One month after he was sentenced to life in prison for kidnapping and sexually abusing three women in Cleveland, Ariel Castro was found dead by apparent suicide in his prison cell Tuesday night.
CBS affiliate WOIO was the first station to report the news and the only station to break in to overnight programming with more than a brief special report. Romona Robinson and Denise Dufala anchored from 12:03 a.m. to 2:28 a.m., with Dan DeRoos reporting from the newsroom and Tiffani Tucker outside the home where Castro kept the three women for more than ten years.
“We had gotten a tip that this had perhaps happened, that Ariel Castro had hung himself. My first move was to call the Correctional Reception Center in Orient,” DeRoos said.
Castro’s death was the lead story on the early-morning newscasts on ABC affiliate WEWS, Fox affiliate WJW and NBC affiliate WKYC.