Cleveland Kidnapping Victim, Michelle Knight, Story of the Forgotten Victim
A lot had been reported about Ohio Cleveland kidnap victims Amanda Berry and Gina de Jesus. And as both of them where happy to be reunited with their families, the third victim, Michelle Knight announces otherwise. In fact she wished for privacy, away from her family.
According to a statement by Michelle knight on Sunday, she thanks everyone for support and good wishes. "I am healthy, happy and safe and will reach out to family, friends and supporters in good time."
More confusion arouses when Michelle left MetroHealth hospital discreetly, not wanting her mother and relatives to know where she was headed.
Metrohealth said that Michelle Knight has been discharged from MetroHealth and is asking for her privacy at this time. The hospital had also announced that Michelle is in good spirits and grateful for flowers and gifts from well-wishers. "She asks that everyone please continue to respect her privacy at this time" Metrohealth said.
Michelle's request for privacy disheartened her mother, Barbara Knight. Barbara came to the hospital to visit Michelle but was told off by the hospital staff and was informed that the request for privacy includes members of the family.
People were confused as to why she would rather spend time alone rather being with her family after her traumatic ordeal.
The Story Behind
While Amanda Berry was hailed hero for leading them into freedom, little did people know that Michelle was the very first girl kidnapped by Ariel Castro on August 23 2002. She was just twenty years old at that time.
On that very day she was kidnapped, she was set to appear on court to fight for custody over her son.
As reported by New York Daily News, Knight was raped by some of her classmates when she was just in high school. The incident bore her a son. She also had a boyfriend at that time who abused her violently.
In a report filed by Cleveland Plain Dealer, a local news portal in Cleveland, Michelle's mother Barbara thought that Michelle was depressed to have lost her custody over her son.
Months later after Michelle was missing, the FBI removed her name from the list of missing people, allegedly concluding that Michelle was just in an unstable state and had just ran away from home.
Why Michelle's Name was Removed from Database
According to Sun News, city spokesman for Cleveland police, Maureen Harper, explained that proper procedures were followed before removing Michelle's name in the database in November of 2003. The main reason they decided to remove Michelle from the list was that they were unable to contact Barbara by telephone to verify if Michelle was still missing.
Although Michelle's name was removed from the missing persons list for years, Harper said that they continue to investigate on Michelle's whereabouts.
He showed reports of officers contacting Michelle's mother by phone but to no avail. The reports showed records of different police officials making follow-up calls to Michelle's mother but there was no coordination at all. One officer had even tried contacting Michelle's mobile phone in December of 2004 but resulted negatively. The officials thereby noted that her case was invalid until new leads develop.
National Advocate for Missing Adults, Kym Pasqualini, said that the removal of Michelle's Knight from the list had contributed drastically to the failure of police officials to locate Michelle. The police should have followed a different verification process - an officer must verify first that a missing person has been found; if the missing person is found, the officer should inform FBI within two hours; that is the only time that officers can then removed a name from the missing person database.
Michelle's Horrific Ordeal
Michelle was already a captive 8 months before Amanda Berry and a year before Gina de Jesus were kidnapped. She has acquired the worst physical abuse among the three women; hence she was last discharged from the hospital after being freed.
Her grandmother told Daily Mail that Michelle was "severely beaten. He had beat her so bad in the face, she has to have facial reconstruction, and she's lost hearing in one ear."
It was Michelle whom the suspect had impregnated for five times but was starved and beaten for her to lose her babies.