Cleveland Kidnapping Victim Amanda Berry Makes First Public Appearance at Music Festival
July 28, 2013— -- Amanda Berry, one of three women held captive for a decade, surprised the crowds at a Cleveland music festival this weekend when she attended her first public event the day after her captor accepted a plea deal to serve a life sentence plus 1,000 years behind bars.
The crowds at Cleveland's RoverFest 2013 didn't know what to expect when a host of a local radio station came out on stage at the day-long concert at Voinovich Park on Saturday and told concertgoers that a very special guest was about to make an appearance at the event.
WATCH: Cleveland Kidnap Victims Berry, DeJesus and Knight Release Thank-You Video
"I want you to give this person a bigger round of applause and cheer than me, anyone on the show, any of the acts that are here," WMMS radio host Rover told the audience. I'm going to bring out a family that you probably know. Give it up for Amanda Berry!"
Berry, 27, was greeted with raucous applause and cheers from the crowds.
"I told her she had a little bit of time to make up on the partying and you guys would help her out tonight," Rover said.
Berry was later called back onto the stage by rapper Nelly, where he dedicated a song to her and danced with her during the show.
Berry, along with Michelle Knight and Gina DeJesus were discovered in captor Ariel Castro's home in May.
The three women were abducted between 2002 and 2004, when they were in their teens or early 20s and kept as sex slaves for over a decade. Castro had a child with Berry during her captivity.
READ MORE: Ariel Castro Accepts Plea of 'Not Less Than a Thousand Years'
Castro, 52, pleaded guilty to 937 charges on Friday.
He accepted a plea deal that sends him to prison for life plus "not less than 1,000 years" with no chance of parole for abducting the three women and keeping them as sex slaves for over a decade.
Castro is scheduled to be sentenced on Thursday.
