0 decade's worth of forensic evidence and of things to go through to figure out the role that these men played in the women's disappearance and what exactly the women went through. it's interesting because you're talking about neighborhoods and neighborhoods noticing things. i'm here in this neighborhood and people say that they had no idea this was going on right under their noses. i want to bring in israel lugo, a neighbor here. you knew aerial castro. and you had no idea this was happening. >> no, i sure didn't. like i say, like an average joe. i know him for about 18 years and everything and he would come out here, play around with the kids and everything, you know what i'm saying? >> reporter: you said that you saw him with the little girl, the 6-year-old, just this past sunday playing in a park. what can you tell us about that? >> i was -- i seen him before with the little girl up and down in the car. yes, i was at seymour park with the baby and he pulled up in the truck, looked like a little happy family. i was, like, whose kid is this? he said it's my girlfriend's daughter. i said, oh, okay, you know what i'm saying? it looked like a dad and a daughter date, like a typical sunday, you know what i'm saying? >> reporter: but you had never seen really children around, never seen the three women in this house here. >> never. never. the first time i seen that girl's face was yesterday. >> incredible. and that little girl we're talking about is amanda berry's daughter according to police. you did say, though, there were some indication that something was going on at the house. you didn't see anything specifically but your sister saw something back in 2011. >> yes. >> reporter: what did she see? >> in 2011 somewhere like around november, it was about 10:30 somewhere at night, cold, snowing. she's walking home and tells me hey, there's somebody upstairs at the house, a girl and her baby, pounding on the window, talking like she wants to get out. >> so i ended up walking over there and everything. neighbors here surprised by what happened but also talking about these events that happened over the past few years perhaps some indication, thomas, of what was going on in that house. >> kristen, stand by. i'll bring in clint van zandt and ed smart with us on the telephone. clint, as we're hearing from the neighbors that are giving eyewitness reports to what they have experienced over the years and also with notifying police. again, nbc news has not independently verified the reports of what neighbor just said that was witnessed from the nursing home behind the house. clint, it seems as if these young women had several opportunities potentially to be discovered a lot earlier if police had properly svelted earlier calls. >> this is almost, thomas, an instant replay of the jaycee dugard case. you remember the 11-year-old girl who was kidnapped in california, held for 18 years, had two children by her abduc r try to escape i'm going to find your dog and kill your dog and use that as a way to keep a young person as a kidnap victim. so all of these ways, all of these chains are used by these sociopathic individuals to keep someone as a perfect victim, which evidently these one to three men were able to do for at least a decade. >> all three of the castro brothers live in this house or just the one, kristen? >> reporter: no. >> one brother owned the house and realized the house was in default at the time, financial default, and yet there are relatives, neighbors who say the other two brothers had access to the house. >> okay. >> but some of the interviews done suggest that nobody actually lived there but just visited. >> kristen, since you're on the scene, explain how police were able to apprehend all three of them at once. >> reporter: yeah. and, clint is right there. the neighbors were telling me that they didn't even think that ariel castro lived here. they would just see him come occasionally to this house. i spoke with their uncle who said he was absolutely shocked by all of this. he had no idea. and he said it was a complete surprise to him that all three brothers were arrested. he said that they didn't all live in this neighborhood. but apparently police think that there is some link from all three brothers to this case. >> kristen dahlgren reporting from the scene in cleveland, ohio. clint van disinfectant and ed smart joining us for the conversation. thanks to all three of you. we'll continue to bring new details as we get them. amazing story out of cleveland. still ahead, the gop civil war over immigration reform. could this blow up the republican party, tank the gang of eight compromise? 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