Nearly four years ago, three women got a chance for a new life.

After pleading guilty to charges of rape, kidnapping, and aggravated murder, the 53-year-old Ariel Castro took his life in a cell one month after his life sentence.

Michelle Knight was held captive for 11 years after going missing in 2002, and now, she is a happily married woman and a successful author.

Michelle got married in 2015 – two years after she was freed from captivity.

Knight changed her name to Lily Rose Lee, inspired by her favorite flowers, and wrote two memoirs about her experience: Finding Me: A Decade of Darkness, a Life Reclaimed, which she wrote 4 years ago, and a new book Life After Darkness. She has also become a public speaker and a volunteer at local animal shelters.

She said:

Other freed women are recovering from the terrifying past as well. Today, 31-year-old Amanda Berry, who was abducted when she was 16, hosts a daily news segment about missing persons for Cleveland’s Fox 8. 27-year-old Gina has decided to stay out of the public eye and spends her time with close family members. She and Amanda also wrote a book together titled Hope: A Memoir of Survival in Cleveland.

According to statistics, every 40 seconds a child goes missing in the United States. However, in almost 90% of the reported cases, abduction is not the issue. It often happens due to miscommunication, getting lost, or children running away.

Nonetheless, it’s very important to educate children on how to protect themselves. It is impossible for parents to watch over their children 24/7, so kids have to know how to identify potentially dangerous situations and ways to deal with them in order to protect themselves.