The Ariel Castro Kidnappings

Between 2002 and 2004, three girls between the ages of 14 and 21 vanished from the streets of Cleveland, Ohio. They were all last seen within a few block radius of one another and seemingly disappeared into thin air. A short phone call after one of the girls went missing was the only clue and it didn’t provide police with much to go on. Then, almost 11 years after the first woman went missing, the three girls were found, having been held captive in the home of a local school bus driver.

All three girls were alive, but had suffered through years of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. The man who had abducted them seemed like a normal guy to his friends and neighbors, however he turned out to be a violent control-freak who made three women his sex slaves. The scariest part? All three women knew the man who abducted them and held them as prisoners.

Who Were the Survivors?

Michelle Knight was born April 23, 1981 in Cleveland, Ohio. She grew up with her mother, Barbara, grandmother, Deborah, and twin brothers, Eddie and Freddie. There isn’t much information about her father. She spent most of her life on the west side of the city, in a house on 60th street. Michelle loved firetrucks, and after a tour of the local fire station, she’d decided that she wanted to be a firefighter when she grew up. She loved animals and also thought about becoming a veterinarian. Michelle didn’t grow up in the most stable household. She said that it wasn’t always easy to find clean clothes or food to eat. Her mother would keep her out of school for several days at a time to care for her twin brothers. She felt as though she was more of a mother than a sister to her younger brothers. At 5-years-old, a male family member began sexually assaulting her and continued into her teens. She never told anyone because he threatened to kill her.

At 15, Michelle ran away from home and began sleeping under an overpass inside of a garbage can. She was tiny, at 4’7, and could fit completely inside of the trash can. Her nickname was “Shorty”. She struggled to find food, but soon learned that she could eat at a nearby church. Michelle then met a local drug dealer, Sniper, who offered her money and a room to stay if she would run drugs for him. While it wasn’t the best foundation for a friendship, Michelle became close to both Sniper and another drug runner. For the first time in her life, she felt safe and cared for. Sniper taught her how to protect herself and how to shoot a gun. He gave her a room in his house to live in. She said that she felt important and loved by both of them. There was no sexual aspect to their relationships, just two people that Michelle finally felt she could trust. Unfortunately for Michelle, Sniper was soon arrested and she had to return to sleeping in a garbage can underneath the overpass.

One day, someone recognized Michelle living on the streets. They called her father who immediately came to pick her up and bring her back home. She was sent back to school, where she was so far behind that they initially started her in seventh grade. She was 16-years-old and the target of bullies. She was able to take a test and be moved to the ninth grade, but that didn’t stop the other students from ridiculing her. Her grades were poor and Michelle felt alienated from her classmates. After having sex a few times with a boy named Erik, Michelle learned that she was pregnant. She then found out that Erik already had a girlfriend. She never told him about the pregnancy. At 18-years-old, Michelle gave birth to a little boy named Joey.

Michelle wanted to be a better mother than hers had been, and she wanted to make sure that Joey had a good life. This was difficult since she had very little money. In 2002, while at her mother’s house, her mother’s boyfriend was drunk and tried to pick up Joey by his leg and ended up fracturing his leg. She brought him to the hospital where the Department of Social Services was notified. Despite her mother’s boyfriend admitting that Joey’s injury was his fault, not Michelle’s, Joey was taken from his mother’s care and placed in a foster home.

Amanda Berry was born on April 22, 1986 and grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. There isn’t much public information about Amanda’s childhood, but in contrast to Michelle’s younger years, Amanda seemed close to her family. Her mother, Louwana Miller, older sister, Beth, and father, Johnny Berry. She grew up on Cleveland’s west side with her mother and sister. She attended John Marshall High School in Cleveland. At just 16-years-old, Amanda had already secured a job working at a local Burger King. She described herself as a homebody, who spent lots of time with friends and family. She made good grades and always finished her homework on time. She was very interested in fashion and always had to make sure that every part of her outfit matched. She hoped that one day she could have a career in fashion.

Georgina “Gina” DeJesus was born on April 1, 1990 in Cleveland, Ohio to Felix and Nancy DeJesus. She grew up with a sister, Mayra, and brother, Ricardo. She attended Wilbur Wright Middle School and was nearing the end of eighth grade, excited to start at John Marshall High. Gina was in some special education classes, as it took her a little longer to grasp things at school. Despite a little difficulty with learning, Gina was a good student and liked by her classmates. Most days, she’d walk the 40 blocks from her home to school, often through rundown areas. Gina was a happy girl who was very close to her family. She described herself as outgoing, a girl who loved being silly and dancing.

