'He said that he had puppies'

• NEW: Kidnapping survivor Michelle Knight recalls losing her voice from screaming


• NEW: She has written a book about her experience


• Knight endured more than a decade of torture, rape, starvation and beatings


• Her captor, Ariel Castro, committed suicide in his prison cell last year

Anderson's conversation with Michelle Knight continues tonight. Watch Part 2 of their interview on AC360, 8 and 11 p.m. on CNN.

(CNN) -- Michelle Knight remembers exactly how Ariel Castro lured her into his home.

"In the car, he said that he had puppies," she said in part one of a three-part interview with CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" that aired Monday night.

"So I was like, OK, I could take one home to my son because, unfortunately, his dog has passed away.

"So, we get in the backyard, and I really didn't think nothing of it until, you know, we got into the house fully -- that's when it dawned on me that this was a mistake to get in his car," said Knight, almost a year to the day after her rescue.

Michelle Knight: You're powerless

Castro tricked Knight, who was 21 when she was reported missing, into his vehicle from a Family Dollar store in Cleveland in 2002, promising to give her a ride. She endured more than a decade of torture, rape, starvation and beatings, held captive inside his Cleveland home.

Knight was Castro's first victim, but she wasn't the only one.

Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus were also abducted and held by Castro for some 10 years. They were rescued after Berry and her daughter managed to escape on May 6, 2013, and call police.

In August, Castro was sentenced to life in prison plus 1,000 years after he pleaded guilty to 937 counts, including murder and kidnapping. He committed suicide in his prison cell in September.

Knight spoke about feeling powerless and the abuse she endured.

"I end up being trapped in a small room, small pink room, that's where he proceeded to tie me up like a fish and put me on the wall," she said.

Knight continued: "What happens is hard at first. You don't really want to adapt to it. You don't want to comply. You don't want to do anything at first.

"But then you find yourself saying, why not? I'm here, just let him get it over with. So you slowly end up saying, 'OK, whatever, just do it, go.'"

'Screamed until I had no voice'

Knight has written a book about her experience because she wants to help people know they can survive anything, she said.

When asked whether there were times she thought she might not survive, Knight said there were moments.

"But overall I always thought that I could make it through because I made it through so much in my life -- so much pain, so much torture. So, I was like already prepared for it," she said.

Knight suffered sexual, physical and emotional abuse from a young age. At 17, she got pregnant.

She describes giving birth as the happiest moment of her life.

"I had somebody to finally love me back -- as much as I loved that baby," she said, smiling for one of the few times during the interview.

Thoughts of her son and his smile sustained her during her captivity -- even at its worst.

Knight recalled a day she "screamed until I had no voice. Still, nobody heard it. And when he hears you scream, he just shoves a sock or a cloth down your throat until you choke on it."

Castro told her he never planned to let her go.

"He said you don't have a family that cares about you. If I kill you right now, nobody would even care," Knight said.

'The future is bright'

For months, Castro kept Knight in the basement -- sitting on the ground, chained to a pole, gagged with a sock and a motorcycle helmet on her head.

He eventually moved her upstairs where she was kept chained and often naked to a wall in a boarded-up bedroom. Her only connection with the outside world was an old radio and sometimes a small TV.

Nearly eight months after she was kidnapped, Knight saw on TV that Berry was missing and immediately suspected Castro.

DeJesus was abducted approximately a year later, in 2004.

To mark the anniversary of their freedom, both Berry and DeJesus have released statements, thanking supporters and expressing hope for the future.

"This past year has been amazing, full of healing and hope," said DeJesus. "I have also been enjoying new experiences, such as learning how to use new technology and how to drive."

"So much has happened this past year," Berry said. "I have grown. I am strong. And I have so much to live for, to look forward to. The future is bright."

Michelle Knight recounts her experience to Dr. Phil

Watch Anderson Cooper 360° weeknights 10pm ET. For the latest from AC360° click here.

Knight recalls being 'punching bag'

• Michelle Knight says Ariel Castro had "a fascination" with fellow captive Amanda Berry


• She calls her defiance of Castro a source of pride; "it felt good to stand up for myself"


• Castro had a gun with him "everywhere," threatened her if Berry's newborn didn't live


• Knight coped by talking with a fellow captive, writing to her son, taking solace in being alive

Anderson's conversation with Michelle Knight continues Wednesday. Watch Part 3 of their interview on AC360, 8 and 11 p.m. on CNN.

