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THREE kidnapping survivors have revealed the horrendous treatment they were subjected to by abductor Ariel Castro.

As part of a special interview with ABC's 20/20, Amanda Berry, 33, Gina DeJesus, 29, and Michelle Knight, 38, opened up about their years in captivity - which saw Castro try and create a deep jealousy between his captives.

 Michelle Knight was abducted by Ariel Castro when she was 21
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Michelle Knight was abducted by Ariel Castro when she was 21
 Amanda Berry was abducted by Ariel Castro just one day before her 17th birthday
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Amanda Berry was abducted by Ariel Castro just one day before her 17th birthday
 Gina DeJesus was the youngest of Ariel Castro’s victims, kidnapped at just 14
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Gina DeJesus was the youngest of Ariel Castro’s victims, kidnapped at just 14Credit: Getty - Contributor
 Castro was sentenced to life plus 1,000 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to 937 counts of kidnapping and rape
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Castro was sentenced to life plus 1,000 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to 937 counts of kidnapping and rapeCredit: AP:Associated Press

The three women were abducted between 2002 and 2004 and were then subjected to years of abuse, which included starvation, torture and rape.

Castro was eventually caught in May 2013, when Berry managed to escape and call 911 from a neighbor's phone.

The abductor was sentenced to life plus 1,000 years in prison after pleading guilty to 937 counts of kidnapping and rape, but he later committed suicide in prison just one month into his sentence.

Speaking of the conditions inside Castro's Cleveland, Ohio home, the women explained how they spent most of their time in separate rooms, isolated from one another.

DEEP JEALOUSY

They claimed that elementary school bus driver Castro would create deep jealousies between his captives, picking favorites would then get more food and better clothes.

Berry, who was taken off the street as she was walking home from work on April 21, 2003, a day before her 17th birthday, said: "We really didn't have a relationship because he kept us divided. He wouldn't let us talk.

Speaking of the jealousies, she added: "It was just simple things, but when you don't have anything you're like: 'Well, why don't I have that? I want that.'"

DeJesus, who was abducted last in 2004, said that initially she was Castro's favorite, adding, "He would get me different restaurant foods and clothes."

The women described how they were typically only allowed to leave their rooms to perform chores.

Inside the house, they said, Castro had a strict set of rules.

According to Berry, when preparing food, the pan had to be kept directly in the middle of the stove, and "it couldn't be a little to the left, a little to the right."

Describing how the women were made to clean the kitchen, she added: "We got to use just a tiny drop of dish soap to wash a full sink of dishes."

Knight also claimed that Castro would limit the women to the amount of soap they were allowed to use to wash themselves.

Holding her index finger and thumb around an inch apart, she said: "We got a little sliver of soap about that thick."

KIDNAP HORROR

Elementary school bus driver Ariel Castro kidnapped his victims by offering them the false promise of a car ride.

He then lured the young women into his home and restrained them in his basement.

 The women were restrained in Castro’s filthy den with heavy chains
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The women were restrained in Castro’s filthy den with heavy chainsCredit: Scope Features
 Photos taken from inside Ariel Castro's horror house show where he held his victims captive for nine years
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Photos taken from inside Ariel Castro's horror house show where he held his victims captive for nine yearsCredit: Scope Features

Michelle Knight, who now goes by the name of Lily Rose Lee, was the first of Castro’s victims, kidnapped at 21 years old when she was leaving her cousin’s home on August 23, 2002.

Amanda Berry was kidnapped on April 21, 2003 – the day before her 17th birthday – as she walked home from work.

Ms Berry was lured by Castro on the premise she could hang out with his daughter, one of her classmates.

Once she stepped inside Castro’s home, she wouldn’t leave for years.

Ms Berry revealed: “He took me to the next bedroom, and it was just really dark in there, and he didn’t turn on the lights, and there was a little, like, a little room off of the bigger bedroom, kind of a big closet,”

“He took me in there, and he told me to pull down my pants. And from there I knew, like, this was not going to be good.”

Gina DeJesus was the youngest of Castro’s victims, kidnapped at just 14 on April 2, 2004.

The women were restrained in Castro’s filthy den with heavy chains, left in dark rooms for days at a time with no food, and given buckets to use as a bathroom. They were only allowed to shower once a week and were regularly fed poison.

Castro repeatedly sexually abused the young women over the course of their nine-year captivity.

During his campaign of terror, Castro would force Ms Lee to have five abortions by jumping on her stomach and beating her with barbells.

Her physical trauma was so horrific that Ms Lee now cannot carry a child.

Fellow captive Ms Berry became pregnant by Castro when she was 20 and gave birth to her daughter, Jocelyn on Christmas in 2006.

Ms Berry has spoken of the pregnancy: “I was terrified. How? I mean, I barely eat and I’m chained to a wall, and I have a bucket for a bathroom.”

“This is his kid, you know. How do I feel about that? And she resembled him a lot, and I would look at her, and I just felt, like, she’s mine. She’s mine.”

Ms Berry said she had to 'numb' herself to cope with the constant abuse.

“You, like, put your mind somewhere else so that you're not there. You know, you're not in that room with him”

MIRACULOUS ESCAPE

Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight - now Lily Rose Lee - escaped their captor on May 6, 2013.

Castro had left the women alone in the home for the first time in a decade, when Ms Berry noticed her bedroom door was also unlocked.

Ms Berry said: “My heart immediately started pounding. I’m like, ‘Should I chance it? If I’m going to do it, I need to do it now.’”

Ms Berry and her 6-year-old daughter made a run for it and found a neighbour who alerted police.

Police stormed the horror house at 2207 Seymour Avenue - where Castro's captives had been locked and tied indoors for years.

The three women and Ms Berry’s daughter were finally freed.

In 2013, Castro plead guilty to 937 charges, including aggravated murder, kidnap, rape and assault, and was given a prison sentence of life plus 1,000 years without the possibility of parole.

A month after sentencing, Castro committed suicide in his prison cell.

The Cleveland Kidnappings special will air on ABC's 2020 on Friday.

 Castro was jailed in August 2013 after his victims were rescued
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Castro was jailed in August 2013 after his victims were rescuedCredit: AP:Associated Press
 A missing person sign displaying portraits of Amanda Berry, one of the three women held captive by Ariel Castro
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A missing person sign displaying portraits of Amanda Berry, one of the three women held captive by Ariel CastroCredit: AFP

 

 Ariel Castro's horror house at 2207 Seymour Avenue, where his captives had been locked and tied indoors for years
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Ariel Castro's horror house at 2207 Seymour Avenue, where his captives had been locked and tied indoors for yearsCredit: Getty Images - Getty


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