Hopewell Valley Student Podcasting Network

Show Name: Real Cases, Fictional Minds

Episode Title: The Hostages of Ariel Castro

You are listening to Real Cases, Fictional Minds, the podcast with your host(s) Jaylli Kushi.

In this episode of Real Cases, Fictional Minds the Podcast, we discuss: Criminal Minds Season 11 Episode 14 titled “Hostage” and how it is based on the real-life Ariel Castro Case.

Segment 1: Hostage

The episode starts in a dark basement where two girls are being held captive, and one girl tries to escape while the other begs her to stop because she is scared they will get caught. The episode takes place in Missouri, and we are then shown another kidnapped girl who is pregnant and very sick, showing that these girls have been held for a long time. The unsub comes home and sees a broken window, and the girls apologize and say they tried to stop the escape. The unsub stays calm and tells the healthier girl that they need to leave, and he leaves the pregnant and sick girl behind, saying she would slow them down. The girl who escaped is Gina Bryant, and she flags down a police car and is taken to the hospital. Gina was kidnapped when she was eight years old and is now eighteen. She tells police she was held with another girl named Sheila Woods, who is now fifteen and was kidnapped seven years earlier. Gina describes the unsub as an older white man named Tom. Gina takes the police to the house where she was held, and they discover it belongs to Clara Riggins, a 108-year-old woman whose bank accounts are still active, leading the team to believe she is dead and the unsub has been using her house and money. While flying to Missouri, the team realizes both Gina and Sheila were kidnapped at age eight, just a few blocks from their homes, which suggests the unsub stalked them and learned their routines. Garcia tells the team that none of Clara’s neighbors have seen her in over twenty years, but they remember a man named Tom who drove a blue van, and she begins searching for men named Tom who own blue vans. At the hospital, Reid, JJ, and Hotch talk to Sheila and learn she had a miscarriage and has old whip scars on her back. Gina’s condition is worse, as she is malnourished, dehydrated, covered in cuts and bruises, has broken bones that were never treated, and has the same scars as Sheila. The next scene shows Violet with the unsub, and she trusts him and calls him Daddy. Reid and JJ interview Gina, and she explains that when she was kidnapped, she saw Violet at the park, and Violet was used to tricking her. The unsub pretended to be Violet’s dad and used a puppy to lure Gina into the car. Gina explains that Violet and Sheila were the good ones because they obeyed him and called him Daddy, while she never received special treatment because she always fought back, and he called her Rose. Gina tells Reid and JJ that the unsub sometimes lets them go outside to plant flowers for Clara, which leads Morgan and Rossi to find Clara buried under rose bushes. Morgan and Rossi also search the basement and find children’s drawings, blood, and a torture room filled with tools, and they see that the unsub is very organized, works with wood, and needs total control, leading them to believe Violet was either his first victim or possibly his daughter because of how much he cared for her. Back at the hospital, Sheila’s mother describes the day her daughter was taken as a normal day, just like Gina described, and Gina later helps police create a composite sketch. While in intensive care, Sheila sadly dies. Using the sketch and the blue van, Garcia identifies the unsub as Michael Clark Thompson, a construction company owner. The team learns that his father had multiple violent marriages and a history of abuse, and they believe Michael learned his behavior from him and enjoys power and control. Michael is later found stopped on the side of the road before taking Violet to the disappearing place, and when police surround him, and he tries to run, Agent Morgan chases and catches him. Violet is found in the va,n terrified and fighting against leaving him. At the hospital, Violet refuses to talk at first but later speaks to Reid and JJ, saying they were heading to the disappearing place and that she wants to go back with her dad. Hotch interviews Michael, who claims he saved the girls from their parents and says no one cared about them but him, and he denies killing Clara, saying he found her dead. JJ later realizes Violet may have children at the disappearing place, and Garcia discovers Violet’s real identity as Amelia Hawthorn, who has been missing from Indianapolis for fifteen years. During JJ’s interview with Amelia, she reveals that Michael got her pregnant twice and that her daughters are still alive somewhere. Michael then tries to make a deal with Hotch to reveal where the girls are in exchange for seeing Amelia, and Hotch agrees. During their meeting, Amelia remembers who she really is and attacks Michael, and he then refuses to tell the team where her daughters are. With Garcia’s help, the team tracks the location to a house near a grocery store, where Morgan and JJ find the two girls alive in the basement and reunite them with Amelia. As Michael is being taken away by the police, Sheila’s mother shoots and kills him for what he did to her daughter