(CNN) -- Michelle Knight wasn't the only one being held by Ariel Castro. But she knew she was different.

"I was the punching bag."

And she took it -- day after day, month after month, year after year. The terror and torment lasted from August 2002, when Castro lured Knight, then 21, into his car with the promise of a new puppy, to May 6, 2013, when she and fellow captives Amanda Berry and Georgina "Gina" DeJesus finally tasted freedom once again.

How Castro lured her to the house

Speaking to CNN's Anderson Cooper, Knight describes being chained to DeJesus, of being threatened with death if she didn't deliver Berry's baby alive and of screaming until she lost her voice in the 1,400-square-foot, two-story home on Cleveland's Seymour Avenue.

Michelle Knight on Amanda Berry's baby

Michelle Knight: I didn't want to get shot

Michelle Knight: He said he had puppies

Michelle Knight: You're powerless

What she never lost was hope. After being starved, chained and repeatedly raped, after being brutalized physically and humiliated psychologically, Knight said that she actually got stronger.

It might not have helped her in Castro's eyes, but Knight stayed defiant -- so much so that it became a source of pride.

"All my life, I was made to feel insecure, like I was worthless," she recalled. "And for the first time in my life, I stood up to a person that was a demeaning person."

"And it felt good to stand up for myself, (because) I never did before."

Sensed Castro was behind other abduction

One year later, Knight is in a very different place. While Berry and DeJesus have largely stayed out of the public eye, Knight has done the opposite -- appearing at public events and writing a book, "Finding Me," in hopes that her experiences will help people know they can survive anything.

Castro, the daily devil in these three women's lives for so long, is now out of the picture.

Arrested shortly after Berry and her then 6-year-old daughter escaped to a neighbor's house -- which led directly to the freeing of both Knight and DeJesus -- Castro killed himself in custody last September.

Before last May, neighbors had known him as an affable guy who'd wave or eat ribs with them on his porch. For years, Castro drove children around in a school bus. He jammed with fellow musicians in salsa bands.

But none of these people -- not even his closest relatives -- knew Castro's deep, dark secrets.

Knight was the first such secret, having accepted a ride from Castro after leaving a Family Dollar store in the northern Ohio city.

Nine months later, he took Berry as she walked home from her job at Burger King on the eve of her 17th birthday. Knight said when she first saw TV reports of this latest abduction, her first thought was that Castro was responsible.

While the two didn't interact much -- according to Castro's rules -- Knight said that Berry got better food, blankets, "basically whatever she wanted except for home."

"He had a fascination with her, more than me," Knight recalled. "She was the wife-type person. I was the punching bag."

Didn't speak out because 'I didn't want to get shot'

In April 2004, Castro nabbed DeJesus shortly after she was last seen with his own biological daughter, Arlene, at a pay phone.

Knight and DeJesus, all of 14 at the time of her kidnapping, became close in more ways than one.

They were chained together by the feet inside a small room. And they leaned on each other emotionally as well.

"When we were sad and got knocked down by things that he said, we would tell each other, 'It's OK, ... one day day it will be over,'" Knight said. "We (tried) to encourage ourselves to keep hope that we would go home, even though sometimes we didn't feel like they were."

There was no roaming the halls, no freedom without a threat.

Knight remembered going outside once and seeing other people. But she didn't dare speak up, knowing that Castro had a gun on him "everywhere he went."

She said flatly, "I didn't want to get shot."

'At least I'm still alive'

That threat was never more real than when Berry went into labor with Castro's child. Her paternity was later confirmed by DNA tests.

The baby girl was born into a plastic tub to contain the afterbirth and amniotic fluid. But she wasn't breathing, said Knight, who had helped deliver the child.

"At that point in time, I knew what he said: 'If the baby didn't come out breathing, I'll kill you,'" recalled Knight.

Berry's baby delivered by another captive

Throughout her harrowing ordeal, Knight said she coped in part by remembering her own child, whom she'd given birth to at age 17.

She told Cooper that she'd write songs and poems to him, among other musings "about what happened to me (and) things that I never had, things that I wanted."

And Knight worked, as best as she could, to find something, anything positive to hold on to.

"I (would) take myself outside of myself and look at a brighter side: At least I'm not dead yet," she said. "At least I'm still alive and breathing."

