Ariel Castro, 53, committed suicide in his cell Tuesday night, according to Ohio corrections officials.

Authorities claim Castro was found dead, hanging in his cell, around 9:20 p.m. at the Correctional Reception Center in Orient, Ohio.

Prison medical staff tried to revive Castro before he was pronounced dead at 10:52 p.m. at the Ohio State Medical Center.

Castro recently began serving his life sentence after pleading guilty in July to 937 counts including, the kidnapping and rape of the three women he held captive for more than a decade. Castro’s plea spared him the death penalty he would have received for his alleged aggravated murder of a fetus after forcibly causing an abortion in one of his victims that he is accused of impregnating.

Castro was originally sent to the Lorain Correctional Institution for processing, but was moved to the Orient prison for his own safety.

Castro was sentenced in August to life in prison plus 1,000 years.

Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, Michelle Knight, and Berry’s 6-year old daughter, fathered by Castro, were rescued from Castro’s home in May. They had disappeared separately between 2002 and 2004.

On May 6, Berry broke off part of a door that the women were imprisoned behind and yelled to neighbors for help. Castro was arrested that evening.

On August 7, the home where Castro held the women captive was torn down.

Photos via NPR and CNN