Bravery awards for women in kidnap ordeal

Ohio governor John Kasich called the women’s story one of hurt beyond imagination, but also one that did not end there.

“It is also a story of three women who found an inner strength and a courage that brought them through and sustained them,” he said near the end of his annual State of the State speech.

“No-one rescued them, they rescued themselves, first by staying strong and by sticking together, and then by literally breaking out into freedom.”

The women were freed when one of them pushed her way through a door and sought help.

Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight were household names in Cleveland for years as missing persons.

They were rescued last May after being kidnapped by Ariel Castro from the streets of Cleveland between 2002 and 2004, aged 14, 16 and 20. He periodically kept them in chains and fathered a girl with one of the victims.

Castro, 53, hanged himself in prison last September as he began a life sentence plus 1,000 years.