DNA Tests Confirm Ariel Castro Is Father Of Amanda Berry's 6-Year-Old Daughter

By Chuck Sudo in News on May 10, 2013 5:50PM

Photo credit: Matt Sullivan/Getty Images

Ariel Castro has been confirmed via DNA testing to be the father of the 6-year-old girl born to Amanda Berry during Berry's nearly 10 years of imprisonment in Castro's Cleveland home, according to Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine.

A news release from DeWine's office reads that samples of Castro's DNA were taken and received by his office's Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) late Thursday afternoon.

"(F)orensic scientists worked throughout the night to confirm that Castro is the father of the six-year-old girl born in captivity to one of the kidnapping victims.

Castro's DNA profile was also compared to other DNA profiles submitted to the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). Castro's DNA did not match any other Ohio cases, however national results are pending through the FBI."

The girl, named Jocelyn, was born in a kiddie pool, with Castro's other kidnapping victims, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight, assisting. (Knight told police she performed CPR to the baby to save the newborn's life.) The three women were bound during most of their imprisonment with chains and ropes, but Castro was known to have taken Jocelyn outside with him occasionally and, when asked if the girl was his, would reply she was a "daughter of a friend."

Castro is being held in jail on $8 million bail, charged with four counts of kidnapping and three counts of rape. He's being held on a suicide watch.

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty said seeking the death penalty against Castro is a possibility, an indication Castro may face additional charges related to the other pregnancies and miscarriages.