Kidnapping victim, 7, testifies at Hardin Co. trial
KENTON, Ohio (WCMH) – A seven-year-old girl who was the victim of a kidnapping and rape last November testified Wednesday by videotape at the trial of the man accused in the crime.
The deposition was recorded last week and played on a large screen in the courtroom for the trial of Charles Castle. The testimony was recorded to protect the girl, who turned eight on Tuesday, from facing her alleged kidnapper in court.
At times, the girl appeared timid and shy while testifying, sitting at a table with a stuffed lamb, markers to color with, and an adult off-camera to keep her comfortable.
Hardin County Judge Scott Barrett said she chose to see Castle watching the deposition on a monitor in another room.
The girl identified Castle as a friend of her father's who her mother didn't like. she also said he was the man who took her out of her family's house in the middle of the night while her parents slept. She testified that Castle took her to his camper a few blocks away, put tape around her hands and mouth, and put her in a closet.
She also said Castle tied a lamp cord around her neck until she passed out and woke up in a cold basement, which is where deputies found her after a two-day search.
The child said she did not remember Castle touching her private parts.
In other testimony Wednesday, investigators from the Hardin County Sheriff’s Office and the Ohio Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation took the stand Wednesday to recall the cold November night when the victim was found after a two-day search.
Prosecutors showed images and evidence from the abandoned farmhouse where a deputy found the child locked in a filthy basement.
The prosecutor worked to connect Castle to that house, which did not belong to him. The prosecutor also tried to connect the victim to Castle’s minivan and the RV he lived in.
“We went to lengths as much as cutting out portions of the fabric of the chairs, in case we needed to go back and look for either biological fluid or DNA or hairs or fibers, so there was a multitude of things that we did to collect as much evidence as we could,” said BCI Special Agent David Hammond.
The victim’s parents testified Tuesday, saying their daughter was not close with Castle and had no reason to be inside his home or vehicle on her own accord.
Castle and his attorney said police arrested the wrong suspect.