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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Nightmare Over; Three Missing Women Found Alive; Hero Neighbor Speaks Out; Cleveland Neighbor's Shocking Claim; CNN Projects: Mark Sanford Wins South Carolina Congressional Race; Cleveland Investigation Questions; Search For Ashley Summers; Kidnapping Survivor Shares Story
Aired May 07, 2013 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, everyone. We are live tonight from Cleveland, Ohio, where three women who were missing for about a decade are finally free after allegedly being held captive at that home across the street from where I'm standing, where you can see members of the FBI in hazmat suits still investigating.
Here's the latest information that we have. Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, Michele Knight and a child believed to be Amanda Berry's were found alive here last night after Berry screamed for help through a crack in the front door and got the attention of neighbors, who helped her escape.
Now three suspects, former school bus driver Ariel Castro and his two brothers were arrested, they are in jail awaiting charges. They're set to be interviewed by investigators tomorrow.
Now some neighbors say they are shocked by what happens. Others say that they called police in recent years after hearing yelling at the house and in one case, seeing a naked woman in the backyard.
The FBI is searching the house as I said for evidence right now. The police chief says it will probably be a few more days until the investigation inside the house here on this block is complete.
Now the amount of time that these women were missing, it's simply extraordinary. Hard to imagine, for nine, 10 and in one case, 11 years. Three families have been hoping, holding candlelight vigils, searching for these women. Now that they've been found it's shocking to see how close they were from where they were last seen.
They disappeared in separate incidents years apart but within blocks of each other on the same street in Cleveland, Lorain Avenue. The home where they were found is just three miles away. That's how it started, with their disappearance.
Now we want to take a look at how it came to this point so many years later. Here's Randi Kaye.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They were strangers ripped away from their families but for nearly a decade, they lived together, united in fear. In 2002, Michele Knight is the first to disappear. She is 21. How she was kidnapped is still unclear, according to various local media reports.
Her mother says Michele loved animals and wanted to be a veterinarian. Then suddenly, she was gone.
In April 2003, Amanda Berry vanishes after her evening shift at Burger King. It's the eve of her 17th birthday. Later that month, her family receives a phone call from Amanda's cell phone. A man says he's taken her and she'll be home in a few days.
In March 2004, the body of a teenage girl similar to Amanda's description is found near San Diego, California. Dental records don't match. Later that year, during an appearance on the "Montel Williams Show," a television psychic makes a grave prediction to Amanda's mother.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So you don't think I'll ever see her again?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, in heaven, on the other side.
KAYE: Meanwhile, yet another neighborhood girl goes missing. Plucked off the same street as Amanda and Michele. Gina DeJesus disappears while walking home from Wilbur Wright Middle School in April 2004. She is 14, a seventh grader in special education classes. That same month, Gina and Amanda's stories are featured on "America's Most Wanted."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two attractive teenage girls. They disappear in similar circumstances along the same busy avenue. What does it mean?
KAYE (on camera): In March 2006, Amanda's mother dies of heart failure. Relatives say she died of a broken heart. A couple of years later, hunters find a body in a Wisconsin creek matching Amanda's description. It's another false lead. And just last year, an inmate at Lucasville Prison claims Amanda is buried in a field. Police find no evidence of the missing teen.
(Voice-over): With all three girls still missing, police get a hot tip on Gina DeJesus in September 2006. They dig up a Cleveland garage floor. Another dead end. In 2008, authorities released this age progression photo of Gina. A year later, in 2009, two of the girls' families spotlight their cases on "Oprah."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's been the hardest for me is that Amanda has just been gone for too long and I want her home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I fight. I'm never going to give up.
KAYE: Amanda Berry certainly didn't give up. Monday night, just before 6:00 p.m., a daring escape. Neighbor Charles Ramsey says he sees Amanda struggling to break free.
CHARLES RAMSEY, HELPED FREE MISSING WOMEN: Heard her screaming. I'm eating my McDonald's. I come outside and I see this girl going nuts trying to get out of a house. So I go on the porch, I go on the porch, and she says, help me get out, I've been here a long time.
KAYE: Ramsey quickly gets her to a phone. It's the 911 call police and Amanda's family have been waiting for. For 10 years.
AMANDA BERRY, KIDNAPPING SURVIVOR: I've been kidnapped and I've been missing for 10 years and I'm here, I'm free now. I'm Amanda Berry. I've been on the news for the last 10 years.
KAYE: Amanda is safe, but the other two are still inside. And their captor is dangerously close. Police come quickly to rescue the others.
As for the men who allegedly kidnapped them, police arrest three brothers, including Ariel Castro, a former school bus driver. Police believe he's the only one who lives at the home. Suddenly, after not being seen for 10 years, Amanda Berry is in the spotlight, a hero, authorities say, who took a chance to bring herself and the others home.
