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Mother Of Freed Cleveland Captive Celebrating 'Best Mother's Day' Ever

Danny Lee |
May 12, 2013 | 12:08 p.m. PDT

Executive Producer

 

Sunday marked the first Mother's Day for three Cleveland women after being rescued from captivity. (Dougtone/Creative Commons)
Sunday marked the first Mother's Day for three Cleveland women after being rescued from captivity. (Dougtone/Creative Commons)
The mother of Gina DeJesus said she is celebrating the “best Mother’s Day” ever today after her daughter and three other captives were freed last week from a long imprisonment in a Cleveland home, Reuters reported.

DeJesus, 23, Amanda Berry, 27, and Berry’s 6-year-old daughter were welcomed into their family homes after escaping on May 6 from the dungeon-like house. For Nancy Ruiz, this year’s celebration takes on a different tone from previous Mother’s Days during the years DeJesus went missing after she vanished while walking home from school in 2004.

“This is the best Mother’s Day I could ever have,” Ruiz said.

The occasion takes on a different meaning for Berry, who during captivity had her own child, who DNA suggests was fathered by accused kidnapper Ariel Castro.  Berry was kidnapped in 2003 the day before her 17th birthday.

But there was no homecoming for the fourth rescued victim, Michelle Knight, who went into seclusion after being released from a hospital on Friday. The 32-year-old shunned hospital visits from family members, some of whom believed she was a runaway when she disappeared in 2002 after losing custody of her son, her grandmother said.

A police report said Castro forced Knight to deliver Berry’s daughter, threatening to kill Knight if the baby died. The 52-year-old Castro is being held on $8 million bail on charges he kidnapped and raped the three women, while locking them up in the rundown Cleveland home stocked with ropes and chains.

Read the full story at Reuters. Find more Neon Tommy coverage of the Cleveland kidnappings here.
Reach Executive Producer Danny Lee here; follow him here.


 

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