welcome back to cnn. i'm brooke baldwin live in cleveland, ohio, where right now families are reuniting and three brothers are answering questions this afternoon as they sit behind bars. investigators say this home, just behind me, i don't know if you can see it, has this one little porch light on and you can get close enough to where you can see the front door kicked in. this is basically a prison for these three women who all

appeared and disappeared more than nine years ago. today, police tell us they never received any tips about this place, even though officers paid a visit inside this home years ago. we're getting our very first look at the men who are being held at this hour here in cleveland. take a look at this. these are the pictures from the city of cleveland. you have ariel castro, the homeowner, and his two brothers, pedro castro and oneil castro. each man at least 50 years of age. but the headline of this moment is just the sheer joy of loved ones, thought to be dead, now back where they belong, home. want to show you now a family reunion unlike any other we have seen. this is amanda berry in the center, the young girl in the bed is believed to be her young daughter. and on the other side of berry, her sister beth, who has not only seen berry, it has been

more than nine years, that's because berry is one of these three women, allegedly in prisoned in this home here in cleveland on seymour avenue, about 15 miles from downtown. and it is just three to four miles if where all of the women initially went missing so many years ago. berry was just about to turn 17 when she up and disappeared. that was back in 2003. also, gina dejesus was 14 when she vanished in 2004 and michele knight was 20 when a loved one reported her missing in 2002. and then yesterday, berry made the move that turned her into the ultimate freedom fighter, breaking through the screen door. i told you again, the home with the porch light, you see the bottom half bashed in, the man who helped get her out of there actually talked to one of the reporters here in cleveland, gave this play by play of this amazing escape. listen. >> they were screaming.

i'm eating my mcdonald's. i come outside. i see this girl going nuts trying to get out of the house. so i go on the porch, i go on the porch, and she says, help me get out. i've been here a long time. so, you know, i figured it was a domestic violence dispute. i open the door and we can't get in that way because how the door is, it is so much that a body can't fit through, only your hand. so we kicked the bottom and she comes out with the little girl and she says, call 911. my name is amanda berry. >> do you know who that was when she said that? >> she told me, it didn't register. until i got the call to 911. i'm calling the 911 for amanda berry. i thought this girl was dead. >> after amanda berry broke free from that home, out the front door, she went to a neighboring home here in cleveland, and then called 911. >> 911. what's your emergency? >> help me.

i'm amanda berry. >> do you need police, fire or ambulance? >> i need police. >> okay, and what's going on there? >> i've been kidnapped, and i've been missing for ten years, and i'm here. i'm free now. >> okay, and what's your address? >> 2207 seymour avenue. >> 2207 seymour. it looks like you're calling me from 2210. >> huh? >> looks like you're calling me from 2210. >> i can't hear you. >> looks like you're calling me from 2210 seymour. >> i'm across the street. i'm using the phone. >> okay, stay there with those neighbors and talk to police when they get there. >> okay. hello? >> okay, talk to the police when they get there. >> okay. are they on their way right now? >> we're going to send them as soon as we get a car open. >> no, i need them now before he gets back. >> all right. we're sending them, okay? >> okay, i mean like -- >> who's the guy you're trying -- who is the guy who went out? >> his name is ariel castro. >> okay, how old is he? >> he's like 52.

and i'm amanda berry. i've been on the news for the last ten years. >> okay, i got that, dear. and you say what was his name again? >> ariel castro. >> and is he white, black or hispanic? >> hispanic. >> what's he wearing? >> i don't know 'cause he's not here right now. that's why i ran away. >> when he left, what was he wearing? >> who knows. >> the police are on the way. talk to them when they get there. >> i need -- okay. >> i told you they're on the way. talk to them when they get there. >> all right, okay. bye. >> just listen to that, it is absolutely mind boggling. you hear the absolute fear in berry's voice, fear, specifically, toward a man she named ariel castro, the 52-year-old is now under arrest, as we mentioned, along with his brothers pedro and oneil. as for charges, charges have not yet been filed, but a neighbor who saw the women say their

condition literally brought her to tears. anderson cooper talked to the woman's niece and asked her what the victims looked like, just last night. >> really bad. crying because she said they look so bad, you know, like they were -- i don't know, suffering, they were desperate, crying, running, they were crazy, they were, you know, i don't have no words. >> and i want to revisit the interview with charles ramsey, the man who helped amanda berry break open that front door. he was walking along here on seymour avenue, eating his mcdonald's, heard the screams. again, the suspect here, ariel castro, in fact, ramsey was friends with him. >> we see this dude every day. i mean, every day. >> how long have you lived here? >> i've been here a year.

i barbecue with this dude. we eat ribs and what not and listen to salsa music. you see where i'm coming from? >> and you had no indication? >> not a clue. >> and that shock is also what my next guest is experiencing here today. he is tito dejesus, he played in a band with ariel castro, has pictures of the suspect up on his facebook account and tito joins me not too far away from where i am here in cleveland. and, tito, first, when i first heard your name, i heard tito dejesus, i thought immediately of gina dejesus, one of the rescued women on seymour avenue. just to be crystal clear, any relation? >> that i know of, no. but i've never checked the family tree, but i've known the family since i can remember. >> and just before i get to your connection with ariel castro, how is the family doing? >> excuse me?

>> just before i get to your connection with ariel castro, have you been in touch with the dejesus family? this is a close knit community here in cleveland. how are they today? >> well, i've been in touch with one of the cousins, they called me today, telling me how they appreciated my support, and on facebook i've been in touch with one of the other cousins and they're just happy that all three girls are okay. and, you know, they're just happy that god protected them throughout the ten years. >> tito, let's talk about the guy who apparently owned this home here on seymour avenue, a man you played music with, a man you knew for two decades. ariel castro. what was he like? >> he was -- i've known him through music. your average musician, you know, high spirits, always joking around, smiling, laughing, great talent musically. and it was a shock to me to find

out that this happened and it was hard to believe because i would have never thought a million years that it was him that was allegedly holding gina, amanda and michele. >> hard to believe, i bet also, because these women, it sounds like, might have been under your nose. you have been to this home on seymour avenue. when was the most recent time you were here? >> i was there about two years ago, when i was moving from my house, to an apartment, i sold ariel a washer and dryer and bunch of stuff out of my garage. ske e he asked for me help to take the stuff to his house. we unloaded the stuff. i went inside for a few minutes, the living room and then i left. >> tito, tell me in those few minutes when you were inside this home, where we now know these three women and at least one young daughter lived, what did you see? >> i saw a normal environment.

they didn't seem to be like, you know, a place where women were being held against their will. of course, mind you, i didn't go throughout the entire house. i was just, like, just the beginning of the house, living room, but it seemed normal. nothing out of place. just like a normal house. >> can you be more specific? we, media here, we can't get anywhere near this home. i can tell -- i can see the front of it, the front door knocked out. but you've been inside. describe just the layout of this home for me. >> what i can remember, you know, when you walk in, you have your steps going upstairs and like a living room and then a small dining room, if i'm not mistaken and he usually had his instruments laying around, almost like furniture at times. that's how some of -- instead of furniture, have instruments. and that's what he had. he was very honored to have a bunch of basses laying around,

he would show them off. and pretty much it looked like a musician's house, what it looked like. >> and in those few minutes, did you ever hear any other voices? anything else? >> absolutely not. i've always known him to be a person who has been alone. i never pried into his personal life. i didn't know if he was married or not, but i know he had children. and recently through facebook he told us today he had grandchildren, a new grandchild, a fifth one and when i went to his house, two years ago, again, you know it was quiet, like it was empty, nobody was in there, just like it was only him living in there. >> tito, was it neat? was it clean? did you see photos? >> that i can remember, at this point, i wasn't really paying attention to see if there was any photos. he was a neat person.

