CLEVELAND — Ariel Castro, the former school bus driver who made national headlines for abducting three women and keeping them in the dungeon-like confines of his house, committed suicide by hanging himself with a bed sheet on Tuesday, Sept. 3.

Castro.

Castro, 53,who pleaded guilty to 937 counts in July, had been taken off suicide watch while still in Cleveland’s Cuyahoga County Jail on June 5. Castro was sentenced on August 1 to life, plus 1,000 years in prison without the possibility of parole.

The three women Castro kidnapped had disappeared separately between 2002 and 2004, when they were 14, 16 and 20 years old. His victims, Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight, escaped on May 6, after Berry broke through a storm door while Castro was out of the house.

The case captured international attention when it broke in May, as many people were stunned by the details of their ordeal. Some $1.4 million in charitable donations poured in from 10,800 donors, seeking to help the women resume their lives.