CLEVELAND, Oct. 31, 2009
Up to 6 Bodies Found at Ohio Home
Convicted Rapist Arrested; Remains Found in Advanced State of Decomposition
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A Cuyahoga County coroner van leaves the home of Anthony Sowell (inset) on the east side of Cleveland, Oct. 30, 2009 carrying a victim discovered in the house. Police who went to a home looking for a rape suspect found decomposing bodies upstairs and what appeared to be a freshly dug grave in the basement. Police later arrested Sowell, a convicted sex offender, and say as many as six bodies may be at his house. (AP/John Kuntz, Plain Dealer; CPD)
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Police spokesman Lt. Thomas Stacho said Anthony Sowell was walking down the street on the east side of Cleveland when authorities spotted him and took him into custody.
Sowell initially denied he was the man authorities were looking for but admitted his identity as officers began fingerprinting him, Stacho said. Charges against him are pending.
Officers found three bodies and believe they have discovered three more but are awaiting confirmation from the coroner, Stacho said.
The first two bodies were found Thursday night when police went to Sowell's home to arrest him on charges of felonious assault and rape. Police say he had spent 15 years in prison for an attempted rape in 1989 (see Editor's note at bottom).
Cuyahoga County Coroner Frank Miller identified two bodies as black females and said one had died of a violent death ruled a homicide. No race or gender was determined for the third.
The identities and matter of death for the three had not yet been determined. The decomposition of the bodies meant it would take awhile to determine how they died.
Police established a command post in the neighborhood to take missing-person reports and additional information on outstanding missing persons in the neighborhood.
Teresa Hicks, 48, was among the neighbors who said they were relieved about the arrest but left with a heightened fear of crime. She said she has known Sowell since high school.
"He was crazy," she said from her porch Saturday. "Sometimes he would just go off if he didn't have his way."
Darren Dunlap, 38, frequently visits the neighborhood to see his brother or friends. He said Sowell was known for borrowing money and looking for scrap metal to sell.
Hicks said she didn't think Sowell had a job but understood from conversations with him that he lived on a monthly check. She said she didn't know its source.
Police were checking crime reports to find matches for similarities to the 1989 rape or the most recent allegation against Sowell.
Minutes before the arrest was made, police Chief Michael McGrath tried to reassure parents that it was safe for their children to go trick-or-treating in the neighborhood if they followed standard precautions like avoiding strangers and staying in a group.
Hicks said her daughter would not be trick-or-treating.
Detectives with a search warrant found two bodies Thursday on the third floor of a duplex and began checking a fresh grave dug in the basement. The bodies were in an advanced state of decomposition, suggesting they'd been in the home a long time.
Police were checking missing-person reports back to June 2005, when Sowell was released from prison.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The Associated Press has withdrawn reports referring to Sowell as a "convicted rapist." The AP says that Sowell was only convicted of attempted rape, according to police.
By Associated Press Writer Thomas J. Sheeran
© MMIX The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Add a Comment See all 30 Comments
- "Police say he had spent 15 years in prison for a 1989 rape."
Not long enough.
They should have kept Sowell on ice. - Reply to this comment
- How could a true Halloweener let something like this keep them from
their worshiping?(sarcasm)! - Reply to this comment
- Why are they comment this guy rapist ?if they has enoght evident(D.A)
????????????????? rape then murder ? it's tough ?? and cold blood too
??? - Reply to this comment
- I like this animal,he deserved tight under oaks tree where's anns
house or 1000 fire ANNS get alone with him or might throw him down at
aligators allies, florida (MOST OF AMERICA COLD BLOODS) - Reply to this comment
- Revenge is a low-life action basically. There should be smarter solutions than hate and revenge. You know hate stops thinking and then you do numb things, like this rapist. Should control yourself and think wisely.
If you know the problems you don't fear them so much. Maybe then it would be easier too to discuss about problems. I mean, mothers, fathers and sisters (neighbours?) of these sexual offenders often deny the reality. Why? Fear of shame? They don't know the facts about these things?
