Amanda Berry, one of three women who were kidnapped, tortured, and held captive for ten years by Ariel Castro, made a surprise visit to a Nelly concert in Cleveland on Saturday night and even walked up onstage.
Berry was invited to the show by radio host Shane French, but he says he was shocked when she actually showed up. Apparently, she and her family are longtime listeners of his show.
“I just said that she had 10 years of partying to make up for and she should come…I figured that when she wants to tell her story, she’ll make the arrangements, and it would have been pointless to even ask,” French said.
Berry was accompanied by two other women onstage, who broke down crying at the outpouring of support and love she received from the crowd. The concert was held on a day charged with emotion for Berry–and for Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight, who were held with her for a decade inside Castro’s Cleveland home–as it came just a day after Castro’s guilty plea. Castro will do life in prison without the possibility of parole plus 1,000 years for the kidnapping, repeated rape, and abuse of the women. His indictment included two counts of aggravated murder for the forced miscarriages that Michelle Knight suffered after he punched her in the stomach and starved her while she was pregnant.
The women haven’t made many public appearances since their dramatic rescue in May, after Berry kicked out a door panel at the front of the home and ran for help. However, they did post thank-you videos online for the support and financial donations the public has given them since they were released from the hospital.