Hopewell Valley Student Podcasting Network

Show Name: Real Cases, Fictional Minds

Episode Title: The Hostages of Ariel Castro

You are listening to Real Cases, Fictional Minds, the podcast with your host(s) Jaylli Kushi.

In this episode of Real Cases, Fictional Minds the Podcast, we discuss: Criminal Minds Season 11 Episode 14 titled “Hostage” and how it is based on the real-life Ariel Castro Case.

The episode starts in a dark basement where two girls are being held captive, and one girl tries to escape while the other begs her to stop because she is scared they will get caught. The episode takes place in Missouri, and we are then shown another kidnapped girl who is pregnant and very sick, showing that these girls have been held for a long time. The unsub comes home and sees a broken window, and the girls apologize and say they tried to stop the escape. The unsub stays calm and tells the healthier girl that they need to leave, and he leaves the pregnant and sick girl behind, saying she would slow them down. The girl who escaped is Gina Bryant, and she flags down a police car and is taken to the hospital. Gina was kidnapped when she was eight years old and is now eighteen. She tells police she was held with another girl named Sheila Woods, who is now fifteen and was kidnapped seven years earlier. Gina describes the unsub as an older white man named Tom. Gina takes the police to the house where she was held, and they discover it belongs to Clara Riggins, a 108-year-old woman whose bank accounts are still active, leading the team to believe she is dead and the unsub has been using her house and money. While flying to Missouri, the team realizes both Gina and Sheila were kidnapped at age eight, just a few blocks from their homes, which suggests the unsub stalked them and learned their routines. Garcia tells the team that none of Clara’s neighbors have seen her in over twenty years, but they remember a man named Tom who drove a blue van, and she begins searching for men named Tom who own blue vans. At the hospital, Reid, JJ, and Hotch talk to Sheila and learn she had a miscarriage and has old whip scars on her back. Gina’s condition is worse, as she is malnourished, dehydrated, covered in cuts and bruises, has broken bones that were never treated, and has the same scars as Sheila. The next scene shows Violet with the unsub, and she trusts him and calls him Daddy. Reid and JJ interview Gina, and she explains that when she was kidnapped, she saw Violet at the park, and Violet was used to tricking her. The unsub pretended to be Violet’s dad and used a puppy to lure Gina into the car. Gina explains that Violet and Sheila were the good ones because they obeyed him and called him Daddy, while she never received special treatment because she always fought back, and he called her Rose. Gina tells Reid and JJ that the unsub sometimes lets them go outside to plant flowers for Clara, which leads Morgan and Rossi to find Clara buried under rose bushes. Morgan and Rossi also search the basement and find children’s drawings, blood, and a torture room filled with tools, and they see that the unsub is very organized, works with wood, and needs total control, leading them to believe Violet was either his first victim or possibly his daughter because of how much he cared for her. Back at the hospital, Sheila’s mother describes the day her daughter was taken as a normal day, just like Gina described, and Gina later helps police create a composite sketch. While in intensive care, Sheila sadly dies. Using the sketch and the blue van, Garcia identifies the unsub as Michael Clark Thompson, a construction company owner. The team learns that his father had multiple violent marriages and a history of abuse, and they believe Michael learned his behavior from him and enjoys power...