Cleveland kidnapping victims: Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight appear in video for first time

Cleveland kidnap victims reveal themselves: Girls who were held captive for a decade film heartwarming video to thank supporters

• The three-and-a-half-minute video was released on Monday by Hennes Paynter Communications, the public relations firm hired by the three girls and their families
• Women asked for their privacy and thanked Cleveland for the support they have received
• Amanda Berry said she continues to recover from the trauma of captivity
• The parents of Gina DeJesus spoke for her and urged the families of missing loved ones not to give up hope
• Michelle Knight sounded a defiant tone and vowed that she would not let her kidnapping and torture define her

A heartwarming video has been released showing all three victims from the Cleveland house of horrors, who appear healthy and happy as they recover from a decade in sickening captivity.

This is the first on-camera appearance of Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight since they were freed from the clutches of Ariel Castro – who allegedly beat and raped them and held them locked inside his house under unimaginable conditions.

The footage also marks the first public appearance of Michelle Knight since 2002. It was not even know that she had been kidnapped until she was found in Castro’s home on Seymour Avenue on May 6.

The video, which is three and a half minutes long, was posted on YouTube late Monday by Hennes Paynter Communications, the public relations firm that the three young women and their families hired after they were freed from captivity.

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Recovering: Amanda Berry, now 27, (left) appeared on camera alongside Gina DeJesus, 23, (center) and Michelle Knight, 32, (right). The three young women said they are healthy and happy as they worked to rebuild their lives

In it, all three women thank the supporters who rallied to their cause after they were sensationally freed on May 6. The story captivated the nation and united the hard-scrabble city of Cleveland.

‘First and foremost, I want everyone to understand how happy I am to be home with my family and my friends. It’s been unbelievable,’ Berry says.

She adds: ‘I’m getting stronger each day and having my privacy has helped immensely. I ask that everyone continues to respect our privacy and give us to time have a normal life.’

The video offers a hopeful portrait of the girls, who have gone into hiding among the furor of media coverage that descended on Cleveland after they were sensationally found alive after after nearly everyone had given up searching for them.

Kathy Joseph, an attorney for Knight, said in a statement that the three women wanted to ‘say thank you to people from Cleveland and across the world, now that two months have passed.’

She said they’re being recognized in public, ‘so they decided to put voices and faces to their heartfelt messages.’

Hero: Amanda Berry was just shy of her 17th birthday when she was kidnapped off a Cleveland Street on April 21, 2003. While in captivity and allegedly under control of Ariel Castro, Amanda gave birth to a daughter, which was fathered by Castro. The girl is now 6. It was Berry who first broke out of captivity and called police

Always searching: Gina DeJesus was just 14 when she was abducted from the street on April 2, 2004, just blocks from her house. Her parents, Felix and Nancy never stopped searching for their daughter. They tirelessly campaigned to search for her and never gave up hope.

Forgotten: Michelle Knight slipped through the cracks. She was 21 years old when she left home on August 22, 2002 and never returned. Michelle, who has developmental disabilities, was reported missing, though police dropped her case and stopped searching for her when her mother could not be reached

James Wooley, attorney for Berry and DeJesus, also issued a statement saying Knight and his clients thank people for the privacy they’ve been given and do not want to discuss their case with the news media or anyone else.

Michelle, who was Castro’s first alleged victim – said to be taken off a west-side street in 2002, put a brave face on her new world.

‘Thank you everyone for your love support and donations, which helped me build a brand new life. I want everyone to know I’m doing just fine,’ she said.

Michelle’s family said that she has developmental disabilities and bore the brunt of the brutal beatings and torture that Castro allegedly doled out.

Her aunt told reports that she was beaten so badly she required reconstruction surgery to repair the damage to her face.

She appears undaunted in the video.

‘I may have been through hell and back, but I am strong enough to walk through hell with a smile on my face and with my head held high and with my feet firmly on the ground,’ she says.

She speaks about her faith in God and how she is leaning on her faith to get her through the difficult recovery.

