Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Suspect in the Cleveland abductions known to police
His late wife had often complained of violence, threats
Despite domestic violence complaints against him, Cleveland abduction suspect avoided police scrutiny.
The mother of Ariel Castro’s children repeatedly went to authorities with accusations he was beating, abusing and threatening her. But her complaints never reached the point where Castro was imprisoned or triggered additional police investigations.
The late Grimilda Figueroa’s accusations against Castro began in 1989 and the last came in 2005, three years after he allegedly kidnapped the first of three women and held them in a run-down house in Cleveland.
In Figueroa’s first case against Castro, he was not sentenced to prison, and in the other two Figueroa chose to drop proceedings. Domestic abuse experts said victims in such cases often change their mind because they are afraid, or they lack knowledge of the legal system.
Castro has been charged with raping Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight and kidnapping the three women and his daughter born to Berry while in captivity.
An Ohio prosecutor said Thursday he intends to charge Castro with murder in connection with the starvation and abuse of Knight during pregnancies that led to miscarriages.
Figueroa died in April 2012, at the age of 48, from an accidental overdose of the painkiller oxycodone, according to an Indiana coroner.
Her last complaint against Castro, a 2005 request to the court for an order of protection, could have been a missed opportunity to expose him, domestic abuse experts said. If he had violated the order he could have been investigated by police and possibly arrested.
That could have been an opportunity to find the women he allegedly held captive, or it could have made things worse if they had been abandoned without him and unable to leave the house.
Figueroa also filed a police report in 2005 saying Castro had threatened to beat her in front of their daughter, according to the report.
A spokeswoman for Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson said that police told Figueroa that year to go to the county prosecutor’s office and file a criminal complaint, but she did not.
Instead, Figueroa sought a civil order of protection in county court.
In Ohio, a victim can get a civil order without criminal charges because they think this will be less upsetting to the offender, said Anne Murray, director of the domestic violence and stalking unit in Columbus.
Figueroa eventually dropped that request for a protection order, so the court case was dismissed.
Figueroa had four children with Castro — Anthony, Arlene, Angie and Emily — and her efforts to protect herself from him spanned at least 16 years.
Castro pleaded no contest in the first incident in 1989 and was given a year of probation after Figueroa made a domestic violence complaint against him, according to a Cuyahoga County court document.
On Dec. 26, 1993, Castro was arrested after he arrived home drunk and began beating Figueroa, police said.
Their 12-year-old son, Anthony, ran out of the house to get help for Figueroa and was pursued by Castro, the report said.
When a grand jury considered the incident, Figueroa said she could not remember the abuse, according to court documents. The case was dropped.
“She was afraid,” said Chris Giannini, owner of International Investigations, a private investigation firm, who tried to help protect Figueroa from Castro.
According to Cuyahoga County court documents, Figueroa had been granted full custody of her and Castro’s children by 1997. On Aug. 29, 2005, Figueroa went to court again, seeking an order of protection against Castro.
She also said he had threatened to kill her and her children during the previous year and had abducted the children.
Also in September 2005, authorities tried to serve Castro with a summons to attend a hearing on Figueroa’s complaint.
“They went to his house three times and no one answered,” said Diane Palos, administrative judge for the domestic relations court in Cleveland. Figueroa decided not to proceed with the request for a protection order, according to court documents.
After Figueroa died last year, her son, Anthony, posted on the funeral home online guest book: “Dear Mom. You are gone too soon. But your suffering is over.”