Castro’s crimes stemmed from his kidnapping of three young women between 2002 and 2004 when the women were 14, 16 and 20 years old, and his confinement of them in various rooms of his house for years.

By all evidence and appearances, Castro was mostly a despicable human being.  A government employee when he worked at all, Castro confined his three victims in brutal conditions and in chains and repeatedly raped, beat and starved them.

But the bizarre facts of Castro’s case were equaled by the bizarre number of criminal charges that the State of Ohio brought against him.  On July 12, 2013, prosecutors unleashed an indictment against Castro charging him with almost a thousand felony counts.  977 to be exact: 512 counts of kidnapping, 446 counts of rape and seven counts of sexual abuse.  Two counts of aggravated murder stemmed from allegations that Castro beat one of the women so savagely that she miscarried.  The indictment alleged Castro carried out this murder after premeditation, meaning that Castro would be subject to the death penalty if convicted.  There were also six counts of assault, three counts of child endangerment and one count of possessing criminal tools.  Bail was set at $8 million.