Miraculous escape for captive Cleveland women

After 10 years of captivity, police discovered three missing women late Monday in a home just south of downtown Cleveland. Three brothers have since been arrested.

It all came about when neighbors heard someone kicking at a door, yelling for help, as if the person wanted desperately to escape.

“I heard screaming,” Charles Ramsey, a neighbor, told WEWS-TV. “I’m eating my McDonald’s. I come outside. I see this girl going nuts trying to get out of a house.”

That girl going nuts was Amanda Berry, who immediately phoned 911. “I’m Amanda Berry. I’ve been on the news for the last 10 years,” she told the dispatcher frantically, begging her to send police before one of her captors returned. “And I’m here. I’m free now.”

Police said the women—Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight—who had all been held since they went missing in their teens or early 20s, had likely been tied up much of the last decade.

Authorities also found a 6-year-old in the home. During a news conference held this morning, investigators said they believe the child is Berry’s daughter.

The women appeared to be in good health and were taken to a hospital for evaluation and to reunite with relatives.

Berry went missing at age 16 on April 21, 2003, when she called her sister to say she was getting a ride home from her job at a Burger King. DeJesus disappeared at age 14 on her way home from school about a year later. They were found just a few miles from where they had gone missing.

Authorities said Knight went missing in 2002 and is 32 now.

Police said one of the brothers arrested, a 52-year-old, lived at the home, and the others, ages 50 and 54, lived elsewhere. Authorities released no names and gave no details about them or what charges they might face.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.