Ariel Castro may have died from auto-erotic asphyxiation, report finds

Ariel Castro may have died from auto-erotic asphyxiation, not suicide (AP)

Ariel Castro, the Cleveland man convicted of kidnapping three women and holding them captive at his home for a decade, may have died from auto-erotic asphyxiation, not suicide, as was first thought.

According to a report by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, the guards responsible for observing Castro faked their logs, after failing to perform sufficient checks in the hours leading up to his death on the evening of 3 September.

Castro, 53, had begun a life sentence after pleading guilty to almost 1,000 counts including kidnapping, rape and murder. He was found dead in his cell, hanged by a sheet attached to a window hinge. His trousers and underwear were pulled down to his ankles. His cell contained "a Bible open to John Chapters 2 and 3" and "pictures of his family out and arranged in a poster-board fashion", the report says.

The report suggests Castro may have died attempting auto-erotic asphyxiation, which is choking oneself for sexual arousal.