i'm not saying he was super clean or anything. but he was neat. neat as a single guy can be. he's a musician. there was nothing out of place, you know. home, just pretty much a simple instruments around, laying around. that's what it was. >> and so i hear you talk about instruments and the neatness. we heard from police this morning that these girls might have been tied up. did you see any evidence of that. anything suspicious? >> no. not at all. not at all. nothing that caught my eye. again, i wasn't there for a long period of time and i was there -- i wasn't, you know, even thinking he was the type of person that would do something like that. so there was nothing there that caught my eye, like that. so, no, i can't say i saw anything like that. >> what about his work history. what more can you tell us about him, other than a guy who played in some bands. what more did he do? >> well, i've known him to be a

school bus driver. and that's the only job i know that he had. there were many times where he would call me, if he had to do a gig with me, he knew i usually had a charge or a cd to listen to do learn the music. i would say stop by the house and i'll give it to you. and to my surprise, i would walk out, and many times he would show up with a school bus, empty school bus in front of my house. i was shocked, like, okay. that's something you don't see every day. it was music and being a school bus driver. that's all i know about him. >> so as the school bus driver, obviously around a lot of young people all the time, did he ever talk about children? >> no. the only time he spoke about children was when his daughter needed to move and he needed to help his daughter, he couldn't make a gig we had because he had to move his daughter. i guess she was moving from one place to another. and basically that was it. we never got into each other's

personal lives. that's one thing we never do. >> why was that? did' pe ahe appear very guarded? >> pardon? >> did he appear very guarded, if he wasn't very forth coming when it came to his personal life. why was that, do you think? >> i really don't know. like we never had the chance to talk about personal life. every time we were together, either performing or rehearsing, it was just talking about music, and like it never came up. to talk about our personal lives. he asked me, hey, how are your kids, like, you know, like a regular question, everything okay, you know, your typical question, but to get into a deep conversation about our personal lives, that really never happened. >> tito, really just my last question, knowing now and again no formal charges have been filed against ariel castro or his brothers, we just know they're in custody, just have you been able to wrap your head around this, the fact you were in this home, where these women were apparently living?

how does that make you feel? >> it's -- it makes me feel shocked. again, like i said, you know, i'm just going by what the news are saying, the news media. i mean, like i said, it is up to police to do the investigation. and find all the evidence against him, you know. if he's guilty, you know, the evidence will point to him. if he's not ty, thevidence will pnt to somebody else. the way it is looking like, i'm not the judge here, i can't judge him, i just know who he is, who he was to me, a fellow musician, and this is a shocker, because you would never think this is the kind of person that can do something like this. >> sounds like a shocker to a lot of people near cleveland, they have been looking fors they women for a decade. tito dejesus, thank you so much, for joining me here in cleveland. i appreciate it. coming up next, new sound just in to me. this is from a neighbor who says she has seen some bizarre and chilling behavior here along seymour avenue, at the suspect's

home, the home with the one porch light on. here is what she told us. >> well, me and my friends and my sister were across the street at a house, like, spending the night and we seen naked lady in the backyard. ♪ [ female announcer ] from meeting customer needs... to meeting patient needs... ♪ wireless is limitless. ♪ from finding the best way... ♪ to finding the best catch... ♪ wireless is limitless. our seafood dinner for two for just 25 dollars! first get salad and cheddar bay biscuits. then choose from a variety of seafood entrées. plus choose either an appetizer or a dessert to share. offer ends soon at red lobster! where we sea food differently.

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again, i'm brooke baldwin live here in cleveland, standing on seymour avenue, which is now

sort of become the center of such media attention and quite a frenzy, quite a fantastic frenzy, if i may, for people here in cleveland who have been reporting for years and years, basically a decade on the three missing persons, these three young women who are now in their 20s and one is 30, and they are now alive, they were found thanks to one of them screaming, sticking her arm out of that door, see the white house with the one porch light on. if you can see, part of the bottom part of the door has been kicked in because she got a little help getting out and she was able to bring the other women with her and also a small child. so that's why we're here in cleveland. poppy harlow is working the story with me. she's been speaking with some of the family members who have been talking to her about how they feel now, spending time with the freed women. so, poppy, i can't imagine, it must be just so overwhelming, with emotions seeing these people, i know you talked to the family of gina dejesus, how are they? what are they telling you? >> reporter: hi, brooke. we did.

we had a chance to speak with the brother of gina dejesus, she is 23 years old now. her older brother ricardo is 33. we talked to him at the house behind me, the family home where gina lived before she was abducted. it is where her brother still lives and where he lived with her and her parents and he told me he found out that they had found his sister last night from watching the news. he was in his living room, watching the news. he thought -- he called his father, who, of course, is gina's father down to see it. and i said what was that like? he said, it was unbelievable, we were so excited, we were so happy, and, of course, after that, they went to the hospital with other family members to see her for first time in nine years. i want you to listen to a little bit of what ricardo, gina's brother, told me. >> like a best friend. >> what was she like? what did she like to do most? >> she liked to dance a lot.

crack jokes. be with the family. >> you saw gina last night at the hospital. >> yes. >> what was that like for you? tell me about that. >> i was very excited. i was, like, i'm glad, i'm able to see her, it was nine years. nine long years. i'm just happy i was able to sit there and hug her and say, yep, you're finally home. >> reporter: she liked to dance, she liked to be with her family, he was describing what it was like to be with his sister who was a teenager, brooke, when he last saw her and as he told me now, she is a young woman. i asked, did she talk to you at all about her ordeal over the last nine years, what was that like? he said, we did not get into that at all at the hospital. just hugs and emotion and being with one another. i think they're trying to give her space to settle back in before they get into any of those details. i did ask him, if he knows ariel castro, because there are a lot of questions about if the families knew one another or not. he said he did know ariel castro

from a long time ago when they were younger, but over the past ten years or so, he has not seen him. brooke? >> it is interesting, though, poppy, now being here in cleveland, and, you know, you're talking to people, we're talking to people, it is very much so an intermingling kind of community where a lot of folks maybe not just the girls but the parents, right, and even ariel castro who apparently lived in the home behind me. thank you so much, poppy. and as we learn more about these young women who are now free, how nice is it to see their photos with the word found revealed, we're now also hearing a little bit more about, you know, the tone in this particular neighborhood, in cleveland, more about ariel castro and some of the oddities that are also maybe happening through the years from some of the neighbors. wasn't i want to bring in torre dunnan who has been reporting near cleveland. you've been here and you're talking to -- who did you talk to? >> i talked to a neighbor. she lived about three houses over. she's 20 years old and she said,

you know, ultimately at first she thought he was a pretty nice guy, she used to ride on his atv, she knew him, she with go over and talk to him and then things changed about two years ago when something strange happened. take a listen to this. >> me and my friends and my sister were across the street at a house, like, spending the night and we seen a naked lady in the backyard. and we, like, didn't know nothing about it. so we said -- we said something to her, he told her to get down and we said something to him, and he told both -- he told her to get in the house and he ran behind the cars and got in the house. >> so what was she doing? >> she was just walking around. >> and naked? >> yeah. we thought that was weird. >> yeah, i mean, what sort of came to your mind? >> we thought it was funny at first, and then we, like, we thought that was weird, so we called the cops. >> and what happened? >> they thought we were playing and joking.