The First Abduction

On Friday, August 23, 2002, Michelle was going to another meeting with social services about regaining custody of Joey. She’d been doing everything she could to attend all of the meetings and supervised visits with her son. As she was walking, she found that she’d gotten lost and wasn’t quite sure where the meeting location was. She walked into a Family Dollar and asked someone behind the counter for directions. A man standing in line overheard her and offered to give her a ride. Michelle recognized the man. He was the father of a girl she knew named Emily. Not wanting to be late to the meeting and thankful to find someone who knew where to go, she got in the car with him. The man told Michelle that he needed to stop by his house quickly to check on his puppies. Michelle told him that was fine, and that she’d wait in the car.

When they arrived at his house on Seymour Drive, he pulled in the driveway, then got out and walked into his house through his back door. He came back out and told Michelle she should come inside and hang out for a bit, that she could see the puppies. He told her that she could have one of the puppies to take home to her son. She agreed. As she walked inside, she waved hello to a group of people who lived next door, and they waved back. Once inside, she said she felt uneasy because she couldn’t hear any whining that she expected from puppies. The man said that the puppies were upstairs and she should come up and see them. Still uneasy, she walked upstairs. There were no puppies. She saw a photo of the man’s daughter, Emily, and asked if she was there. The man said yes, she was home, just downstairs. They walked downstairs into a room that the man had set up prior to picking Michelle up. He had her trapped. He tied her up in the room with an orange extension cord. She hung like a U, hung by her feet, her neck, and her arms. She said that she just cried, too shocked to fight back. He proceeded to masturbate in the room before throwing money at her. He told her that she was there as a friend and that he’d let her go by Christmas.

Michelle said that the man hated her. He initially believed her to be a 13-year-old prostitute. When he found out that she was 21, he was livid. She said that she believed he wanted a child. The man had an obsession with prostitutes, which is why he’d throw money at Michelle after assaulting her. He moved her to the basement where he used thick chains around her stomach and neck to keep her tethered to a pipe. He kept a motorcycle helmet on her so her screams were muffled. There was a bucket with a lid where she could use the bathroom. Michelle said that the way she was chained up, it was impossible for her to lay down. He brought her fast food from time to time, but often didn’t feed her. He kept her there for several weeks, but Michelle lost track of time easily. The windows in the house were boarded up, so it was impossible to tell how much time had passed. The man continued to physically and sexually assault Michelle whenever he wanted. She said that he would watch television shows about people with strange sexual fantasies. Afterwards he would come into her room so he could do whatever he saw on TV. Sometimes she’d beg him to let her go and other times she’d tell him how much she hated him. He said that once he had two other girls in the house, he’d let her go. Michelle begged him not to bring anyone else into the house. She didn’t want anyone going through what she was.

Eventually, the man moved Michelle out of the basement to a bedroom. The room was small, not much bigger than a closet. She was still chained. It wasn’t long before Michelle figured out that she was pregnant. The man had figured it out too. He hit her in the stomach with the round side of a barbell. When she miscarried, he blamed her for it. He would often tell her that no one was looking for and no one missed her. He stopped giving her any clothes and left her with only one sheet on her dirty mattress. The man didn’t have any heat in his house and Michelle would get so cold that her lips would turn blue and she could see her breath. One day, he brought an old television into her room for her to watch. Michelle just thought that he was in one of the moods where he felt like being nice to her. She quickly found out that he wanted to make sure that she could see the news, see that no one was looking for her, and see that he’d taken another girl.

The Second Abduction

On April 21, 2003, 16-year-old Amanda Berry almost called out of work. The next day was her 17th birthday and she would rather spend the day having fun than working. However, being the hard worker she was, Amanda went to her shift at the local Burger King in Cleveland. She got off early and called her sister to pick her up. Unfortunately, her sister was at work and couldn’t make it. Amanda tried calling a friend to give her a ride home, but they didn’t answer. She decided to start walking home. While she was walking near Lorain Avenue and West 110th, just four blocks from where Michelle Knight was last seen, a man pulled up in a car next to her. She recognized the driver as a local elementary school bus driver and the father of one of her friends. He offered her a ride to his house, where he said his daughter was. Amanda agreed and rode with him to his house on Seymour Drive.

