actually picked up the girls. first michelle in 2002. at a family drugstore. then amanda berry, only 17 years old, and then gina dejesus. he captured both of them by just asking them if they would like a ride home. in that letter he talks about killing himself. he talks about eventually taking all of his money and giving that money to his victims. he says that basically he s a sexual predator. he s sick. and he has something wrong in his head and he needs help. hmm. all of it is just so chilling. as you ve been reporting it appears ariel castro actually played favorites with his captives? what do you know about that? yeah, i think he did. obviously the first victim in 2002, michelle, she was 20 years old, then a year later, grabbing amanda, and in the letter he talks about why does he have this urge to have another girl in the house when he already has two. then he moved on to amanda berry, and obviously we ve heard
she was the first of the three women to be kidnapped back in 2002. police say 52-year-old ariel castro repeatedly raped the women over a period of ten years. joining me now is scott taylor. he s an investigative reporter with woio-tv in cleveland. good morning, scott. what s the latest? well, right now the fbi is taking ariel castro, the prime suspect, his dna, and really searching their database with open cases to see if that dna matches any of those. yesterday we saw the ohio attorney general in the crime lab do that. it cleared ohio, and now it s with the fbi. scott, you have been leading the reporting, and really an extraordinary letter that you discovered that castro apparently wrote in 2004. what do you know about this letter? what can you tell us about this letter? well, the letter really details how mr. castro, if he is the one who wrote this letter,
from relatives that he called amanda his girlfriend. and then, what s really key here, he talks about gina dejesus and says that he didn t even realize how young she was, thought she was a lot older, and also did not realize that gina dejesus was the daughter of felix, who he says in the letter, that he actually went to school with. now we ve reached out to felix, gina s dad, and he did confirm with us that, yeah, i did go to school with this guy. we weren t good buddies, close friends, but we briefly went to school over at lincoln west high school here in cleveland. all right. quickly, they re questioning ariel castro. how cooperative is he being with this investigation? yeah, there s a little debate over that. some of the outlets say that he is cooperating. he s confessed to some things. no details on that. we re hearing that he real ly hasn t been extremely cooperative. yesterday i talked to jail officials. they say right now he s in a
that they refused to ever step foot in that place. so we don t know how this is going to turn out. yeah, that s understandable, too. stephanie, thanks for being with us today. we appreciate that. right now the third woman rescued after a decade of unimaginable horror inside a house in cleveland has been discharged from the hospital. the hospital actually put out a statement on behalf of michelle knight, asking people to respect her privacy. knight, amanda berry and gina dejesus were rescued monday. police accused 52-year-old ariel castro of kidnapping and raping the three over a period of ten years. knight also told police she had been impregnated several times by castro, but starved and beaten to force miscarriages. nbc s ron allen has more. reporter: with michelle knight released from the hospital on friday, all four survivors are now safely home. ariel castro, locked away, and now with his own lawyer, is the father of amanda berry s daughter, born in captivity, based on dna
tests do not link castro to any other missing person cases in ohio. another emotional jolt for families like the summers. their daughter ashley was 14 when she disappeared in 2007. not far from where castro allegedly kidnapped the three women a few years before then. summers mother spoke exclusively to nbc news about her hopes and fears this past week. i ve been feeling all kinds of emotions. happy for the girls that were found, very sad that it wasn t my daughter. reporter: in fact, there are 34 teens and young women who have gone missing within ten miles of castro s house over the past six years. the same house where that dramatic rescue and escape happened. we found them. we found them. i was shaking, and hysterically crying. reporter: jennifer was the police radio dispatcher who sent the officers to the castro house after the 911 call came in. like many of the cops that