'Please don't let me go,' Cleveland kidnap victim told officers

When officers arrived at Ariel Castro's home in Cleveland, a crowd had
formed on the porch.
But where was the woman they came for? Where was Amanda Berry?
Then she stepped forward, holding a crying child. It was really her, the missing
girl they had searched for for 10 years.
It is Amanda Berry, Officer Michael Tracy said.
"Just the emotion at that point of my partner confirming that it was Amanda ...
It was overwhelming," Officer Anthony Espada recalled.
Cleveland police this week released the emotional video interviews
of officers Espada, Tracy and Barbara Johnson, who helped in the
May 6 rescue of the three women from Castro's home.
The 11-minute video, which is posted on YouTube, provides the
most graphic detail to date of the harrowing rescue. It's also a rare
behind-the-scenes glimpse at the raw emotions of officers involved
in the ordeal.
Once they had Berry, they wondered who else was in Castro's
home.
Was the suspect in there? They asked Amanda, as the child
continued to wail.
"She says yes, Gina DeJesus and another girl," Espada said. "It was
like another bombshell with overwhelming force hit me. We
immediately started running toward the house."
When they entered the home, it almost seemed peaceful, Espada
recalled.
As if nobody else was there. Nobody was in the basement. Nobody
was downstairs.
And then they heard the sound of scurrying feet upstairs.
"It was Michelle (Knight). She kind of popped out into the
doorway," Espada said, his voice cracking with emotion.
"She came charging. She was like. 'You saved us. You saved us.'
And I am holding on to her so tight. And within a few seconds, I
see another girl come out of the bedroom."
He immediately recognized the girl, Espada said, probably from
missing posters that date to 2004. But she looked thinner than he
remembered. He asked the girl to say her name.
She said her name was Georgina DeJesus, he recalled.
"It was very overwhelming," Espada said. "It took everything to hold
myself together."
One of the women also jumped into Johnson's arms, screaming at
the female officer.
"She was saying 'please don't let me go. Please don't let me go,'"
Johnson said. "I said, 'Honey don't worry, I am not going to let you
go."
Johnson said Espada stared at her with an unreadable expression.
We found them, Espada said.
"I can't even explain the emotions we felt," Johnson said. "It was
just unbelievable. It was surreal. The heaviness in the heart just
lifted."
Castro, 52, was arrested quickly after that. He is in jail on charges of
kidnapping and rape, and is accused of snatching the three women
between 2002 to 2004, and holding them ever since.
His attorney has said he plans to plead not guilty.