In a video that now seems chilling, Arlene Castro, the daughter of Ohio kidnapping suspect Ariel Castro, speaks about being the last person to see her friend, kidnapping victim Gina DeJesus, before the girl vanished. DeJesus is one of three young women who disappeared in the Cleveland area within a two-year stretch of time; all three were freed from a house on Monday.
Several news outlets, including the Cleveland Plain Dealer, released the 2005 "America's Most Wanted" interview with Castro's daughter, who is referred to as DeJesus's best friend. In the footage from the crime show, Castro explains that she and DeJesus, then 14 years old, were walking home from school together and had plans to hang out. Castro says she called her mother -- and borrowed 50 cents from DeJesus to do so -- but her mother told her she couldn't go over to DeJesus's house. After loaning out the two quarters, DeJesus reportedly didn't have enough money for bus fare, so she started walking home.
The FBI's missing persons poster for DeJesus says she was last seen at a pay phone at the corner of 105th Street and Lorain Avenue in Cleveland between 2:45 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. on April 2, 2004.
Gina DeJesus, Michelle Knight and Amanda Berry each went missing between 2002 and 2004. The women were found earlier this week after Berry tried to pry her way out through a door and her screams caught the attention of a neighbor. Berry's case is also mentioned in the "America's Most Wanted" segment.
Ariel Castro, a former bus driver, and two of his brothers have been arrested in connection with the kidnappings.
In another strange twist in the still-developing case, Ariel Castro's son Anthony, a journalism student at the time of the kidnappings, reportedly wrote an article about DeJesus's disappearance. He even interviewed the kidnapping victim's mother. His article appeared in a local paper in 2004.
