News- Created on 07 May 2013
Cops Find 3 Women Missing For Years After 911 call -- 'I've been kidnapped!'
(CNN) -- Amanda Berry was last seen after finishing her shift at a Burger King in Cleveland in 2003. It was the eve of her 17th birthday.
Georgina "Gina" DeJesus disappeared nearly a year later, in April 2004. She was 14.
Michele Knight vanished in 2002, at age 19, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper.
All three were found alive in a home in a Cleveland neighborhood Monday night, police announced in a development hailed as a miracle by their families.
"Help me, I am Amanda Berry," Berry told police in a frantic 911 call from a neighbor's house. "I've been kidnapped, and I've been missing for 10 years. And I'm here, I'm free now."
Police swiftly moved in on the house where the three women said they had been and later arrested a 52-year-old man, identified as a former school bus driver. Two others, identified as his brothers, ages 50 and 54, also have been arrested, Deputy Police Chief Ed Tomba told reporters late Monday. Police believe only the middle brother lived at the home, he said.
The men are being held in the city jail awaiting charges. An FBI team is collecting evidence in the house.
"This is a great, great outcome that we have them still with us," Tomba said. "It's just truly, truly amazing and it's a blessing to the community and to the members of the police department and their families that they're alive. I can't tell you how happy we are."
Those feelings were echoed at Cleveland's Metro Health Medical Center where the three women and a fourth person were being treated.
"This isn't the ending we usually hear to these stories, so we're very happy," said Dr. Gerald Maloney, an emergency room physician there. "We're very happy for them."
The three women were in fair condition. Maloney would not identify the fourth person being seen at the hospital, but witnesses said Berry, who escaped from the house with the help of a neighbor, had a young child with her.
The escape
Neighbor Charles Ramsey was sitting down to a fast food meal when he heard screaming.
"I see this girl going nuts trying to get out of a house," he told CNN affiliate WEWS. "I go on the porch and she says, 'help me get out. I've been in here a long time.'"
Figuring it was a domestic dispute, Ramsey kicked in the bottom of the door and the woman came out with a little girl and said, "Call 911, My name is Amanda Berry," according to Ramsey, who admitted he didn't recognize the name or know she was missing.
Free from the house where they had been held captive, Berry pleaded for a phone.
"They were crazy, screaming, 'Help, call police, please help.' ... They were desperate, crying, running," said Angela Garcia, whose aunt provided the phone for them to call police.
Ramsey also called 911, less than a minute later.
"She's like, 'This (expletive) kidnapped me and my daughter,'" he told 911.
DeJesus's mother, Nancy, met with her at the hospital, cousin Sylvia Colon, told CNN's "Piers Morgan Live." She had never given up hope of finding her daughter alive.
"She has always said that she just could feel it, a link a mom can feel, but she always believed Gina was alive and well," Colon said. "She always believed that. I just want to say what a phenomenal Mother's Day gift she gets this Mother's Day."
Suspect's identity
Brian Cummins, a councilman who represents the area where the women were found, identified the suspect in whose home the women were found as Ariel Castro.
The Plain Dealer reported that Castro was arrested at a nearby McDonald's.
His uncle, Julio Castro, told CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" that his family had grown up in the same west Cleveland neighborhood and knew the DeJesus family.
Castro used to work as a bus driver for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, according to district spokeswoman Roseann Canfora. She did not have specifics Monday night on how long he was employed, when he left or whether he was fired or left voluntarily.
Ramsey told reporters the suspect wasn't known for anything exciting -- "until today."
"We see this dude every day. I've been here a year. I barbecued with this dude. We eat ribs and listen to salsa music," Ramsey said.
And Garcia said neighbors "never saw nothing suspicious."
"We never saw the girls there, and we were always outside," she said. "We only saw the guy."
Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson said there were "many unanswered questions regarding this case, and the investigation will be ongoing." But he added, "I am thankful that these three young ladies are found and alive."
CNN's Steve Almasy, Laura Ly and CNN's Rande Iaboni contributed to this report.
- Created on 07 May 2013
Atlanta Students Lead the State in Gates Millenium Scholarships
Fourteen Atlanta Public Schools (APS) high school students have been awarded the Gates Millennium Scholarship. APS has more winners than any other school district in the state of Georgia.
"At a time when the perception of our academic programs has suffered, it is reassuring to see our students compete and achieve some of the most prestigious academic awards offered to high school students," said Erroll B. Davis, Jr., superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools.
The Gates Millennium Scholars (GMS) Program selects 1,000 talented students each year to receive a good-through-graduation scholarship to use at any college or university of their choice. In addition, award recipients receive personal and professional development through Gates leadership programs along with academic support throughout their college career.