When they arrived, Amanda followed him inside, but didn’t see her friend. The man said she might be taking a bath and they could wait. He proceeded to show Amanda around the house, leading her to an upstairs bedroom. There was a peephole cut through where the doorknob was and she was able to see into the room. She saw a woman sleeping in front of a television. The man said she was his roommate. He then took Amanda into the next bedroom and into the closet, where he told her to take her pants off and sexually assaulted her. Afterwards, he forced Amanda down to the basement, taped her wrists and her ankles up, then chained her to a pipe. He put the same motorcycle helmet over her head that he’d used on Michelle. He turned the lights out and left her in the basement with a television on. She watched her mother and sister on the news pleading for any information about where Amanda was. She said that this was what gave her the strength to keep fighting.

Four days after her abduction, the man moved Amanda upstairs to a bedroom. She was chained to a radiator with a big lock secured around her waist. Just a week after Amanda went missing, the man used her cell phone to call her mother. He told her that he had Mandy and that she wanted to be with him. Nobody called her Mandy except her close friends and family. The family didn’t recognize the voice, and with new phone tracking technology, the police were only able to narrow it down to 30-40 blocks. Police flooded the area for weeks, hoping that the phone would be used again, but unfortunately, it wasn’t.

Once a day, the man would bring Amanda a pack of crackers or a bag of chips. She would shower once a week usually, however, everything had strings attached. He would insist on her showering with him and he would continuously sexually assault her, like he did Michelle. The man would have short periods where he would be nice to Amanda. Once he asked her if she’d like anything to pass the time in her room. Amanda asked for something to write in. He brought her a journal with a small lock on it. She used it to document the amount of times he sexually assaulted her. She wanted to be sure that if she was found, the man would pay for every terrible thing he did to her.

Michelle recalled that the man brought Amanda into her room once and introduced her as his brother’s girlfriend. Michelle knew he was lying because she’d seen Amanda’s face on the television. She thought it was odd that Amanda was completely clothed, while she was basically naked. He then brought Amanda back to her own room and the girls didn’t see each other again for several months.

The third abduction

On April 2nd, 2004, 14-year-old Gina DeJesus was walking home from school with her friend Arlene. She wanted Arlene to come to her house, but she was grounded. Arlene called her mom who told her to come straight home. The girls continued on their own to their separate houses. Gina was used to walking alone and didn’t think much of it when a maroon car pulled up next to her. She recognized the man driving. It was Arlene’s dad. He was even a friend of Gina’s dad. He asked if Gina had seen Arlene. Gina told him that Arlene walked off towards her home. The man asked if Gina could drive around with him and help him locate her. Gina got in the vehicle.

Instead of driving around and looking for Arlene, the man drove Gina to his house on Seymour Drive. He asked for Gina’s help moving a stereo inside of his house. When she walked inside, she noticed the man behaving oddly, which made her uneasy. She said that he was fixing his eyebrows, trimming his mustache, and cutting his nose hairs. He then started to touch Gina. Gina immediately pushed him away, telling him that he could go to jail for doing that. The man apologized and said he’d take her home, but they couldn’t go out the same door that they came in. He led her down to the basement where he grabbed her and chained her up. Gina said that initially, he didn’t secure her well enough and she was able to free herself. She tried to run, but the man threw her down and sat on her back. Gina began kicking him as hard as she could. Finally, the man overpowered her and chained her back up. Just over a month after abducting Gina, the man began sexually assaulting her.

who is he?

The man who had abducted Michelle, Amanda, and Gina was named Ariel Castro. Castro was born on July 10, 1960 in Puerto Rico to Pedro and Lillian. He was their third child. Two years after Castro was born, his mother found out that his father was married to another woman and had four children with her. He left Lillian and his three children, including Ariel, and went to be with his other wife and children. Not long after, Lillian moved to the United States to work in Pennsylvania. She left the children with their maternal grandmother. At 5-years-old, Castro was reportedly sexually abused multiple times by a 9-year-old boy. At the time, he never told anyone and went on to develop an obsession with sex and compulsive masturbation at a young age.

