'1st step is healing:' Michelle Knight, Cleveland kidnapping survivor, shares message for Jayme Closs
Jayme Closs (Credit: Jennifer Smith)
MILWAUKEE -- After missing for 88 days, 13-year-old Jayme Closs was found alive in Gordon in northern Wisconsin on Jan. 10. Another kidnapping victim who may understand what Closs went through is speaking out.
On May 6, 2013, three women escaped from a home in Cleveland, Ohio where some were held for more than a decade. One of those women, Michelle Knight -- now known as "Lily Rose Lee" -- said she knows what Closs is dealing with and wants to offer help.
Michelle Knight
Michelle Knight
Lily Rose Lee, formerly Michelle Knight
"The first step is the healing. She needs to be able to heal and be able to find her own way back to a normal seat for herself," said Lee.
Lee escaped her captor and now advocates for others.
"She don't want to be treated different. She don't want to be treated as, there's something wrong with her. She wants to be treated just like a normal person," said Lee.
Closs was said to be living with other family members -- making her initial steps toward recovering. Jake Patterson has been charged with kidnapping Closs, and killing her parents James and Denise at their home in Barron, Wisconsin on Oct. 15.
A relative said Jayme Closs would be living permanently with her aunt.