“You can overcome all obstacles that stand in your way. Don't let the darkness control your light in your life.”
She’d fought to overcome what she says was the trauma of sexual abuse by a male relative, living on the streets and later losing custody of her son.
“You can overcome all obstacles that stand in your way,” Knight shared in an interview with ABC News. “Don't let the darkness control your light in your life.”Knight and the two other women who were kidnapped by Castro as teens, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus, shared their incredible stories of survival with “20/20.”Knight said she loved growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, but hated her life at home.
“I [ended] up going there just because I heard beautiful music. And I was a little bit embarrassed because I didn't smell too pretty,” she said. “I stood in the back and singing along with every hymn that they were singing.” Knight was desperate to get her son back. On Aug. 23, 2002, she got lost on her way to a case management meeting and stopped at a store to ask for directions.
Together, Amanda Berry and her daughter Jocelyn shared the room in Ariel Castro's house pictured here.In April 2003, he kidnapped 16-year-old Amanda Berry as she was walking home from her job at Burger King. A year later, he abducted 14-year-old Gina DeJesus as she returned home from middle school. In each case, the girl got into his car because she knew him as her friend’s father.
Cuyahoga County assistant prosecutor Anna Faraglia said Castro “was very abusive to Michelle 'cause Michelle spoke up the most.” First responder Anthony Espada remembered, “I thought she was a child 'cause that’s, 'cause she was so tiny.”“It was just [an] amazing feeling,” Knight said. “The first thing that I did is I dropped to the ground. I didn't care how dirty it was ... I kissed that ground. I kissed that ground and thanked God that He helped us get out of there.”It didn’t take long before Castro was found driving nearby and was arrested.
Castro pleaded guilty to 937 criminal counts of rape, kidnapping and aggravated murder and he was sentenced to life in prison without parole, plus a thousand years. Knight, Berry and DeJesus survived in Castro’s cruel captivity together for a decade. But Castro only spent one month and one day in prison beforeBy then, Castro’s house had already been demolished. Knight watched as it was being torn down, handing out balloons to those in the neighborhood.
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