your reaction today?
ASHLEY ARNETT, FRIEND OF AMANDA BERRY: I'm just very, very happy that she is home. I basically started crying 'cause it's been so long and I'm glad that she's alive.
BURNETT: You must have been shocked. I'm sure this is something that you, you know, your mind would go back to and remember this horrible thing that had happened. But could you believe that it ended this way, that there was, I mean, obviously, horrible things happened, but a miraculous ending that could be a very happy one?
ARNETT: Oh, actually, when my mom first -- my mom is the one that initially called me 'cause -- and I've thought about it through the years, and my mom called me and she said, "They found -- they found Amanda." And I said, "They found the body?" And she said, "No, they found Amanda. She's alive." And so, I don't want to say I lost hope, but after all the hoaxes, you know, not knowing what to expect. Like I said, I'm just overjoyed that she was alive, you know? We weren't the best of friends, like I didn't know her, like there are several other people who know her, and, you know, she was only that face that you saw and she was always smiling even in the picture that's being posted around, you know?
BURNETT: Yes.
ARNETT: But the fact that she still has a smile on her face that tells you what kind of person she is.
BURNETT: And, Ashley, what was she like, I mean, from as well as you did know her. We know people are trying to understand what happened at that time when she was 16 years old. Did this begin at something that she went to by choice or something that she didn't? What kind of girl or teenager was she like?
ARNETT: She was your regular girl. She likes to have fun, but do I think she did this by choice? No, I don't. I think there's too many people that she loved in her life. She had a very good head on her shoulders to do anything and take herself out of that element. I do not think she went by choice.
BURNETT: All right. Well, Ashley, thank you very much for taking the time to talk to us tonight. You just heard her friend, Ashley, says she does not think that Amanda Berry would've ever done this by choice, and obviously so many unanswered questions on that.
We are back live in a moment. There'll be a press conference from the Cleveland Police. That's next live after this.
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BURNETT: All right I want to bring in James Clemente, a former FBI agent, and Jim, thank you very much for coming on. I want to ask you, just your take on what happens next here? Obviously, there has been -- this entire story is incredibly hard to believe but first you had the 52-year-old Ariel Castro arrested the suspect and now two additional men, both of whom are his brothers are also in custody tonight as we weekend report. That changes things, doesn't it?
JAMES CLEMENTE, FMR. FBI AGENT: Well, I think that one of the things that would normally be done is -- and while they're debriefing the women thoroughly and searching the location. The first they want to do is find out who else had access to the house and therefore possibly these women. So, I think apparently, that's already been done. At least to this extent that the two brothers must have also been involved in some way but I'm sure they'll study all forms or electronic devices, there are computer, cellphones for communication possibly images and so forth.
But this is -- although, this is a very rare and a wonderful result but there has been a number of cases in which the victims have broken away from custody, you know, being held in dungeons or held in chains. There's a number of cases where a boy or a girl escaped with a chain still attached to them. What Amanda said before he gets back in her call, it tells me that this was an opportunity she seized that she never had before. This is a kind of compliant victimization that's based on fear, abuse, hopelessness, isolation, lack of opportunity, and an eventual surrender. It seems like she finally got an opportunity she took advantage of.
BURNETT: So what does that lead you to believe their conditions were like? As we've said we just don't know it at this point until we have more information from them whether they were, you know, sort of -- sort of as you said, surrender, brainwashed, made to feel completely alone and if that was their only option or as to whether they were tortured or held with chains or drugged or something we don't know.
CLEMENTE: I hate to say this but most of these guys are sadistic, narcissistic, control freak and chances are he did have a very comprehensive method of controlling these people. In fact that they're multiple victims tells me that he must've had some ability to lock them down and whether you did that with drugs. It didn't seem like that from the photographs and from the lucidity of our call, it did seem like she was drugged. So I would think probably physical restraint.
BURNETT: Physical restraint. And then how unusual is it that there is multiple people involved? I mean, again, the case of Jaycee Dugard it was the abductor and his wife. But this is a man and two brothers, and these men who by the way unlike the Dugard case we've heard now from -- several people on this show, was not a recluse. This was a guy who went out, I mean, not friendly but not a recluse.
CLEMENTE: Yes. As a matter of fact, most of these offenders interact with the community. They have either jobs or relationships or some kind of living situation that's actually in the community. But, you know, the fact that the brothers are involved and, of course, we don't know how extensive their involvement is it at this point.
BURNETT: Right.
CLEMENTE: It's probably a more likely incidence because of the number of victims. It takes -- it takes a lot to control one person but to control three or four individuals, it takes a lot of skill and planning and execution so the chances of more than one person being involved are very high.
BURNETT: This is even -- even almost -- more difficult to understand just on a human level. Thank you very much. I appreciate your time as always, Jim. Then we're going to take a break. We'll be right back.
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BURNETT: Cleveland Deputy Police Chief Ed Tomba just briefed local media.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got to speed on where we are right now. Deputy Tomba.
ED TOMBA, CLEVELAND DEPUTY POLICE CHIEF: Currently, we have obtained a search warrant for the house down the street here on Seymour. The FBI's evidence response team is going to be executing a search warrant throughout the night here at the residence. The three young ladies were taken to Metro Hospital where they were treated by the hospital staff there.
Currently, we have three brothers that are under arrest ages 50, 52 and 54. They're being held in the city jail awaiting charges. That charging will come probably within the next 36 hours. Current --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And in our understanding, of course, is those three men are all brothers, the Castro brothers. As we find out more information, our live coverage continues with Piers Morgan next.
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