‘God has a plan for all of us. The plan that he gave me is for me to help others that have been in the same situations I have been in – to know that there is someone out there to lean on and to talk to,’ she says.

‘I am in control of my own destiny with the guidance of God.’

FULL TRANSCRIPT: KIDNAPPED WOMEN THANK THEIR SUPPORTERS AND THE PEOPLE WHO DONATED $1MILLION TO THEIR CAUSE

Amanda Berry:

First and foremost, I want everyone to understand how happy I am to be home with my family and my friends. It’s been unbelievable.

I want to thank everyone who has helped me and my family through this entire ordeal. Everyone who has been there supportive and it has been a blessing to have such an outpouring of love and kindness.

I’m getting stronger each day and having my privacy has helped immensely. I ask that everyone continues to respect our privacy and give us to time have a normal life.

Gina DeJesus:

I would say thank you for the support.

Felix DeJesus (Gina’s father):

I would like to thank everyone who has donated to the (Cleveland) Courage Fund for these girls. I’d also like to thank the family for having so much passion and the strength to go along with us.

Nancy Ruiz (Gina’s mother):

I would like to thank personally the people who gave to the Courage Fund. And everybody in general. And I’m also saying my community, my neighbors. Every single one, they know who they are.

To parents that does have a loved one missing, please do me one big favor, count on your neighbors. Don’t be afraid to ask for their help because help is available.

Michelle Knight:

Thank you everyone for your love support and donations, which helped me build a brand new life. I want everyone to know I’m doing just fine.

I may have been through hell and back, but I am strong enough to walk through hell with a smile on my face and with my head held high and with my feet firmly on the ground.

Walking hand-in-hand with my best friends, I will not let the situation define who I am. I will define the situation. I don’t want to be consumed by hatred. With that being said, we need to take a leap of faith and know that God is in control.

We have been hurt by people, but we need to rely on god as being the judge. God has a plan for all of us. The plan that he gave me is for me to help others that have been in the same situations I have been in – to know that there is someone out ther to lean on and to talk to.

I am in control of my own destiny with the guidance of God.

I have no problem expressing how I feel inside. Be positive. Learn that it is more important to give than to receive. Thank you for all your prayers. I’m looking forward to my brand new life.

Gina DeJesus appears briefly to thank all of the donors who contributed to the Cleveland Courage fund to help the three girls.

More than 9,200 donors have amassed a little more than $1million for the girls’ recovery.

All three women smile broadly as the speak. They are well-dressed and wearing tastefully-applied makeup in the heavily-produced video shot in downtown Cleveland.

However, the video also contains reminders of the horror that the young women experienced.

Michelle appears to display the effects of the severe beatings she endured for 11 years.

Gina speaks only one line in the video. When asked by a man behind the camera what she would like to say to the people who contributed to the Cleveland Courage fund, she responds: ‘I would say thank you for the support.’

Lupe Collins, a family friend who helped search for Gina when she was missing, told MailOnline in May that the horror she experienced in Castro’s home has left her almost mute. She speaks few words, even to her family, and is afraid to go outside.

Amanda Berry, center, was pictured with her young daughter Jocelyn in the hospital just hours after she was freed from Castro’s house

This is the house on Seymour Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio, where three young women were held against their wills for a decade and allegedly subjected to brutal beatings and rape

On trial: Ariel Castro, seen here last Wednesday, was deemed fit to stand trial last week. He faces 329 charges, including kidnapping and rape, in connection with the horrific allegations of what took place in his home

THE 11-YEAR ORDEAL: CHILLING TIMELINE OF EVENTS IN ARIEL CASTRO CASE

August 22, 2002 – Michelle Knight, 21, runs away from home. She is reported missing by her mother but the case is later dropped.

April 21, 2003 – Amanda Berry is abducted off a street just shy of her 17th birthday. Her family and Cleveland police arrange a massive search for her.

