Charles Ramsey, The Man Who Ended Amanda Berry's 10-Year Kidnapping Nightmare (Updated)

Amanda Marie Berry: 
undated handout, FBI

UPDATE -- MAY, May 9: This post now includes videos of  Charles Ramsey's interviews on Good Morning America,  WKYC Channel 3, and Anderson Cooper 360.

May 5, 2013 - She was kidnapped on April 21, 2003 as she left her job at a Burger King. Amanda Marie Berry was missing ever since. Tonight, however, she and two other kidnapped women are free thanks to the heroic efforts of neighbor Charles Ramsey.

According to police, reports CBS News, "a woman claiming to be Amanda Berry called 911 Monday. She said she was kidnapped 10 years ago and said she is currently at a home at 2210 Seymour.  She also told the dispatcher that Gina DeJesus was with her. A third missing woman, 32-year old Michelle Knight, was also at the location with Berry and DeJesus. It's believed Knight disappeared in 2000."

There are some odd discrepancies in the reporting of this story. CBS reports that a witness "says he saw Amanda Berry come running out of the house kicking and screaming 'Help me!,' and carrying a baby in her arms." That makes no sense, however. Kicking? The man who held her captive had reportedly left the house. Why was she kicking? It makes even less sense after you watch the Fox8-Cleveland news video below, in which we see neighbor Charles Ramsey let her out. It was from Ramsey's cell phone that Berry made her frantic call to 911 (hear the audio below).   

HERO: In the Fox8 video report, Charles Ramsey told Fox8 that he heard Berry screaming from inside the house next to his. In the video below, Ramsey says that he ran next door and Berry identified herself to him, and he says he let her out.

"I heard this girl screaming," Ramsey said, "and she's going nuts." He said nobody knew there was any females in the house, and so her screaming was "a dead giveaway that something's wrong. And I came to the front door and looked at her, she said 'My name is Amanda Berry, please, get me out of this house'." Ramsey said that the police arrested a suspect at a nearby McDonald's, which the Fox reporter confirmed.

911 CALL: "Help me! I'm Amanda Berry. I've been kidnapped and I've been missing for 10 years and I'm here. I'm free now," Berry told a 911 operator. The recording was released by Cleveland police and posted on the website of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. You can hear the audio here. You can hear Charles Ramsey's 911 call at The Cleveland Plain Dealer (language advisory). Fox8 reports that three suspects were arrested late this evening. "The men, ages 54, 52 and 50, are brothers. One of them has been identified as Ariel Castro." Cleveland police will have a news conference on Tuesday morning.

Help Find Doletha Parker, Missing Uptown Chicago Woman

A 60-year-old woman with Alzheimer's Disease is reported missing. The Chicago Police Department is asking for the public's help in finding her. Doletha Parker was last seen about 2:30 a.m. Friday (August 6, 2010) on the 4500 block of North Malden Street, police said (see map). That's in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood, where flyers for Ms. Parker have been seen posted on light poles and shop windows for two days now. Ms. Parker might have boarded the CTA Red Line at Wilson and Broadway, in an attempt to get to a son's house near 50th Street and Washington Park Court, police said. She recently moved to Chicago from Minnesota and is carrying Minnesota identification, and she might appear confused because of her medical condition. Ms. Parker is described in a missing person alert as black, 5-foot-6, 140 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a black and white housecoat and flip-flop shoes, and was carrying a gold purse. Anyone with information is asked to call the Belmont Area Special Victims Unit at 312-744-8266. The above report was largely by Heywood Hoffman as found at Chicago Breaking News, based on information from the Chicago Police Department. Some rewrite and additional information was added by Tom Mannis.

Found! Missing South Side Chicago Woman

A 79-year-old Chicago woman with dementia was found by police Friday morning after vanishing from her South Side home Wednesday [August 4, 2010]. Police found Martha Barrett in the 6700-block of South Stony Island before reuniting her with family. More at ABC7 Chicago... We love happy endings :-)

