Castro Couldn’t Take It

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The three victims of Ariel Castro are declining to comment on the news that the man who held them prisoner in his home for a decade has taken his own life in an Ohio prison.

But prosecutor Tim McGinty says it shows that Castro "couldn't take, for even a month, a small portion of what he had dished out for more than a decade."

Officials say the 53-year-old Castro hanged himself in his cell, using a bedsheet. He was found hanging last night at the state prison in Orient, Ohio. Prison medical staff performed CPR before Castro was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

A prisons spokeswoman says Castro was in protective custody because of the notoriety of his case, meaning he was checked every 30 minutes. But he was not on suicide watch.

Castro was sentenced Aug. 1 to life in prison after reaching a deal to avoid a possible death penalty.

A neighbor who lived up the street from Castro says, "He took the coward's way out." Elsie Cintron says, "We're sad to hear that he's dead, but at the same time, we're happy he's gone."