Ariel Castro Neighbor Murder Case: Elias Acevedo Charged With Rape, Murder of 2 Women - Pleads Not Guilty (VIDEO)
Cleveland kidnapper Ariel Castro's neighbor Elias Acevedo has been charged in connection with two cold case murders.
Castro's 49-year-old neighbor pleaded not guilty Monday morning at a court hearing in Cuyahoga Common Please Court to charges murder, rape and kidnapping. His bond has been set at $5 million by the judge.
The Cuyahoga County grand jury indicted and charged Castro's neighbor with the kidnapping, rape and murder of Pamela Pemberton and Christina Adkins.
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Pemberton, who was 30-year-old at the time, was Acevedo's neighbor and was found strangled in 1994. The other victim, 18-year-old Christina Adkins, disappeared in 1995.
Acevedo was also charged with the rape of two young girls, bringing his total charges up to 293.
Ariel Castro, who was charged with the kidnapping and rape of three young women in Cleveland, Ohio, was found dead in his cell last month. Officials are not sure whether he died of suicide or while performing a sex act. His house of horrors on Seymour Avenue, where he kept his Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight captive for about ten years, was demolished after the girls' rescue and his arrest.
Acevedo was also arrested at his mother's house on Seymore Avenue, which was directly across the street of the demolished home.
Acevedo was discovered after police questioned neighbors about Castro, including him, and found out that he was a convicted sex offender who did not report his current address to authorities.
The cases of Pemberton and Adkins had remained unsolved and Acevedo became a suspect when authorities re-examined missing persons case after Castro's arrest earlier this year.