they didn't believe us. when we seen the lady, like, the backyard was opened. and then, like, after that, like a week or two after, he put tarps up, he, like, secluded himself. >> you saw the tarps from where? >> i could see them from my bedroom window. if we would stand up on the log or something, we could -- >> right here? >> i think the police might have took them down. i don't know. he would open the window for maybe like an hour or two and she would just sit there and look out the window. and then he would come back and close the window and then we don't know what happened to her the rest of the day. and then, like, he just had the windows boarded up, everything was closed down. one time he led us up to the front door to get popsicles or candy or something like that. like he didn't let us in the house ever.

>> so obviously you heard in there she said she would go over to his house, but he would say, stop at the front entrance, couldn't go in. he would go in and get them popsicles. there is an uneasiness in the neighborhood about what happened. >> hearing from some of the neighbors, they said it was odd he never seemed to be using the front door, right? he would go around the back, whether in his red pickup or motorcycle and would shut the gate and go in the back door. it just -- it is sort of infuriating though because we covered a story like this before where, you know in this case, thank goodness, these three women were found, but then, you know, neighbors come out of the wood work saying, you know, that was odd that he would do this and i saw this naked woman in a backyard and there were tarps that suddenly appeared. >> another interesting they said, one of the neighbors nearby said he would drive a school bus, park it in front of the house and walk in with the bag of mcdonald's, and then leave, every single day, so they're wondering what that meant at this point. >> great reporting. we'll check back in with you,

tory, thank you very much. coming up next, as we talk about the other missing cases, there is new hope now for other cases, for other parents who want their kids returned to them. a mother who lost her own daughter to a kidnapper joins me live. stay right here for special cnn coverage. we're live today in cleveland, ohio. ♪

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welcome back to the bottom of the hour. you're watching cnn live. i'm brooke baldwin in the thick of things in cleveland, ohio, where the story just burst open and now we have three women alive, this case, it is stunning this commune tichicommunity. these three women have been missing for a decade. there is also a young child believed to be the daughter of amanda berry according to police. now the news this afternoon, let me show you pictures, because you have three men, one of whom lives in this home here, on seymour avenue, he was the homeowner, where these three

women were found. just yesterday. their names, ariel castro, the one who lives here, oneil castro and pedro castro, all brothers. these are the photographs, they're in police custody. but to be clear, they have not been charged. and it is impossible, really, to imagine the pain that comes with having a child abducted. but erin runyon knows firsthand what the families of amanda berry and michelle knight and gina dejesus has gone through over this past decade. why? because erin's little daughter samantha runyan was five years old when she was abducted and killed in 2002. her kill wears captured. was convicted. and erin now turned her pain into action. she's founded the joyful child foundation in samantha's memory. the foundation's mission is to prevent crimes against children by empowering families and empowering communities. communities like where we stand here in cleveland. so, erin, thank you so much, for

joining me here today. >> >> my pleasure, brooke. >> what is your reaction hearing the news here that the three young women and now what appears to be a daughter are alive and free? >> i could not be happier. i was absolutely thrilled, and in tears when i heard the news. and just the more that it -- as it unfolded, seeing the pictures of them in the hospital, it is just a beautiful, beautiful day. >> does this beautiful day, should this beautiful day instill hope in families, families of missing children? >> absolutely. absolutely. you know, nothing is more agonizing than not knowing if your child is alive or dead, if they're suffering, where they are, all of the unimaginable possibilities. there is not a good one in the mix. and to have families know that

every once in a while, every once in a blue moon we have a recovery like this that just reinstills the hope for unfortunately thousands of other families. >> i'm glad you said that, though. it is every once in a blue moon. i was reading on the plane here today, it is such a rarity to have happy endings, if you will, happy endings in cases like this where you have victims who manage to escape, who are released in some cases from their captors. how rare is this, erin? >> it is extremely rare. there are over 58,000 nonfamily related child abductions every year in this country and of those, about 115 are cases like my daughter, where it is this complete stranger and the child is not recovered alive. but of those 58,000, more than half of those people are assaulted before they are recovered or found. so for them to be discovered so many years later, it is really

very rare. and about 72% of the child abduction cases where the person is killed, it usually happens, unfortunately, within the first three hours of that abduction. so time is of the essence when we're talking about abduction scenarios. the reality is when it comes to adults who go missing like michelle knight, we don't have any statistics on young adults who go missing. >> so then what is -- for parents that have little ones. what is the takeaway? what do parents need to know? >> what we need to do is empower young people to defend themselves, we really do. we need to teach risk reduction techniques on personal safety, even more so, we need to teach them how to fight because if we can resist being taken from one location to another, we can resist and get away from the vast majority of these crimes. you know, and the national center for missing and exploited children did a case study on 500

abductions and in over 85% of those cases, it was the child's physical resistance that enabled them to escape and only 11% did an adult intervene. it is important when these things happen, generally the victim is alone, and we have to empower our children with safety education and with self-defense. >> erin runnion, thank you for coming on and your perspective. we appreciate it. as we are again here in cleveland covering this -- thank you, covering this amazing story, we need to talk about someone who lived in this home, the home in which it sounds like these three young women and this small child had lived up until yesterday. we're going to bring on mike brooks, one of our law enforcement analysts, because he can talk about this man, who apparently was a school bus driver. we talked so much about teachers going through background checks. what about the drivers? what do they have to go through? could something have been overlooked here? that's next. hoo-hoo...hoo-hoo.

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ariel castro once drove a school bus, and a lot of people here in cleveland wondering how children can be kept away from

potential predators. hln law enforcement analyst mike brooks joins me now. and, mike, we're told that there was an incident in the past when this guy, ariel castro, left a child alone on a bus. the word i saw was inadvertently. the police determined there was no criminal intent. i know it is easy to second guess, of course, but should an incident like that have raised a big old red flag? >> well, yeah. it could. but the problem is, you know, they do background checks, brooke, on everyone who is involved in anything at school now. school bus drivers, teachers, volunteers, parents who even come in to volunteer in their children's classroom. but if you don't have anything on your record, you know, you're going to come up with a clean record and you'll have a background check with nothing on it. this incident, though, how many times have we heard even with private schools, with day cares, where a child is left on a bus. sometimes you get to the end of the route and he'll look in the back and he'll find a child

maybe asleep on the -- we don't know the particulars around that particular incident. but apparently it didn't raise any red flags with law enforcement and i'm sure law enforcement would have looked into it to see whether or not he had any kind of background, whether they thought there was any kind of criminality whatsoever involved. >> here's my other question, i want to move off the bus driver and talk about the -- we hear this all the time, you see something, you say something. we cover these stories all too often on my show where it is about a neighbor seeing something that hopefully saves a life. maybe too many windows are blacked out and maybe there is someone seen acting erratically in the backyard or maybe kids are seen for a while and poof, they disappear and now with this story, you hear all the neighbors here in cleveland saying, yeah, that was a little odd. >> well, you know -- >> it is tough to hear that. >> it is. and, you know even no there wth was some windows with a board --

