Castro 'called victim's mother'
US kidnapper Ariel Castro called the mother of one of his victims while she was in captivity and told her she was okay, according to reports.
Castro also told investigators during a videotaped interrogation that opportunities were missed for capturing him while he held the women he kidnapped in Cleveland, Ohio.
Castro says in the video obtained by NBC’s Today Show that he called the mother of Amanda Berry and said her daughter was okay and had become his wife.
He says he hung up and they did not have a conversation.
Ms Berry’s mother died before she was freed in May.
Castro told investigators that video surveillance near the school of another victim should have tipped police off about him.
The 53-year-old committed suicide in prison on Tuesday night.
The kidnapping and repeated rapes of three young women over about a decade shocked Americans when the women escaped from Castro's home in May. Castro, 53, was a month into his life sentence for the crimes when he killed himself.
Two state reviews of Castro’s death are under way, Ohio prisons spokeswoman JoEllen Smith said. One is looking into the suicide, and the other is examining whether he received proper medical and mental health care.
Castro was sentenced on August 1 to life in prison plus 1,000 years after pleading guilty to 937 counts, including kidnapping and rape, in a deal to avoid the death penalty.
“I’m not a monster. I’m sick,” he told the judge at sentencing.
Castro’s captives – Ms Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight – disappeared separately between 2002 and 2004, when they were 14, 16 and 20. They were rescued from Castro’s run-down house when Berry broke through a screen door.
Investigators said the women were bound, repeatedly raped and deprived of food and bathroom facilities.
