Local police efforts are in question after calls were made by several neighbours over the past years, and was the suspect deliberately trawling for younger and younger girls? Fox News reports

THIS is the heartwarming moment kidnapping victim Amanda Berry was reunited with her sister after a decade of imprisonment.

In the photograph, released by Cleveland TV station WOIO, the sisters are pictured with the little girl believed to be the daughter Berry gave birth to while she was held captive.

Berry disappeared in 2003 from a busy block in Cleveland at the age of 16. Her devastated sister, Beth Serrano, never gave up hope that she would be found alive.

Their mother died at the age of 44 in 2006 after her daughter's disappearance took a terrible toll on her health.



In the photo of the pair's reunion, the child believed to be Berry's daughter is seen sitting next to her in a hospital bed with a hospital bracelet around her wrist.

Berry, now 27, was imprisoned in a house owned by Ariel Castro, who has now been arrested along with his two brothers on suspicion of kidnapping.



Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight, who were both abducted from the same block as Berry, were also held hostage in the same house. The three women are now being treated at Cleveland's Metro Health Medical Centre.

Earlier today, Cleveland police confirmed three Hispanic males, aged 50, 52 and 54, were under arrest. The 52-year-old man was named by city council officials as Cleveland Municipal School District bus driver Ariel Castro.

Police searched the house at 2207 Seymour Avenue after a 911 call led police to the three women and two children.

In a strange twist, it has been revealed that Anthony Castro, the son of suspect Ariel Castro wrote an article about the abduction of Gina DeJesus when he was a journalism student in 2004.

Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus have been missing "for years". They had each been abducted separately when they were teenagers in 2003 and 2004.

A third woman named Michele Knight was also found at the house. Police have since confirmed Michele had been reported as missing since 2002.

All three women all went missing on the same busy block, near West 110th St and Lorain Ave, in Cleveland.

One of the women reportedly begged a passer-by for help.

"I heard screaming ... And I see this girl going nuts trying to get outside,'' said Charles Ramsey, the neighbour who found the women.

"I go on the porch and she said 'Help me get out. I've been here a long time'. I figure it was domestic violence dispute.

"She comes out with a little girl and says 'Call 911, my name is Amanda Berry'. When she told me, it didn't register."

He said he kicked the bottom of the door open so Amanda could crawl out. Amanda emerged with a young child.

"Luckily it was aluminum, it was cheap," he said,

"She climbed out with her daughter. ... She went to my house, we called 911."

Ramsay said Berry had made her escape bid while her captor had gone for a meal at McDonald's.

Berry asked for a phone to call 911.

"Help me, I am Amanda Berry... need police! I've been kidnapped, I've been missing for ten years and I'm here. I'm free now," she frantically told the operator. A baby can be heard crying in the background.

"Hello? I need them [the police] now, before he gets back."

WEWS news reports a detective told Ramsey: "Charles, do you realise who you just rescued?"

Ramsey added: "When the police got here, she said there are three more girls up there. And that's when Gina DeJesus (appeared), and they brought two more girls out."

Cleveland police said Berry, DeJesus and Michele Knight are talking to authorities and appear to be in good health.

"This isn't the ending we usually hear for these stories so we're really happy," a police spokesman told assembled media outside the house.

The three women are being treated at Cleveland's Metro Health Medical Centre.

Doctor Gerald Maloney says they are fair condition.

"Currently they're safe. We are in the process of evaluating their medical needs," he said.

"They appear to be in a fair condition at the moment. They are able to speak with us.

"I can't really go into any further details."

Hundreds of people gathered in the streets near the white timber house where the women were discovered.

Amanda Berry named her abductor in the 911 call as Ariel Castro.

He was in the house - believed to be only kilometres from where the two were abducted - at the time police arrived in response to the call.

WEWS news reports the missing women were malnourished and dehydrated. Two children were seen inside the Cleveland house.

CNN reports the two children were girls.

Berry disappeared at age 16 in 2003, after calling home to say she was getting a ride home from her job at a burger restaurant.

DeJesus vanished at age 14 on her way home from school about a year later.

Ramsey said he had "eaten ribs" with the neighbour who owned the house, and had no idea there were women in the property.

A neighbour quipped: "(He must have) big testicles to pull this off, bro, because we see this dude every day!"

Cleveland's Mayor has issued a statement welcoming the recovery of the women. "We have many unanswered questions regarding this case, the investigation will be ongoing," he said.