there are windows in my neighborhood that might have boards on them. this particular neighborhood, if they saw something, they said, that seems odd, did they call the police? probably not. and that's the whole thing. a lot of people just, i don't want to get involved here, it is not my job, not my job to call the police on someone else because, in fact, apparently there had been besides the bus incident, he had called the police -- he himself had called the police in that neighborhood, brooke, apparently -- exactly. so called the police, somebody didn't call the police on him. so, you know, they came out, maybe talked to police, but the problem is, every time one of these girls went missing in 2003, 2004, 2005, people do -- law enforcement, they do a canvas of the neighborhood, they'll go and knock, did you hear anything, see anything? but they just can't come into your house. and if you don't want them into your house, they can't get --

come into your house unless they have a warrant. >> mike brookes, again, the take away, i know you can't call police every time you see a boarded up home, to your point there are three on this very block, but it is the takeaway for all of us, be astute. mike brooks, thank you so much. >> thanks, brooke. he heard screams, he jumped into action, speaking of people who do do something, say something, charles ramsey hailed as the hero neighbor here in cleveland. you'll hear his 911 call that started it all. i am an american success story. i'm a teacher. i'm a firefighter. i'm a carpenter. i'm an accountant. a mechanical engineer. and i shop at walmart. truth is, over sixty percent of america shops at walmart every month. i find what i need, at a great price. and the money i save goes to important things. braces for my daughter. a little something for my son's college fund. when people look at me,

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back here live in cleveland, we just wanted to show you a tight close-up view of the front of this home on seymour avenue, where these three women had

basically been held as prisoners for a decade. you see the front door. you see a little activity. we wanted to show you all of a sudden some fbi agents have appeared on this block, couple of cars, couple of sheriff deputies, see that one agent walking up and down the house. that is the house of ariel castro, with that single porch light on, with two different flags. the american flag and the puerto rican flag here. so a little activity here. what they're looking for, we don't know. no doubt, they will be here in the coming days, scrubbing this home, going through this home, trying to figure out exactly how these three women were kept as long as they were. and really, it was this 911 call that a bystander, charles ramsey, made after he kicked down the door of the home that we just showed you where amanda berry, a young girl, and two women were being held. listen. >> cleveland 911 police, ambulance or fire? >> yeah, hey bro. i'm at 2270 seymour, west 25th,

check this out. i just came from mcdonald's, right? i'm on my porch eating my little food, right? this broad is trying to break out the [ bleep ] house next door to me. so there's a bunch of people on the street right now, and so we're like, what's wrong? what's the problem? she's like this [ bleep ] done kidnapped me and my daughter. she said her name is linda berry or some [ bleep ]. i don't know who that [ bleep ] is. i just moved over here. >> sir, sir, you have to calm down and slow down. is she still in the street? >> seymour avenue. >> is she still in the street? >> yeah, i'm looking at her. she's calling you all. she on the other phone. >> is she black, white or hispanic? >> she white, but the baby looks hispanic. >> what is she wearing? >> white tank top, light blue sweat pants, like a wife beater. >> do you know the address next door? that she said she was in? >> yeah, 2207. i'm looking at it. >> i thought that was your address? >> no, i'm smarter than that, bro. i'm sitting here with the crime

was. >> sir, we can't talk at the same time. do you want to leave your name and number? >> charles ramsey. >> are the people she said that did this, do you know if they're still in the house? >> i don't have a [ bleep ] clue, bro. i just came from mcdonald's. >> can you ask her if she needs an ambulance? >> do you need an ambulance or what? she needs everything. she in a panic. she been kidnapped. put yourself in her shoes. >> we'll send the police out. >> as we now know, the police came to this location here on seymour street to this home, and found two more women inside. they then arrested these three suspects. let me show you the pictures. because these men are all brothers. left to right, ariel castro, onil castro, pedro castro, currently awaiting charges. that's the situation with potentially three men involved here. coming up next, news out of the white house involving president obama and syria.

special cnn coverage continues live from cleveland in just a moment. [ male announcer ] this is kevin. to prove to you that aleve is the better choice for him, he's agreed to give it up. that's today? [ male announcer ] we'll be with him all day as he goes back to taking tylenol. that was okay, but after lunch my knee started to hurt again,

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moment. i want to talk about the president, president obama wrapping up a press conference at the white house with the president of south korea. the president did address syria, specifically, saying his administration is investigating reports of chemical weapons, the use of chemical weapons, and he says they will act if necessary. >> i think that we have both a moral obligation and a national security interest in, a, ending the slaughter in syria, but, b, also ensuring that we got a stable syria, that is representative of all of the syrian people. and is not creating chaos for its neighbors. >> the president speaking at the white house earlier this afternoon. coming up here, continuing our special coverage in cleveland, as, jay, let's zoom in, take some live pictures, as you can

see some of the fbi units rolling up here on the scene, k-9 unit here as well, we're watching the activities here at this house on seymour avenue. coming up, we're talking about other miracle kidnapping cases, cases in which these young people escaped and survived. that's next. girl back at homethe would absolutely not have taken a zip line in the jungle. i'm really glad that girl stayed at home. vo: expedia helps 30 million travelers a month find what they're looking for. one traveler at a time. expedia. find yours.

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. a truly remarkable story out of cleveland, ohio. you have three young women who were abducted.

they were held captive, and then they were rescued, years later. today, those young women have been reunited with their families. out of the hospital, they're back at their new home. but this isn't the only time that people have been kidnapped, vanished for years, most of them presumed dead. and then are somehow reunited with their families. let me go through some of these. you remember the jaycee dugard case, she was abducted in '91, outside of her home in california. and then she was held in a compound of sheds, in the back of a home, for more than 18 years. in that time, she gave birth to two children during her captivity. she and her daughters were found, they were rescued just a couple of years ago in 2009. jaycee dugard also gave this statement regarding this reunion here in cleveland. this is what she said. these individuals need the opportunity to heal and connect back into the world. the human spirit is incredibly

resilient. more than ever this reaffirms we should never give up hope. hope here pervasive in cleveland. but not all the victims of this type of abduction are young girls. for example, shawn hornbeck was kidnapped by a man named michael devlin in 2002. he was forced to pose as his captor's son for more than four years. shawn was rescued when he was 15 years old and reunited with his family. and, of course, one of the most famous cases ever here, the abduction and rescue of this woman, elizabeth smart. she was 14 years old when she was kidnapped from her own bed, in her utah home, held captive for nine months. her father, ed smart, talked to cnn early today. >> i think they're going to be trying to find their new place, you know, their new -- i'm sure that they wonder how they're going to be accepted by their

families, and, you know, how they're going to move forward and what does this mean to the people that kidnapped them? but to be free at this point is just, i mean, three miracles. what a wonderful opportunity for them to be reunited with their family. >> and we have put together all these remarkable stories, they're featured on cnn.com, so make sure you check that out on our home page. coming up next, we just got an interview with the neighbor across the street here on seymour avenue who ran -- who amanda berry ran to. stay with us. live coverage from cleveland.