Michelle Knight recounts her experience to Dr. Phil

CNN's Dana Ford contributed to this report.

Best U.S. chefs and restaurants 2014

April Bloomfield of The Spotted Pig (pictured) was named best chef in New York City.

• James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards announced on Monday


• The awards are referred to as the Oscars of the U.S. culinary world


• A New Orleans seafood grill won best new restaurant award

(CNN) -- Annual restaurant awards -- good for debate, good to reaffirm that dining experience and great at helping tourists plan their travel itineraries as they scramble to book dinner reservations.

Deciding where to eat on your next trip to the United States might be a bit easier now that this year's winners of the James Beard Foundation's Restaurant and Chef Awards have been announced.

Often referred to as the Oscars of the U.S. restaurant industry, the awards took place at the Lincoln Center in New York City on Monday.

The best chef category is divided by region: Great Lakes, mid-Atlantic, northeast, northwest, midwest, south, southeast, southwest, west and New York City.

Award winners include some reasonably obvious choices such as April Bloomfield of The Spotted Pig for New York's best chef and The Bar at the NoMad Hotel for outstanding bar program.

Dominque Ansel, the chef who unleashed the cronut on the world, took home the prize for outstanding pastry chef, while Pêche Seafood Grill in New Orleans won the coveted best new restaurant award.

Nancy Silverton of Pizzeria Mozza in Los Angeles was named outstanding chef.

The nominations for outstanding restaurant were Hearth (New York City), Highlands Bar and Grill (Birmingham, Alabama), Spiaggia (Chicago, Illinois) and wd~50 (New York City). The winner was The Slanted Door in San Francisco.

Head over to Eatocracy to see the full list of winners and photos from the event.

Rescue brought terror, then relief

• At first, Michelle Knight says she thought rescuers were burglars


• She told police: "Please don't let me go. Please don't "


• Knight tells CNN her feelings about Ariel Castro's suicide


• The past year, she says, has been "overwhelming but amazing as hell"

(CNN) -- First, Michelle Knight heard pounding on the door. Then, there was silence.

A year later, she still remembers the dread she felt that day.

Rescuers were banging on the door after learning Knight and fellow captive Georgina "Gina" DeJesus were trapped inside. But Knight and DeJesus didn't know the police were coming.

"For me it was the most awesome day ever. But it was also terrifying at the same time, because me and Gina actually thought someone was breaking in," Knight told CNN's Anderson Cooper in an interview that aired Wednesday. "We laugh about it now."

Ariel Castro listens during the sentencing phase of his trial on August 1 in Cleveland alongside defense attorneys Craig Weintraub, left, and Jaye Schlachet. Castro held three women captive for years inside his Ohio home until their escape in May 2013. He pleaded guilty to 937 counts, including murder and kidnapping. On September 4, Castro was found dead inside his prison cell in Orient, Ohio.

Former captive Michelle Knight, center, talks with reporters on August 7 outside convicted kidnapper Ariel Castro's house. Knight was on hand as workers began tearing down the structure.

A crane demolishes the Cleveland house of Castro on August 7. Plans call for the house to be torn down and the lot cleared in a single day.

Here is a view of the house where Castro held the three women captive. He forfeited the house as part of a plea deal with prosecutors that took the death penalty off the table in exchange for a life sentence, plus 1,000 years in prison.

Michelle Knight speaks during the sentencing phase for Ariel Castro on August 1 in Cleveland. "I will live on," Knight said in her statement to Castro. "You will die a little every day."

Amanda Berry vanished a few blocks from her Cleveland home on April 21, 2003. She was 16. She spoke in a video released on YouTube on July 8, thanking people for support and privacy. Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight escaped from a Cleveland home on May 6, 2013, after being held captive for nearly a decade.

Georgina "Gina" DeJesus was last seen in Cleveland on April 2, 2004, on her way home from school. She was 14 when she went missing.

Knight was last seen on August 22, 2002, when she was 21.

FBI agents and other law enforcement officers stand outside Castro's home in Cleveland on May 9, 2013.

Castro hangs his head while talking with his public defender, Kathleen DeMetz, during his arraignment on May 9, 2013.

Ariel Castro was charged on May 8, 2013, with kidnapping the three women.