In 1966, Lillian returned to Puerto Rico to care for her children. According to Castro, she began physically and verbally abusing them, insulting them and hitting them with belts and her hands. In 1970, the family immigrated to the United States and settled in Cleveland, Ohio. Castro’s uncle owned a record store and gave him a guitar. He learned to play guitar and spent time in several bands as he grew up, eventually becoming a professional bass player in a local salsa band.

In 1980, Castro began dating his 17-year-old neighbor, Nilda Figueroa. Nilda was also from Puerto Rico. Once her family found that she’d lost her virginity to Castro, they kicked her out and Castro took her in. In 1981, Nilda gave birth to their first child. It was then that she said Castro’s behavior changed drastically. He became incredibly controlling and abusive. He exercised his control in all aspects of her life. She was only allowed to leave the house with his permission. She needed his permission to shop in stores, to watch TV, or to use the phone. He became physically abusive, beating her whenever she didn’t follow his rules. His violence continued to get worse and he eventually began beating Nilda so bad that he broke several of her bones. She had to promise she wouldn’t report him before he allowed her to go to the hospital. In 1989, Castro physically assaulted Nilda in front of his brother, who called the police. Castro was arrested, but the charges were dropped when Nilda wouldn’t cooperate.

In 1992, Castro, Nilda, and their four children moved to a 4 bedroom, 1 bathroom house at 2207 Seymour Avenue. Castro padlocked every door in the home and did everything he could to soundproof the basement. He told his family that they weren’t allowed in the basement. Eventually he tinted all of the windows, which he later boarded up. Nilda wasn’t allowed to use the phone. Castro began to lock his family up in the house when he left for gigs with his band, sometimes lasting up to four days.

Later that year, Nilda became pregnant with their fifth child. Castro didn’t want another child and punched and kicked her several times in the stomach. In October of 1993, Castro pushed her down a flight of steps, fracturing her skull. Soon after, Nilda began to have seizures and was found to have a blood clot in her brain that had hardened into a malignant tumor. She was treated and eventually released back home. On December 26th 1993, Castro came home extremely drunk and began to physically assault Nilda. Their 12-year-old son, Ariel Jr., ran out of the house and down the street looking for help, with Castro running after him. Nilda took the chance and locked her husband out of the house. The police arrived to find Castro banging on the front door. They arrested him, but he was released on a $25,000 bond. As Nilda entered the courthouse to testify before a grand jury in the case against Castro, he threatened her, telling her that if she said anything, he’d kill her and the children. Nilda, still terrified of Castro, said that the attack never happened. The charges were dropped.

Thankfully, Nilda moved out of the house and took the children to her mother’s home. Castro began to cut off most of his contact with his family and started to delve deeper into his obsession with sex, violence, and control. He installed security cameras and mirrors throughout the house on Seymour Avenue, wanting to make sure that nothing could happen without him knowing. After attempting to run over Nilda’s boyfriend with his car in 1997, Castro lost all custody of his children to Nilda.

Despite the violence that had taken place in his home, Castro appeared to be relatively normal to those who knew him. His neighbors said that he was friendly, but often kept to himself. They thought it was odd that all of the windows in his home were boarded up, but assumed it was because he played music and wanted to keep the noise from getting too loud. He played bass guitar in a salsa band with two other men. They said he was one of the best musicians they’d ever met. They said that during breaks at gigs, Castro would often try to dance with women who had already brushed him off. His bandmates said that he seemed to think that whatever he wanted, he should get. They said that he mostly kept his personal life to himself, but seemed pretty normal to them.

Neighbors who went to school with Castro said that he had a great family and was an average joe. He seemed outgoing, smart, and talented. He played softball and was very into cars. After the divorce, Castro became more secluded. He was very guarded about who could come into his house. He would only enter and exit through the back door. If anyone came to see him, they would meet on the front porch and stay there, even his mother. For the past 22 years, Castro had driven a school bus for the local school system, and played music at night. On the outside, despite some odd quirks, Castro seemed like an ordinary guy.

The House of Horrors

Castro now had three women imprisoned in his house. Eventually, all three girls were moved into separate rooms upstairs. Sometimes he would chain Gina up in Michelle’s room with her. All three women experienced different things while being held captive, but all three of them were routinely beaten and sexually assaulted. The girls were rarely ever all together at once, except when he allowed them out of their rooms to clean the house. Everything had to be done perfectly to Castro’s orders, or else the girls would suffer. He continued to tell each girl separately that he would let them go back home in a few weeks, or before the next holiday, but it was never true.

