Cleveland kidnapping suspect had history of abuse, former lover said

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The attic of Ariel Castro’s home is torn open by an excavator, exposing personal items inside. (Angelo Merendino / Getty Images)

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A sheriff’s deputy stands guard as the house of convicted kidnapper and rapist Ariel Castro is torn down in Cleveland. (David Maxwell / EPA)

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The rubble of Ariel Castro’s home is loaded into a dump truck to be hauled away. (David Maxwell / EPA)

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A demolition crew removes the remains of Ariel Castro’s home after it was torn down in Cleveland. (Angelo Merendino / Getty Images)

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Neighbors Jessica Rodriguez and Caitlin Coyne, both 19, walk last month past the house where Ariel Castro kept three women captive for a decade. The house was torn down Wednesday. (Andrew Welsh-Huggins / Associated Press)

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A model of Ariel Castro’s house was used in court. (Tony Dejak / Associated Press)

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At his sentencing on Aug. 1, Ariel Castro told Judge Michael J. Russo, “I’m not a monster, I’m sick.... I’m a happy person inside.” Castro was found hanged in his prison cell a few weeks into a life sentence without parole. (Angelo Merendino / Getty Images)

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Michelle Knight makes a statement in court before Ariel Castro was sentenced on Aug. 1. (Tony Dejak / Associated Press)

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Cuyahoga County sheriff’s booking photo of Ariel Castro. (AFP / Getty Images)

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Ariel Castro appears in Cleveland Municipal Court alongside defense attorney Kathleen DeMetz. Castro is charged with four counts of kidnapping and three counts of rape in connection with the disappearance of Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight. The fourth kidnapping count applies to Berry’s 6-year-old daughter, who was born in captivity. (Tony Dejak / Associated Press)

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Ariel Castro, left of lectern, is arraigned in Cleveland Municipal Court in front of judge Lauren Moore. (Emmanuel Dunand / AFP/Getty Images)

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A police officer walks past the house in Cleveland where Ariel Castro allegedly held captive Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight. (Matt Sullivan / Getty Images)

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The upper-floor window of Ariel Castro’s house in Cleveland is covered. (David Duprey / Associated Press)

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Gina DeJesus gives a thumbs up as she is escorted toward her home in Cleveland. (Tony Dejak / Associated Press)

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Felix DeJesus pumps his fist after bringing home his daughter, Gina. (Tony Dejak / Associated Press)

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Gina DeJesus’s mother, Nancy, talks to the media after her daughter arrived at her family’s home. (Emmanuel Dunand / AFP/Getty Images)

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Gina DeJesus’ father, Felix, back to camera, hugs family members outside their home during his daughter’s homecoming. (Matt Sullivan / Getty Images)

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A car carrying Amanda Berry arrives at her sister’s house in Cleveland, Ohio. (Emmanuel Dunand / AFP/Getty Images)

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Beth Serrano, sister of Amanda Berry, reads a statement to the media outside her Cleveland home after the arrival of Berry. (Tony Dejak / Associated Press)

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John Berry holds a photo of his daughter Amanda, who was 16 when she was abducted. She was the first of the women to escape Monday. (Patrick Murphy-Racey / Associated Press)

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A tree bears a poster seeking information on Amanda Berry. (Tony Dejak / Associated Press)

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Friends and relatives stand in front of the family home of Gina DeJesus in Cleveland, Ohio. (Emmanuel Dunand / AFP/Getty Images)

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FBI forensic personnel remove evidence from the Cleveland house where three women allegedly were held captive for a decade. (Emmanuel Dunand / AFP/Getty Images)

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A man carries the front page of the Cleveland Plain Dealer with news of the missing women’s rescue as neighbors gather along Seymour Avenue near the house where the women had been held for the last decade. (Bill Pugliano / Getty Images)

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Well-wishers put up a welcome home sign at Gina DeJesus’ home in Cleveland. (David Maxwell / EPA)

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Charles Ramsey, who lives near the home where three missing women were rescued in Cleveland, speaks to reporters. (Scott Shaw / Associated Press)

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Ricardo DeJesus talks about his sister Gina at the family’s home in Cleveland. Police said Gina DeJesus and two other women who went missing separately about a decade ago were found Monday. (Tony Dejak / Associated Press)

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The home in Cleveland where three women were found alive about 10 years after they disappeared as teenagers. (Bill Pugliano / Getty Images)

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Felix DeJesus, father of Gina DeJesus, holds up an enlarged photograph of his then-14-year-old daughter next to a display in his living room shortly after she disappeared in March 2004. (Tony Dejak / Associated Press)

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An FBI evidence team removes items from the Cleveland house where three women who went missing separately about a decade ago were found. (Mark Duncan / Associated Press)

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Police officers stand outside a home where Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michele Knight were found. (Scott Shaw / Associated Press)

By Alana Semuels and Ari Bloomekatz

May 8, 2013 12:30 PM PT

CLEVELAND -- One of the men suspected of imprisoning and abusing three recently freed young women was earlier accused of a series of violent acts against the mother of four of his children and was ordered to complete domestic violence and substance abuse counseling.

Grimilda Figueroa, who in various court documents filed in 2005 said she had four children with Ariel Castro, told authorities that Castro broke her nose twice, knocked out her tooth and threatened to kill her and her daughters several times.

“Ariel Castro and I were never married. During our relationship, he was very abusive,” Figueroa said, according to an affidavit filed in Cuyahoga County in 2005.

PHOTOS: Long-term abductions

Three brothers, Ariel Castro, 52, Pedro Castro, 54, and Onil Castro, 50, have been arrested in the kidnapping case. The three women disappeared in 2002, 2003 and 2004.

The women were freed Monday evening after Amanda Berry, now 27, fought her way out of Ariel Castro’s house with the assistance of passersby. She and the other women -- Gina DeJesus, now 23, and Michelle Knight, now 32 -- were hospitalized briefly.

Both Berry and DeJesus returned home Wednesday morning to the families that had fought for years to keep them from being forgotten. Crowds surrounded the homes, cheering as the young women went inside.
ALSO:

Cleveland kidnappings: Suspect had ‘no flaw,’ neighbor says

Chain, ropes found in Cleveland house where women were held

Police: Girl, 6, is daughter of 10-year Ohio captive Amanda Berry

Twitter: @aribloomekatz | Facebook

alana.semuels@latimes.com

ari.bloomekatz@latimes.com