In a short court appearance that lasted less than five minutes, accused kinapper/rapist Ariel Castro appeared in court today.

The silent Castro kept his head down, stayed turned from the gallery, photographers, and cameras and didn’t enter a plea or say a word as the judge in the case set his bail.

At arraignment today, the judge formally charged Castro with three counts of Rape and four counts of Kidnapping. Castro’s bail was set at $8 million by Judge Lauren Moore, which is $3 million more than the $5 million asked for by the prosecutors in the case.

This means Castro must come up with 10% or $800,000 to be released from custody. An amount the unemployed former school bus driver is unlikely to be able to gather. Any freedom is likely to be just a memory for the rest of Castro’s life.

After his brief first appearance in court on these charges, Castro was led away back to jail where he was housed in the facility’s medical unit. The medical unit is generally where sex offenders and prisoners with a suicide risk are placed, Castro is both. Castro was placed on suicide watch today.

Castro’s brothers, Pedro and Onil Castro were arrested at the same time as Ariel, but investigators found no evidence linking them to the crime. They were both being held on unrelated charges. Pedro pled “No Contest” to charges of open container and the charges against Onil were dimissed. They are both due to be released.

While both Amanda Berry and Georgina DeJesus have been reunited with their families, 32-year-old Michelle Knight still remains hospitalized. Knight suffered hearing loss and may need to undergo some facial reconstruction from her years of abuse by Castro. Knight suffered at least five miscarriages through the years that were intentionally induced by Castro through repeated beatings.

The victims were bound in the squalid conditions with ropes and chains and many times starved as they were subjected to beatings and sexual assaults.

The three now-adult victims all report that they were abducted after being offered and accepted rides from Castro.

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