SANDRA RUIZ, GINA DEJESUS' AUNT: Amanda is part of our family, and so will Michele. Michele will be there with us through thick and thin for the rest of our lives.
KAYE: Randi Kaye, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: It is still so hard to believe for people in this neighborhood, and we have just seen FBI members, law enforcement actually going underneath the front porch, taking out some of the lattice work to see if there was anything underneath there.
Joining me now is WOIO reporter Dan DeRoos.
Dan, what are you hearing from your sources in law enforcement here? What are the latest developments?
DAN DEROOS, WOIO REPORTER: Well, Anderson, here at 19 Action News we've got an incredible team of reporters and we are very well connected with the police department and with sources.
Some of the latest information we're hearing as I'm sure people at home are saying how in the world can these women be held captive for 10 years and never make an attempt to get out. One of the latest pieces of information we've been told is that Amanda Berry, that's the woman you've seen in the picture in the hospital, she had been told she gave birth to a 6-year-old daughter in that home while in captivity. She had been told if the baby dies, you die. So that was one of the reasons that she was held captive.
We're also hearing that for many of the first years that they were in the home, there were chains being used. One room in particular was found with chains, hanging from the ceiling. They were bound and gagged several times throughout the course of being held in that home.
We're also hearing from a source that the man who was holding them there, Ariel Castro, would play this little dangerous game that he would tell the women he was about to leave the home, and then he would wait and if one of them tried to open that door, he would go in and attack them. That was one of the ways he was able to keep them there.
We are also hearing from pretty well-placed sources that numerous times throughout this 10-year period, that some of the women became pregnant and that they would be beaten, forcibly hit in the stomach to force a miscarriage, if you can imagine that. One of the reasons we're hearing that they've brought out cadaver dogs to be searching the backyard of that home.
COOPER: So, Dan, I just want to be clear. This is based on you and your team's reporting from law -- local law enforcement sources?
DEROOS: That's correct. We have several law enforcement sources that we're really well connected to our team, Ed Galleck, Paul Orlousky, some of our reporters here have been in this community for years. Very well connected and we're getting little pieces of information out from them.
Obviously, the investigators are taking the interviews with these three women very slow, trying not to traumatize them any further than what they've already been through. They've let them spend last night with their family. Again today. We know they were released from the hospital this morning, but they have not yet gone to their homes in Cleveland.
We've been watching. We're not sure where they are, possibly a hotel, maybe a hospital, maybe a psychological research type center, but at this point, no signs of them at their homes.
COOPER: And at this point, I mean, when authorities gave a press conference this morning, as you -- as you pointed out, that they said they really didn't interview them much last night, they just kind of wanted -- their main focus was letting them reunite with their families.
Do we know -- have they conducted interviews today at all?
DEROOS: We haven't heard as much today. We had the -- the news conference was this morning at 9:00 a.m. and that's where they told us they were going to take the process slow, as we can imagine I'm sure there's been some sort of contact because, Anderson, one of the main reasons here is that in our jurisdiction here in Cleveland, Ohio, you can be held but only for 36 hours by police before they charge you.
Obviously police then have to take any evidence to a prosecutor and a prosecutor has to decide on what charges will be drawn up. We are just past the 24-hour period in that that the three suspects have been held, so somewhere within the next 12 hours they need to be officially charged and we're waiting for that. Investigators this morning gave us all indication that that will happen very soon.
COOPER: Yes. There are still so many questions to be answered.
Dan -- Dan DeRoos, I appreciate you joining us. Thank you very much. We've been telling you about the neighbor, Charles Ramsey, who is one of the neighbors to notice that Amanda Berry was screaming for help and actually do something. His actions last night and the actions of some of the other neighbors have people calling him a hero. Last night, he said he was surprised to find out what was allegedly going on at his neighbor's house. He's lived here for about a year. Here's what he said last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAMSEY: I've been here a year.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: OK.
RAMSEY: You see where I'm coming from?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Right.
RAMSEY: I barbecue with this dude. We eat ribs and whatnot, listen to salsa music. See where I'm coming from?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Yes. And you had no indication that there's anything going on?
RAMSEY: Not a -- Bro, not a clue that that girl was in that house, or anybody else was in there against their will.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, I just came back from interviewing Charles Ramsey just a short time ago. Here's some of that interview.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: And so you moved in about a year ago. You'd seen Ariel Castro around, right?
RAMSEY: When I moved there, only because he was my neighbor.
COOPER: Right.
RAMSEY: You know what I mean?
COOPER: What was he like?
