The kidnapper is a bassist

[Dave W]

For those of you following the amazing story out of Cleveland about the three abducted women who had been held for years until yesterday: turns out the homeowner who held them captive is a long-time local bassist there: "he was always late to practice". No wonder.

[westen44]

I've noted this story, but this is so bad I hardly know what to say.  Totally sickening, though. 

[patman]

being late to practice really pisses me off...

[jumbodbassman]

what a disturbing story

[Dave W]

Really disturbing the more things come out. There are now reports that the police were called in the last couple of years, once because a neighbor saw a child or a woman with child banging on an attic window, another time when a neighbor heard pounding on the walls, and worst of all, when a neighbor reported seeing a naked woman crawling on all fours in the back yard. And apparently the cops came to the door and left because no one answered. If true, this is as bad as the missed opportunities in the Jaycee Dugard case.

[gweimer]

This one is hard to take.  One thing that I heard that is just creepy is the fact that a reporter who wrote a big story on Amanda Beery turns out to be the son of the accused.  The son had no clue that it was his father.

[Dave W]

This one is hard to take.  One thing that I heard that is just creepy is the fact that a reporter who wrote a big story on Amanda Beery turns out to be the son of the accused.  The son had no clue that it was his father.

As I understand it, it was for his high school or college newspaper. And it was about Gina DeJesus, who was a friend of their family. On top of that, his sister (Ariel Castro's daughter) appeared on America's Most Wanted to talk about Gina. She was the last person to see Gina before she disappeared. They were walking together, she called her mother (who was divorced from Castro) to ask if she could hang with Gina. Mom said no, so they parted. Freaky.

[Highlander]

A bass player...!?!?! Isn't our job hard enough as it is...?

The story is being headlined here too... How they managed to hide the three of them and the offspring for so long is the most disturbing aspect for me... I suspect there is much more to come out yet...

[Dave W]

Police chief has now confirmed there were chains and ropes in the house, and apparently they were bound by them most of the time.

The one I feel sorriest for is the third woman, Michelle Knight. Her brother has now seen her, and he didn't even know she was missing because the mother kicked him out when he was 14. And the mother claims to care about her but apparently didn't even have one picture of her for the media to show. They're now using a freshman high school yearbook pic of her. What a mom.

[gweimer]

Police chief has now confirmed there were chains and ropes in the house, and apparently they were bound by them most of the time.

The one I feel sorriest for is the third woman, Michelle Knight. Her brother has now seen her, and he didn't even know she was missing because the mother kicked him out when he was 14. And the mother claims to care about her but apparently didn't even have one picture of her for the media to show. They're now using a freshman high school yearbook pic of her. What a mom.

Mom set her daughter up to be a perfect target for someone as evil as this guy is.  What truly worries me is that we seem to see these kinds of stories more frequently.

[Denis]

Police chief has now confirmed there were chains and ropes in the house, and apparently they were bound by them most of the time.

The one I feel sorriest for is the third woman, Michelle Knight. Her brother has now seen her, and he didn't even know she was missing because the mother kicked him out when he was 14. And the mother claims to care about her but apparently didn't even have one picture of her for the media to show. They're now using a freshman high school yearbook pic of her. What a mom.

And what's even worse (from what I've read so far) is that the police didn't even really look for her because they thought she was simply a runaway. That sure is a good way to treat our youth. 

[Denis]

And then there is this gem.

http://gma.yahoo.com/psychic-said-amanda-berry-dead-silent-berry-found-212849667--abc-news-topstories.html

[hieronymous]

The saving grace in this story is Charles Ramsey, the guy that helped free them. He said he thought it was domestic violence - many people would have turned away, but he went to try and help.

http://www.craveonline.com/lifestyle/articles/496081-viral-video-amanda-berry-rescuer-charles-ramsey-gives-greatest-interview-ever

Now he is saying that he wants any reward money to be turned over to the victims:

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/08/charles-ramsey-take-that-reward-and-give-it-to-the-kidnap-victims/

[Pilgrim]

It's not hard to guess that the police didn't do more because of a combination of more urgent things to do and not wanting to get sued for entry when they didn't have evidence screaming at them. I'll bet there are hundreds of times a day in the US that a disturbance is reported, the police get there and knock, no one responds, and they simply have to go away.

[nofi]

i'm no fan of the police.