STANVILLE — Charles Ramsey, the Cleveland dishwasher who rose to national prominence for assisting in the escape of three women who had been kidnapped and imprisoned for nearly a decade, says he does not find it the least bit unusual that he was asked to make an appearance Friday at the office of an Eastern Kentucky attorney over 350 miles away.
“He’s a friend of mine,” Ramsey said, referring to attorney Eric C. Conn.
Ramsey said he has known Conn for five years and once got advice from him. He said Friday’s visit was him simply returning a favor.
“We get the question a lot, ‘Why Floyd County, but least of all, why Stanville?’” Conn said. “Well, it’s part of the United States, last time I checked. You know, we’re kind of funny about it.”
Conn said he was inspired by Ramsey’s actions, to the point that he felt compelled to bring him to Floyd County to meet with local residents.
“I like statues, I like heroes, and this is one that’s still alive,” Conn said. “So I really wanted to give him some credit and let him just say hi and let our area know him a little bit.”
Ramsey gained national notoriety when, after hearing screams from neighbor Ariel Castro’s house, he kicked in a door that allowed Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, Michelle Knight and a 6-year-old girl escape. The women had been abducted and held captive in Castro’s house for years, under the noses of neighbors and despite an extensive search.
Ramsey said he had lived next to Castro for about a year and saw nothing that would have led him to believe anything out of the ordinary was taking place next door.
“There was no raised eyebrow with him, know what I mean?” Ramsey said. “Dude, for what he did, naturally, you’re a monster. How you did it and how you pulled it off and kept it is a secret, you’re a genius …
“That’s the type of person. You don’t know what to do with this dude. You can’t label him. He’s a regular person.”
Despite living next-door to a “monster” for about a year, Ramsey said he hasn’t changed his opinion of humanity in general, but he does question his neighbors.
“I’m the new kid on the block,” Ramsey said. “Everybody else has raised families and the children have gotten older and married and gone on with their life. The mother and the father who started that generation is still right there. And you don’t see nothing? It’s like my friend say, it’s not about they didn’t see nothing. They aren’t going to say nothing.”
He said that unwillingness to do anything extended to the day the women were rescued.
“The whole neighborhood heard screams,” Ramsey said. “That girl was loud, she stopped me from eating my Big Mac … Did anybody else help? No.”
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