Kidnap Victim Shuns Family: Says They Never Looked For Her

Kidnap Victim Knight Refusing Family Visits

One of the kidnapped women held hostage for more than 10 years in a man’s home in Cleveland is refusing visits from two of her relatives.

Michelle Knight, who was 20 years old when she disappeared and was thought by police and some family members to have simply run away, is refusing any visits from her mother and grandmother.

According to reports, kidnapper and rapist Ariel Castro forced Knight and the two other women he held captive–Amanda Berry, 27, and Gina DeJesus, 23–to watch television footage of candlelight vigils held in their honor. Knight’s family held no vigil, in part because they believed she’d left of her own will.

“They took him and she went out and took off and never came back,” said her grandmother. The family did file a missing persons report, however.

The two women had relocated to Florida since her disappearance but travelled to Cleveland to see Knight. Her grandmother reports that Michelle requested that neither woman visit her in the hospital.

The kidnap victim has not shunned her entire family. One of her two brothers, Freddie Knight, did have a chance to visit his sister in the hospital.

Freddie Knight, one of Michelle’s two brothers, was able to visit with the freed woman in her hospital room and said her skin tone was extremely pale.

He reports that she feels excited to be finally able to begin a new chapter in her life.

Her brother contacted her again by phone but said he would discontinue any future visits unless alerted by the hospital that his sister wants to see him. 52-year old Ariel Castro, a man who actually joined in the hunt for the three missing women over the past decade, was charged with both kidnapping and rape.

Reports indicate that he impregnated Knight at least five times, but caused her to abort each fetus.

According to a friend of Felix and Nancy DeJesus – parents of Gina – they are planning to adopt Michelle, whose relationship with her parents is not good following her release from captivity, the Daily Mail has reported.

According to the Daily Mail, a neighbor of the DeJesus family, Lupe Collins, was told by Nancy DeJesus on Thursday that she and her husband are trying to convince Michelle, 32, to come and live with them and allow them to adopt her.

Collins told the Daily Mail: “She was Georgina’s sister for ten years in that house and she’s still her sister now. They’re going to take her in as their own family member and help her. Michelle doesn’t want to go back to her own family because they abused her before she was kidnapped and they only want the money now.”

Knight was a 20-year-old single mother when she went missing in 2002, having lost a custody battle and seen officials take away her toddler son.

On the Web:

Kidnap victim shuns family
http://www.iol.co.za/dailynews/news/cleveland-victim-shuns-family-visits-1.1513561#.UY4S5CbD_IU

Michelle Knight, Kidnap Victim, Shuns Family Following Rescue
http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/05/michelle-knight-kidnap-victim-shuns-family-following-rescue/