There’s usually a compelling reason why Google Maps plants a blurry smudge over a location and there’s no arguing with the decision to blank out 2207 Seymour Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio from its streetview images.
This suburban address on an ordinary residential street is connected to a catalogue of horrific crimes.
It’s where evil Ariel Castro held captive three young women he’d abducted off the street, subjecting them to unspeakable sexual, physical and mental abuse over more than a decade.
The clapboard house in the Tremont neighbourhood was knocked down following Castro’s trial, but the flattened grass area that remains has been obscured to anyone searching for the site on Google.
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Over a period of two years between 2002 and 2004, bus driver Castro kidnapped Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry and Georgina "Gina" DeJesus one by one by offering them a lift in his vehicle.
Taking them to the house on Seymour Avenue where he had lived since 1992, he lured them inside and down to the basement where he tied them up.
All three were then held prisoner and repeatedly raped and assaulted by Castro until they managed to raise the alarm and escape.
School bus driver Castro, then aged 52, pleaded guilty to 937 of 977 charges made against him of kidnapping, rape and aggravated murder.
A Cuyahoga County court sentenced him to consecutive life terms in prison, plus 1,000 years, all without any possibility of parole. He was also fined $100,000 and had all his property confiscated - including 22207 Seymour Avenue.
Michelle was 21 when she disappeared in August 2002, the day before she was due to appear in court at a custody hearing concerning her young son, Joey.
Amanda vanished the day before her 17th birthday in April 2003 on her way home from work at Burger King. She gave birth to Castro’s child on Christmas Day three years later.
Fourteen-year-old Gina was on her way home from school when she went missing in April 2004. She accepted a lift from Castro because she was a friend of one his teenage daughters who lived with his former partner Grimilda Figueroa.
In a bizarre twist, Castro reportedly turned up at public vigils highlighting the disappearances of Amanda and Gina, participated in a search party, and tried to get friendly with the despairing DeJesus family.
The women kept diaries recording the horrifying physical and mental abuse they were forced to endure, including rape, beatings and emotional torture.
Kept locked in upstairs rooms, they were forced to use plastic toilets that were “emptied infrequently”, fed one meal a day and allowed to shower twice a week at most.
Michelle spoke of becoming pregnant by Castro at least five times but suffered miscarriages after he brutally beat her. He also ordered her to assist Amanda when she gave birth in the house without medical attention.
Over the years neighbours in Seymour Avenue had apparently reported strange activity at 2207, but no investigations were made.
Then on May 6, 2013, Amanda screamed loudly enough to attract attention while Castro was out, managing to escape with her six-year-old daughter and alert the police.
Michelle and Gina were rescued and all three women, plus the little girl, were taken to hospital for medical examination. Castro was arrested and detained the same day.
Following his trial and conviction two months later, the three women appeared at a press conference, speaking publicly to thank people for their support.
Castro was found hanged in his cell at the Orient Ohio Correctional Reception Center on September 3, 2013, a month after the demolition of 2207 Seymour Avenue.
