Ohio man gets life term in kidnapping of 3 women

By THOMAS J. SHEERAN and ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS, Associated Press

Aug 1, 2013 12:32 PM CDT

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Ohio man gets life term in kidnapping of 3 women — FILE - File images from the video provided by Hennes Paynter Communications shows from left: Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight. The three women held captive in a Cleveland home for a decade broke their public silence in a 3-minute, 30-second video posted on YouTube at midnight Monday July... (Associated Press)

The Ohio man convicted of holding three women captive in his Cleveland house over a decade and raping them repeatedly has been sentenced to life without parole.

Fifty-three-year-old Ariel Castro was being given his sentence Thursday. He had pleaded guilty to 937 counts including aggravated murder, kidnapping, rape and assault.

He got the life term for the most serious count and was getting additional time for the hundreds of other counts.

A plea deal struck last week spared him from a possible death sentence for beating and starving a pregnant victim until she miscarried.

The women disappeared separately between 2002 and 2004, when they were 14, 16 and 20 years old.

They escaped to freedom May 6 when one of them, Amanda Berry, broke out part of the door to Castro's house and yelled to neighbors for help.