RAMSEY: Cool. He wasn't no freak of nature. He was like me and you, because he talked about the same things you talk about.
COOPER: Right.
RAMSEY: You talk about you. You know what I mean? You know, regular stuff, bro.
COOPER: So yesterday, what happened?
RAMSEY: I'm going to tell it all. Around 3:00, I was on my porch and the mailman put his mail in my mail. I looked at it like here's his mail when he come home. Couple of minutes later, he pulled up. He checked the mailbox, grabbed his paper. Before he went in the house, I said Ariel, here goes your mail. We just had the same conversation when I hand him the mail. He said, they can't get it right. I said, damn postal service. That's it.
He left. I jumped on my bike, went to McDonald's. Came back home, I'm in my house, but I'm in the living room and I'm right by the front door, because I'm looking out the front door, and man, this girl screamed like a car had hit a kid, which made me, you know, stop eating, what the hell was that. You know, so when I got up, I saw this -- my neighbor across the street, he run across the street and I'm, like -- I'm thinking, where you going, because ain't nobody next door because I just saw Ariel leave.
And I know ain't nobody over there. Heard that girl scream and saw him run across the street, and I went outside and wondered what he was doing, and -- Amanda said, I'm stuck in here, help get me out. So he -- guy don't know English that well or panicked, he just looked at me and it's a girl. And that's all he did. So here I come with my, you know, half eaten Big Mac and I looked and I said well, what's up.
And she's like I've been trapped in here, he won't let me out, me and my baby. I said well, we ain't going to talk no more, come on. I'm trying to get the door open, I can't, because he torture chambered it some kind of way and locked it up, right? So I did what I had to do and kicked the bottom of the door, and she crawled out of it. She grabs her baby, which threw me off, all right, so fine. I got some girl and her kid.
COOPER: What did she look like? I mean, what was she wearing?
RAMSEY: Jumpsuit. She had a white tank top on, rings on, mascara. You know, she was well groomed. She didn't look like she was kidnapped. That's what I'm saying. That's what threw me off. She was like I'm in here trapped. I'm like, well, you don't look kidnapped so maybe you got a boyfriend problem. But I'm thinking I know who lives here and he's 50 something. You can't be the boyfriend problem. You know? It can't be him. Maybe you're dating his son.
COOPER: And you'd never seen her before?
RAMSEY: Bro --
COOPER: In the year that you had been there?
RAMSEY: Bro, that man, listen, never. That woman didn't come out the house. The only kids that came out the house were two little girls. They played in the backyard. He had two dogs and my -- where I live naturally is next door, my bedroom was upstairs so when I hear kids playing, I know it's them. They did the same thing, play in the backyard for a couple of hours, go back in the house. Same thing every day.
The neighborhood knows them as his grandchildren. So no big deal. He had his grandkids over all the time, I thought. COOPER: Amanda Berry then, what, asked to call 911?
RAMSEY: Mm-hmm. And I took her to my house. Now I'm nervous as hell so I'm fumbling with my phone, so I finally get it right. She can't wait and I don't blame her. So what I do was tell her go across the street and use their phone. Now we're both calling 911. Now she gets through and I get through. She deal with a moron, me, too.
COOPER: You said there -- what do you mean, a moron?
RAMSEY: Idiot.
COOPER: I heard the 911 call for her --
RAMSEY: Imbecile.
COOPER: And the woman kept --
RAMSEY: Shouldn't have a damn job.
COOPER: The woman was like hang up and wait for the police.
RAMSEY: Really. How about stay on and I will talk to you until they get there?
COOPER: Right.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: That's Charles Ramsey. I'll have more of my interview with Charles Ramsey after this break.
Let us know what you think. Follow me on Twitter right now @andersoncooper. So many questions still to be answered here.
Also ahead, we're going to hear from a young woman who along with her friends once called 911 because they say they saw a naked woman in the suspect's backyard. She says police thought they were joking, didn't take it seriously. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAMSEY: Heard her screaming, I'm eating my McDonald's, I come outside, and I see this girl going nuts trying to get out of a house. So I go on the porch. I go on the porch and she says, help me get out, I've been here a long time. So you know, I figured it's a domestic violence dispute. So I opened the door and we can't get in that way because how the door is, it's so much that a body can't fit through, only your hand. So we kicked the bottom and she comes out with a little girl, and she says call 911, my name is Amanda Berry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: If not for the actions of Charles Ramsey and another neighbor who helped him, the three women may still be in that house here in Cleveland.
Here's more of my exclusive interview with Charles Ramsey.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: So you call 911.
RAMSEY: Sure did.
COOPER: How quickly did the police get there?
RAMSEY: You know what, they got there so fast because I said moron. Because I said hey, Amanda Berry is right in front of me right now. Here's what she got on and I told him white tank top, blue sweatpants, nice tennis shoes, nice ponytail. What else? Oh, right. She's panicking, idiot. Put yourself in her shoes. Like I said, Amanda Berry, that don't ring no damn bells, you being a cop and all?
COOPER: But you -- when you first saw her and she said the name Amanda Berry, did it --
RAMSEY: It didn't -- I didn't know. Because I forgot. Bro, this is Cleveland. Since they haven't found that girl.
COOPER: Right.
RAMSEY: And I guess stopped looking for that girl, we figured that girl was -- met her demise.
COOPER: Right.
RAMSEY: So Berry didn't register with me until I was on the phone like, wait a minute, I thought this girl was dead.
COOPER: What does it -- what does it feel like to have been living next to this for a year?
RAMSEY: See, that's why now I'm having trouble sleeping. See, up until yesterday, the only thing that kept me from losing sleep was the lack of money. See what I'm saying? So now that that's going on, and I could have done this last year, not this hero stuff, just do the right thing --
COOPER: Do you feel like a hero?
RAMSEY: No.
COOPER: Because there's a lot of people, they're saying you're a hero.
(CROSSTALK)
RAMSEY: No, no, no. Bro, I'm a Christian, an American, and just like you. We bleed same blood, put our pants on the same way. It's just that you got to put that -- being a coward, and I don't want to get in nobody's business. You got to put that away for a minute. COOPER: Because you know how it is. There's a lot of people who turn away.
(CROSSTALK)
RAMSEY: You have to have cajones, bro.
COOPER: Keep walking down on the street.
RAMSEY: That's all what it's about. It's about cajones on this planet.
COOPER: Has the FBI said anything about a reward or anything? Because there was that -- there was a reward for finding her.
RAMSEY: I tell you what you do, give it to them. Because if folks been following this case since last night, you been following me since last night, you know I got a job anyway. Just went picked it up, paycheck. What that address say? That say?
COOPER: I don't have my glasses. I'm blind as a bat.
RAMSEY: 2203 Seymour. Where are them girls living? Right next door to this paycheck. So yes, take that reward and give it to -- that little girl came out the house and she was crying. And I'm looking at her, right, I'm like your mama trying to help you, girl, shut up. I don't know, right. And she's like I want my daddy. And I said, who's her daddy? She said Ariel.
COOPER: She said that.
RAMSEY: Yes. I said well, how's that possible? Because you wouldn't -- if you got kidnapped, he was having sex with you? Oh, Jesus. That little girl is his? Now we want to hurt you.
COOPER: You felt that?
RAMSEY: Bro, this will be a different interview, I told you that, if we had known that. Man, I would be facing triple life.
COOPER: Wow. I'm glad it turned out this way.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Charles Ramsey.
There are questions tonight about whether there were signs that something was wrong in this neighborhood long before Amanda Berry called out for help last night and Charles responded.
In one incident that could have been a missed opportunity, police were called to that home in 2004 to investigate a complaint against Ariel Castro, a school bus driver who left a child on a school bus. Investigators apparently knocked on the door, did not make contact with him, and the matter was dropped when investigators decided that he didn't have any criminal intent in that incident. He didn't do it on purpose.
A few neighbors said they called police in recent years after hearing yelling coming from the house and one neighbor called police, she says, after seeing a naked woman in the backyard.
CNN's Tory Dunnan spoke to that neighbor. She joins me now live.
What did -- what did the neighbor say?
TORY DUNNAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So she was about three doors down. And she says she's known him for years. Over the years she thought, you know, he was just a normal guy, and then two years ago, this sort of unusual circumstance happened. Let's hear her describe it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Me and my friends and my sister were across the street at a house, like spending the night, and we seen a naked lady in the backyard. And we like didn't know nothing about it so we said -- we said something to her. He told her to get down and we said something to him, he told -- he told her to get in the house and he ran behind the cars and got in the house.
DUNNAN: So -- what was she doing? She was --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was just walking around.
DUNNAN: And naked?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. And we thought that was weird.
DUNNAN: Yes. I mean, what sort of came to your mind?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We thought it was funny at first, and then we like -- we just thought that was weird so we called the cops.
DUNNAN: And then what happened?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They thought that we were playing and joking. And they didn't believe us. When we seen -- the lady, like the backyard was open and then like after that, like a week or two after, he put tarps up, he like totally secluded himself.
DUNNAN: And you saw the tarps from where?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I could see them from my bedroom window. If we would like stand up on a log or something we could --
DUNNAN: We could actually see it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. But I think the police might have took them down. I don't know. Like he would open the window for maybe like an hour or two, and she would just sit there and look out the window, and then he would come back, close the window and then we don't know what happened to her the rest of the day. And then like he just had the windows boarded up, everything was closed down. One time he led us up to the front door to go get popsicles or candy or something like that. He didn't let us in the house ever.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: As you point out, obviously she didn't want her face shown which is why it was shot that way. So she says essentially that police didn't take her call seriously.
DUNNAN: She says that she and her friend called police and they thought that they were joking and you know, we've talked with police, and they say at this point they're just really investigating all potential calls that may have come in about this house, but they're not specifically referencing what she told us.
COOPER: You know, it's interesting, and you pointed this out to me, when you look at this house, I mean, the windows on the ground floor, at least on this side, are boarded up with wood. But that doesn't really raise suspicion because there's a number of houses here that also have that same -- that the windows are boarded up.
DUNNAN: It's almost like all the houses here kind of look similar so many of the neighbors were saying yes, you put up boards on your windows and it's not really considered a big deal.
COOPER: Right. Because the houses are really close to each other, and it looks like the house next door, I mean, it's got -- it looked -- both the houses have a lot of boarded-up windows.
DUNNAN: Pretty much every house on this street has a boarded-up window. So neighbors were saying they may have seen sort of interesting things along the way but they never thought it would lead to something like this.
COOPER: Yes. And obviously, that woman believed that if police had taken her call more seriously that this might have unraveled sooner?
DUNNAN: I mean, she said that they should have taken her call seriously, that it was very unusual to see a naked woman in the backyard and when they called over there, the suspect, she claims, started yelling at the woman so she said it was just sort of one of those moments where you feel very uncomfortable.
COOPER: I appreciate the reporting. Thank you.
We're going to be talking to a number of people from this community a little bit later on. We'll also talk to a detective from the police department, see what she says about this incident, from the Cleveland Police Department. And why didn't the 911 operator stay on the phone with a frantic Amanda Berry when she called for help moments after escaping from Ariel Castro's home? That's one of the things that Charles was talking about earlier.
We'll try to get some answers on that, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COOPER: Welcome back. We've got some breaking news to report. CNN is projecting that Mark Sanford will win the open congressional seat in South Carolina's first district. He defeated Elizabeth Colbert- Busch. Sanford is the former governor who resigned after an extramarital affair became public, obviously a big win for him.
Back here in Cleveland, the frantic 911 call that brought police to the house behind me here is gripping. Amanda Berry's emotion, her fear is palpable. It's obvious to anyone who listens and well, let's just play the 911. This is some of the 911 call.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED DISPATCH: OK, stay there with those neighbors. Talk to them when they get there.
BERRY: OK. Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED DISPATCH: OK, talk to the police when they get there.
BERRY: OK. Hello?
UNIDENTIFIED DISPATCH: Yes. Talk to the police when they get there.
BERRY: OK, are they on their way right now?
UNIDENTIFIED DISPATCH: We're going to send them as soon as we get a car open.
BERRY: No, I need them now, before he gets back.
UNIDENTIFIED DISPATCH: All right, we're sending them, OK?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Jennifer Ciaccia from the Cleveland Police Department joins me now. Appreciate you being with us, obviously, incredibly busy day for you. That 911 call has gotten some criticism because the operator didn't stay on the line. Is that something that's under review?
DET. JENNIFER CIACCIA, CLEVELAND POLICE SPOKESWOMAN: That is something that the division is looking into at this time, but really, the bottom line in that call, the call taker was able to get the information that was needed. A call was dispatched within 18 seconds, and then zone car arrived on scene in under 2 minutes. So really, time wasn't a factor and what needed to be done was done.
COOPER: There's obviously a lot about the investigation you're not going to be able to talk about. So I won't put you on the spot a lot. Is there anything you can tell us about how things are going over there?
CIACCIA: Currently, we have with us the Federal Bureau of Investigation. They have their entire evidence response team for this area on scene and they are responsible for all of the evidence gathering and collection. COOPER: So all the folks in the white suits, that's FBI?
CIACCIA: Correct. The FBI actually has that entire scene. The Cleveland Division of Police is in full partnership with the FBI so they have the entire house and the scene under their control at this time.
COOPER: This could take several days to process everything?
CIACCIA: This is just the tip of the iceberg. This investigation will take a very long time.
COOPER: Are there other properties, because earlier in the day there had been some reports that one of the suspects, Ariel Castro, may have other properties. Have those been searched or --
CIACCIA: There is a possibility that other properties could be searched, but I don't have information that that's happened yet at this time.
COOPER: As you know, some local news has reported and we had one of their reporters on our show that some chains were found inside that, according to their sources in law enforcement, there may have been multiple pregnancies that were terminated. Can you confirm any of that?
