Neighbor of Ariel Castro Gets 445 Year Sentence for Two Murders, Repeated Rape of His Daughters
A convicted sex offender who lived on the same street as the notorious rapist and kidnapper Ariel Castro pleaded guilty on Monday to the murder of two women, and to raping his sister-in-law and three daughters.
Elias Acevedo Sr., 49, will serve life in prison without the possibility of parole as part of a plea deal. The judge in the case imposed a sentence of 445 years for Acevedo's crimes.
NBC News reports that Acevedo became a suspect in the murders of his cousin's girlfriend, Christine Adkin, and his neighbor, Pamela Pemberton, following the arrest of Castro.
The discovery of Castro's captives led police to take a closer look at the disappearances on Seymour Avenue. They eventually found clues that led them to re-open two cold case murder files from the 1990s.
As a result of the newly opened files and of other evidence found by police, WireUpdate.com reports that a Cuyahoga County Grand Jury indicted Acevedo on 293 counts, including four counts of aggravated murder, 173 counts of rape, 115 counts of kidnapping and one count of gross sexual imposition.
On Monday, as part of the plea deal that took the death penalty off the table, Acevedo pleaded guilty to the murder and rape of Pemberton in 1994 and to the murder of Adkins in 1995.
In addition to the two murders, Acevedo pleaded guilty to raping his sister-in-law in 1993 when she was 18 years old and pregnant, and to repeatedly raping his three daughters for years.
Some of Acevedo's victims gave statements on the abuse they endured, according to a report from The Plain Dealer.
"You have changed my life forever," one of Acevedo's daughters told him. "You robbed me of my childhood ... I have lived in fear but I will no longer."
Acevedo's sister-in-law spoke about how he raped her 20 years ago but did not press charges against him because she was afraid.
"I am grateful I can stand here today as one of his survivors," she said. "Back then I was the coward, but I'm not a coward anymore."
Acevedo hadn't planned to speak himself, but ended up asking his daughters to forgive him and apologizing to the families of his two murder victims.
"I can't describe the regret and shame I have for what I've done...," he said. "I wish I could bring your daughters back."
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