Three young women who went missing separately about a decade ago were found alive Monday in the same home just south of downtown Cleveland.
They had likely been tied up during years of captivity, said police, who arrested three men – all brothers – for the abductions that took place from 2002-2004.
One of the women who had been missing for the better part of a decade said she had been abducted and told a 911 dispatcher in a frantic call, “I’m free now.”
Crowds gathered on the street near the home where the city’s police chief said he thought Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight had been held.
They were in their teens or early 20s when they vanished.
The women all miraculously appeared to be in relatively good health and were taken to a hospital to be evaluated and to reunite with long lost relatives.
Police said a 6-year-old also was found in the home, but the child’s identity or relationship to anyone in the home wasn’t revealed as of this report.
The discovery came after neighbors said they heard someone kicking at a door, yelling for help and trying desperately to get outside the house.
A neighbor, Charles Ramsey, told WEWS-TV he saw Berry, whom he didn’t recognize, at a door that would open only enough to fit a hand through.
“I heard screaming,” he told the Cleveland station. “I’m eating my McDonald’s. I come outside. I see this girl going nuts trying to get out of a house.”
Anna Tejeda, who lives across the street, said Berry was nervous and crying, wearing pajamas and old sandals after she kicked out the screen in a door to escape.
On a recorded 911 call Monday, Berry declared frantically to the dispatcher, “I’m Amanda Berry. I’ve been on the news for the last 10 years.”
She said she had been taken by someone and begged for police officers to arrive at the residence on Cleveland’s west side before he returned.
“I’ve been kidnapped, and I’ve been missing for 10 years,” she said.
“And I’m here. I’m free now.”
Berry disappeared at age 16 back on April 21, 2003, when she called her sister to say she was getting a ride home from her job at a Burger King.
DeJesus went missing at age 14 on her way home from school about a year later. They were found just a few miles from where they had gone missing.
Police said Knight went missing in 2002 and is 32 now.
Officials said one of the brothers busted after the shocking discovery, a 52-year-old, lived at the home, and the others, ages 50 and 54, lived elsewhere.
Authorities released no names of the arrested threesome or indication of what criminal charges they might face, but the investigation is just underway.