Ariel Castro, Cleveland Kidnap Suspect, May Face Death Penalty

May 9, 2013— -- An Ohio prosecutor said he may seek the death penalty against Ariel Castro, the Cleveland man charged today with the kidnap and rape of three women he allegedly brutalized for a decade while allegedly inducing abortions in at least one of the captives.

"Capital punishment must be reserved for those crimes that are truly the worst examples of human conduct," Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty said today, indicating that Castro will likely face additional charges of aggravated murder related to the pregnancies.

The death penalty is applicable under Ohio law for the "most depraved criminals who commit aggravated murder during the course of a kidnapping," McGinty said.

Castro allegedly induced abortions in one of his victims, Michele Knight, 32, on at least five separate occasions by punching her in the stomach.

But another alleged captive, Amanda Berry, carried a child to term, delivering the now 6-year-old girl in a plastic kiddie pool, police said.

Castro today was charged with four charges of kidnap, one for each woman and the 6-year-old child whom Berry delivered while in captivity. He was charged with three counts of rape.

Bail was set at $2 million per case, for a total of $8 million. Castro is an unemployed, former school bus driver.

Castro, who also reportedly told investigators he is a "sex addict," is being held in isolation at an Ohio jail.

Investigators discovered a note at his home on Seymour Avenue, according to ABC News affiliate WEWS-TV, where police say Castro kept the women bound and prevented them from leaving. In the note, believed to have been written in 2004 or 2005, Castro expresses remorse for his actions and says he is addicted to sex, the station reported.

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In court this morning, Castro, 52, did not enter a plea or speak. Unshaven and wearing a dark-blue prison jumpsuit, he kept his head down through the proceedings and signed documents with shackled hands.

"The situation has turned," Cuyahoga County Assistant Prosecutor Brian Murphy told the court. "Castro is the captive in captivity."

Castro is being held in "administrative segregation" at the Cuyahoga County Jail, isolated from other prisoners. He is on suicide watch, but officials do not believe he is a threat to himself, WEWS reported.

Castro likely will face additional charges after a grand jury hearing. He was represented today by a public defender.

Despite years of looking for the women -- Amanda Berry, 27, Michele Knight, 32, and Gina DeJesus, 23 -- who individually went missing between 2002 and 2004, there were no leads in any of the cases until Monday, when a neighbor heard Berry screaming from behind a locked door and helped free the women.

Castro's two brothers, Onil Castro, 50, and Pedro Castro, 54, who were arrested with him, were not charged in connection with this case. Both men appeared in court on old misdemeanor charges.

Onil was given credit for time he served while being question since Monday. Charges against Pedro were dropped. They were both released this morning.

Following his arraignment Castro's mother offered an apology to the victims."I am really suffering and I ask those mothers to forgive me and the girls to forgive me. I am suffering what they suffered because I am suffering for my son," Lilian Rodriguez told reporters today. "My son is sick. I have nothing to do with what he did."

READ MORE: Missing Cleveland Women 'Really, Really Strong Individuals'

The court documents released Wednesday give the clearest clues yet in the investigation on how the women were treated in captivity. Ariel Castro lured each victim from the street and into his car, according to the documents. Knight was abducted first in 2002 and brought to the kidnap suspect's modest two-story home on Seymour Avenue. She would later be joined by Berry in 2003 and DeJesus a year later.

Police made it clear they believe that each kidnap victim was "repeatedly sexually assaulted by the defendant," and that the abuse occurred "during the entire course of captivity," according to charging documents filed in court Wednesday.

The women were initially chained in the basement and sexually assaulted, a senior official from the Cleveland Police Department told ABC News. Later, when their "spirits were broken," they were allowed to be in other parts of the house, the official said.

Knight, Castro's first alleged kidnapping victim, told police she was impregnated five times by Castro, ABC News affiliate WEWS-TV reported. In each case, she reportedly was made to abort the fetus when he punched her in the belly.

Berry, however, delivered her tormentor's apparent child six years ago in a small inflatable pool "so the mess was easy to clean up," a law enforcement source told WEWS.

The little girl, named Jocelyn, was born Christmas Day in 2006, the mother told her family in a phone call on Tuesday, according to WEWS.

Jocelyn, police say, was the captive who had the most freedom, officials said. The 6-year-old left the house occasionally with the suspect, Cleveland Chief of Police Michael McGrath told ABC News. Police said they were conducting a paternity test and were not yet certain the baby was fathered by Castro.

"She did leave the house. I have information that she did leave the house occasionally with the suspect," McGrath said Wednesday.

Deputy Police Chief Ed Tomba said the women could remember being outside only twice during their entire time in captivity. When those rare moments took place, the women were allowed to go only as far as the backyard and had to don wigs, sunglasses and keep their heads down, police said.

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In newly released police audio tapes, a 911 dispatcher notified officers Monday that he had just spoken to a woman who "says her name is Amanda Berry and that she had been kidnapped 10 years ago."