Ariel Castro
Ariel Castro, 52, sits with his head down between his attorneys Jaye Schlachet and Craig Weintraub during his pre-trial hearing Reuters

Ariel Castro the suspect in the Cleveland kidnapping case has accepted a plea deal for kidnapping, raping and holding as prisoners, Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight, for 10-years.

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Castro will be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The plea deal was struck, avoiding a trial and removing the death penalty from consideration.

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On May 6, 2013 Amanda Berry worked up the courage to finally break free from the prison she and two other women had been held in for over a decade. Berry was able to break free from the house and with the help of people in the neighborhood called 911.

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Michelle Knight is the oldest of the three women and the first to be kidnapped. Knight's story is especially heartbreaking because her family assumed the 21-year-old left on her own after losing custody of her son.

Amanda Berry was the next to be taken. On April 19, 2003 Berry called her older sister telling her she was on her way home from work. That was the last time anyone heard from Amanda Berry.

Gina DeJesus disappeared April 2, 2004 after leaving a group of her school friends. Gina was friends with Castro's daughter and thought nothing of getting in the car when her friend's dad offered her a ride.

Knight, Berry and DeJesus were kept captive in Castro's home, sometimes chained up in the basement. Their families had no idea how close the three missing women were to them. Berry's mother died in 2006 having never lost hope her daughter would be found alive.

On the day the three women were rescued Castro had left the house, Berry began to scream for help banging on the front door of her prison has hard as she could.

After enjoying a hamburger at a near by McDonalds Charles Ramsey heard a woman screaming. At first Ramsey believed he was listening to a domestic dispute but when he saw Berry's desperate attempts to get out of the house he realized it was more than that.

With the help of Angel Cordero a kid from the neighborhood, Ramsey got Berry out of the house and both called 911. Berry's emotional plea to the police begging them to send help right away has gone viral.

You can hear the terror in her voice as she speaks to police dispatch worried that at any moment Castro would return.

Police arrived and took the three women to the hospital and then arrested Ariel Castro.

As details started coming out the public learned about the nightmare these women endured and the individual accused of holding them captive.

Castro was living a double life. To his family he was the dad, and grandpa. To friends and neighbors he was the nice guy who hosted community barbeques. Inside his home and behind closed doors Castro's true nature was revealed to the three women he had kidnapped.

Rape, torture, beatings and forced miscarriages are just a few of the cruelties inflicted on Berry, Knight and DeJesus. Amanda Berry became pregnant as a result of the mistreatment forced upon her by Castro. She gave birth to a daughter. Michelle Knight delivered the baby.

Michelle Knight became pregnant by Castro five times. Each pregnancy ended in a forced miscarriage as a result of beatings and starvation. The Cleveland prosecutor said he was considering the death penalty for that crime.

Castro was scheduled to go on trial August 5, 2013. He will now spend the rest of his life in prison, while the women he brutalized are home and walking free.

The three women created a YouTube video thanking the people who helped bring them home and continued to ask for their privacy. Before this deal was struck lawyers for the women said they all hoped the sooner the trail and sentencing was over the better.

Despite their ordeal the three women are working hard to return to a normal life. Now that Castro is in jail we can only hope these three strong women will be able to find the peace they need and deserve in the comforting arms of their loved ones.

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