here we go, top of the hour. welcome back. i'm brooke baldwin. you're watching cnn live in cleveland. standing on the street, seymour avenue, by this home that police now say was a prison for these three missing women. so, just over my left-hand shoulder here, we just saw minutes ago, see this maroon suv and that is the k-9 unit. i saw some of the dogs in the back of this van. in front of that, you see just about a half dozen fbi agents and what they have been doing is setting up a tarp and a tent and a table, presumably to sort through some of the evidence

that they will find after searching this home high and low, the home belonging to one of the alleged captors here, his name is ariel castro. his brothers, pedro castro and onil castro, each man at least 50 years of age. but the headline of this moment is this. it is the sheer joy of loved ones who really, they have been missing for a decade. their families thought they were dead. and now they're back where they belong. wasn't to sh i want to show you a family reunion unlike any other. this is amanda berry in the center of this picture, the young girl in the bed is believed to be her daughter. and on the other side of berry is her sister, this is her sister, beth, who had not seen berry in more than nine years. that is because berry is one of these three women allegedly imprisoned in this home here on seymour avenue. and it is just three to four miles from where these women some years ago went missing.

berry was just about to turn 17 when she up and disappeared back in 2003. in addition to berry, gina dejesus, she was 14 when she vanished a year later in 2004. and michelle knight was 20 when a loved one reported her missing in 2002. we're working on learning more about michelle knight and getting her photograph. but yesterday it was amanda berry who made the move that turned her, really, made for her freedom. breaking through the screen door of this home on seymour avenue, thanks to the help of a good samaritan. he's the one who called 911 and so did amanda. >> 911. what's your emergency? >> help me. i'm amanda berry. >> do you need police, fire or ambulance? >> i need police. >> okay, and what's going on there? >> i've been kidnapped, and i've been missing for ten years, and i'm here. i'm free now. >> okay, and what's your address? >> 2207 seymour avenue. >> 2207 seymour. it looks like you're calling me

from 2210. >> huh? >> looks like you're calling me from 2210. >> i can't hear you. >> looks like you're calling me from 2210 seymour. >> i'm across the street. i'm using the phone. >> okay, stay there with those neighbors and talk to police when they get there. >> okay. >> okay, talk to the police when they get there. >> okay. hello? >> okay, talk to the police when they get there. >> okay. are they on their way right now? >> we're going to send them as soon as we get a car open. >> no, i need them now before he gets back. >> all right. we're sending them, okay? >> okay, i mean like -- >> who's the guy you're trying -- who is the guy who went out? >> his name is ariel castro. >> okay, how old is he? >> he's like 52. >> all right. >> and i'm amanda berry. i've been on the news for the last ten years. >> okay, i got that, dear. and you say what was his name again? >> ariel castro. >> and is he white, black or hispanic? >> hispanic. >> what's he wearing?

>> i don't know 'cause he's not here right now. that's why i ran away. >> when he left, what was he wearing? >> who knows. >> the police are on the way. talk to them when they get there. >> i need -- okay. >> i told you they're on the way. talk to them when they get there. >> all right, okay. bye. >> how about that? and now, wasni want you to hearm the man who heard berry's screams, helped her kick in the front door of this home here to try to help her escape. >> heard screaming, i'm eating my mcdonald's, i come up, i see this girl going nuts trying to get out of the house. so i go on the porch, i go on the porch, and she says, help me get out. i've been in here a long time. we see this dude every day. i mean, every day. >> how long have you lived sneer. >> i've been here a year. i barbecued with this dude. we eat ribs and what not and listen to salsa music.

>> charles ramsey talking to a crush of reporters. what a story he has to tell. amanda berry made her 911 call from a home just across the street, right here on seymour avenue, from this home that she had been held captive for a decade. brian todd is here with me now in cleveland, he talked to the woman who lives across the way. what did she say? what did she tell you? >> very dramatic picture that she painted of the moment when amanda berry came across the street, to her house, screaming, pretty much hysterical, she lives right across the street, we were able to visit with her inside her home and interview her about what that moment was like. she spoke to us in spanish through a translator. here is what she had to say about that moment. >> translator: i was going to go inside, but then the police car arrived and when she saw it, she went down there and asked him to help her. she told them there were no more people inside the house. that's when they broke down the door. >> can you tell us what amanda

berry was like when she came here, was she screaming, was she -- what was she dressed like, how did she speak? >> translator: she was very nervous and crying a lot. my little girls came crying saying, mommy, mommy, mommy, daddy, daddy, daddy. they were inconsolable. she was wearing a sweatshirt and a ribbon in her hair. >> what was going through her mind when that happened? >> translator: i sat down and put my hands on my head because i was not expecting that. how could it be that a man who used to say hello, who used to come over here, you couldn't notice anything about him, he just lived there. >> what can she tell us about mr. castro across the street? >> translator: i saw him as a typical neighbor, someone you would wave back at. he would come and go. a normal neighbor, polite, but say hi with a wave. >> wow. >> that's what neighbors are saying about ariel castro. he was normal, you heard her say

she waved hello to him. i asked her a couple of different times, did you ever see any of these young women there, did you ever see any children there? never. she lived there for eight years, brooke. >> what about the fact, brian, as we have been -- everybody has been digging on the story. police were called to the house twice. once because ariel castro picked up the phone reporting a street fight in town. the second because he left the child inadvertently is the word i keep reading on the school bus he was driving. so police were here. >> police were here that was in 2004, investigating that report of a child left on the bus, whether it was inadvertent or purposeful, that's what they're investigating. they tried to gain access to the house in 2004. they were not able to get access to the house. they investigated -- >> as in going inside. >> going inside, making contact with anyone inside. they knocked on the door, called out, they just -- no answer, no response. they could not gain access at all. they later investigated it further outside of this neighborhood and determined that no criminal act had been committed. he apparently either didn't do

it purposefully, leaving the child on the bus, you know that kind of thing can happen if you're a bus drive, i suppose, but they didn't find any criminal wrongdoing. >> zero criminal charges, just a couple of traffic violations. >> and neighbors who didn't suspect a thing for many years. >> for many years. brian todd, thank you. excellent job here. more here on this main suspect ariel castro, again, he's the one who owned this home. it is he had and his brothers that are in custody. he's 52 years of age. he's now sitting in jail awaiting charges. as brian mentioned, he's a former school bus driver and also the man that police say held these three women captive for nearly ten years. in this home that you see here, last hour, i talked to tito dejesus, he played in a band for a couple of years with ariel castro, known him for two decades and he's one of the few people who made it inside of this home here on seymour avenue. again, police activity, k-9

crews, setting up evidence, fbi is here. i talked to tito dejesus and here is what he told me about the home a short while ago. >> i've always known him to be a person who has been alone. i never pried into his personal life. i didn't know if he was married or not, but i knew he had children. and recently through facebook he told us today he had grandchildren. a new grandchild, a fifth one. and when i went to his house, two years ago, again, you know, it was quiet. like it was empty, nobody was in there. just like it was only him living in there. >> tito, was it neat? was it clean? did you see photos? >> that i can remember at thisw attention to see if there were any photos. he was neat, you know, as neat as a single guy can be these days, a musician. it was nothing out of place, you know. it was pretty much just a simple