He would constantly berate Michelle, telling her that no one was looking for her and that no one loved her. He told her often that he hated her. She believed that she was the most hated one in the house. Though all three girls were being held captive, it was clear that Castro favored Amanda and Gina over Michelle. The girls said that he would play mind games to pit the three of them against each other. They began to develop jealousy of one another, wondering why one of them got more food, or got clothes, or was able to bathe, when the other wasn’t. Despite these feelings, the girls did their best to keep one another strong and fighting.

The searches outside continued for Amanda and Gina. Castro even participated in some of the searches for Gina, as well as donated money to the family to keep the searches going. He was friends with her father. Sometimes he would play Amanda’s voicemails for her, allowing her to listen to friends and family who missed her. He would always cut it off just before she could hear her mother. Amanda watched a talk show on television where her mother was a guest and she spoke to a well-known psychic about Amanda’s disappearance. The psychic told Amanda’s mother that she was dead. It broke Amanda’s heart to see her mother’s reaction.

The girls said that Castro would test them, by leaving a door open or their chains unlocked. He would pretend to leave the house, and if they tried to escape, he’d beat them. As time went on, the girls earned more and more of his trust. It’s unclear how often Castro left the girls out of their rooms or when he did, but Amanda said that they would try to do things to have some normalcy. When Castro was out of the house at work or with friends, they would sing and dance and watch “The Vampire Diaries” on TV. Amanda even recalled waking up early one morning to watch the royal wedding. She said it was something happy and she wanted to watch it. All three girls said that they considered escaping many times. They considered putting rat poison in Castro’s food. They considered running outside when they saw an open door. However, they were so terrified of the punishment that might follow, they never followed through.

The Pregnancy

During her captivity, Michelle had gotten pregnant five times. Each time, Castro would induce a miscarriage. He would either hit Michelle in the stomach, kick her, or stand on her until he felt as though she’d lost the baby. Michelle remembered Gina sitting on her bed with her and rubbing her stomach as she miscarried. When Amanda realized that she’d missed her period and couldn’t keep any food down, she was petrified. Castro soon figured out that Amanda was pregnant and, unlike Michelle’s pregnancies, he wanted Amanda to give birth. On Christmas Day of 2006, Amanda gave birth to a baby girl named Jocelyn. She’d delivered Jocelyn in her bedroom while laying in a plastic kiddie pool. Michelle had helped deliver her the baby while Castro sat in a rocking chair nearby, reading a book about birth. Michelle said that when Jocelyn came out, she was blue. Castro told Michelle that if the baby died, she died. She said that she started chest compressions and gave rescue breaths until the baby started crying.

The birth of Jocelyn was the beginning of Castro’s downfall. All three girls had a renewed sense of purpose. Amanda fought to have everything as normal as possible for Jocelyn. At first, Castro was worried about buying things for her at the store because he didn’t want to attract attention. Jocelyn’s first piece of clothing was two of Castro’s socks that he cut arm and leg holes in. He eventually gave in and began providing things that the child needed. As Jocelyn got older, it became more problematic keeping her inside. She questioned why her mother and the other girls were in chains. He would take the chains off while he supervised them, and always had a gun in his waistband. Castro had developed a deep bond with his daughter and finally took her outside to a park when she was around the age of 3. He began to bring her toys home and allowed her to roam throughout the house. He even began to bring her to Sunday church services. Castro showed photos of her to friends and family, saying that it was his girlfriend’s daughter. One of his daughters pointed out to him that the little girl looked an awful lot like one f of Castro’s biological daughters, but he denied it.

When Jocelyn reached school age, Amanda created a special Kindergarten classroom for her in the bedroom. She hung colors and letters on the wall and had a whiteboard to write on. Every morning, she and Jocelyn went through the motions as if they were truly out and going to school. They would eat breakfast, then “walk to school.” She taught her that she had to stop at streets and look both ways before crossing. Then she’d “drop her off at school,” tell her she loved her, and then become her teacher for the day.

