Ariel Castro beat wife, threatened neighbors: police records
MAY 09: (L-R) Onil Castro, Pedro Castro and Ariel Castro stand in the courtroom during Ariel’s arraignment on rape and kidnapping charges May 9, 2013 in Cleveland, Ohio. Ariel Castro is accused of abducting Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus and holding them for about 10 years.
Cleveland police previously received six complaints that accused kidnapper Ariel Castro allegedly beat his wife and assaulted his neighbors, according to police reports obtained by ABC News.
More from GlobalPost: Ariel Castro's brothers say he is a 'monster' who should 'rot in jail'
The newly released records show Castro's ex-wife, Grimilda Figueroa, alerted the cops to Castro's alleged assaults in 1989, 1993 and 2005, three years after he allegedly kidnapped his first victim Michelle Knight.
Figueroa, Castro's common-law wife, died in 2012.
According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, police reports recorded three separate incidents when Castro either threatened or attacked other Cleveland residents.
In 1994, Castro tried to attack a neighbor with a shovel; in 1996 a man told police Castro threatened "that he had better watch himself,'' after a run-in at a bus stop concerning his children; and later that year, Castro drove over to an former neighbor's home and screamed obscenities at him over a lawsuit.
No charges were filed in those cases.
What is clear is that Castro had far more than the two run-ins with law enforcement officials than Cleveland police had originally reported.
What remains unclear is if the information could have been used to help find the three girls Castro allegedly kidnapped, raped and held in his home for some ten years – Gina DeJesus, Michelle Knight and Amanda Berry.
The 52-year-old has been charged with kidnapping and rape and is being held held in isolation and on suicide watch in a Cuyahoga County prison.
The story you just read is available for free because thousands of listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Every day, reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you: We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.
Make a gift today, and you’ll get us one step closer to our goal of raising $25,000 by June 14. We need your help now more than ever!