PLS IGNORE: US kidnapping victim grateful for support

CLEVELAND (AP) - The only victim still hospitalised after a decade of captivity in a United States house is thanking the public for an outpouring of flowers and gifts.

A statement issued on Friday by MetroHealth Medical Center on behalf of Ms Michelle Knight says she is in good spirits and grateful for the Cleveland Courage Fund created to aid the victims.

Ms Knight, rescued on Monday with two other women, asks in the statement that her privacy be respected.

A missing-person report on Ms Knight filed one day after she disappeared in 2002 said without elaboration that she has a mental condition and often is confused about her surroundings.

Former Cleveland school bus driver Ariel Castro has been charged with rape and kidnapping for keeping Ms Knight and two other women captive.

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