CIACCIA: I can't comment on any of those facts in the investigation, just that there's evidence inside that (inaudible) to some things that the girls had to say to investigators.
COOPER: Do you know, have there been more interviews with the young women today? In the press conference this morning, police were very careful to say last night their focus was on allowing the families to reunite and they want to take this slowly and methodically and some experts are coming in. Have any interviews been undergone today?
CIACCIA: Yes, there were some interviews conducted with the young ladies today.
COOPER: In terms of the way the system here works, it's within 36 hours of the arrest that charges have to be brought?
CIACCIA: Typically, our protocol with the Cleveland Division of Police and Cleveland Municipal Court is that our detectives charge within 36 hours. However, the federal mandate is that we charge within 48 hours, and the administrative judge, Judge Ronald Adrian, did extend for us to be able to have the entire charge period the full 48 hours in this case.
COOPER: So does that guarantee that charges would -- I'm not sure when exactly the clock starts ticking. Does that mean charges would be brought by tomorrow evening?
CIACCIA: Yes, from the time they're booked so yes, by at least sometime tomorrow evening. COOPER: Do you know how the suspect's been interviewed? There was a report out from law enforcement that they were going to be interviewed tomorrow. Do you know how many interviews have taken place?
CIACCIA: They are expecting to interview the suspects tomorrow.
COOPER: Do you know -- are they being cooperative? Do they have attorneys?
CIACCIA: Well, I don't believe they have been interviewed yet.
COOPER: Is there anything else you can tell us about what you found in there, about --
CIACCIA: I would just like to reiterate that this kind of situation just brings to mind like how important it is, the partnership between the police and the community. When you have things like this, everything comes together, things get done when people get involved and they make that call and they come together.
We have hotlines set up that if anyone has information, if they feel like they knew something in the past and they want to come forward and talk to us, you can call the FBI or you can call the Cleveland Division of Police and all leads are investigated.
COOPER: It is great to see people rather than kind of turning a blind eye, actually going to help their neighbors.
CIACCIA: Absolutely. And I think in this case, the gentleman, Mr. Ramsey. That came to help was really a hero and obviously, Amanda, Amanda Berry was a hero in this case. She got involved. She got herself out of a situation. She's a very brave young woman.
COOPER: Jennifer Ciaccia, I appreciate your time. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you very much.
The case of Ashley Summers ahead, you may not know her name. She's another young woman who disappeared here. Now there may be, it's possible, some sort of link to the disappearances of the two women found inside 2207 Seymour Avenue. Ashley's stepgrandmother joins me ahead. She is certainly hopeful for any information. We will talk to her ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Welcome back. We're live in Cleveland. The discovery in that white house behind me has given hope to the family of a fourth missing woman. Her name is Ashley Summers and when her family last saw her six years ago, she was just 14 years old. She lived just blocks from Amanda Berry, Michele Knight and Georgina Dejesus. The FBI believes the cases are linked. Gary Tuchman has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The question has always loomed over the disappearance of 14-year-old Ashley Summers. Was her case related to the cases of Amanda Berry and Gina Dejesus? Jennifer Eakin was with the FBI and is now with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
JENNIFER EAKIN, NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN: We did, in fact, believe that there was an association between these cases, the Berry case and the Dejesus case as well as another case, the Ashley Summers case.
TUCHMAN: Ashley's family believed that, too. Debbie Summers is Ashley's aunt.
(on camera): When you got the word that three women had been found, you initially thought it was Ashley?
DEBBIE SUMMERS, ASHLEY SUMMERS' AUNT: Yes, I did.
TUCHMAN: And were you excitedly talking with other family members?
DEBBIE SUMMERS: Yes. I called my mom, my sisters, I called everybody.
TUCHMAN: So it must have been crushing when you found out that it wasn't.
DEBBIE SUMMERS: Yes, it was.
TUCHMAN: It was July 9th, 2007. Ashley Summers had moved out of her mother's house and moved into a home on this block in Cleveland's west side, where her aunt and uncle lived. Family members say she had an argument with her mother and took all of her clothes out of the house. The assumption was she had run away but as the days and weeks went on, her family members got frantic. Has it always been your thought that she is being held by somebody?
DEBBIE SUMMERS: Yes.
TUCHMAN: about one month after the 14-year-old disappeared, her mother received a phone call from her, where Ashley said she was OK. Everyone in the family was relieved, but then they never heard from her again.
(voice-over): Ashley's mother, Jennifer was on "Oprah" in 2009 and said she drew inspiration from the story of Jaycee Dugard, who was kidnapped and found alive 18 years later.
JENNIFER SUMMERS, ASHLEY SUMMERS' MOTHER: Jaycee's story gives me hope because it makes me believe Ashley will come home.
