Ariel Castro, who held three women captive for a decade, has been found dead inside his prison cell, according to US officials.
The convicted kidnapper (53) was found hanging in his cell at the Correctional Reception Center in Orient, Ohio.
Prison medical staff performed CPR on him before he was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The three women disappeared between 2002 and 2004, when they were 14, 16 and 20-years-old.
They escaped on May 6 of this year, when one of the women broke open a door and alerted neighbours.
Castro was arrested that evening.
He was sentenced to life in prison plus 1,000 years after pleading guilty to 937 counts including kidnap and rape.
This video report comes from local TV station WOIO in Ohio:
19 Action News|Cleveland, OH|News, Weather, Sports
The survivors posted this Thank You video to YouTube recently:
His daughter previously told CNN she didn't want anything else to do with him:
