US | Ariel Castro Ariel Castro Did Commit Suicide: New Report Prison consultants reject notion that he died of autoerotic asphyxiation By Newser Editors and Wire Services Posted Dec 3, 2013 9:20 AM CST Copied In this Thursday, Aug. 1, 2013, file photo, Ariel Castro makes a statement in the courtroom during his sentencing phase in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak, File) Two corrections consultants have concluded that Cleveland kidnapper Ariel Castro committed suicide in his prison cell and didn't die by accidentally killing himself while attempting to achieve a sexual thrill. The nationally regarded consultants rejected a suggestion in a state prisons report in October that Castro's Sept. 3 hanging was not a suicide as originally believed. The consultants' report released today says all available evidence, including a shrine-like display in Castro's cell and an increasing tone of frustration in his prison journal, points to suicide. The 53-year-old Castro had just begun serving a life sentence plus 1,000 years for imprisoning and raping three women in his shuttered house for a decade; he was found hanging in his cell from a sheet attached to a window hinge. Click for more on the case. Read These Next Miami-Dade may have made a $400 million mistake. Clint Eastwood's son has some big news, in case you missed it. A day after Scott Pelley unloaded on 60 Minutes bosses, he is out. Judge rules '86-47' flag is no threat. Report an error