home, just pretty much instruments around, laying around. that's what it was. >> and so i hear you talk about instruments and the neatness. we heard from police this morning that these girls might have been tied up. did you see any evidence of that? anything suspicious? >> no. not at all. not at all. nothing that caught my eye. again, i wasn't there for a long period of time and i was there, i wasn't even thinking he was the type of person that would do something like that. so, you know there was nothing there that caught my eye, like that. so, no, i can't say i saw anything like that. >> that was -- that was tito dejesus. he had been in this home, he said nothing really caught his eye. you heard brian todd's reporting, people that live in the neighborhood saying nothing really registered as odd. if you talk to other people, they disagree. i want to bring in tory dunnan, in the neighborhood with us here in cleveland. you too have been out and talking to people, trying to glean a little bit more information on who this guy was, if anyone had noticed anything

odd, what did one neighbor tell you? >> one neighbor, who lives three houses over, ultimately said to me, you know, first i sort of thought he was this regular guy and then two years ago she was across the street, supposed to be spending the night over there and she noticed something really bizarre. take a listen to this. >> me and my friends and my sister were across the street at a house, like, spending the night and we seen a naked lady in the backyard. and we, like, didn't know nothing about it. so we said -- we said something to her. he told her to get down. we said something to him. he told both -- he told her to get in the house and he ran behind the cars and got in the house. she was walking around. >> and naked? >> yeah. we thought that was weird. >> yeah, i mean, what sort of came to your mind? >> we thought it was funny at first. and then we, like, we thought that was weird, so we called the cops. >> and then what happened? >> they thought we were playing

and joking. they didn't believe us. >> so, brooke, she said that she and her friends called the cops and they thought she was joking, you know, police are saying they are looking back through their database to figure out what sort of calls they got about that. >> he made a call about a street fight here and there was a issue with the child left on the school bus, but beyond that, there wasn't much else. you've been talking to people. would you say the majority of people in this neighborhood thought nothing wrong with this guy? >> i would say the majority have that opinion, they're just shocked, they're in disbelief this could happen. >> under their own nose. >> right. there are a few who say there are weird things, one neighbor who said there is a little girl up in a window of the house, every once in a while he would open the window for her, she would look out, they didn't know what that was about. so, just signs here and there, but nothing they would have picked up on until hearing this story. >> tory dunnan, thank you for me here in cleveland. the story is that abducted, held

against their will, forbidden to see friends and family for about a decade here. we're going to talk about that. these three women in this case, now have to try to adjust to a whole new life. we'll talk to a psychologist who claims a tough transition they face. and, again, over -- we'll do that. and over my shoulder, just to reset for you, take a look. get this live, guys. you see the k-9 in the back, this dog taken out of the k-9 unit, fbi agents surrounding it, presumably the dog going inside this home to see what it can find. back here live in cleveland in a moment. e back. nice to see you again! hey! i almost didn't recognize you without the suit. well, this is my weekend suit. weekend getaways just got better. well, enjoy your round! alright, thanks! save a ton on our best available rate when you book early and feel the hamptonality. constipated? yeah. mm. some laxatives like dulcolax can cause cramps. but phillips' caplets don't. they have magnesium. for effective relief of occasional constipation.

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back here live on cnn, we're in cleveland. i'm brooke baldwin. we're here for cnn's special coverage of really let's call it a miracle here in ohio. take a minute, just to get some background on these three young women at the center of this absolutely incredible story. amanda berry, she was 16 years of age, when she was reported missing back on april 21st, 2003. she had called her sister to say she was getting a ride home from her part time job at burger king when this happened. and then there is michelle knight, she is now 32 years of age, she was reported missing on august 22nd, 2002, a missing person's report was filed, but at the time her family thought she left on her own.

we're working on getting her photograph for you. and gina dejesus, she was all of 14 when she was reported missing back on april 2nd, 2004. she was last seen walking home from school. a relative says her family actually had known the suspect here who lived on this street where these young women were found yesterday. they actually went some years back, this connection, with ariel castro. so it was a decade in captivity for the three young women here in cleveland. and the road to normal is a long way off. joining me now is clinical psychologist david swansen. david, i want to delve into the psychology, but before we do that, just how rare is it that you have someone who is either rescued or escapes from a captor? >> this is just an amazing, amazing thing that has happened because in most of these cases, you know, we know this, people end up dead. so to have these three girls step forward ten years later is an amazing miracle and we have

to be truly thankful for that. >> you know, on the plane ride up here, i was reading this article from back in 2009 about jaycee dugard and they pointed out that not only did she endure obviously emotional manipulation and she was repeatedly raped, but that the biggest challenge for her was actually separation from her captor, which is hard for us to wrap our heads around because these are bad guys doing these things to these young women. but explain that to me. >> well, brooke, that's a good point and so many of us who are not in that situation think to ourselves, if we have the chance, we would run out of the house. but there are so many tactics of intimidation, of fear, that keep us trapped in that situation. oftentimes we're afraid if we make that attempt, that something bad could happen to us or those that we love. so in our minds, we stay prisoner, this is not an easy thing to escape from. you have to praise her for coming forward the way she did. >> so, david, what kinds of --

now that they are thank goodness alive and well and out of the hospital and being reunited with family members they haven't seen in a decade, describe then the transition process and i would imagine the years it will take to sort of find a new life. >> brooke this morning i read an article that said the nightmare is over and unfortunately for these three girls it is far from over. because what we're going to see is the shock and the trauma really set in. oftentimes when we're going through the trauma, we don't feel it. but coming out of it, we start to realize what is at stake. imagine if we tucked ourselves away in a time capsule for ten years and came back into life and treed to reintegrate, our parents look older, we're not in school anymore, we're not a child, now we're an adult and you start to realize all of the loss that we endured. and so what you're going to start to see for all three of these girls, i believe, is deep bouts of depression, mixed with really, really rageful anger, and in addition to that, even

though they're much more powerful now in their 20s, when you have trauma like this, you tend to see an emotional arrest. when they go out in public, i think you'll still see that deep insecurity to the border of paranoia in that that can still be taken away. for these three girls, it is very important they get into some type of therapy and make sense of this. whenever there is a trauma, the first thing we want to know is why. we want to have meaning to apply to it, to make sense of it, so we know it won't happen again. that's going to be the focus of their therapy, to try to help them make sense of this so they can heal and move on. >> and also, david, as they work to move on, i can't help but think about the family members who haven't seen them for ten years. what about their emotional duress, not only that they have been through thinking their loved ones are dead, but here they are alive and creating a new norm, a new reality, as they move forward. >> yeah, you know, again, for them, a tremendous trauma. many of them have given up hope, many of them thought their daughters were dead.

and here they come. and, again, that mixture of excitement and just pure thankfulness will be mixed with anger and rage and depression because for all of them, this is a big trauma and they have lost an awful lot of big part of their life, so much they missed out on and i think that's why you see the deep emotions set in, in addition to the excitement of seeing each other again. >> david swansen, clinical psychologist, david, thank you. again, we're here live in cleveland, special coverage in just a moment. but, first, he was a branch chief in the air force in charge of a sexual assault prevention program. and now the officer is facing charges for allegedly groping a woman. defense secretary chuck hagel expressing his outrage and disgust and he is not the only one on capitol hill who is furious today. the story next in a live report. plus, the dow, we have been talking about this for a couple of days, hitting the 15,000