April 2, 2004 – Gina DeJesus, 14, is walking home from Burger King when she vanishes on a busy Cleveland street. Her parents launch a massive, city-wide search for her, as well.

December 25, 2006 – Amanda Berry, age 20, gives birth to Jocelyn, a daughter fathered by Ariel Castro. The birth happened in an inflatable kiddie pool and was assisted by Knight – who was allegedly told she would be killed if the baby died.

November 2012 – Castro, who worked as a school bus driver for more than 20 years, is fired after he makes an illegal U-turn with children aboard the bus.

May 6, 2013 – Amanda Berry breaks down the locked front door of Castro’s house at 2207 Seymour Avenue. She calls 911 with the help of neighbor Charles Ramsey.

Gina and Michelle are also found inside and rescued.

July 3, 2013 – Judge rules Castro competent to face trial on 329 charged, including kidnapping and rape.

July 9, 2013 – Michelle, Amanda and Gina make their first public appearance in a YouTube video posted by the public relations firm they hired.

Instead, Gina’s family speaks for her.

Her parents Felix DeJesus and Nancy Ruiz never gave up hope and never stopped searching for their daughter.

‘I would like to thank everyone who has donated to the courage fund for these girls. I’d also like to thank the family for having so much passion and the strength to go along with us,’ Mr DeJesus says.

Ms Ruiz offered a word of encouragement to parents who are going through the trauma of missing a child.

She said: ‘To parents that does have a loved one missing. please do me one big favor, count on your neighbors. Don’t be afraid to ask for their help because help is available.’

Castro, 52, faces 329 charges of kidnapping, rape, aggravated murder and other charges as a result of the statements the three women gave to police. The aggravated murder charge stems from a pregnancy that Castro alleged terminated by beating Knight of the women so severely she had a miscarriage.

Knight told police that Castro got her pregnant and forced her to miscarry give times by starving her and repeatedly punching her in the stomach.

Last week, a Cleveland judge ruled Castro mentally fit to stand trial.

The judge also denied his request to visit Jocelyn, the 6-year-old daughter he fathered with Amanda Berry while she was kept under his control.

Psychologists say that the three women have many long years of intensive therapy and rehabilitation ahead of them to begin to undo the damage left by the horrific abuse that they suffered.

One-by-one Castro allegedly collected the women off city streets in the west side of Cleveland and brought them back to his two-story house on a quiet neighborhood street.

The former school bus driver is said to be suave and popular with women. He was a bassist in a Latin band and never left the house unless he was looking his best.

Police sources describe the women being subjected to nearly unimaginable torture inside the house. A report from Reuters quoted officers as saying Gina and Michelle sustained injuries consistent with them being ‘prisoners of war.’

Castro allegedly controlled every single aspect of their lives. He left the women locked in the bedrooms or the basement of his house – where he lived by himself.

Police found chains in the basement wall and dog leashes attached to the ceiling.

Neighbors and Castro’s family said they never suspected the horrors he had hidden inside the home where he raised his four children.

Castro’s family described him as a controlling, abusive man who nearly beat his ex-wife to death in front of his children.

The women were kept gagged and bound on the rare occasions that Castro invited visitors into his house, according to police reports.

The horrific captivity for the three women ended on May 6 when Amanda Berry broke down the locked front door of the house and screamed for help. Neighbor Charles Ramsey ran over to assist her. She escaped with her daughter Jocelyn.

Her first words to a 911 dispatcher rang around the world: ‘Help me, I’m Amanda Berry … I’ve been kidnapped, and I’ve been missing for 10 years. And I’m here; I’m free now.’

Responding officers found the other two women inside.

After their release, Amanda returned to her father, who lives in Tennessee. Her mother died – some say of a broken heart – in 2006.

Gina returned to her parents, who never stopped looking for her. Nancy and Felix remain pillars in the city for the dogged pursuit of their daughter – even when nearly everyone else had given up hope.

Michelle is living in an undisclosed location. She was estranged from her family and has reportedly had to start a new life on her own.

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