US man who held 3 women captive kills himself

         
The US man who kidnapped three young women and repeatedly raped them in his home for nearly a decade was found hanging in his cell and is believed to have committed suicide, a prison official said Wednesday.         

Ariel Castro, 53, had started serving a life prison term after being sentenced last month to life in prison plus 1,000 years on his guilty plea to 937 counts including kidnapping and rape.                            
Catsro was found in his cell Tuesday night, JoEllen Smith, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction spokeswoman, said early Wednesday. Prison medical staff performed CPR before he was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.                  

Castro had been in protective custody because of the notoriety of his case, meaning he was checked every 30 minutes, but he was not on suicide watch, Smith said. She said suicide watch entails constant observation.                   

Catsro told the judge at his sentencing he was suffering from a pornography addiction.                                           
"I'm not a monster. I'm sick," he said.               

His attorneys had tried unsuccessfully to have a psychological examination of Castro done at the jail where he was housed before he was turned over to state authorities following his conviction, his attorney, Jaye Schlachet, told The Associated Press early Wednesday. Schlachet said he could not immediately comment further.                

The three women disappeared separately between 2002 and 2004, when they were 14, 16 and 20 years old. They escaped from Castro's home May 6, when Amanda Berry, one of the women, broke part of a door and yelled to neighbors for help.                                     

The two other women were so scared of Castro that they held back even as police officers began to swarm the house. But quickly they realized they were free.                      
Castro was arrested that evening. He had fathered a child with Berry while she was in captivity; that girl was 6 years old when freed.         


AP