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we're going to take you back to special coverage here in cleveland in a moment. but first, at this hour, defense secretary chuck hagel is about to release a new report on a pressing issue. sexual assault in the military. that is the pentagon briefing room that we'll see here in a moment. the assault numbers shocking already. and they have now gone up. and talk about just absolutely horrible timing. two days ago the leader of an air force assault prevention uniwaun unit was arrested for alleged

sexual battery. what is happening there? >> reporter: simply, brooke, outrage from capitol hill, to the white house, all the way back here to the pentagon. this arrest really could not have come at a worse time as the pentagon has to release new statistics which will show an increase in sexual assault. on sunday morning at about 12:30, a woman right here in suburban virginia, just outside washington, going back to her car in a parking lot, the police say a drunken man came up to her, grabbed her breast and buttocks and tried to fondle her and touch her again and as he did so, she scratched, she fought him off, she called police. and that's when she arrested lieutenant colonel jeff krusinski, you're looking at his mug shot there from the police, and that has sparked outrage on capitol hill. >> it is the man in charge for the air force in preventing

sexual assault is being alleged to having committed a sexual assault this weekend. obviously there is a failing in training and understanding of what sexual assault is and how corrosive and damaging it is to good order and discipline. and how it is undermining the credibility of the greatest military force in the world. this is not good enough. >> so, again, the head of the air force's sexual assault prevention program now facing charges of sexual battery here in arlington. brooke? >> chris lawrence at the pentagon, chris, thank you very much. back here in cleveland, coming up next, a family member's intentise emotion, the brother of gina dejesus tells cnn what he told his sister in the hospital room just last night after seeing her for the first time in almost a decade. we'll play that sound for you. again, back here live, before we go to break, let me show you a

close-up shot as you see the fbi presence on the street of seymour avenue. that's the home. you see the american flag waving? that is the home which ariel castro lived and apparently where the three young women lived as prisoners for a decade. back in a moment. ♪ [ female announcer ] the sun powers life. ♪ and now it powers our latest innovation. ♪ introducing the world's only solar-powered home energy system, which can cut your heating and cooling bills in half.

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we're noticing more activity, see the guys and gals, i should say. these are fbi agents. we have seen them for a better

half of an hour and a half we have been standing here on seymour avenue and they're now suiting up, white suits with hoods, some sort of protective gear they're wearing, presumably before they enter this home. they have put up this green tent, you see the tarp there, and they have been folding out some tables in front of this home in which ariel castro lived. and apparently where the three young women lived as well, being held against their will for just about a decade. so we're watching this for you here in cleveland. and just think about it, just all the years of the frustration and the angst here of what is happening with these young women, the family of georgina or gina dejesus said they never gave up hope that she would be found alive. her parents spoke out when two boys were found, back in 2007, just a couple of years after their own daughter disappeared. >> it is a miracle that they found these two young boys.

i cry almost all night. >> that gives all of the parents now more hope to stand up stronger and never give up that hope, never, because you never know. it is just like now. you never know. >> you never know. that was 2007, flash forward to now, all those years of frustration and sadness are finally over for the dejesus family in these hours after their daughter's escape. they have been getting to know really, reacquainted with their daughter gina, who, as we mentioned, vanished in 2004. cnn's poppy harlow has been speaking with her brother. poppy, he must be elated. what did he tell you? >> reporter: elated and just like our viewers heard in that interview from 2007, brooke, you just played, he never gave up hope. we spent a lot of the morning talking to ricardo dejesus, the older brother of gina.

he's 33. she's now a 23-year-old woman. the last time he saw her, before last night, was when she was 14 years old. and last night at the hospital, he and his family got to reunite with gina after nine long years of searching for her. the way he described his sister, to me, is my best friend. he is a protective older brother who now says he will not let her out of his sight. but he's grappling with a lot, excitement, happiness, but also surprise. he saw this on the news last night, with his father, that's how they found out that gina had been found. he said, i thought this was still a dream. i want our viewers to take a listen to part of what ricardo told me. >> in disbelief, we cried, we were shaking, just happy. >> reporter: tell me about gina. younger sister, she's ten years younger than you. she's 23 now. tell me what about her sticks

out to you most? >> she's like my best friend. i'm glad she's home. >> reporter: tell me about the relationship the two of you had before she disappeared. >> like i just said, like a best friend. able to talk to her, be there for her and everything else. >> reporter: what was she like, what did she like to do most? >> she liked to dance a lot. crack jokes, be around with her family. >> reporter: there are still a lot of questions, brooke, about any relationship between the castro family, ariel castro, and the dejesus family. we still have a lot of unanswered questions, but i did ask the brother ricardo if he knew ariel castro and he told me, yes, he knew him a long time ago, he said, when they were both younger, but over the last ten years the span that his sister has been gone, disappeared for, he has not talked to or seen ariel castro. >> poppy harlow, thank you so much. and you see the crime tape where poppy is standing.

get a shot of where i am. because there is a crime tape here surrounding this home, on seymour avenue. again, as we have been seeing this activity, we saw one of the dogs getting out of the k-9 unit that pulled up. i'm seeing police, sheriff deputies, fbi agents, you see one guy suiting up, putting on some sort of protective gear before walking into ariel castro's home. a man who has kept, again, no charges yet, but who apparently according to police kept these three young women and what appears to be one of the woman's daughters in this home for the better part of a decade. what will the law enforcement folks find inside? that is a big, big question, key in their investigation as they begin sorting through the evidence inside this home here in cleveland on seymour avenue. but how did the case break? let me tell you about charles ramsey. because he heard a girl just yesterday in distress, she was screaming, ends up kicking in the door here at this home, and helped amanda berry escape.

next, the entire ordeal in his own words. >> heard screaming. i'm eating my mcdonald's. i come outside. i see this girl going nuts trying to get out of the house. n of constipation? turn to senokot-s tablets. senokot-s has a natural vegetable laxative ingredient plus the comfort of a stool softener for gentle, overnight relief of occasional constipation. go to senokot-s.com for savings. and i have a massive heart attack right in my driveway. the doctor put me on a bayer aspirin regimen. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. go talk to your doctor. you're not indestructible anymore.

>> and did you know who that was when she said that? >> it didn't register until i got the call to 911. i'm calling 911 for amanda berry, i thought the girl was dead. you know what i mean? she got on the phone and said, yes, this is me and the detective -- the girl amanda told the police, there is more girls up in the house. so they went up there, you know, 30, 40 deep, and when they came out, it was just astonishing. i thought they would come up with nothing because we see this dude every day. i mean, every day. >> how long have you lived here? >> i've been here a year. i barbecue with this dude. we eat ribs and what not and listen to salsa music. you see where i'm coming from?

>> you had no indication? >> not a clue that that girl was in that house. or anybody else against their will. because how -- he just comes out to his backyard, plays with the dogs, kicking with his cars and motorcycles, goes back in the house. he's somebody you look and look away, he's not doing nothing but the average stuff. nothing exciting about him. until today. >> charles ramsey, in his own words, how he helped ultimately free these young women. he was a very, very astute man and helped them call 911. we'll take you back -- would you take it? well, there is. [ male announcer ] it's called ocuvite. a vitamin dedicated to your eyes, from bausch + lomb. as you age, eyes can lose vital nutrients.

