CLEVELAND, Ohio — For nearly a decade, Gina DeJesus was trapped inside a home in Cleveland.

DeJesus didn’t know if she’d ever be set free.

 

What You Need To Know

  • Gina DeJesus was kidnapped and held in captivity for nine years in a Cleveland home. Now, seven years since her escape, she's focused on helping others

  • When the U.S. Marshal Service initiative  “Operation Safety Net” first got underway in August, more than 200 children were listed as missing in northern Ohio and to date, 32 have been found safely

  • If you have any information about where any missing children in northern Ohio may be, you’re asked to call the U.S. Marshals tipline at 1-866-492-6833


But now, seven years after she escaped, not only has she turned her life around, she’s also giving others the opportunity to do the same thing.

May 6, 2013 is the day that changed Gina DeJesus’ life forever — and it still affects her to this day. 

 

"I mean I try not to think about it, but it’s just there," DeJesus said. 

Nine years after DeJesus was kidnapped and held captive by a sexual predator, she was free and reunited with her family who never stopped searching. Her captor taunted her with her own missing person flyer.

"When I see my mom for the first time I gave my mom the flyer. It was kind of like you’re still putting me out there and I wanted it because it was the last thing my mom touched and then I showed her it and we cried.”

Now, seven years later, DeJesus remembers May 6 for another reason: It’s the date of the first missing person she helped bring home last year.

“I had my family and friends over for the Smart Justice: The Jayme Closs story and that’s when we found that we have a missing case, an active case at the time and then he came nine days later. He came home on May 6. So I was glad that he was safe and sound,” she said.

Soon there will be a mural of her escaping the chains and growing with the flowers. The painting is in the same neighborhood where she was once held prisoner, and it's right across the street from her nonprofit. That’s no accident.

"Really want to help families not go through what my parents went through,” said DeJesus.

Dejesus and her cousin, Sylvia Colon, co-founded the Cleveland Family Center for Missing Children and Adults in 2018.​

In less than two months, the center will have a whole new look.

Board President and Newburgh Heights Chief of Police John Majoy, DeJesus, and Colon gave Spectrum News a tour of the facility which is currently being renovated.

The space is designed with the needs of families in mind.

“That’s what was really important to us and certainly Gina was that no family member have to endure what our family endured without really the support systems in place and that’s why this place really exists,” said Colon.

This week - DeJesus and Colon were on scene when a local missing girl was rescued, thanks to their partnership with a new U.S. Marshal initiative called “Operation Safety Net.”

"Now that I can see on the other side that they’re bringing the missing home and make sure they’re safe. I actually get to understand and see that they’re still doing stuff for the missing and I’m glad that they are because I wouldn’t want them to still be out there with all those weirdos,” said DeJesus.

"Because it was a safe recovery, this morning we wake up and we know that she's in good hands, that she's got a job, that she's got a home. She's not using drugs or being exposed to people who don't have her best interests at stake, and having Gina and Sylvia there on the front line was just really nice because they got to see what happens on the front line,” said Chief Majoy.

Supervisory Deputy United States Marshal Anne Murphy says when “Operation Safety Net” first got underway in August, more than 200 children were listed as missing in northern Ohio and to date - 32 have been found safely.

“There’s not a 14, 15, 16-year-old that should be in some of these places that they’re at. They’re dangerous and we want them to be safe,” said Murphy.

For those families who still have a loved one missing, DeJesus has this message:

"Still never give up hope.”

If you have any information about where any missing children in northern Ohio may be, you’re asked to call the U.S. Marshals tipline at 1-866-492-6833.