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Five years of freedom: How Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight are doing now

Posted at 8:03 AM, May 06, 2018
and last updated 2018-05-06 14:08:50-04

"Help me, I'm Amanda Berry. I've been kidnapped and I've been missing for ten years and I'm here, I'm free now."

It's been five years since we heard those words from Amanda Berry, one of three girls who went missing for years and were finally freed on May 6, 2013 from the house of horrors in Cleveland.

RELATED: PHOTO GALLERY: Inside Ariel Castro's home on Seymour Avenue in Cleveland

Amanda, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight were held captive for a decade until a neighbor, Charles Ramsey, heard Amanda calling for help, broke down the door and freed her. The girls endured physical, mental and sexual abuse at the hands of their captor, Ariel Castro.

RELATED: VIDEO: Cleveland man who found missing woman Amanda Berry: 'I thought that girl was dead'

RELATED: Amanda Berry, teen missing for 10 years, rescued from Cleveland home with child

 

Today, all three women are working to help others, to give hope and to make sure no one goes through the unspeakable pain they did while inside Castro's home.

Just in the last couple of months, Michelle, now known as Lilly Rose, released her second book titled "Life After Darkness," a book she said she hopes will help abuse victims. She also announced to the world she married her husband, Miguel, in 2016.

Gina recently joined the Northeast Ohio Amber Alert Committee, helping support victims and their families. Amanda is doing similar work hosting a TV segment about missing persons in Northeast Ohio.

RELATED: Amanda Berry breaks her silence after years of captivity in an exclusive interview

Castro was arrested, pleaded guilty and had started a life sentence when he hanged himself in prison.

RELATED: Ariel Castro sentencing documents detail abuse; Michelle Knight starved, beaten to end pregnancy

RELATED: Ariel Castro sentencing: Victim impact statements by Michelle Knight, relatives of Berry, DeJesus

The home on Seymour Avenue has been torn down and a garden now sits in its place. Neighbors said tourists stop by the street from time to time. They also said they are ready to move on and don't want the area to be a spectacle anymore.

RELATED: Video Vault: Amanda Berry disappears 2003, Gina DeJesus disappears 2004