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back here in cleveland, i'm brooke baldwin. and we have been watching a little bit of activity here. you see some neighbors over my shoulder, a lot of neighbors just sitting here and watching this scene unfolding right behind me. this is the closer shot, so you can see, you have police in front of that patrol car. it is a maroon suv. in which we saw two canines get out, the k-9 unit. in front of them, sheriff deputies. it is federal, local presence here. you see to the right of this screen, men and women dressed in these white protective suits. they have just been suited up. and the last ten minutes as we have been watching what is happening, they have put up this tent, you see the green tarp there, they put out a table and it is that home, you see, there are two flags, puerto rican flag and american flag flying and there is one single porch light on. that is the home that they will be going in and investigating

likely for days and possibly weeks to come to find out what the heck happened in there over the course of the last decade. we're going to take you back to cleveland in a moment. but let's talk chris christie. and his weight loss program has potential implications as well. it could signal he is looking at his options for a run at the white house. so with that part of the story, let's go to chief washington correspondent jake tapper. jake tapper, what have you learned about the governor? >> hey, brooke. how are you? it is interesting, about a year ago, last july, for "nightline," i interviewed governor christie and asked him about his weight. frankly as a health issue. i told him a lot of individuals who cared about him were worried about his weight, he's obviously obese, and it would be very difficult for him to not only run for president, but to continue to live and thrive as he has been. so i asked him if he would take

some steps to try to rectify the situation and here's what he said. >> some people, you know, drink too much. some people take drugs. some people eat too much. you can live every day without drinking. you can live every day without taking drugs. you can't live every day without eating and i struggled with this for the last 30 years on and off. and i'm trying. it may not look like it, but i am. >> have you ever thought about gastric bypass surgery or anything like that? >> no, didn doesn't strike me a something i would want to do. too risky. >> we now know over presidents' day weekend this year, governor christie didn't have gastric bypass surgery, but had a lap band put inside him that would basically make his stomach smaller. we'll have sanjay gupta on the lead later to explain in more accurate and technical detail what it is. when asked by the new york post who broke the story whether this was a move he was taking because of the 2016 presidential race, and the possibility he might

run, he said, that was not the case at all. the issue was he looked at his wife and his four children and he wanted to be around for them and though he didn't want to make running for president seem like a small thing, it paled in comparison with wanting to be around for his kids and his wife. brooke? >> okay, so, jake, i want dom back to you but i want to show a picture, we have a couple of pictures from chris christie from one point in time to the next. you talked about this lap band surgery. you've been around washington for a really long time. we hear him saying, you know, yes, he's doing this, he's motivated by his children, and his family. do you believe him? jake tapper? >> well, i know him a little bit and i do believe that that would be an overwhelming factor. but keep in mind, brooke, there are not a lot of elderly people who are that heavy. i don't want to make light of this, because i don't think it is very funny. a father of a good friend of mine in high school was very

overweight, and he died at a very early age. he is doing this to be healthy. now, could that help him run for president? absolutely. i don't think in his current condition he would have the ability to withstand the riggers of a presidential race and maybe at a leaner weight, more fit, he would be able to do so. but i take him on his word -- at his word that he was doing this for his family because, frankly, it is about survival. it is about basic survival when you're that heavy. brooke? >> and wanting to be a father to his children in the years to come. jake tapper, thank you. you're tackling this a little bit more in depth in the lead. we'll look for you in ten minutes from now. meantime, back to cleveland, live here on seymour avenue, this is a stunning story that developed in the last 24 hours as we see more police and fbi activity out front of the home, where three young women were apparently held captive for years. let's look live at the big board as we see the dow, as we have

been waiting, above the 15,000 mark. you're watching cnn's special coverage. matt's brakes didn't sound right... ...so i brought my car to mike at meineke...

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now this afternoon. the first, the reason why i'm standing here in cleveland, we're watching now as we have seen the front door of this home opening. we know law enforcement are inside investigating where the man and these young women have been living, these women for ten years. also watching the dow today as it has been above the 15,000 mark and this could be the first time we see it closed above the 15,000 mark ever. more on those in a moment. first, this is a side of amanda knox you have never seen. six years after the death of her roommate in italy her legal troubles still aren't over. cnn's chris cuomo sat down with amanda knox. >> how are you, brooke? >> joining me now, forgive me, chris. i thought we were going to hear some sound. joining me here is mr. cuomo, himself. you have this sitdown and how was she? was she direct in answering your

questions? >> she was. what amanda knox asked for, brooke, was something different. she says she knows there are still a lot of doubts out there. she wanted to deal directly with the questions and issues that few people's doubt about her. this was a very critical analysis. here are the things that raise questions about your behavior before, the day that you discover the scene at your villa, the behavior afterwards, the case the prosecution makes. all of those things. it was very direct. this is what amanda knox wanted and she did seem satisfied afterwards, brooke, that she had dealt with the questions. and what you meet when you find yourself with amanda knox is someone who has obviously been damaged by this experience. remember she's just 20 years old when this happened. she's only 25 or so now. she struggles with something that is very difficult to satisfy, the feeling she is constantly being examined, everything she says, everything

she doesn't say, the way she is, is all calculated in her head because she is not sure how to be because she is so afraid of giving an impression that people will see her the wrong way. it is has somewhat paralyzed her. if they're ready now let's take a look at the interview and you can judge for yourself. how many nightmares where you wake up in prison, how many nightmares where you get the phone call the united states has decided you have to be sent back? it's not double jeopardy? >> i mean, i had a panic attack on saturday, two days ago i had a panic attack. >> when you say panic attack you don't mean a moment of doubt, right? >> no, i sit in my hotel room and cry so loud until the security calls the room because the person next door has heard

me crying. are you getting help for that? >> no. i don't know what -- it's really hard for me to talk to people about it. it's like as soon as i allow myself to cry, i can't stop. >> it's difficult to imagine yourself in that situation. if, in fact, it turns out, brooke, she is absolved of responsibility in this situation, what a burden to carry. it's something she feels every day. then again, questions do remain. italian authorities are strongly considering a retrial, so we put the questions to her that will motivate further investigation, and she gives the answers the best she can, brooke. >> i cannot wait to hear what she says when you ask her the questions. chris cuomo, thank you. want to tell all of our viewers, watch the special, dvr the special, the chris cuomo interview, amanda knox, the unanswered questions. that is coming up tonight, 10:00 eastern time. when we come back we take a look at what could be a potentially historic day on wall street. we are minutes away from the closing bell.

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tlae back here in cleveland we've been watching as a door has now been taken off of the front of this home and placed in the back of one of the cars here. law enforcement presence is huge. fbi, k-9. we're back here talking at the 5:00 hour. i'll be joining wolf blitzer. in the meantime breaking news with the dow. jake tapper and "the lead" starts now. the first breaths of freedom after a decade of captivity. i'm jake tapper. this is "the lead." the national lead. three women kidnapped, hidden from the world, until one saw her chance and made a desperate run to freedom. we'll talk to one of the loved ones who finally has his sister back. a neighbor says she called police and told them to check out that home nearly a year before the daring escape. but what did police do after she claimed something completely insane was going on in the back yard? she'll tell us. plus, the politics lead. much to the relief of his family