The suburban house in Cleveland, Ohio, where three women were held in brutal captivity has been torn down.
Ariel Castro, 53, a former school bus driver, was last week sentenced to life in prison plus 1000 years after admitting hundreds of rape, kidnapping and other charges.
He abducted Michelle Knight, 32, Amanda Berry, 27, and Gina DeJesus, 23, from the Cleveland streets between 2002 and 2004 and kept them chained for long periods in the house, beating and starving them and forcing one of them to miscarry several pregnancies.
The women were freed in May after Ms Berry escaped while Castro was out of the house, and summoned help.
At about 7.30 local time on Wednesday, onlookers cheered as a wrecking machine smashed through the house to begin the demolition. It took less than two hours to reduce the house to rubble.
Ms Knight watched the start of the demolition. "I thought it was important to be here today," she said, "because nobody was there for me when I was missing. And I want the people out there to know - including the mothers - that they can have strength, they can have hope, and their child will come back."
Castro's neighbours in the working-class district had vowed to see the house demolished once his trial was over.
