First pictures of Michelle Knight before she was kidnapped as it's revealed she has 'hearing damage and facial injuries from years of beatings'

  • Michelle vanished on August 23, 2002 near her cousin's Cleveland home
  • Michelle had lost custody of her baby son before she vanished and authorities suggested she left of her own free will after the ordeal
  • Her mother Barbara Knight has traveled to Cleveland but she has not yet been reunited with her daughter

By Steve Robson and Lydia Warren

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Michelle Knight, one of the three Ohio women freed from a decade of imprisonment, is reportedly suffering hearing loss and facial bone damage after years of vicious beatings to her head, it has emerged.

The 32-year-old, who vanished in 2002, was found at a Cleveland home on Monday with two other women and a six-year-old girl - but she has not yet contacted her mother for a reunion.

The first details about Michelle are emerging as images of her have finally been released. They show her as a teenager before she was kidnapped - at a time when she endured an often troubled relationship with her family.

She had given birth to a son who was later taken into the custody of child services, and authorities suggested to her mother that she may have fled following the upset from the ordeal.

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Michelle Knight
Michelle Knight

First pictures: Michelle Knight, who is now 32, is pictured as a teenager before her disappearance in 2002

Barbara Knight left her home in Naples, Florida, on Tuesday to head to Cleveland to see Michelle but the mother and daughter have not yet been reunited, she told the Today show.

Barbara, 50, said she never gave up hope and will now be able to introduce Michelle to the half sister she has never met, 10-year-old Katie, who was born after she disappeared.

 

Katie was with her mother as they left for the airport on Tuesday afternoon.

On Wednesday, Barbara spoke to the Today show about how she had never given up hope that her daughter was alive - but that she was led to believe the woman, then in her 20s, had fled.

'Certain people said she didn't want nothing to do with me but still in my heart I thought no, because I knew my Michelle,' she said. 'They figured she just left because of the baby and everything.

No contact: Michelle's mother Barbara, pictured, said she has not yet been reunited with her daughter

No contact: Michelle's mother Barbara, pictured, said she has not yet been reunited with her daughter

Troubled: She told Savannah Guthrie some people told her Michelle had wanted nothing to do with her

Troubled: She told Savannah Guthrie some people told her Michelle had wanted nothing to do with her

'[Police] told me if she breaks the law or they spot her, they'll let me know - but nothing happened.'

Barbara, who said she filed a missing persons report after Michelle vanished and continued to search for her, said her sons have been reunited with Michelle but she has not yet seen her.

'I just wish that my daughter would reach out and let me know that she's there... She's probably angry at the world because she thought she would never be found but thank God that somebody did,' she said.

'I don't want her to think that I forgot about her... Hopefully whatever happened between us, if something did - I hope it heals because I really want to take her back to Florida with me.'

Sources told Fox 8 that Michelle appears to have facial bone damage from her horrific treatment.

But Barbara said that she knew little about what had happened to Michelle since she last saw her as she has not spoken with detectives, she said.

'There was a detective who called me but he just said it was my daughter,' she said, adding that she missed his call and that he had left work when she called back. 'I didn't get a hold of anyone.'

Family: Barbara Knight's 10-year-old daughter is seen outside their home in Florida before they leave for Ohio

Family: Barbara Knight's 10-year-old daughter is seen outside their home in Florida before they leave for Ohio

En route to Ohio: None of the Knight family spoke to reporters before they were driven off at speed in a white car with New York license plates

En route to Ohio: None of the Knight family spoke to reporters before they were driven off at speed in a white car with New York license plates

Instead, she only knows the details from watching news reports.

While the stories of missing Cleveland girls Gina DeJesus and Amanda Berry, who were also found on Monday, have remained high-profile cases over the last decade, little is known of Michelle.

While family appeals for Gina and Amanda have been frequent and well-publicized over the past ten years, her case appears to have been long forgotten.

Now believed to be aged around 32, Michelle was in her early twenties when she was last seen on August 23, 2002, at her cousin's house near West 106th Street and Lorain Avenue.

Mrs Knight said she would often put up fliers around Cleveland's West Side and even after moving away she would return to continue the search on her own as police were little help.

Michelle Knight's grandmother, Deborah Knight, said the family, after speaking with police and social workers, had accepted that she likely left on her own free will.

They believed she was angry that her son had been taken into custody.

Amanda Marie Berry went missing aged 16
Georgina Lynn Dejesus went missing when she was 14

High-profile: The missing person cases of Amanda Berry, left, and Gina DeJesus, right, were well-known to people in Cleveland - but the disappearance of Michelle Knight drew little attention

Found: The women were found at this home in Cleveland on Monday after Berry managed to escape

Found: The women were found at this home in Cleveland on Monday after Berry managed to escape

Barbara Knight previously told The Plain Dealer that Michelle vanished shortly after she was scheduled for a court appearance in the custody case of her son.

The mother told the paper that she had become involved with an abusive man whom she thinks injured her toddler grandson, eventually leading Michelle to lose the boy.

Michelle had him as a teenager; her mother said that she had been assaulted at school but it was never taken seriously by police. She then fell pregnant soon after and dropped out of school.

Michelle was never registered as missing on the Ohio Missing Persons website.

Mrs Knight told The Plain Dealer she believes she once saw her daughter walking with an older man at a shopping mall several years ago. When the woman trailed behind her companion, he would grab her by the arm and pull her along, she said.

