Michelle Knight

Michelle Knight was born on April 23, 1981 in Cleveland, Ohio. She has a mother (Barbara Knight), two twin brothers (Eddie and Freddie), grandmother (Deborah) and a half-sister (Katie) who was born after she went missing. As a child, Michelle wanted to become a firefighter and later, a veterinarian.

She had a painful and poverty-stricken childhood. She was raped by a male family member when she was just a little girl. This family member continued raping her through the years and also threatened to kill her.

Knight endured a troubled relationship with her family due to which she ran from her house at the age of 15 and started living under a highway bridge. She used to sleep in a garbage bin and eat at a church. A drug dealer found her and gave her a job. After the dealer was arrested, she again went back to the bin.

With the height of 4 feet and 7 inches, she was bullied in her school due to her short height. At the age of 17, Knight told her mother that her fellow students call her “Shorty”.

When Michelle Knight was in high school, she became pregnant and dropped out of the school to give birth to her son Joey who was later taken into custody by the children’s authority and placed in foster care. The reason for this was an injury caused to her son by her mother’s abusive boyfriend. Later on, Joey was adopted by a caring family.

On August 23, 2002, Michelle Knight disappeared after leaving her cousin’s home. At that time she was 21 years old. On the same day, she was about to visit the court for the hearings regarding the custody case of her son. Due to this coincidence, the investigators believed that she ran away on her own because she lost the hope of regaining her child. Although her mother continued posting fliers about her, Knight was removed from the database of the National Crime Information Center.

Michelle Knight was offered a ride by Ariel Castro on August 23 after she lost her way and asked for directions from a store. She accepted his offer due to the fact that she was familiar with one of Castro’s daughters. Knight then entered Castro’s home which was located at 2207 Seymour Avenue. Castro asked her to follow him and she did so as he promised her to give a puppy for Joey. He then imprisoned her.

On the first day of her captivity, Knight was tied with extension cords, strung up on poles and raped by Castro. Once he was done, she was raised up off the floor and gagged with a duct tape and a sock.

After getting raped by Castro for the first time, Knight was moved to the basement and chained for months. In the basement, she was left with a bucket which she could use as a toilet. Castro unchained Knight only to rape her. For the first eight months, she was not even given a chance to bathe. She was feed only once a day or sometimes, twice.

After taking Knight out of the basement, Castro would unchain her in his bedroom to rape and torture her.

On May 6, 2013, Castro left his home and Berry, along with her 6-year old daughter, managed to escape. She contacted the police and soon the authorities rescued Knight and DeJesus.

Michelle Knight and the other rescued victims were brought to the MetroHealth Medical Center. Knight was diagnosed with a list of health problems. She suffered from nerve damage, facial damage, stomach infection, loss of vision and deafness in one ear. Knight was released from the center on May 10.

Knight was taken to an assisted living home where she stayed till November 2013.

She chose to avoid her family after getting discharged from the hospital. However, her twin brothers came to see her at the hospital.

Castro was sentenced in August 2013. Right after his sentencing, Knight told Castro that she has got her life back after spending 11 years in hell and now his time has come. She also told him that she can forgive him but she can’t forget what happened to her.