The Escape

On Monday, May 6, 2013, Aurora Marti was sitting outside on her front porch on Seymour Avenue when she heard shouts coming from across the street. She looked over and saw an arm waving out of the front door. It was Amanda’s arm. Just a few minutes earlier, Jocelyn had run upstairs to Amanda’s room to tell her that her daddy’s blue car was gone. Amanda was very hesitant, since she knew the punishment that she’d have to endure if Castro caught her outside of her room. She told her daughter to go look in the garage for him, to see if she saw him anywhere. Jocelyn returned and said that her father was nowhere to be found. Amanda and Jocelyn went down to the front door, which was shockingly unlocked. Unfortunately, there was a storm door still closed that was padlocked shut. Amanda began kicking the bottom of the door and screaming. Gina and Michelle heard Amanda, but didn’t leave their room, scared that Castro would catch them. Amanda was able to make a small gap in the bottom of the door. She stuck her arm out and continued shouting.

A second neighbor, Charles Ramsey, also heard and saw the commotion. (Charles Ramsey is the hero we all deserve. You HAVE to watch his interview.) Ramsey recalled that he was eating a Big Mac when he saw the arm waving. He walked over to the porch and heard Amanda yell that she needed help getting out, that she’d been in there for a long time. Ramsey thought it might be a domestic dispute. He kicked a larger hole in the bottom of the door that Amanda was able to use to crawl out through with her daughter. She jumped into Ramsey’s arms and hugged him tightly. Ramsey was shocked and was quoted as saying, “I knew something was wrong when a little pretty white girl ran into a black man’s arms, dead giveaway.” Amanda quickly used a phone to call 911. She told the dispatcher that she was Amanda Berry and that she’d been kidnapped and missing for 10 years, and she was finally free.

Police were dispatched to the home on Seymour Avenue. When they arrived, they found Amanda holding her daughter tightly. She told them that there were two more women inside. Police broke down the doors and began to search the house. Gina and Michelle were scared, believing that Castro had returned and was punishing Amanda. When police entered the room, they were shocked to find Gina and Michelle alive. The three women and Jocelyn were quickly transported to the hospital.

At 6:16PM, police found Castro at a nearby McDonald’s where they arrested him. Two days later, he was charged with 4 counts of kidnapping and 3 counts of rape. The judge ordered an 8 million dollar bail on him. At the hospital, Amanda, Gina, and Jocelyn were soon released with no serious lasting physical injuries. Doctors however, didn’t believe that Michelle would survive for much longer. She had a severe bacterial infection and was not doing very well. Fortunately, after several days of treatment, Michelle was released from the hospital.

In July of 2013, Castro pled guilty to a total of 937 counts, including murder, kidnapping, and rape as part of a plea bargain. He said that he treated the girls well and that the many rapes were consensual. He admitted to inducing Michelle’s miscarriages, but said it was a consensual decision. Castro seemed to believe that he and the women were a family. The judge sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole PLUS 1,000 years. Castro began his sentence at the Correctional Reception Center in Orient, Ohio. Just one month into his sentence, Castro was found dead, hanging from a bedsheet in his cell in an apparent suicide. (Because he was a little bitch)

Michelle Knight is now happily married and has legally changed her name to Lily Rose Lee in hopes of a new beginning to a new journey. She is in the process of starting a non-profit called Lily’s Ray of Hope to support victims of chid abuse, domestic violence, and human trafficking. She has chosen to forgive Castro, saying that she doesn’t want him to hold her back or control her life anymore. Her son’s adopted parents felt it was in his best interest to stay with them. Michelle understood and was happy to find that Joey was in a stable and loving home.

Amanda Berry has partnered with the US Marshals Service and its Operation Safety Net initiative. Over one month, they were able to locate 35 missing and endangered children while working with Amanda and other state and local partners. She works as a missing persons advocate for Fox8, a local TV station in Cleveland. She received her honorary high school degree with Gina and is raising her daughter in a loving and safe environment. Unfortunately, Amanda’s mother died while she was in captivity. She believes that Jocelyn was a miracle sent to her by her mother.

Gina DeJesus also received her honorary high school degree and finally got her driver’s license! She became an ambassador for Northeast Ohio AMBER alert. She and her cousin founded the Cleveland Family Center for Missing Children and Adults to focus on serving the families of missing people. Gina and Amanda remain close and have published a book together on their experience, while Michelle has also published her own.