The Ohio kidnapper was found dead of apparent suicide in his jail cell.

Ariel Castro, the man who held three women captive in his Cleveland (Ohio) home for about a decade, was found hanged in his prison cell yesterday night.

JoEllen Smith from the Ohio Department of Corrections released this statement:

“Inmate Ariel Castro was found hanging in his cell this evening at 9:20 pm at the Correctional Reception Center in Orient. He was housed in protective custody which means he was in a cell by himself and rounds are required every 30 minutes at staggered intervals. Upon finding inmate Castro, prison medical staff began performing life saving measures. Shortly after, he was transported to OSUMC where he was pronounced dead at 10:52 pm. A thorough review of this incident is underway and more information can be provided as it becomes available pending the status of the investigation”.

Castro's suicide is even more shocking due the fact that he was in protective custody, which required checks every 30 minutes.

Last month, Castro (53 years old) was sentenced to life in prison without parole after pleading guilty to all 937 counts against him, which included 473 counts of kidnapping, 446 counts of rape and one count of aggravated murder. The judge who sentenced him added 1,000 years on top of life in prison.

Castro's three victims — Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight — all disappeared when they were teenagers, between 2002 and 2004, the girls were 16, 14 and 21 years old respectively. They were held in horrendous and miserable conditions until they made a dramatic escape earlier this year; when Berry loosed the chains, escaped the house with her daughter (whose father is Castro) and alerted others and the police.

Castro, was a former Cleveland bus driver, and was accused of raping the women during their captivity, and forcing multiple abortions on at least one of the women. Although Castro said he was not mean to the women during their captivity. 

The society and the mainstream media reacted with anger and happiness to the news. On Twitter, users used the hashtag or search term #deadgiveaway to indicate they were tweeting about Castro.

Let’s do not forget that Castro's house was torn down last month by two demolition companies free of charge after Cuyahoga County prosecutor Tim McGinty said he wanted it razed so it would not become a macabre tourist attraction.

What do you think about this?