This undated combination photo released by the Cleveland Police Department shows from left, Onil Castro, Ariel Castro, and Pedro Casto.The three brothers were arrested Tuesday, May 7, 2013, after three women who disappeared in Cleveland a decade ago were found safe Monday. The brothers are accused of holding the victims against their will. (AP Photo/Cleveland Police Department) (The Associated Press)
Authorities charged Angel Castro, a former school bus driver in Cleveland, on Wednesday with kidnapping and raping women he allegedly kept imprisoned in his home for years.
But authorities did not charge his brothers, Pedro and Onil Castro, who were arrested and held in connection with the case.
The men are in custody and can't be reached for comment. Their brother-in-law has said the family is "totally shocked" after hearing about the three women at the home.
The three women – Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight – disappeared separately between 2002 and 2004 and were found Monday after one of them screamed for help to escape and contacted police. Ariel Castro was charged with four counts of kidnapping and three counts of rape.
Authorities said more charges may be forthcoming. They said that Ariel Castro's brothers thus far did not seem to be involved with the crime. But when they said they were not charging the two other brothers, they stressed "at this time."
Police say ropes and chains were among evidence collected inside the house. A city councilman says the women were subjected to prolonged sexual and psychological abuse and suffered miscarriages.
The charges against Ariel Castro, 52, followed the remarkable rescue Monday of the three women who were apparently kept for years inside Ariel's Seymour Avenue home.
On Tuesday, neighbors and relatives of the Castro brothers expressed shock over the arrests and allegations. Many neighbors in Ariel’s predominantly Latino community of modest homes described him as “a nice guy.” But many others described him as a man who was, at best, an enigma – not letting outsiders into the Seymour Avenue home, and forbidding his own son from entering certain rooms.
Police said that Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight were kept bound with ropes and chains and held since they were in their teens or early 20s. Knight disappeared in 2002, Berry in 2003 and DeJesus about a year after that.
Neighbors said that Ariel Castro took part in the search for one of the missing women, helped pass out fliers, performed music at a fundraiser for her and attended a candlelight vigil, where he comforted her mother. As recently as 2005, Castro was accused of repeated acts of violence against his children's mother.
Less information was been publicly released about Pedro and Onil Castro.
In a development that astonished and exhilarated much of Cleveland, the three women were rescued on Monday after Berry, broke through a screen door at the Castro house and told a 911 dispatcher: "Help me. I'm Amanda Berry. I've been kidnapped, and I've been missing for 10 years and I'm, I'm here, I'm free now."
Law enforcement officials left many questions unanswered, including how the women were taken captive, whether they were sexually abused and who fathered Berry's 6-year-old daughter. Police spokesman Sammy Morris said ropes and chains were taken from the house.
In a television interview, Police Chief Michael McGrath said he was "absolutely" sure police did everything they could to find the women over the years. He disputed claims by neighbors that officers had been called to the house before for suspicious circumstances.
"We have no record of those calls coming in over the past 10 years," McGrath said. On Tuesday, some neighbors said that they had told police years ago about hearing pounding on the doors of the home and seeing a naked woman crawling in the yard.
DeJesus, who disappeared in 2004 and is in her early 20s, arrived home in the afternoon Wednesday to chants of "Gina! Gina!" Wearing a bright yellow hooded sweatshirt, she was led through the crowd and into the house by a woman who put her arm around the young woman's shoulders and held her tight.
Berry arrived at her sister's home, which was similarly festooned with dozens of colorful balloons and signs, one reading "We Never Lost Hope Mandy." Hundreds cheered wildly but weren't able to get a glimpse of Berry as she went in through the back.
The third captive, Knight, 32, was reported in good condition at Metro Health Medical Center, which a day earlier had reported that all three victims had been released. There was no immediate explanation from the hospital.
An Atlantic Monthly story said: "She. . .appears to be the one most severely abused inside the Castro house. She reportedly has hearing damage and severe facial injuries due to 'years of beatings.'"
A 2005 domestic-violence filing in Cuyahoga County Domestic Relations Court accused Ariel Castro of twice breaking the nose of his children's mother, knocking out a tooth, dislocating each shoulder and threatening to kill her and her daughters three or four times in a year.
The filing for a protective order by Grimilda Figueroa also said that Castro frequently abducted her daughters and kept them from her.
In 1993, Castro was arrested on a domestic-violence charge and spent three days in jail before he was released on bail. A grand jury did not return an indictment against him, according to court documents, which don't detail the allegations. It was unclear who brought the charge.
Meanwhile, the aunt of a 14-year-old girl who disappeared in 2007 near the house where the missing women were found said the girl's mother has spoken with the FBI.
"We're hoping for our miracle, too," said Debra Summers, who described her niece, Ashley Summers, as not the type of girl who would leave without coming back.
The FBI did not immediately return a call about the case and whether it was connected to that of the three missing women.
Ariel Castro is expected to be arraigned Thursday at 8:30 a.m. Onil and Pedro Castro face court hearings, also on Thursday, on outstanding misdemeanor warrants, according to Victor Perez, a chief assistant prosecutor.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Follow us on twitter.com/foxnewslatino
Like us at facebook.com/foxnewslatino
Fox News' "Antisemitism Exposed" newsletter brings you stories on the rising anti-Jewish prejudice across the U.S. and the world.