Three women who were held captive in a house in Cleveland the midwestern U.S. state of Ohio for about a decade have broken their public silence in a three-and-one-half minute video on YouTube.
In the video issued late Monday, Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight thanked the public for the encouragement and support that is allowing them to restart their lives.
The women were abducted separately between 2002 and 2004, when they were 14, 16, and 20 years old. They were freed in early May after Berry escaped the house and was helped by neighbors.
A 52-year-old former school bus driver, Ariel Castro, has pleaded not guilty to 329 charges alleging he kidnapped the women off the streets and held them captive in his two-story house.
Castro fathered a six-year-old daughter with Berry and is accused of starving and punching Knight, causing her to miscarry.
A statement from Knight's attorney said the three women wanted to "say thank you to people from Cleveland and across the world.''
An attorney for Berry and DeJesus said Knight and his clients thank people for the privacy they have been given and do not want to discuss their case with the news media or anyone else.
Watch: YouTube video thank you
In the video issued late Monday, Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight thanked the public for the encouragement and support that is allowing them to restart their lives.
The women were abducted separately between 2002 and 2004, when they were 14, 16, and 20 years old. They were freed in early May after Berry escaped the house and was helped by neighbors.
A 52-year-old former school bus driver, Ariel Castro, has pleaded not guilty to 329 charges alleging he kidnapped the women off the streets and held them captive in his two-story house.
Castro fathered a six-year-old daughter with Berry and is accused of starving and punching Knight, causing her to miscarry.
A statement from Knight's attorney said the three women wanted to "say thank you to people from Cleveland and across the world.''
An attorney for Berry and DeJesus said Knight and his clients thank people for the privacy they have been given and do not want to discuss their case with the news media or anyone else.
Watch: YouTube video thank you
