US | Ariel Castro Ariel Castro Did Commit Suicide: New Report Prison consultants reject notion that he died of autoerotic asphyxiation By Newser Editors and Wire Services Posted Dec 3, 2013 9:20 AM CST Copied In this Thursday, Aug. 1, 2013, file photo, Ariel Castro makes a statement in the courtroom during his sentencing phase in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak, File) Two corrections consultants have concluded that Cleveland kidnapper Ariel Castro committed suicide in his prison cell and didn't die by accidentally killing himself while attempting to achieve a sexual thrill. The nationally regarded consultants rejected a suggestion in a state prisons report in October that Castro's Sept. 3 hanging was not a suicide as originally believed. The consultants' report released today says all available evidence, including a shrine-like display in Castro's cell and an increasing tone of frustration in his prison journal, points to suicide. The 53-year-old Castro had just begun serving a life sentence plus 1,000 years for imprisoning and raping three women in his shuttered house for a decade; he was found hanging in his cell from a sheet attached to a window hinge. Click for more on the case. Read These Next New Fox star, 23, misses first day after car troubles. Iran's supreme leader makes first public comments since ceasefire. Man accused of killing his daughters might be dead. Her blood isn't compatible with anyone else's. Report an error