2015 crime thriller Cleveland Abduction has been causing quite a stir since it was added to US Netflix, with viewers across the Atlantic having been captivated – and rather horrified – by the gritty kidnapping drama.
Boasting a cast that includes Taryn Manning, Raymond Cruz and Pam Grier, it tells the story of a 21-year-old single mother who – along with two other women – is abducted by a deeply sinister man and held captive in his basement.
The film actually started its life as a made-for-TV project on the Lifetime Channel, but the renewed interest since its Netflix bow has led many to ask questions about whether the events depicted are based on a true story.
Read on for everything you need to know.
Is Cleveland Abduction based on a true story?
Yes, the film is based on the real kidnappings committed by Ariel Castro in the Tremont neighbourhood of Cleveland between 2002 and 2004.
The real names of Castro’s victims – Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus – are all used, with the film having been adapted from Knight’s own memoir, Finding Me: A Decade of Darkness, a Life Reclaimed.
As is told in the memoir, Knight – then aged 21 – was taken captive by Castro in 2002, with 16-year-old Berry and 14-year-old DeJesus also kidnapped in the following two years.
Each of them was imprisoned in Castro’s basement until May 2013, when Berry was able to escape along with her 6-year-old daughter (a paternity test later confirmed that Castro was the father) after she managed to make contact with one of Castro’s neighbours.
The police then rescued the other two victims and apprehended Castro, who was later sentenced to life imprisonment plus 1,000 years in prison without the possibility of parole.
During the case, details of the horrendous abuse the trio had faced came to light – with records showing that all three women had been regularly raped by Castro and kept in locked rooms where plastic toilets would be “emptied infrequently”.
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According to the sentencing memorandum filed by the prosecutor on the case, Castro used “a program of prolonged physical, sexual, and psychological violence” to ensure that the women remained “in a state of powerlessness”.
The memorandum adds that all three women “spoke of forced sexual conducted, of being locked in a dark room, of anticipating the next session of abuse, of the dreams of someday escaping and being reunited with family, of being chained to a wall, of being held like a prisoner of war, of missing the lives they once enjoyed, of emotional abuse, of his threats to kill, of being treated like an animal, or continuous abuse, and of desiring freedom.”
Castro pleaded guilty to 937 criminal counts of rape, kidnapping and aggravated murder (or intentional induction of miscarriages) on 26th July 2013, as part of a plea deal that would see him avoid a death sentence.
He was found dead in his cell just one month into his sentence, ruled to have died by suicide after hanging himself with bedsheets.
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