Brothers: From left, Ariel, Onil and Pedro have all been arrested in connection with the abduction of Gina DeJesus, Amanda Berry and Michelle Knight almost ten years ago

Brothers: From left, Ariel, Onil and Pedro have all been arrested in connection with the abduction of Gina DeJesus, Amanda Berry and Michelle Knight almost ten years ago

Barbara was 'calmly' looking forward to the reunion according to neighbors in Naples, where she lives with her second husband Tom Hudson and members of his family.

'It's an emotional time for them,' said Sheldon Gofberg who lives across the street from the family's house in the southwest Florida town. 'They didn’t get any sleep last night.'

Mr Gofberg said neighbours had no idea that Barbara was the mother of a missing girl and that she appeared to have her hands full looking after Katie and helping with Tom's two children, Julian, 16, and his sister Alex, 8.

'They're a friendly family, Tom would do anything to help you, give you the shirt off his back,' Mr Gofberg said.

Despite the turmoil, Tom kept a commitment with Mr Gofberg to take him to a Home Depot.

'We were in the car driving and Tom said, "You know those three girls they found in the house in Cleveland? One of them was Barbara’s daughter." I was astounded,' he said.

Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight were found at this house in Cleveland, Ohio

Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight were found at this house in Cleveland, Ohio

Neighbour Charles Ramsey tells reporters of the moment he rescued the three women and a child from the house

Hero: Neighbour Charles Ramsey tells reporters of the moment he rescued the three women from the house

'I said, "She's got to be pretty emotional?" and he said, "Not really because we’ve been waiting to hear back from the FBI".'

The family had refused to talk to reporters and TV crews waiting outside their home, sending the teenage boy Julian, who was wearing an ankle monitoring bracelet, outside to ask them to leave.

After 10 years being held against their will, the three women were finally freed after neighbor Charles Ramsey, heard screaming from the house and helped them escape through a door.

When Amanda fled the home and ran across the street to call police, she was holding the hand of a young girl.

'Help me I'm Amanda Berry...I've been kidnapped and I've been missing for ten years and I'm here. I'm free now,' Berry is heard saying in the call to police that has been publicly released.

 

The comments below have not been moderated.

The mother shows no emotion. And you have to wonder why the mother didn't step in and keep Michelle's baby from going into foster care. Somethings not right there at all.

Click to rate     Rating   3

The right thing to do on behalf of authorities would be reunite Michele with her estranged son in an instant. I think, the only cure for her now is a motherhood, and love of her own son. Why is that nobody speaks of the obvious?

Click to rate     Rating   17

I think it's the MOTHER that has all the problems w/ her kid, not the other way around! She HORRID not to go flying to Cleveland & running to meet her child!! So they had trouble when she was a teen, yeah, the cops would have told my Mom I was a runaway too, yeah, my Mom kicked me out of the house when I was 14, but I KNOW, w/ all my heart, that my Mom & Dad would be there almost as soon as I crawled out that monster's front door!! There's NO excuse for her behavior. Someone said she should shut up & hide her face from the camera - I second that! Find that poor, damaged now-deaf girl someone who will love her & teach her sign language & comfort her for probably never having a child in her life, (cuz she was the one he kept beating her until she miscarried FIVE BABIES!! OMG!) She'll never be 'right" for the rest of her life, I think the other girls stand a chance but not this poor girl & even less for those cold dead fish she's obligated to call her parents. No other reason! Disgusting!

Click to rate     Rating   41

Find it really sad that some readers (UK and US) are using this as a place to put across some stupid arguements about whos better than the other. Seriously, get a life. This should all be comments regarding those beautiful young women who have found freedom after 10 years in captivity!

Click to rate     Rating   26

I feel for Michelle... it would appear, she still feels a prisoner, in her own personal hell... I hope she find comfort and peace, in whatever path and choice she now makes, for her future....

Click to rate     Rating   73

@mouser.....completely agree. I lived in the UK for over a decade and the majority of the "Brits" I knew were so envious of America that all they could do was belittle it in an attempt to cover their shame of the inadequacy of their mother nation. Furthermore why take the time to make a completely arbitrary comment about "America" when the subject matter of article clearly deserves so much more respect. get a life people across the pond. jealousy is rather unbecoming.

Click to rate     Rating   37

this was so much worse than prison. no amount of compensation is enough for what these girls have been through. unfathomable.

Click to rate     Rating   172

My heart goes out to all the girls, especially Michelle. How horrible to live through that torment and pain and have no loving arms to come running home into. There is nothing more comforting than a mother's love in a time of hurt. I truly hope that Michelle will be given the proper care, love and time needed to heal properly. My prayers go out to all the families and wish each and everyone only the best.

Click to rate     Rating   226

The mother should keep her mouth shut, keep her face out of the news. Despicable trash. Devastated for the one girl whose mother passed away before she knew her daughter came home: how terribly opposite situations.

Click to rate     Rating   154

To mouser, USA - why do Americans say "I could care less" when what they really mean is "I could NOT care less". For heaven's sake, get it right!! Apart from that, you do seem a tad hostile. Have a cup of tea and calm down! - Penny, Melbourne, 5/8/13, 11:26 PM Hey, when you say things like "why do all Americans..." you sound silly too. So stop. Thanks

Click to rate     Rating   60

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