Ariel Castro captives: Cleveland ‘house of horrors’ survivors detail decade of abuse in new memoir

MOST of us only endure such a moment of terror in our worst nightmares. Gina’s kidnapper wanted to do hurt her as much as he could - and she couldn’t stop him.

TWO survivors of Cleveland’s “house of horrors” have revealed in their new memoir how Ariel Castro raped them up to five times a day while insisting the sex was consensual.

Gina DeJesus, who was 14 when Castro kidnapped her in 2004, described her first assault in devastating detail.

“He seems angry, like he wants to hurt me as much as he can. I’m screaming and crying and beating him back, but it’s useless,” the now 25-year-old wrote, according to Cleveland.com.

“I’m crying and bleeding. I’ve been terrified he would do this. ... I want to die. I try to cover myself with my clothes. ‘We gotta celebrate!’ he says, standing up and pulling his pants back on. ‘That was your first time!’”

Sick man ... Ariel Castro kidnapped three women and raped them repeatedly in his home. Picture: Angelo Merendino/Getty Images/AFP

DeJesus, Amanda Berry and Michelle Knight were kidnapped by Castro and repeatedly raped, bashed and abused in his Ohio home for more than a decade before finally escaping in 2013.

Now DeJesus and Berry have released a book about their experiences, Hope: A Memoir of Survival in Cleveland, which they wrote with journalists Mary Jordan and Kevin Sullivan.

The book, told in first-person with journal-like entries, detailed how Castro raped his victims up to five times a day, forcing them to tell him they “want it” and that he’s “sexy”.

The women described how they were kept in heavy chains and only released when they were raped.

Victim ... Michelle Knight wrote her own memoir. Picture: Dr Phil

Berry and DeJesus also explained how Castro starved them, confided that he couldn’t feel anything for anyone, and set the women against each other.

DeJesus wrote that at one point, she fell into such a dark depression, she agreed to play Russian roulette with her captor.

Berry and DeJesus were teens when they were abducted, and they recounted how Castro was familiar to them through his children when they initially accepted car rides from him that led to their captivity.

The years that followed were a mix of horror interspersed with odd moments of grace, including when the three girls had a pillow fight when Castro locked them in the garage.

Castro initially kept the women apart, and even when he allowed them to be together, he tried to manipulate their relationships with one another.

The women described how he revealed he had been a victim of sexual abuse as a child and wasn’t doing anything wrong.

House of horrors ... Ariel Castro locked the three women in separate rooms in his Cleveland, Ohio, home over about a decade. Picture: AP Photo/Tony Dejak

The women said he even talked about when they would get out of the house, wondering what moniker he would be known by.

He insisted that if Berry wrote a book, she write “the truth” — specifically that she had feelings for him. Berry said she hated herself for sometimes feeling jealous when Castro was raping the other women.

The birth of Berry’s daughter, Jocelyn, in December 2006 was a turning point.

Castro doted on his child, whom he called “Pretty” and took out and about in Cleveland.

As the girl grew older, Berry wrote, it became harder and harder to hide the strangeness of their lives.

On the day of the escape, Berry said, Castro left the house without locking her in her room.

She was terrified it was some kind of trap, but she took the risk anyway.

They recounted their mix of feelings on hearing of Castro’s death, with Berry in particular conflicted over the impact it would have on her daughter.

Berry kept journals and other writings during her captivity; the book shifts between her and DeJesus’ perspectives and recounts what their families went through and what Castro’s background and life were like.

Memoir ... Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus wrote about their experiences in this new memoir. Picture: Amazon

Knight, who legally changed her name to Lily Rose Lee, has written a separate book about her experience, which was published last year.

Berry and DeJesus said they invited her to write with them and “wish her only the best.”

Castro kidnapped the women from 2002 to 2004 and kept them locked up in his home.

Berry, who gave birth to Castro’s daughter during her imprisonment, broke out through a door in May 2013, leading all three women to freedom.

Castro, 53, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life plus 1000 years in prison. He hanged himself in his cell in September 2013.

The memoir will be released today.

Originally published as Ariel Castro captives: Cleveland ‘house of horrors’ survivors detail decade of abuse in new memoir