Breaking News
Ariel Castro, on July 24, 2013
Aaron Josefczyk/Reuters/Landov
Ohio corrections officials say Ariel Castro who held three women captive in his home for nearly a decade has committed suicide at a state prison facility.
Spokeswoman JoEllen Smith says Castro, 53, was found hanging in his cell around 9:20 p.m. Tuesday at the Correctional Reception Center in Orient.
Prison medical staff performed CPR before Castro was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 10:52 p.m.
The three women disappeared separately between 2002 and 2004, when they were 14, 16 and 20 years old. They escaped May 6, when one of the women broke part of a door and yelled to neighbors for help. Castro was arrested that evening.
Castro was sentenced Aug. 1 to life in prison plus 1,000 years on his guilty plea to 937 counts including kidnapping and rape.
• Reporting by STEVE HELLING
