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Neighbor In Cleveland: 'I Thought This Girl Was Dead!'

Charles Ramsey, the neighbor who police say helped free three long-missing young women from a Cleveland home on Monday, told a vivid story as he spoke with reporters at the scene.

"I thought this girl was dead!" he says of 27-year-old Amanda Berry, whose cries for help brought him to the front door of a home on Seymour Avenue.

As for the man who owned the home and has been arrested, along with two of his brothers, Ramsey says: "I barbecued with this dude! We eat ribs and whatnot and listen to salsa music. You see where I'm coming, bro?"

Ramsey says he had no clue "that that girl was in that house or anybody else was in there against their will. ... He just comes out to his backyard. Plays with the dogs. Tinkering with his cars and motorcycles. Goes back in the house. He's somebody you look and you look away because he's not doing nothing but the average stuff. There's nothing exciting about him. Well, until today."

The Associated Press has video of Ramsey telling his tale.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.