The kidnapper is a bassist

[Dave W]

And then there is this gem.

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

Sylvia Browne is a charlatan preying on people's hopes. Hard to believe anyone is gullible enough to fall for her act.

James Randi (a/k/a the Amazing Randi) and others have been dogging her for years. Here's what he just wrote: Yet Another Sylvia Browne Fiasco

[Dave W]

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/

The Gregory Brothers already have an autotune version up. 

[Dave W]

You just knew the details would get worse. From NY Times:

The cousin, who asked not to be named to protect the family’s privacy, said relatives spoke by speakerphone with Ms. DeJesus before her return. Although she asked relatives not to inquire about her captivity, she described the way Mr. Castro marked the anniversaries of the kidnappings by serving dinner and a cake. “He would celebrate their abduction day as their new birthday,” the cousin said.

[jumbodbassman]

sounds more like a bad movie each day.  Amazing to think all this could happen and everybody be so damn stupid.....

maybe they should let me kiss a few of them and share the wealth.....

[gweimer]

And now, it's being reported that it wasn't actually Charles Ramsey who kicked in the door, but one of the other neighbors.  Sheesh.

[Dave W]

And now, it's being reported that it wasn't actually Charles Ramsey who kicked in the door, but one of the other neighbors.  Sheesh.

That's what the other neighbor now claims. His name is Angel Cordero. I did read that Ramsey said Cordero did come over there and help too. Ramsey definitely called 911. Unless Amanda Berry says something, we don't know.

[Dave W]

Reportedly Castro has told police that the abductions were the girls' own fault because they got in his car in the first place. 

From a NYT article about hiss FB page, a screen capture tells us what kind of bass he likes. Yuck.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/05/07/us/ariel-castro-facebook1/ariel-castro-facebook1-blog480.jpg

[Aussie Mark]

From a NYT article about hiss FB page, a screen capture tells us what kind of bass he likes. Yuck.

That doesn't surprise me at all.  I've always suspected that people who like basses that look like that are mental cases.

[Dave W]

A beast on bass

On the Today Show this morning there was a brief cell phone video clip of him playing his bass in his kitchen and smiling. Hard to think about him doing that while three women were captive a few feet away.

The more comments I've read from his family, friends and band members, the madder I get. They had all been in his house and all describe the same thing: he wouldn't let anyone past his kitchen, everything else was padlocked, he always had music or the TV on loud, and he did tell one friend who did hear a pounding against the wall that it was just his dogs. Yet not one of these people alerted anyone else in all those years. How is it that not a single one of them could see all this and not suspect something was wrong? Maybe they just didn't want to know.

Amanda Berry and the neighbors who broke her out out are the heroes. All the people who saw what was going on inside and did nothing are the goats.

[Highlander]

The stories of this are going to run and run - a press feeding frenzy...

How many of us would be able to look at any of our neighbours that were somewhat "private", had high fences, and kept the blinds pulled, and suspect them of such a thing - we had a really nasty couple called Fred and Rose West who went unnoticed for years before being discovered as murders and rapists, in their own home - Fred West took the cowards way out and topped himself before trial - if his own family did not suspect...?

A news story that has just "concluded" with a surprise change of plea to guilty after a week of really nasty evidence produced the following... the perpetrator was having a "relationship" with the mother and grandmother of the 11 year old he raped and killed; he had been collecting child porn images, visiting incest websites, and secretly filming the girl, and no one suspected him - he even hid her body in the grandmother's house and the police took four attempts to search the house before they found the body...

This Castro guy is just one example of a sick and decadent world where people persistently look the other way as they just do not want trouble - I live in a fairly quiet residential area but I recently felt somewhat uncertain around a group of young men hanging round a local shop drinking in the late evening whilst on the "last-round-up" with the dog... just a feeling in the pit of the stomach...

My neighbour is a nurse in her fifties - we've had "issues" in the past - do I suspect the occasional visits by "single men of a certain age" as being suspect...?

[Dave W]

There's a difference between being in a situation that makes you feel uneasy and seeing a situation that you know can't be right.

[drbassman]

Today the lawyers for the kidnapper said they would show he's not the monster everyone is making him out to be.  Really?  What planet are those assholse from? 

[Highlander]

Uranus...?

[godofthunder]

 What a awful story. He's not one of us, I can take it on the chin.

[Dave W]

Today the lawyers for the kidnapper said they would show he's not the monster everyone is making him out to be.  Really?  What planet are those assholse from? 

I hear you. He's entitled to the best possible defense his attorneys can put on, and if they had said so and left it at that, I wouldn't be so incensed. But their comments almost seemed to be deliberately inflammatory. Saying that his innocence will become apparent as the case develops, talking about his concern about his daughter -- does he think he's going to have any parental rights? -- and especially this: When asked how the three women ended up in Castro's home, Weintraub said: "That fact will be disclosed as the case progresses. I am aware of how he came into contact with them." That comes close to implying that they intend to blame the victims.

These guys better watch it or they might wind up getting death threats, if they haven't already. There's a lot of outrage over their comments.