Found: Missing 71-Yr Old King Drakeford

UPDATE, May 27, 2010 6:12 PM, from Chicago Breaking News: Chicago police announced this evening that King Drakeford was located in Jefferson County, Wis., when he ran out of gas and was assisted by the Jefferson County Police. Drakeford has been reunited with his family. Original post: Chicago police are asking for your help in finding Mr. King Drakeford, 71 years olf, of the 1400 block of West 73rd Street. He has been missing since early Wednesday afternoon, May 26 when he did not pick up his wife as he regularly did. He was probably driving a 2001 burgundy four-door Buick LeSabre with whitewall tires, silver trim on the doors, and bobble head dogs in the back window, according to Chicago Police, with Illinois license plate DEF149. Chicago Breaking News notes that Mr. Drakeford was last seen wearing a beige cap, red, blue and white checkered short-sleeve shirt, blue jeans and black shoes, according to police. He takes blood pressure medicine, police said.He is described as black with a dark complexion, 5-feet-8½, 147 pounds, with brown eyes and black hair.

Body In Car on Edgewater Street Was Rogers Park Resident

May 15, 2010 - The vicitm in the tragic and mysterious story of a body found in car on a quiet side street now has a name. Kirk Flowers was found shot to death, according to Big Black News Blog, "wrapped in a bed sheet in the backseat of his 2008 Dodge Charger. The car was discovered in the 1400 block of West Rosemont Ave. in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood." BBNB quotes Chicago Police as saying that Flowers, described as African-American, 26, 5-feet 11-inches and 205 lbs, "was shot several times; his body was wrapped in a bed sheet, bound with duct-tape, and there were signs of fire damage to the inside of his vehicle."

It's a gruesome story. Flowers' body was discovered late in the afternoon of Friday, May 14. The car, parked in the quiet, tree-lined 1400 block of W. Rosemont in the Edgewater neighborhood, was inspected and towed away as evidence and further examination around 5:30 p.m., according to what a witness told Chicago News Bench yesterday. 

Chicago Breaking News today reported that the care "was locked and had signs of smoke and fire damage inside the vehicle, according to a police source. It was taken to the medical examiner's office with the body inside to keep evidence intact, police said." Witnesses also say that the body of Flowers was in the front passenger seat, and that window had been broken or shattered by gunfire.

 
The blog of Lost N Missing, Inc. posted an alert about Kirk Flowers on May 14. It said that he "was last seen on May 8 and may be driving his red 2008 Dodge Charger sedan with an Illinois license plate number of A295353. Please note he recently lost his job and may be very depressed. His family and friends are very worried." It was in the same Dodge Charger that his body was found only hours after the notice was posted. The Chicago Sun-Times reported today that "The alert was cancelled at 10:14 a.m. Saturday, police said. The car was found about a half mile from Flowers’ home."

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Body Found in Car in Edgewater Chicago News Bench

Body of Missing David DelCiello Identified

March 26, 2010 - We are saddened to learn that the search for David DelCiello, missing since November, ended with the idenfication of his body, which was found on a private beach in New Buffalo, Indiana. Chicago Breaking News reports that a "body discovered on the Lake Michigan shoreline in New Buffalo, Mich., earlier this month is that of a Chicago man reported missing in November, authorities said today. The body, found on March 16, has been confirmed to be that of David DelCiello, according to New Buffalo police, who could not confirm a cause of death but said no foul play is suspected." Full story... DelCiello's body was found on Tuesday, March 16 but remained unidentified until today. WSBT TV 22 (Mishawaka, IN) reported on March 16 that New Buffalo Police Chief Larry Pitchford "said an autopsy is being conducted .... in an attempt to determine if there were any outward signs of trauma. Police have not determined a cause of death, but are looking into the possibility that it was a drowning case from last year." Pitchford said the body was partially buried in the sand and "had likely been dead for months because of its decomposition." According to WSBT, DelCiello's body was discovered at "about 11:50 a.m. Tuesday, March 16 in the 800 block of North Drive, about a 100 yards west of the New Buffalo Yacht Club. Pitchford said the body was about 12 to 15 feet from the water’s edge. As we reported on December 14, 2009: David DelCiello was last heard from on Nov. 21, 2009 between 3:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m., when he phoned his father "in a panic" from his apartment at 2630 N. Hampden Court. Family, friends and Chicago Police want your help in finding him. DelCiello is 6' 2", 140 pounds, brown eyes and hair, and "fair complexion." (Note that the correct spelling of his last name is "DelCiello," no space with a capital "C".) According to a post on the Nancy Grace blog at CNN, "Dave was last seen Nov. 20, by his father, when he boarded a city CTA bus to head home between 10 am and 11 am. He was last heard from in the early morning hours of Nov. 21, around 4 a.m., when he called his parents in a panic, worried that someone was going to break in and take the belongings in his apartment." (Source: Nancy Grace CNN, cached) A mutual friend named Michael phoned me on the evening of Dec. 14 to alert me about David DelCiello's disappearance, and he gave me some information that does not seem to be anywhere else. Michael, who I've know for four years, grew up with David DelCiello. "I've known him pretty much all of my life," Michael told me. He said that the last time he spoke with David was on Nov. 7 and "he seemed okay." The last time he heard from David was on Nov. 20, when David left him a voicemail. "He sounded normal then, too," Michael said, "I didn't have a chance to return his call before he disappeared." According to Michael, David DelCiello's medications were left in his apartment. This is possibly very important since one just doesn't take off without taking their important meds with them. In addition, Michael reports that David lost his wallet the day before he disappeared. This is important too. If (hypothetically) David DelCiello is wandering around with amnesia, or might now be an unconscious "John Doe" in a hospital, nobody coming in contact with him would know his name or how to contact his family. David had been living in an apartment located behind a recording studio that he owned until July, 2009. Three Pear Studio, Inc., located at 5219 North Clark Street (just north of W. Foster Avenue) went out of business in July, 2009. After the studio closed, David moved to an apartment in Lincoln Park at 2630 N. Hampden Court. That's where he was last seen, on Nov. 21, 2009. Leave a Comment * Conservative T-Shirts * Follow CNB on Twitter * RSS Feed

