What Will Veterans Day Bring for Former Marine, Alleged Serial Killer Anthony Sowell?
NEW YORK (CBS/AP) As America honors its military heroes on Veterans Day, investigators are working to identify two of the 11 bodies pulled from former Marine and alleged serial killer Anthony Sowell's Cleveland home and hoping they don't find more victims near the military bases where he served.
PICTURES: Anthony Sowell's Home of Horror
Sowell was in the Marines from 1978 to 1985 and spent time in California, the Carolinas and Japan.
Investigators are reviewing the national database of unsolved crimes for any clues to possible connections to Sowell, particularly at locations where he served in the military, Scott Wilson, an FBI spokesman in Cleveland, said.
The 50-year-old Sowell has been charged with five counts of aggravated murder. He was indicted Monday on one count of attempted murder, two counts of rape, two counts of kidnapping and two counts of felonious assault in an alleged attack Sept. 22 that led to the search of his home.
Meanwhile, the search for more bodies near Sowell's Cleveland home has been expanded to include a neighbor's property as a precaution, Cleveland Police Lt. Thomas Stacho said.
City crews are cleaning up debris at the next-door house and preparing for FBI agents to conduct a thermal-imaging search of the property, Stacho said.
Police discovered the first two bodies and a freshly dug grave Oct. 29 at the house on Cleveland's east side. Sowell had fled the home and was arrested two days later.
All 11 bodies found so far were black women and most had been strangled, the coroner said. Nine have been identified through DNA and dental records.
Police said Sowell used liquor to lure women — often those who were homeless or living alone and who abused drugs or alcohol — and attacked them in his home.
Sowell has asked for a court-appointed attorney, but court records don't reflect that one has been chosen.
PICTURES: Anthony Sowell's Home of Horror
MORE ON CRIMESIDER
November 9, 2009 - Anthony Sowell: Case Against Accused Cleveland Serial Killer Could Expand Overseas with FBI Interest
November 5, 2009 - Anthony Sowell Offered Free Barbecue To Neighbors, As Corpses Rotted in His Home
November 5, 2009 - Family of Anthony Sowell Victim Tonia Carmichael: Police Said "Go Home"
November 4, 2009 - Harry Smith on Anthony Sowell and His Cleveland House of Horrors
November 4, 2009 - Skull in Bucket Found in Anthony Sowell's Home, Say Cleveland Cops
November 3, 2009 - Anthony Sowell Home "Smelled Like a Dead Body" for Years; How Did Cops Miss Victims?
November 2, 2009 - Anthony Sowell House of Horrors: Who's Buried There?
November 2, 2009 - Anthony Sowell Cruised Sex Fetish Site While Dead Bodies Rotted in His Cleveland Home
November 2, 2009 - Six Died Violently at Anthony Sowell's Cleveland Home, Say Police