TUCHMAN: This is a police age progression drawing of Ashley, what she might look like today. Obviously, her family is bitterly disappointed that Ashley, who would now be 19, wasn't one of the women rescued Monday night, but Aunt Debbie still has faith.
(on camera): Amanda Berry made it clear that she knew she was the subject of news reports. She knew that. She was watching TV. So it's very possible your niece is watching TV. What would you like to say to her right now?
DEBBIE SUMMERS: I love you, Ashley. Please come home. I miss you. I love you so much. Please. I want you to come home. I want you to know that I love you and I miss you so much. I will never give up on you, never.
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COOPER: Gary Tuchman joins me now. I think I misspoke before. Let's just be very clear about this. Law enforcement believes it's possible there is some connection to these cases, but they have no proof of that. They won't say definitively.
TUCHMAN: No proof right now.
COOPER: The family is certainly hoping that there is some connection. But a relative of hers actually believes she saw her.
TUCHMAN: Seven months after Ashley disappeared, her step-grandmother was driving down the street three miles away from her house and was sure she saw Ashley. But she was going the wrong direction in her car so she turned her car around, started heading back towards Ashley, then she disappeared and not one member of the family has seen her since.
But I will tell you, Anderson, this family still has hope and they have hope because of the three women who got out of this house last night. They hope one of those three women, at least one of them, has some information about their loved one.
COOPER: Yes. Gary, appreciate it. Thanks very much. We should point out that next month is going to be Ashley's 20th birthday. If you have any information about the whereabouts of Ashley, call 216- 623-5005, 216-623-5005. As I said, next month will be Ashley's 20th birthday.
Her step-grandmother, Linda Summers, joins me now. Linda, thank you so much for being here. What have the last 24 hours been like for you?
LINDA SUMMERS, STEP-GRANDDAUGTHER VANISHED IN 2007: Just a roller coaster of emotions. When we first found out that the girls were found, just like I just gushed into tears, just overwhelmed with emotion, because --
COOPER: Hoping one would be Ashley.
SUMMERS: Hoping one would be Ashley and if nothing else, they would know where she is or heard of her or seen her.
COOPER: And obviously, law enforcement says they are taking the investigation slowly, taking the interview process slowly. They haven't said anything to you about anything that these young women have said?
LINDA SUMMERS: No, not yet. No. We have not heard anything. COOPER: You actually believe you saw Ashley about seven months after she first disappeared.
LINDA SUMMERS: Yes. Yes.
COOPER: Did she look different?
LINDA SUMMERS: The only thing that might have been different -- was different about her is her hair was cut short and dyed blond, but pretty much, that was it. And I really believe it was her because the girl was just staring into our car like she recognized our car, and just staring at us. Like I said, by the time I got turned around, she had disappeared down an alley.
COOPER: So initially, the thinking was that she left of her own accord.
LINDA SUMMERS: Exactly.
COOPER: There were some issues that she was facing.
LINDA SUMMERS: Right. Right.
COOPER: But what do you think in your gut happened?
LINDA SUMMERS: My big thing is I really believe that she was picked up for trafficking, human trafficking. I think she's a victim of human trafficking of some form. It just, everything that, all the background and part of the neighborhood and things just really point to strong human trafficking tie.
COOPER: You believe she's still alive?
LINDA SUMMERS: I believe she's still alive. I have to hope that she's still alive.
COOPER: How do you get through this not knowing?
LINDA SUMMERS: Lot of prayers. Lot of prayers to God just let us hear something from her.
COOPER: Certainly, I mean, last night on the program, we put her photo up and talked about her, because this is a time when it gets national attention and you hope that this spurs somebody else to do what Charles Ramsey did and reach out with some information.
LINDA SUMMERS: Exactly. That's what we're looking for, that one more good hero, Good Samaritan, that's going to intervene and say hey, I've seen her, I know her, I know where she's at, let me call her, let her family have the same joy as these other families.
COOPER: Do you think it's possible she still is here locally?
LINDA SUMMERS: Anything's possible. Unfortunately, at one point, until yesterday, I did not think so. I thought she may be a couple hours away, maybe Detroit. Detroit's a hot place where they take a lot of girls trafficked, but -- and they move them around. But now it could be anywhere.
COOPER: Yes.
LINDA SUMMERS: It could be anywhere. She could be anywhere.
COOPER: Well, I'm so sorry for what you're going through.
LINDA SUMMERS: I appreciate you having us.
COOPER: Well, I hope this does some help.
LINDA SUMMERS: I do, too.
COOPER: Thank you. Appreciate it. I wish you the best. Again, if you have any information about Ashley Summers, call the Cleveland Police Department, 216-623-5005.
