Ariel Castro's Seymour Avenue home reduced to rubble

[alp227]

Last edited Wed Aug 7, 2013, 03:37 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Ariel Castro’s home is no more.

The modest house at 2207 Seymour Ave., where Castro kept Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight locked up for more than a decade, is nothing more than a pile of rubble after crews used an excavator to tear down the property.

“This house represented evil incarnate, which is Ariel Castro,” said Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty. “Now, it is gone.”

A crush of media and onlookers gathered before daybreak as crews from the Cuyahoga Land Bank, in charge of the demolition, and Independence Excavating prepared to tear down the home.

Read more: http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/08/ariel_castros_seymour_avenue_h_1.html

[LongTomH]

1. They should call in exorcists to drive away the evil.

Start with Christian priests, then have Native American shamans do a sage ceremony.

[SoapBox]

7. Ditto.

Exactly what I was going to say.

[onehandle]

2. What? They didn't turn it into a macabre B&B?

By gun nut logic, guns associated with crimes should not be destroyed.

So why tear this place down?

[pipoman]

4. FFS, really?

Do you ever think of anything else? This didn't have anything what so ever to do with guns. Unbelievable..help is available..

[SoapBox]

8. ROFL!

Thank you!

The posts are always predictable!

[snooper2]

6. We aren't Canada LOL

[liberal N proud]

3. The media was hilarios this morning

One station had 2 reporters on site at 5:30 AM both reporting from the scene that:


"The house would be torn down any minute or sometime this morning."



It was like they wanted everyone to stay glued to their station because they might miss the destruction.

I laughed and after the third time they said it, I turned it off.

[OhioChick]

5. Good, glad it's gone n/t

[Blasphemer]

9. Good. I hope they build a women's shelter or women's health center on the site... nt

[Auntie Bush]

10. Too bad Castro wasn't still in it.

Would save the state a lot o fmoney!

[Geoff R. Casavant]

11. Someone help me out here. How were they able to do this?

Even accepting that the occupant was evil incarnate, he still legally owned the house, which from what I can see was perfectly fine structurally.

Did the government exercise eminent domain? Or did someone buy the property for the express purpose of demolishing the house?

[alp227]

12. Castro surrendered the home as part of his plea deal.

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/08/castro_to_prison.html

[Geoff R. Casavant]

13. Thanks.

The OP article left out that backstory.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

21. One would think the structure would be worth more to the victims.

Or does the state glom the plea settlement?

[Boomerproud]

14. I would hope that the victims and the neighbors would think of this in the same way

the East Germans felt when the Berlin Wall fell.

[localroger]

15. This bothers me

Tearing down a perfectly good building because something bad once happened there is a rare thing. We generally don't do that to houses were people were actually killed, even famously, although we require potential buyers to be warned of the cooties that might be residing within. This strikes me as the atavistic reaction of a primitive tribe whose highest advisor is the witch doctor who has shaken his head and pronounced, sadly, that the place cannot be cleansed of the evil embedded within it.

While it's true the house would probably be infamous and a tourist magnet that will still be true of anything built on the site; probably the only safe thing to build there is a memorial park, which is a very bizarre thing when none of the victims are, like, dead. This obviously affects people more deeply than death, deeply enough that someone just threw away $100,000+ in value for the sake of spitting in Ariel Castro's eye.

If another house is built on the lot it will still be That Place. If it's left vacant or a memorial garden is planted it will be a visible scar and still That Place. I just don't get the logic of tearing the house down. It's fucking stupid. I can't imagine the thought processes of the person who actually got control of the deed and arranged the demolition, particularly in such a public and spectacular way as if to act like some kind of ghosts are being evicted.

There are no ghosts. Even if you believe in ghosts there are no ghosts here because nobody died. It's just fucking stupid.

The house where the Manson family murdered Sharon Tate stood until 1994, and was only finally replaced because the buyer wanted an upgrade on the bling level.

[roody]

16. I agree. How wasteful.

[AndyA]

19. Agree as well--waste of time, money, and bad for the environment

More crap for the landfill.

The house did nothing wrong, it was the man who owned it, and he's never going to be back.

Are we going to start tearing down every structure where something bad happens? Every house where there's a murder...demolished? What about shopping malls with mass shootings...tear those down, too?

If the guy gave up his house, seems to me it should have been sold and the proceeds given to the three girls to help them get on their feet again.

[OhioChick]

18. Where are you getting the $100K figure from?

"In 2012, the two-story house and property was appraised at $36,100."

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/05/house_where_woman_held_captive.html

[localroger]

20. Judging by the size of house and typical construction costs

Of course location, location, location but I guarantee nobody will build you a house that size anywhere in the USA for less than about $100K. Of course it would be more modern and new, but the only way to replace a demolished building no matter what shape it was in is to build a new one to replace it.

[Locrian]

22. agree

Agree on principal, but practically it would have been a shit magnet.

People are stupid and superstitious. It would have either stayed empty and abandoned or turned into something of a freak show.

[hamsterjill]

17. Michelle Knight must be one strong woman!!!

She was at the house last week, but was not allowed inside by authorities. She returned to watch the demolition and release yellow balloons recognizing other missing persons.

Gina Dejesus' mother was onsite and her aunt was with the crane operating at the first strike!

http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/news/local_news/oh_cuyahoga/michelle-knight-held-captive-for-decade-by-ariel-castro-hands-out-yellow-balloons-on-seymour-avenue


I am simply amazed at the strength of character of these women. And I'm happy to see them gaining even more of that strength and moving forward with their lives. Good for them!!!