Opennes is a good thing, you should get involved and let these people not be without some surveillance and proper care. I'm not saying you have done all wrong, not at all, we have much lousier situation (europe). But I just think that if there is a place anywhere to have a good example on handling things wisely, that is a good example to copy and it leads to progression in other places too.
Ok, I'm not completely against capital punishment, but almost. It's so easy to die, so difficult to live a meaningful life.
So, killing everybody is not a probable resolvement but taking care of everyone maybe is. - Reply to this comment
- why do you idiots blame liberals for this? there are thousands of GIs killed and even more importantly, thousands of civilians in iraq and afghanistan that didn't choose to be part of the war because of mass murderer Bush, why don't you cry wolf about that?
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- This guy is a dead man walking. Where do these animals come from?
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- Thank you liberals and others of you against the death penalty. These animals need to be put down like the animals they are.
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- This goes to show that violent criminals should be put away for a long time, if not for life. If somebody is deemed to be a threat to society they should be kept away from society, period. But the U.S. criminal justice system is about the appearance of justice, not justice itself. It's overcrowded with non-violent offenders like drug users while the violent ones are let out early. It lumps together violent and non-violent criminals, so that the non-violent ones are either abused or learn to become violent themselves in order to survive. It makes no effort to rehabilitate prisoners before releasing them back to society. It thinks that prison time is "punishment" enough that they won't re-offend once released, when in fact prisons are breeding and training grounds for hardened criminals.
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- And this is why it is SO hard for opponents of the death penalty to plead their case, sometimes.
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- If murder were legal he would have had an outlet for that, too!
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- "CSI: Cleveland"!
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- Sick - Just Sick
This is what happens when you do not treat people with respect. in the long term.. meaning that if one is disrespected and mistreated for a long while, expect people , even family to die..
Unfortaunately, sometimes, this is what happens!
It is sick and twisted, that is why I and you too should always treat people with respect and never, never steal anything.. such a s a Blue Tommy Bahama Shirt or anything like that, because..its a sick world!
And people do sick things - Reply to this comment
- Perhaps if prostitution was legal in that state he would have had an outlet for his frustration and those women would still be alive.
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- a black rapist? sure. A black serial killer? What does this make? The third, fourth or fifth ever discovered? Will wonders never cease? Blacks infected the media and white culture with ebonics and teen pregnancies gone wild. Whites appear to be infecting the black culture with the tendency to serial rape and murder people. Talk about about a tradeoff....
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- I had a friend in High School who descended into madness. Not very different from this guy. Although I could see that he was messed up and not getting better, I never imagined that he would start killing people--which he eventually did. He is in a faciity, heavily medicated with dont-be-crazy drugs and is currently OK. I would object to his ever beng released since he is just too dangerous if his meds get messed up, but he doesn't deserve to die, either. If the State executed him, those people would still be dead, and he still would have been bats**t crazy when he did it.
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- But if the state killed him, the rest of us would not need to worry about or pay for that killer ever again. Besides, if he is sooo crazy, if we killed him, he probably would not even know it was happening. A win, win for society. Humans are the only animals that keep the dregs of their kind alive (no matter how handicapped, demented or dangerous) and to not automatically trend for the optimal of their species. This is why humans will most likely not survive another hundred years. The trend is definitely downward and it starts with the pitiful idea that even the worse among us deserve to continue to exist. Talk about counter productive...
- Anthony obviously suffers from manic depression. He should plead insanity when he faces the Judge. Who knows how many dead bodies he has collected?
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- Insanity defenses are usually based on a Schizophrenia diagnosis, not Bi-Polar (manic depression). I agree about the dead bodies, somebody should check all the places he has lived.
- Rapists are the most violent of the violent. They kill and maim more often than drug dealers or mob bosses. Yet, they receive some of the lightest sentences.
Doesn't make any sense, does it? - Reply to this comment
- looks like they need hang this man , before he gets out and dose it again!!
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