Ariel Castro has appeared in court in Cleveland charged with kidnapping and raping three women missing for a decade.
The former school bus driver wore blue overalls and stood with his head bowed as prosecutors outlined the charges against him.Castro buried his head in his shirt as a lawyer described the "horrifying ordeal" Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, Michelle Knight and Ms Berry's six-year-old daughter endured during their captivity.
The unemployed 52-year-old did not enter a plea and briefly filled out some paperwork with his hands cuffed as the court set bail at \$2m per case, effectively ensuring he will remain behind bars.
His lawyer - a public defender - told the court that Castro is on unemployment benefit and "to the best of my knowledge" has no convictions for serious crimes.
Castro made a "premeditated, deliberate and depraved" decision to snatch three women from the street and two of the victims endured their "horrifying ordeal" for more than a decade, prosecutor Brian Murphy told the court.
He kidnapped the women "to be used in whatever self-serving, self-gratifying way he saw fit", the court heard.
Mr Murphy said: "While in captivity they withstood repeated beatings, they were bound, restrained, and they were sexually assaulted - basically never free to leave this residence."
The prosecutor described Castro's home as "a prison" to the women and young girl, before adding: "Today the situation's turned your honour, Mr Castro stands before you a captive ... the women are free to resume their lives that were interrupted."
Castro's brothers Pedro and Onil Castro are to be freed after they appeared at the same Cleveland Municipal Court hearing on misdemeanour charges.
Castro's lawyer Kathleen DeMetz said she expects her client to be placed on suicide watch and in a cell on his own when he returns to jail.
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