In one of the most bizarre twists of the Cleveland “house of horrors” story, the daughter of accused rapist Ariel Castro was best friends with Gina DeJesus, and may have been the last person to see the victim before the girl was kidnapped in 2004 at age 14. Even while police and the FBI searched for DeJesus — who prosecutors now say was one of three women kept captive and repeatedly raped in Ariel Castro’s Seymour Avenue home — the accused kidnapper’s daughter was interviewed on America’s Most Wanted.

Arelene Castro told AMW in 2005 that she and DeJesus were walking home from middle school when she borrowed 50 cents from DeJesus to make a pay-phone call home and ask her mother if she could go over to spend the afternoon at DeJesus’s home: “My mom said, ‘No,’ I can’t go over to [Gina's] house. I told her I couldn’t. She said, Well, I’ll talk to you later’ and just walked.”

Investigators now say that DeJesus was kidnapped that day by Arlene’s own father, who offered the girl a ride and then chained up Gina — along with his other victims, Michelle Knight and Amanda Berry — in the basement of the West Side house where they were held captive as sex slaves during years of horrific abuse. In an interview Thursday on ABC’s Good Morning America, Arlene Castro said she was “devastated” to learn that her best friend had been her father’s victim:

Arlene Castro said she had not spoken to her father, Ariel Castro, since “late last month” and had “no idea” that her father, a 52-year-old former school bus driver, could have been the man who allegedly kidnapped and held three women -– Amanda Berry, 27, Michele Knight, 32, and Gina DeJesus, 23 — against their will for about a decade.
“Me and my father were never really that close,” said Arlene Castro, who now lives in Indiana. “Every time we would talk it would just be short conversations, just a hello, how are you doing and let me know if you need anything and that was it.” …
“I am absolutely so, so sorry,” she said on “GMA,” fighting back tears. “I really want to see Gina and I want you to meet my kids. I’m so sorry for everything.”

Video of Arlene Castro’s ABC interview:

PREVIOUSLY:

• May 8: Ariel Castro Charged With Kidnapping, Rape of Cleveland Women; New Details of ‘House of Horrors’ Case
• May 7: Cleveland ‘House of Horrors’: Victims Raped, Impregnated, Beaten; UPDATE: Neighbors Say They Called Police Years Ago
• May 7: Suspect Ariel Castro ‘Was a Nice Guy,’ Neighbor Says; Cleveland School Bus Driver and Brothers Arrested in ‘House of Horrors’ Kidnappings
• May 7: Kidnapped Girls Rescued: Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, Michelle Knight Found Alive in Cleveland; Suspect Ariel Castro Arrested