Video: Charles Ramsey Says Give Any Reward Money To Kidnapping Victims

By Jen Chung in News on May 8, 2013 3:11AM

CNN's Anderson Cooper interviewed Charles Ramsey, the man who helped rescue Amanda Berry and her daughter, who both had been held captive in a Cleveland home along with two other women. As more horrifying details have emerged (with many others likely to come), Ramsey's actions and extremely down-to-earth, no-nonsense demeanor have prompted many to call him a hero. But he said he's not, "Bro, I'm a Christian, an American, and just like you. We bleed same blood, put our pants on the same way. It's just that you got to put that -- being a coward, and I don't want to get in nobody's business. You got to put that away for a minute. "

Berry had been missing since 2003, while fellow kidnapping victims Gina DeJesus and Michele Knight had been missing since 2004 and 2002 respectively. Police insisted they had no idea that the women were at the home of Ariel Castro all these years, and neighbors were shocked this had happened in their midst. Ramsey, who moved into the neighborhood a year ago, said his conversations with Castro were "regular" and that he and others thought the little girls playing in Castro's yard were his granddaughters.

Ramsey recounted yesterday afternoon's events to Cooper: He spoke to Castro to give him some mail that mistakenly delivered to his house before heading to McDonald's to pick up a sandwich.

Came back home, I'm in my house, but I'm in the living room and I'm right by the front door, because I'm looking out the front door, and man, this girl screamed like a car had hit a kid, which made me, you know, stop eating, what the hell was that. You know, so when I got up, I saw this -- my neighbor across the street, he run across the street and I'm, like -- I'm thinking, where you going, because ain't nobody next door because I just saw Ariel leave.

And I know ain't nobody over there. Heard that girl scream and saw him run across the street, and I went outside and wondered what he was doing, and -- Amanda said, I'm stuck in here, help get me out. So he -- guy don't know English that well or panicked, he just looked at me and it's a girl. And that's all he did. So here I come with my, you know, half eaten Big Mac and I looked and I said well, what's up.

And she's like I've been trapped in here, he won't let me out, me and my baby. I said well, we ain't going to talk no more, come on. I'm trying to get the door open, I can't, because he torture chambered it some kind of way and locked it up, right? So I did what I had to do and kicked the bottom of the door, and she crawled out of it. She grabs her baby, which threw me off, all right, so fine. I got some girl and her kid.

Police confirmed the girl was Berry's. Ramsey told Cooper he told the crying little girl to be quiet because her mother was trying to help her, "She's like I want my daddy. And I said, who's her daddy? She said Ariel.... I said well, how's that possible? Because you wouldn't -- if you got kidnapped, he was having sex with [Berry]? Oh, Jesus. That little girl is his? Now we want to hurt [Castro]."

Ramsey told Cooper he was having "trouble sleeping" knowing that these women were next door to him all this time. When Cooper mentioned the FBI reward related to information for Amanda Berry whereabouts, he said, "I tell you what you do, give it to them... you know I got a job anyway," and pulled out his paycheck that he just picked up.