Up next, in her own words, Elizabeth Shoaf survived a 10-day kidnapping ordeal in 2006 when she was just 14 years old. She tells us how she managed to stay alive. This is a remarkable young woman who at 14 was so smart in how she was able to save herself, because no one was going to be able to find her without her saving herself. She also has advice for these three women here in Cleveland. We'll be right back.
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COOPER: Once the euphoria of their freedom subsides, the three women who were found here yesterday will begin the process of recovery. One young woman who knows what that is like, what they will go through, is Elizabeth Smart, she was abducted at 14, held captive for nine months, raped repeatedly.
Speaking to Wolf Blitzer today on "THE SITUATION ROOM," she offered this advice.
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ELIZABETH SMART, HELD CAPTIVE FOR NINE MONTHS: First of all, I want them to know that nothing that has happened to them will ever diminish their value and it should never hold them back from doing what they want to do. They should still follow their dreams. Follow the life that they wanted to have.
They should still be able to have that. I also want them to know that they don't need to ever feel pressured into saying anything. Take as much time as they need and if they decide never to share their story. That would be OK, too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Another young woman who also survived a violent kidnapping is Elizabeth Shoaf. A remarkable young woman, show was abducted by a neighbor in South Carolina back in 2006. She was just 14 years old. She was abused, terrorized for ten days before she managed to escape. She was kept in an underground bunker. I spoke with her a short time ago.
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COOPER: You were taken by a man who was posing as a police officer. He locked you into a pit that he had built in the ground on his property and for 10 days, you were held. We have pictures of the pit where you were held, it's very small, hardly any light, in the middle of the woods. How did you get through those days?
ELIZABETH SHOAF, KIDNAPPING SURVIVOR: How I survived, mainly prayer, hope and just seeing my family on the news begging for me, knowing and hoping that I'll see them again. Just keeping faith kept me strong.
COOPER: But he had explosives that I read he put on you when he would leave to make sure you didn't escape. He was sexually assaulting you throughout the days. How did you ultimately figure out a way to survive? How do you ultimately figure out a way to get through it because you were really clever? All the police have said how extraordinarily smart you were in how you essentially manipulated him.
SHOAF: In the beginning, of course, I could only take everything how it was, whether he sexually was assaulting me or whether he placed a bomb around my neck, the only way to keep it as non-severe as possible was to agree and do what he said. If he told me to sit still and don't speak a word, then that's what I would do. I learned the nicer I was to him, the nicer he was to me, so to say that I enjoyed the sexual abuse made it much easier on me than as forceful as it could have been.
COOPER: And he started to believe you. He started to believe that maybe he could actually have a life with you, correct?
SHOAF: He did begin to believe me. I would tell him that I liked it, and I would say I love you, he would say he loved me back. He would make plans for us to eventually move away to some other state together.
COOPER: Finally, you were able to get his phone. How did you do that?
SHOAF: In the beginning, I noticed that he would use his cell phone to talk to his girlfriend, and of course, I wouldn't dare touch it or go near it, but of course, I couldn't either way because I was chained to the bed. But as I gained his trust, he would not chain me anymore and I would then send text messages to my mother as to where I was, who I was with, to immediately get help.
COOPER: You knew pretty much you were on your own and you had to come out with your own solution to get yourself out of there, so sending those text messages, police were able to kind of triangulate the area you were being held in, but it was really I guess, what, the news finally broke and you were actually watching TV with him. What happened then?
SHOAF: It was a Friday night and the searching for me had died down very much, but that Friday morning, afternoon, we noticed helicopters were out and people were walking around more, so we put the television on to see what's going on. Of course, he being very scared and me being very hopeful that somebody found something. But I ended up convincing him to leave, that if he stayed, the police would catch him, but if he left, then I could run away with him later on once the searching died down for him.
COOPER: So you're 21 years old, you have graduated college, you have a profession. I'm so glad things are good for you and I appreciate you taking the time to talk to us, Elizabeth. Thank you.
SHOAF: Yes, sir. Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: She is a remarkable young woman. Her recommendations for the three women found yesterday are to rely on your families, spend time with them and try to rebuild your life with them. We'll be right back.
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COOPER: Again breaking news tonight. CNN projects former Governor Mark Sanford has defeated Elizabeth Colbert-Busch in South Carolina's 1st District's special congressional election.
Earlier I said Sanford resigned as governor after news broke of his extramarital affair. I want to correct that. He did serve out his term.
That does it for this edition of 360 live from Cleveland. We'll be back here one hour from now with the latest developments live from Cleveland at the top of the hour, 10:00 Eastern.
"PIERS MORGAN LIVE" starts now.
