Emily Knapp
• 1. Castro was born in Puerto Rico and then moved to Cleveland,
Ohio as a child because he had relatives who lived up there.
• 2. He bought a house in 1992 and lived there with his wife and
four children.
• 3. He was violent with his wife
• Broken nose, ribs, arm
• Cracked skull
• Thrown down stairs
• 4. Castro’s wife left him in 1996 and took custody of all 4
children.
• 5. He had a history of repeated violations as a school bus
driver and was later fired.
• Left kids on school bus
• Used school bus to do grocery shopping
• Illegal U turns and other traffic violations
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6. Castro has a history of domestic abuse
7. His parents were divorced as a child.
8. He graduated high school and had no further education.
9. Castro’s house went into foreclosure due to 3 years of
unpaid taxes.
• Castro is guilty of many petty crimes through out his life but was
never jailed before his recent conviction in 2013.
• School bus convictions
• Domestic violence towards wife
• He was sentenced to life in prison after kidnapping, raping, and
holding captive three teenage girls for eleven years.
• Castro was found guilty fairly quickly and easily by the court.
• Firstly he was convicted guilty because there was clear evidence from the
three girls who were rescued.
• When police investigated the house they found the evidence in the
basement of the things Castro used to torture the girls. Such as the chains
used to chain them up.
• Castro’s past history of domestic abuse and violence towards his ex wife
made this case even more believable.
• “I have an addiction, just like an alcoholic has an addiction … I
did not prey on these women. I just acted on my sexual instincts.”
• •“These people are trying to paint me as a monster and I’m not
a monster. I’m sick.”
• •“I’m not a violent person. I simply kept them there so they
couldn’t leave.”
• *Castro had no nicknames*
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I believe that the theory of conflict. Ariel Castro did not come
from a very “normal” and easy going life. As a child he was moved
from Puerto Rico to Cleveland, Ohio. His parents were divorced and
he was one of nine children in the family. From this information I can
conclude that Castro did not get very much attention as a child, thus
leaving him frustrated and alone. This created conflict within his
family.
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Later on in Castro’s life he got married and had four children.
Castro violently abused his wife by breaking her nose, ribs, etc. and
throwing her down flights of stairs. His frustrations as a child carried
with him as her grew into an adult and he took it out on his own
family. Once his family left him he had to find someone else to take
his frustrations out on. This is where the three teenager girls come into
play. All of the crimes he committed come back to the conflict in his
life.
• Michelle Knight, one of the women held captive, is currently in
the process of writing a book about her experiences in Castro’s
home. She plans to get the book published in the spring of
2014.
• There has been several interviews with the victims of Ariel
Castro, on TV shows, such as the Dr. Phil show and many others.
• Documentary.net also has made a documentary of the story
called “House of Horrors” on their website.