Netflix users who tuned into the heart-wrenching true crime drama Cleveland Abductions are particularly devastated after learning that victim Michelle Knight was barely searched for before she managed to escape.
Michelle, who is played by Taryn Manning in the dramatisation, was abducted by Ariel Castro in August 2002 while on the way to court for her son's child custody case.
17-year-old Amanda Berry and 14-year-old Georgina 'Gina' DeJesus were also kidnapped by Ariel Castro in 2003 and 2004 respectively.
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The three women were held captive for a decade and suffered horrific abuse before they were eventually rescued.
The film adaption of the harrowing kidnappings hones in on the story of Michelle, in particular.
A Netflix synopsis of Cleveland Abductions, which was originally released by Lifetime in 2015, reads: “Abducted and imprisoned, Michelle Knight finds the will to survive amid the most horrific and heartbreaking of circumstances in this true-crime drama.”
After watching the 'traumatic' film, viewers shared that they were particularly heartbroken for Michelle.
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While family members filed reports and held vigils for both Amanda and Gina, there was very little investigation into Michelle's disappearance.
Possibly because she was an adult, authorities had assumed that Michelle had simply run away in the midst of her custody battle for her son. This belief led to her being removed from the National Crime Information Centre database just 15 months after her disappearance.
Discussing the true crime drama and Michelle's appalling story, one viewer tweeted: "My heart broke for Michelle when I became aware of her story. While the other girls had family, she had no one #ClevelandAbduction".
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A second commented: "I’ll never forget the day they escaped. I’ve always felt bad that Michelle wasn’t even searched for! I had heard of Amanda and Gina being missing, but poor Michelle was just ignored."
A third said: "I feel so bad for Michelle! She had to watch their families search for & celebrate them coming home with no one for her #ClevelandAbduction".
And another tweet noted: "There was never a candlelight vigil for Michelle Knight #ClevelandAbduction"
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After the three victims were rescued in 2013, Castro was sentenced to life imprisonment for his crimes, receiving 1,000 years in prison, with no chance of parole. Castro killed himself in his prison cell just one month into his sentence.
Cleveland Abduction is available on Netflix for US and Australian users.
Topics: TV And Film, True Crime, Netflix
Ali Condon