Investigators remove evidence from the house on Seymour Avenue in Cleveland where the three women were held.

An FBI forensics team meets outside the house where three women were held as they investigate the property.

Cleveland Deputy Chief of Police Ed Tomba, center, speaks at a news conference to address details of the developments.

FBI agents remove evidence from the house May 7, 2013.

A police officer stands in front of the broken front door of the house on May 7, 2013, where the kidnapped women escaped.

Neighbor Charles Ramsey talks to media as people congratulate him on helping the kidnapped women escape on May 6, 2013. He helped knock down the door after he heard screaming inside.

Kidnapped teens found decade later

Kidnapped teens found decade later

Kidnapped teens found decade later

Kidnapped teens found decade later

Photos: Kidnapped teens found decade later

Photos: Kidnapped teens found decade later

Photos: Kidnapped teens found decade later

Photos: Kidnapped teens found decade later

Kidnapped teens found decade later

Kidnapped teens found decade later

Kidnapped teens found decade later

Kidnapped teens found decade later

Kidnapped teens found decade later

Kidnapped teens found decade later

Kidnapped teens found decade later

Kidnapped teens found decade later

Kidnapped teens found decade later

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Photos: Kidnapped teens rescued

Knight: 'I was the punching bag'

Michelle Knight on Amanda Berry's baby

Michelle Knight: I didn't want to get shot

But at the time, it was anything but funny. The two women huddled in their boarded-up bedroom, afraid burglars were coming for them, Knight said.

That terror turned to relief, Knight said, when she caught a glimpse of a police badge and heard a police radio.

It wasn't long before she jumped into the police officer's arms.

"I ran right into her arms," Knight recalled, "and I literally choked her. ... (and) I said, 'Please don't let me go. Please don't put me down.'"

At 32 years old, Knight walked out the front door of 2207 Seymour Avenue for the very first and last time.

How Castro lured her to the house

Knight recalls being Castro's 'punching bag'

Confrontation in court

For 11 years, Knight was brutally raped and tortured in Ariel Castro's "house of horrors."

Rescuers freed her, along with fellow captives DeJesus and Amanda Berry, a year ago from the Cleveland home, drawing national attention to the horrific case.

Knight was rushed to a hospital, where she was treated for a long list of health issues due to the years of beatings and neglect.

Although she was free, she was also alone. With no family to speak of, friends or home to go to, she took refuge at an assisted living facility outside Cleveland, where she prepared to face her captor in court.

"After 11 years, I am finally being heard, and it's liberating," she said in a powerful statement at Castro's sentencing describing the abuse she endured.

"You took 11 years of my life away, and I have got it back. I spent 11 years in hell, and now your hell is just beginning," she told Castro.

Knight told CNN she was determined to speak out.

"It was important to me to express how I felt about what he did and how he did it and let the judge know that he needed to be punished," she said.

Hope for the future

Michelle Knight: He said he had puppies

Michelle Knight: You're powerless

One year later, Knight is in a very different place. While Berry and DeJesus have largely stayed out of the public eye, Knight has done the opposite -- appearing at public events and writing a book, "Finding Me," in hopes that her experiences will help people know they can survive anything.

Castro, the daily devil in these three women's lives for so long, is now out of the picture.

He killed himself in prison last September, just a month into serving his prison sentence of life plus 1,000 years.

"I understand why he did it," Knight said. "He couldn't face what he did with his head held high. He had to face it like a coward, 'cause he was ashamed and embarrassed of what he done. And he didn't want what he did to us to happen to him."

Now, armed with friends and a good support system, Knight said she's giving a voice to other people who are missing, like she once was.

"I was considered a forgotten one," she said. "That's a reason why I made a poem and said that all the people that are out there, they're not forgotten in my eyes. Never."

And she's focused on starting over.

The past year, she said, has been "overwhelming but amazing as hell."

She has changed her name to Lily, after her favorite flower. She's back in school with the hope of opening her own restaurant.

And she's planning to get a new tattoo with a message of survival: "God gave us this chosen life because He knew we could handle it."

After what she's been through, Knight said there's nothing she can't handle.

Berry's baby delivered by another captive

Michelle Knight recounts her experience to Dr. Phil

CNN's Greg Botelho and Dana Ford contributed to this report.

Watch Anderson Cooper 360° weeknights 10pm ET. For the latest from AC360° click here.