Missing Mail Carrier's Body Found By Montrose Beach, Chicago

March 3, 2010 - For weeks, his face was seen on "Missing" flyers taped to phone poles and lamp posts. The search for mail carrier Richard J. Wieting ended tragically on Tuesday, March 2, when his body was found floating in Lake Michigan on Chicago's north side late in the afternoon. He went missing from Hanover Park on Tuesday, January 19. According to WBBM 780 AM, Wieting's body was discovered in the water and was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy was conducted this morning but the cause of death was not released. Where, Exactly, Was His Body Found? Although WBBM reports that his body was found "at Montrose Beach near West Leland Avenue and Lake Michigan," a press release from the Village of Hanover Park says that his body was pulled "from Montrose Harbor." Leland Avenue and Lake Michigan is quite a distance from Montrose Harbor. It's six blocks, or roughly a quarter of a mile. Montrose Harbor is just south of Montrose Avenue. On January 24, Fox News reported that Wieitng's daughter said his 2007 PT Cruiser was found near Foster Avenue Beach, which is the first beach north of Montrose Beach. Leave a Comment * Conservative T-Shirts * Follow CNB on Twitter * RSS Feed

Chicago Police Search for Missing Down's Syndrome Boy

11:30 AM, July 9 - Police and neighbors are now looking for a missing Hispanic boy who has Down's syndrome. He was reported missing from his home in the 4700 block of N. Malden in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood. The boy is described as "small for his age" with "long straight hair." This is from police scanner chatter, 23rd District. We assume the boy's hair is black, and police are saying they have no clothing description. If you see the boy please call 911. Leave a Comment... See Our Online Store Chicago News Bench RSS Feed We're on Twitter...

Venezuelan Man Hunt in the U.S.?

Maybe. I spotted this weird poster taped to a light pole in Chicago's downtown, near Dearborn and Adams on Friday, Sept. 28. If you've seen this guy, you're urged to contact the Venezuelan consulate near you. Jose Gregorio was last seen in Ohio "with two Russian females." Hmmm.

There's something weird and intriguing about this poster.

Most "missing person" posters that are put up by friends or family offer a reward, or urge you to call the police or FBI.

Few "missing person" posters - at least the ones you see in Chicago - involve a guy who is apparently a Venezuelan national who was last seen at an amusement park with two Russian women.

Few "missing person" posters urge us to contact the Venezuelan consulate.

Questions arise: Is this a poster from the Venezuelan consulate? Who, exactly, is trying to find this guy? Note that the poster does not actually say that he is missing. The party that made this poster simply asks us if we've seen this guy. Why? And if he is missing person, do the FBI and local authorities in Ohio know about it? Let's hope this guy - and those two Russian females - are okay. Let's also hope that this not some weird Venezuelan manhunt in the U.S.