Castro 'called victim's mother'

US kidnapper Ariel Castro says he called the mother of one of his victims while she was in captivity and told her she was okay, according to a videotaped interrogation. Castro also told investigators that authorities missed opportunities for capturing him.

The kidnapping and repeated rapes of three young women over about a decade shocked Americans when the women escaped from Castro's home in May. Castro, 53, was a month into his life sentence for the crimes when he killed himself on Tuesday

Castro says in the video obtained by NBC that he called the mother of Amanda Berry and told her she was okay and that she had become his wife.

He said he hung up, and they did not have a conversation. Ms Berry's mother died before she escaped.

Castro told investigators that video surveillance near the school of victim Gina DeJesus should have tipped police off about him, and he said a girlfriend noticed a TV on in a room occupied by victim Michelle Knight and got him worrying he might be caught.

Two state reviews of Castro's death are under way, Ohio prisons spokeswoman JoEllen Smith said. One is looking into the suicide, and the other is examining whether Castro received proper medical and mental health care.

Castro was sentenced on August 1 to life in prison plus 1,000 years after pleading guilty to 937 counts, including kidnapping and rape, in a deal to avoid the death penalty.

"I'm not a monster. I'm sick," he told the judge at sentencing.

Castro's captives disappeared separately between 2002 and 2004, when they were 14, 16 and 20. They were rescued from Castro's run-down house when Berry broke through a screen door.

Investigators said the women were bound, repeatedly raped and deprived of food and bathroom facilities.