Ariel Castro, the man who held three women captive for more than a decade, has been found hanged in his prison cell.
The 53 year old was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole plus 1,000 years at the beginning of August.
The former school bus driver abducted Gina DeJesus, Amanda Berry and Michelle Knight between 2002-04 when they were 14,16 and 21 years old.
He kept the women captive at his home in Cleveland in Ohio in the US until May this year when Amanda Berry managed to escape and contact police. Castro kept his victims chained up and raped them. Castro also fathered a child with Amanda Berry.
The house in Cleveland was destroyed after the trial.
A prison official said Castro was believed to have committed suicide.
He had been in protective custody because of the notoriety of his case, meaning he was checked every 30 minutes, but was not on suicide watch.
