A man has been charged with rape and kidnapping after three women missing for a decade were found alive at his Ohio home.

The three women held captive for about a decade at a run-down US house were apparently bound with ropes and chains, police said today, while charges were expected by the end of the day against the three brothers under arrest.

One of the suspects in the case of three women who were rescued this week, 10 years after they went missing, had been active in neighbourhood searches and vigils for the women, neighbours say.

As America began to ask how three women could be held captive in a suburban home for a decade, police revealed they had called to the house twice.

Three brothers have been arrested after women who went missing as girls in separate incidents 10 years ago were found alive and well after being held prisoner.