- Created on 07 May 2013
Zimmerman’s Legal Team Attempts to Undercut 911 Call Evidence
George Zimmerman‘s legal team filed a motion to have the processes of the voice recognition experts challenged in regard to a 911 call made during the altercation between Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin, according to the Orlando Sentinel. During the 911 call, a voice is heard repeatedly calling for help, but is then dramatically silenced with a gunshot. To date,
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- Created on 07 May 2013
Twin Sisters Kirstie and Kristie Bronner Named Spelman Co-Valedictorians
The Bronner Sisters, identical twins Kirstie and Kristie Bronner, have been named co-valedictorians for the Spelman College Class of 2013. With a 4.0 GPA, the Bronners are the first twins to receive the designation in the history of Spelman.
"Being co-valedictorians of our class is very exciting and a blessing for us," said Kirstie.
Following graduation, Kristie and Kirstie, both music majors, say they plan to join the youth ministry at Word of Faith Family Worship Cathedral in Atlanta, pastored by their father Bishop Dale Bronner. In between directing youth events and counseling in the music department, they look forward to recording a contemporary Christian CD. On the heels of the CD, they want to pen a book offering advice to high school students about achieving academic success in college and beyond.
The Bronners attribute their academic achievement to a disciplined study routine, time management and their faith.
"We maximized our study time," said Kirstie. "People would ask us 'do you want to go do this or that on a weekday' and the response was an automatic 'no.' We saved recreation for the weekend. Our philosophy was and is, pay now and play later."
"We prayed before every homework assignment and before every exam," added Kristie. "We can sum up our progress with the saying, 'Work like it's all up to you and pray like it's all up to God.' Prayer accounts for things you can't do. What you are able to take responsibility for, do it. Don't act like God is supposed to do it all for you."
The sisters are third-generation Spelman graduates. As youngsters, they looked up to their mother, Nina Cobb Bronner, (class of '85), and grandmother, Dorothy Gibson Cobb, (class of '56), and decided to continue the Spelman tradition. However, Kirstie initially decided in high school that she wanted to go to a school with more diversity. Her perspective shifted when the sisters took part in a National Society of High School Scholars campus tour of Spelman their senior year.
"When I heard the whole idea behind [Spelman's mission] 'a choice to change the world,' I realized Spelman was the place for me," Kirstie said. "The experience of being here and hearing that Spelman emphasized leadership, community service, legacy, and changing the world was an affirmation because those things had been instilled in us throughout our lives. It clicked with who I was and made me realize this was a place I needed to be."
The Bronners rounded out their academic career by studying music abroad their junior year in Milan, Italy as part of the Institute for the International Education of Students. It's an experience Kristie described as "one of the more enriching semesters of my life." They joined the Spelman College Glee Club their first year, and each earned a leadership position within the Glee Club by their senior year – Kirstie as a section leader and student conductor and Kristie as a section leader and chaplain.
"Spelman has emphasized not just the academic side but the development of the overall person," said Kristie. "There is a nurturing environment here that establishes a foundation on which you can stand. It's been a nurturing environment for my overall growth as a Black woman."
Shay Johnson, C'2013, has been named salutatorian for the Class of 2013, earning a 3.94 GPA. Johnson, a native of Marietta, is a political science major with a Spanish minor. She plans to attend Harvard Law School in fall 2013 and specialize in international law. Johnson wants to transition her interest in human rights into a career litigating in the area of corporate social responsibility.
Spelman College's 126th Commencement will be held Sunday, May 19 at 3 p.m. at Georgia International Convention Center. Baccalaureate service will take place Saturday, May 18 at 9 a.m. at Spelman. Learn more about commencement activities and speakers.
- Created on 06 May 2013
NYPD's Commissioner Says Blacks are 'Understopped' by Police Under Stop and Frisk
In response to claims of racial bias and discrimination in its stop-and-frisk policy, New York Police Department Commissioner Raymond Kelly said that, in fact, African Americans aren't being stopped enough.
During a television interview on ABC's Nightline, New York Police Department Commissioner Raymond Kelly credited the city's controversial stop-and-frisk program with bringing down crime rates to record lows and said that the NYPD is "understopping" the Blacks who are responsible for the majority of the crimes.
"About 70 percent to 75 percent of the people described as committing violent crimes — assault, robbery, shootings, grand larceny — are described as being African-American," Kelly said. "The percentage of people who are stopped is 53% African-American, so really, AfricanAmericans are being 'understopped' in relation to the percentage of people being described as being the perpetrators of violent crime."
According to research done by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), 86 percent of the stops are of African-Americans or Latinos. Eighty-eight percent of those stops did not lead to an arrest.
Some city residents believe that the continuance of programs like stop-and-frisk creates divisions between the communities and the police.
"When things like this happen, there's no trust," Kasim Walters of Flatbush, Brooklyn said during the telecast. But Commissioner Kelly calls these allegations to be "proactive policing."
"We are trying to save his life," Kelly said. "And we are trying to save the life of other young people who are disproportionately victimized."
