were arrested on warrants for other offenses.
“We’re just trying to shake some trees,” Cleveland police Chief Deputy Charles Corrao told reporters. “I’m personally tired of these animals taking our children.”
Cleveland police also combed through desolate wasteland and parks, looking for clues. And the FBI collected security videos from stores near where Gina had last been seen, studying them frame by frame. But they did not examine video from security cameras in and around Wilbur Wright Middle School, as Castro had so feared.
That night more than five hundred worried parents packed the Wilbur Wright Middle School auditorium for a public meeting, where they were addressed by Cleveland police, and city and school officials.
“We have followed up every possible lead,” said Mayor Jane Campbell, “and will continue to do so. We still do not have a grip on where Gina is. We have to have every bit of information.”
At one point, several angry parents were ejected by police, after heckling the mayor for ignoring other cases of missing girls, including that of Amanda Berry. When the meeting continued, police officials appealed to parents to question their children closely for any information that could help the investigation.
In the days following Gina’s disappearance, there had been a flood of ghoulish rumors that Gina’s body had been found. These had so upset the family that Gina’s cousin Sylvia Colon made a public appeal for them to stop.
“We’re hearing them daily,” she told the Plain Dealer . “It’s been very difficult. Help us by not perpetuating those rumors. Stop spreading them.”
On Thursday, April 8, Gina DeJesus turned fifteen, and the DeJesus family organized a candlelight vigil the following night, at the corner of West 105th Street and Lorain Avenue, where she was last seen.
At 6:00 P.M. on Good Friday, more than a hundred Cleveland residents gathered at the intersection to pray for Gina, many clutching her photograph. Among them was Ariel Castro, who had also joined the search earlier that day and handed out fliers.
Police blocked off West 105th Street from traffic, as the crowd surrounded Gina’s parents and her siblings, who were all holding large burning candles, to pray for Gina’s return. Yellow ribbons and MISSING posters had been posted to telephones poles around the pay phone and intersection where Arlene Castro had called her mother, before Gina had left to walk home.
News reporters and local TV camera crews covered the vigil, which was led by West Side community activist Khalid Samad.
“We believe in total community involvement,” he told the crowd. “We know that without the community this situation will not be solved. We just want to bring this baby home.”
An emotional Nancy Ruiz also addressed reporters, the stress of losing her daughter visibly taking its toll.
“I can feel her near me,” she said. “I know she’s out there somewhere and close.”
Earlier that day, a man had been arrested in Dayton, Ohio, in connection with an attempted abduction on Cleveland’s East Side. And a buzz went through the crowd that maybe he had taken Gina. Police were careful not to raise expectations.
“There was a man arrested,” a Cleveland police spokesman told a WEWS-TV reporter. “We’re just pursuing a lead, but right now there’s nothing connected to what’s going on [here].”
At the end of the vigil, as the crowd held hands, a friend of the DeJesus family appealed for everyone to carry on the search for Gina.
“Continue to pray,” she said. “Continue to take out the fliers and hopefully we’re going to get Gina back very, very soon.”
Earlier on Friday, after an anonymous tip believed to have come from Ariel Castro, the FBI picked up Fernando Colon for questioning. Colon, who had recently graduated from the police academy, was now working security at the Westown Plaza. On Friday morning, special agents arrived at his house and brought him
“We’re just trying to shake some trees,” Cleveland police Chief Deputy Charles Corrao told reporters. “I’m personally tired of these animals taking our children.”
Cleveland police also combed through desolate wasteland and parks, looking for clues. And the FBI collected security videos from stores near where Gina had last been seen, studying them frame by frame. But they did not examine video from security cameras in and around Wilbur Wright Middle School, as Castro had so feared.
That night more than five hundred worried parents packed the Wilbur Wright Middle School auditorium for a public meeting, where they were addressed by Cleveland police, and city and school officials.
“We have followed up every possible lead,” said Mayor Jane Campbell, “and will continue to do so. We still do not have a grip on where Gina is. We have to have every bit of information.”
At one point, several angry parents were ejected by police, after heckling the mayor for ignoring other cases of missing girls, including that of Amanda Berry. When the meeting continued, police officials appealed to parents to question their children closely for any information that could help the investigation.
In the days following Gina’s disappearance, there had been a flood of ghoulish rumors that Gina’s body had been found. These had so upset the family that Gina’s cousin Sylvia Colon made a public appeal for them to stop.
“We’re hearing them daily,” she told the Plain Dealer . “It’s been very difficult. Help us by not perpetuating those rumors. Stop spreading them.”
On Thursday, April 8, Gina DeJesus turned fifteen, and the DeJesus family organized a candlelight vigil the following night, at the corner of West 105th Street and Lorain Avenue, where she was last seen.
At 6:00 P.M. on Good Friday, more than a hundred Cleveland residents gathered at the intersection to pray for Gina, many clutching her photograph. Among them was Ariel Castro, who had also joined the search earlier that day and handed out fliers.
Police blocked off West 105th Street from traffic, as the crowd surrounded Gina’s parents and her siblings, who were all holding large burning candles, to pray for Gina’s return. Yellow ribbons and MISSING posters had been posted to telephones poles around the pay phone and intersection where Arlene Castro had called her mother, before Gina had left to walk home.
News reporters and local TV camera crews covered the vigil, which was led by West Side community activist Khalid Samad.
“We believe in total community involvement,” he told the crowd. “We know that without the community this situation will not be solved. We just want to bring this baby home.”
An emotional Nancy Ruiz also addressed reporters, the stress of losing her daughter visibly taking its toll.
“I can feel her near me,” she said. “I know she’s out there somewhere and close.”
Earlier that day, a man had been arrested in Dayton, Ohio, in connection with an attempted abduction on Cleveland’s East Side. And a buzz went through the crowd that maybe he had taken Gina. Police were careful not to raise expectations.
“There was a man arrested,” a Cleveland police spokesman told a WEWS-TV reporter. “We’re just pursuing a lead, but right now there’s nothing connected to what’s going on [here].”
At the end of the vigil, as the crowd held hands, a friend of the DeJesus family appealed for everyone to carry on the search for Gina.
“Continue to pray,” she said. “Continue to take out the fliers and hopefully we’re going to get Gina back very, very soon.”
Earlier on Friday, after an anonymous tip believed to have come from Ariel Castro, the FBI picked up Fernando Colon for questioning. Colon, who had recently graduated from the police academy, was now working security at the Westown Plaza. On Friday morning, special agents arrived at his house and brought him
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