In 2003, Cleveland, Ohio native Amanda Berry went missing until May
2013, when she was rescued after a decade of imprisonment and rape.
In a story that shocked the United States, it was revealed that Ariel
Castro, who was sentenced to life and 1,000 years in prison just this
week, kidnapped Berry and two other women, and had been holding them in
captivity for years. All three women, and the six-year-old daughter of
Amanda Berry, who Castro fathered, were saved.
Berry, now 27, has begun to acclimate herself to the world as it is
in 2013. But along the way, she went back to a time before tragedy
struck.
On Saturday (July 27), Berry came on stage with her family at a Nelly concert
in Cleveland. Nelly's career, of course, was at an all-time-high in
2003, just one year removed from Nellyville, which has gone six times
platinum in the United States.
"He said, 'Everyone, here's Amanda Berry,' and she came out with a
friend, another young woman," said concertgoer Kayleigh Fladung to the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
"She didn't say anything, but she was smiling and happy. "She waved to
the crowd, everyone went crazy cheering, and she went backstage. Nelly
did his set, four or five songs, and then he brought her out again and
everyone cheered."
"It was cool to see but still very surprising," added Fladung.
As he brought Berry out, Nelly said, "I want to make sure we get a
chance to thank you... because I can't even imagine the type of strength
and the type of courage that it took to keep it going. So for that,
again, I commend you...and for that, I want you to stay here," before
dedicating his peformance of "Just a Dream" to Berry:
The event marked Berry's first public appearance since her horrific ordeal.
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