Anthony Castro, son of one of the accused Cleveland abductors Ariel Castro, spoke to the Daily Mail about his allegedly violent father and memories of padlocks on doors in the house where the three women were being held captive.
“The house was always locked. There were places we could never go. There were locks on the basement. Locks on the attic. Locks on the garage,” Anthony Castro said.
He had been to the house only two weeks before Amanda Berry, Michelle Knight and Gina DeJesus managed to escape after ten years of captivity.
“It’s astonishing to even think about that I was so close to that. That I was physically at the house two weeks ago while that was going on, it’s a lot to grasp,” he said.
Anthony characterized his father as a violent man who beat him, his siblings and mother regularly before she separated from him in 1996. Ariel Castro had allegedly beat Ariel’s mother almost to death in 1993 while she was recovering from brain surgery.
“Having that relationship with my dad all these years when we lived in a house where there was domestic violence and I was beaten as well … we never were really close because of that, and it was also something we never really talked about,” he said.
Anthony expressed feelings that his father should be punished to the fullest extent of the law.
He said that his father “doesn’t deserve to have his own life anymore. He deserves to be behind bars for the rest of her life. I’m just thankful they’re alive.”
Anthony’s sister Angie also said she believes her father is guilty of abducting and imprisoning the three women.
Anthony also spoke about his uncles that were arrested in connection to the imprisonment. He said they were both drunks who were close to Ariel, speculating that they were at least aware of what was happening, if not playing a part in it themselves.