Onil and Pedro, Ariel Castro’s Brothers, Tell Their Story

onil and pedro castro
Onil, left, and Pedro, Ariel Castro’s brothers, granted an interview to CNN’s Martin Savidge. (Screenshot)

By Rocio Gonzalez, Voxxi

CNN got the mother of all exclusives: Ariel Castro’s brothers, Onil and Pedro, are telling their story for the first time since the amazing escape of Amanda Berry, which also led to the discovery of Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight.

Onil and Pedro were arrested alongside their brother when the dramatic discovery of the three kidnapped Cleveland women came to light. Now, CNN’s Martin Savidge has gotten an exclusive interview with the two brothers, as 52-year-old Puerto Rican Ariel Castro sits behind bars, held on an $8 million bond.

They admitted that they worry people will always suspect them of aiding their brother Ariel in the kidnapping and torture of Berry, DeJesus and Knight.

“And the people that are out there, that know me, they know that Onil Castro is a good person, has nothing to do with that, would never even think of something like that,” Onil said. “I was a very liked person… I have never had any enemies. No reason to think I would ever do something like that. It’s shocked all my friends. They couldn’t believe it.”

he interview, which CNN will start airing tomorrow morning in their “Early Start” show, shows quite a difference in appearance from the Castro brothers shown in the well-publicized mug shots released by police. They were released and never charged in the case, and the police said that there were no indications Onil and Pedro were involved or had any knowledge of their brother’s disturbing actions.

Onil and Pedro say they had nothing to do with Ariel Castro’s crime

“If I knew that my brother was doing this, in a minute I would have called the cops, ’cause that ain’t right,” Pedro told Savidge. He added that this is going to haunt him. “If I knew, I would have reported it, brother or no brother.”

Since Ariel Castro became a suspect in this case, family members and friends have been distancing themselves from the suspect. When the charges against him were announced, even Cleveland’s chief prosecutor — Victor Perez, a Puerto Rican himself — felt the need to defend the Puerto Rican community from any association with Ariel Castro.

“As the chief prosecutor for the city of Cleveland, born and raised in Puerto Rico, I want everyone to know that the acts of the defendant in the criminal case are not a reflection of the rest of the Puerto Rican community here or in Puerto Rico,” Perez said.

CNN reports that Onil and Pedro, as well as other Castro family members, are hiding in an undisclosed location — they have received death threats, one of their homes has been broken into and both homes have had rocks thrown at the windows. It was only a matter of time until the pair granted an interview to try to clear their name.

This article was first published in Voxxi.

Rocio Gonzalez is a multimedia editor for VOXXI. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, she is an avid reader, amateur baker and a journalism graduate from American University in Washington, D.C.

[Photo screenshot courtesy CNN]

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