Convicted kidnapper and rapist Ariel Castro was found dead on Tuesday evening, 19 Action News reported. He was 52.

On Aug. 1, Castro was sentenced to life plus 1,000 years in prison for kidnapping and raping Amanda Berry, Michelle Knight and Gina DeJesus, and holding them captive in his Cleveland home for more than a decade.

He pleaded guilty to 937 counts, including murder and kidnapping, in exchange for the death penalty being taken off the table, CNN reported.

During the sentencing, Castro denied being abusive and insisted that most of the sex was consensual.

'I'm not a violent person,' Castro said. 'I simply kept them there without them being able to leave.'

The three women disappeared separately between 2002 and 2004, The Associated Press reported. They escaped on May 6, when one of the women broke part of a door and yelled to neighbors for help. Castro was arrested that same night.

According to JoEllen Smith of the Ohio Department of Corrections, Castro was found hanging in his prison cell at the Correctional Reception Center in Orient, Ohio, around 9:20 p.m. Tuesday. Although prison medical staff performed lifesaving measures, he was later pronounced dead at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.

At the time of his death, Castro was isolated from other inmates for his own protection.

Ohio State Police and the Departm.