Ariel Castro House Demolished [VIDEO] Michelle Knight Joins Cheering Crowd As SIte OF 10 Year Kidnapping Gets Torn Down
The house of Ariel Castro was demolished today, 93 days after the escape of Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight. Michelle Knight joined the demolition and the crowd celebrated the end of Castro's torturous home.
Knight told people watching the demolition that she plans on being a motivational speaker to "let everybody know that they're heard, that they are loved and there is hope for everyone."
"I feel very liberated that people think of me as a hero and a role model and I would love to continue being that," she said.
DeJesus' aunt took the first swing at the house with a crane.
She said organizers asked the families if someone wanted to begin the demolition and she agreed to do it, "because I had so much anger inside me. I wanted to do it. It felt great. It felt like a house of horrors coming down."
$22,000 found in Castro's home was offered to the three women who said they want it to go back to the neighborhood.
Berry, 27, and DeJesus, 23, were not present for the demolition.
Michelle Knight has been the most outspoken of the three kidnapped victims. On August 1st Ariel Castro was sentenced to life in prison and this is what she said in court:
My name is Michelle Knight, and I would like to tell you what 11 years was like for me.
I missed my son every day. I wondered if I would ever see you again. He was only 2 1/2 years old when I was tooken. I look inside my heart and I see my son.
I cried every night. I was so alone. I worried about what would happen to me and the other girls every day.
Days never got shorter. Days turned into nights. Nights turned into days. The years turned into eternity.
I knew nobody cared about me. He told me that my family didn't care. He tormented me, constantly, even on holidays.
Christmas was the most traumatic day because I never got to spend it with my son.
Nobody should ever have to go through what I went through or anybody else, not even the worstest enemy.
Gina was my teammate. She never let me fall. I never let her fall. She nursed me back to health when I was dying from his abuse. My friendship with her is the only thing that was good out of this situation. We said we would someday make it out alive, and we did.
Ariel Castro, I remember all the times that you came home talking about what everybody else did wrong and act like you wasn't doing the same thing. You said, "At least I didn't kill you."
You took 11 years of my life away and I have got it back. I spent 11 years in hell. Now your hell is just beginning. I will overcome all this that happened, but you will face hell for eternity.
From this moment on I will not let you define me or affect who I am.
I will live on. You will die a little every day. As you think about the 11 years and the atrocities you inflicted on us, what does God think of you hypocritically going to church every Sunday, coming home to torture us.
Death penalty will be so much easier. You don't deserve that. You deserve to spend life in prison. I can forgive you but I will never forget. With the guidance of God, I will prevail and help others that have suffered at the hands of others. Writing this statement gave me the strength to be a stronger woman, and know that's there's more good than evil.
I know that there's a lot of people going through hard times. But we need to reach out a hand and hold them and let them know that they're being heard.
After 11 years, I am finally being heard and it's liberating. Thank you all. I love you. God bless you.