Police have said that a six-year-old girl found at the Cleveland house where three women were apparently held against their will for more than 10 years is the daughter of one of the victims.
At a news conference in Cleveland, police deputy chief Ed Tomba said the child was the daughter of Amanda Berry, who escaped from the house on Monday and alerted authorities.
Officials defended their handling of the case, saying that no lead had been left unfollowed in the 13 years since the first victim disappeared.
Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight were held inside the house since they were in their teens or early 20s. Knight disappeared in 2002, Berry in 2003 and DeJesus about a year after that. Officials say three brothers in their 50s are in custody. One of the men, Ariel Castro, 52, lived at the house.
The women appeared to be in good health and were taken to a hospital to be evaluated and reunited with relatives. They were released from Metro Health Medical Center on Tuesday morning.
Tomba said there were emotional scenes at the hospital when the women were reunited with their families. "You can only imagine the scene last night at the hospital, with the family and the friends. It was chaotic," he said.
The women were rescued when Berry managed to escape from the house. Neighbour Charles Ramsey told WEWS-TV that he heard screaming and saw Berry, whom he did not recognise, at a door that would open just enough to fit a hand through. He said she was trying desperately to get outside and pleaded for help to reach police, so he kicked down the door to free her.
On a recorded 911 call, Berry declared: "I'm Amanda Berry. I've been on the news for the last 10 years."
She said she had been taken by someone and begged for police officers to come to the home on Cleveland's west side before the man returned. "I've been kidnapped, and I've been missing for 10 years," she told the dispatcher. "And I'm here. I'm free now."
At the news conference on Tuesday, Tomba said: "The real hero here is Amanda. Without her, none of us would be here."
The mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, Frank Jackson expressed relief at the discovery. "We are happy that they are returned to us," he said. But he added "We have several unanswered questions. Why were they taken, how were they taken and how did they remain undetected in the city of Cleveland for this time?"
Michael McGrath, the Cleveland police chief, said the police department never let up on the case. Possible suspects were interviewed and leads were followed, he says. FBI special agent Steve Anthony said authorities "pursued every tip" provided by the public over the years. "The families of these three young ladies never gave up hope, and neither did law enforcement," he told reporters.
Berry was 16 when she disappeared on 21 April 2003 after calling her sister to say she was getting a ride home from the Burger King where she worked. DeJesus was 14 when she went missing on her way home from school about a year later. Police said Knight went missing in 2002 and is now 32.
The women's friends and relatives said they had not given up hope of seeing them again. A childhood friend of DeJesus, Kayla Rogers, told the Plain Dealer newspaper: "I've been praying, never forgot about her, ever." Berry's cousin Tasheena Mitchell told the newspaper she could not wait to have her in her arms. "I'm going to hold her, and I'm going to squeeze her, and I probably won't let her go," she said.
Neighbour Juan Perez told NBC's Today show that he rarely saw Castro or anyone else at the house. "I thought the home was vacant. I thought he probably had another property and he would just come and check and see if everything is OK." Perez said. "I didn't even know anybody lived there."
The women's escape and rescue began with a frenzied cry for help. Anna Tejeda said she was sitting on her porch with friends when they heard someone across the street kicking a door and yelling. Tejeda, 50, said one of her friends went over and told Berry how to kick the screen out of the bottom of the door, which allowed her to get out.
Speaking in Spanish, which was translated by one of her friends, Tejeda said Berry was nervous and crying. She was dressed in pajamas and old sandals. At first Tejeda said she didn't want to believe who the young woman was. "You're not Amanda Berry," she insisted. "Amanda Berry is dead."
But when Berry told her she'd been kidnapped and held captive, Tejeda said she gave her the telephone to call police, who arrived within minutes and then took the other women from the house.
Police identified the three suspects as Ariel Castro, 52; Pedro Castro, 54; and Onil Castro, 50. Julio Castro, who runs a grocery store half a block from where the women were found, said Ariel Castro is the homeowner and his nephew.
Associated Press in Cleveland contributed to this report.