Segment 2: Ariel Castro

Ariel Castro was born in 1960 and lived in Cleveland, Ohio, where he worked as a school bus driver and owned a house on Seymour Avenue. To everyone around him, he appeared normal, which is what made his crimes so disturbing. Between 2002 and 2004, Ariel Castro kidnapped three girls and kept them captive inside his home for years. His first victim was Michelle Knight, who was kidnapped in 2002 when she was 21 years old, followed by Amanda Berry in 2003 when she was only 16, and then Gina DeJesus in 2004 when she was just 14. Ariel Castro targeted girls who were alone, vulnerable, and easy to manipulate, and he used lies and kindness to gain their trust. Michelle Knight was walking when Castro offered to help her find missing court paperwork, Amanda Berry was on her way to work when he offered her a ride, and Gina DeJesus was walking home from school when he claimed he knew her family. Once the girls were inside his car or house, he overpowered them and locked them inside, beginning years of captivity. The girls were held for between nine and eleven years, chained, locked in rooms, and completely isolated from the outside world. Castro controlled every part of their lives, including when they ate, slept, showered, and used the bathroom. He physically abused them, sexually assaulted them repeatedly, and threatened to kill them or their families if they tried to escape. He also used strong psychological control, telling them no one was looking for them and that the police would never believe them. He played loud music to drown out their screams and boarded up windows so neighbors could not see inside. Over time, the girls were forced to follow strict rules, and breaking those rules led to punishment. Amanda Berry became pregnant while in captivity and gave birth to a daughter named Jocelyn in 2006, and Castro forced Michelle Knight and Gina DeJesus to help deliver the baby. Jocelyn grew up inside the house and was raised in isolation, and Amanda’s main goal became keeping her daughter alive. Michelle Knight became pregnant several times but was forced to miscarry because of beatings and starvation, causing permanent damage to her body. The girls attempted to escape multiple times over the years, but Castro used chains, locks, and fear to stop them, and he punished them harshly when they tried. He also used mind games, sometimes pretending to be kind and other times becoming violent without warning, which kept them confused and afraid. But, Ariel Castro isn’t the only kidnapper to keep victims trapped for years in a normal-looking house. Now back to the case, on May 6, 2013, Amanda Berry was finally able to escape when Castro left the house and forgot to lock one of the doors. Amanda kicked through the door, ran outside holding her daughter, and screamed for help until a neighbor came and helped her call 911. During the call, Amanda said she had been kidnapped and missing for ten years. Police arrived and searched the house, where they found Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight alive, and all three women were rescued. Ariel Castro was arrested that same day, and police found chains, locks, and clear evidence of long-term imprisonment. He was charged with 977 counts, including kidnapping, rape, and charges related to forced miscarriages. In 2013, Castro pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty and was sentenced to life in prison without parole plus 1,000 years. Only one month later, Ariel Castro was found dead in his prison cell after dying by suicide. After their rescue, Amanda Berry became an advocate for missing persons, Gina DeJesus spoke publicly about survival and healing, and Michelle Knight, later known as Lily Rose Lee, wrote a memoir and became a motivational speaker. The Ariel Castro case is often compared to Criminal Minds because it shows how a kidnapper can live a normal life in a normal neighborhood while using control, fear, and manipulation to keep victims trapped for years, making the real-life case just as terrifying as anything shown on the show.

Segment 3: Compare and Contrast

So when you look at Michael Thompson from the Criminal Minds episode “Hostage,” it’s clear he’s inspired by the real-life case of Ariel Castro, but the show adds some dramatic elements. Thompson is shown as an older man who kidnaps girls, keeps them captive for years, and uses fear and manipulation to control them, which is very similar to how Ariel Castro kidnapped three girls in Cleveland and controlled almost every part of their lives for over a decade. In the show, Thompson uses a fake identity and another captive to lure his victims, while Castro tricked the girls by offering rides or help before taking them. Both isolated their victims, abused them, and made them dependent, but the show compresses events and adds extra suspense, like the “disappearing place,” while Castro’s crimes were completely real and messy. In both cases, escape seemed impossible for years, but the victims eventually found a way out — Amanda Berry in real life and Gina in the show — showing how survival and courage are key. Another similarity is that both men appeared normal to the outside world: Thompson, using someone else’s house and money, and Castro, living in a regular neighborhood and driving a school bus. The main difference is that the show makes Thompson more methodical and uses profiling and psychology to solve the case, while Castro’s crimes caused long-term trauma, including pregnancies and forced miscarriages. Both stories show control, manipulation, and isolation, but the real-life case proves that truth can be just as horrifying as fiction, and sometimes even more so.

Signoff: Some killers hide in fiction, others walk among us, until next time on real cases, fictional minds

Music Credits:

1. Intro/Outro: Deep Breath by KonovalocMusic
2. Transition: From the Underworld by KonovalocMusic

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