Social Media Erupt On News Of Ariel Castro's Death

By Mark Memmott

Published September 4, 2013 at 6:50 AM EDT

It took neighbors' help for Amanda Berry to escape through the bolted storm door of the Cleveland home where authorities say she and two other women were held captive for nearly a decade. After she emerged, the women and Berry's daughter were rescued. Later, the home was destroyed.

As Americans wake up Wednesday to the news that Ariel Castro is dead, many are turning to Twitter and other social media to share their thoughts.

Castro, who held three young women captive in his home for about a decade — raping and torturing them over the years, fathering a child with one and forcing another to miscarry — is being roundly condemned both for what he did and for the way he apparently chose to end his own life. He had served only a little more than one month of the sentence he received for the crimes that were discovered in May — life in prison plus 1,000 years.

Here's a sampling of typical Twitter messages:

-- "What a coward Ariel Castro is."

-- "So Ariel Castro is dead in jail, hanged himself. Oops, my sympathy bag appears to be empty."

-- "Ariel Castro kept those girls captive for 10 years, he couldn't even spend 5 weeks in jail. #pathetic."

Cleveland's WKYC-TV has posted some of the messages from its Facebook page. They include:

-- "Rest in hell."

-- "He took the easy way out."

-- "Coward."

From Cleveland, Nick Castele of member station WCPN reports that the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction is investigating the circumstances of Castro's death.

The 53-year-old prisoner was alone in his cell, officials say. Guards were assigned to check on him every 30 minutes.