OH- Sowell's violent past offers glimpse of accused rapist suspected of mass murder

Please note: Anthony Sowell, like John Couey, asked for therapy, in prison -- in community respectively, and both were denied by the State. While it may be true that, therapy may not have stopped their behavior, we do know the absence of it did nothing to help the victims. Anyone know if Phillip Garrido had therapy?

11-3-2009 Ohio:

CLEVELAND, Ohio — With a necktie wrapped around her wrists, the first woman to accuse Anthony Sowell of rape climbed through a third-floor window to a rooftop in East Cleveland to get away from him.

The woman, three-months pregnant, yelled until neighbors spotted her on that July 1989 morning. Sowell was convicted a year later. The crime was so vicious that state parole officials refused to release Sowell early from of a 15-year prison sentence.

The attack and his subsequent prison sentence give insight into Sowell, a former Marine who struggled with drugs and alcohol for years and is now accused of preying on women.

"He choked me real hard because my body started tingling," the woman told police. "I thought I was going to die."

Over the years, prison officials kept coming back to her words and injuries as they considered him for parole. Often times, they gave the same reason for denial: "The serious nature of the offense."

But despite the seriousness of the attack, Sowell did not get sexual-offender treatment while in prison, even though he made a request for it, according to parole records and interviews.

Sowell is being held in City Jail on a rape warrant after a woman accused him of raping her and choking her with an extension cord in September. Detectives are also trying to determine if he killed six women whose bodies were found decomposing Thursday and Friday in and around his home. Police arrested him Saturday about a mile from his house on Imperial Avenue in Cleveland.

The victim in the latest case, who knew Sowell, said he offered to split four bottles of malt liquor with her. She entered Sowell's home and went to the second floor, which was empty except for a chair, a blanket and an extension cord, police said.

The woman told police that after drinking for a while, Sowell became upset, punched her in the face and began choking her with the cord. He raped her as she passed out, the woman said.

All the bodies have been identified as black females, and five died by strangulation, according to police. The last died of unknown causes. The coroner's office is trying to determine their identities.

Detectives are focusing the investigation on missing persons in Sowell's neighborhood and will expand it to other unsolved homicides with similar causes of deaths.

Sowell had shared the duplex with his stepmother since 2005, when he was released from prison after serving 15 years for raping a 21-year-old woman in East Cleveland.

Parole records shows that Sowell was seldom in trouble while behind bars between 1990 and 2005. In fact, Sowell did not have any major rule infractions while in prison, a spokeswoman said. He was given four verbal warnings for minor violations. Sowell also did not have a juvenile record in Cuyahoga County, a spokeswoman said.

The East Cleveland rape that landed him in prison mirrored the latest attack, according to police and court records. It began at 6 a.m. on July 22, 1989, when police showed up at a motel on Euclid and Lee roads in East Cleveland. The woman was waiting for her boyfriend, and she feared officers were going raid the motel.

Sowell was there, as well, and lured the woman to his car and told her that her boyfriend would want her to stay with Sowell until after the officers left. Sowell drove her to his home -- a third-floor apartment on Page Road in East Cleveland.

Once inside, Sowell threw her on his bed, choked her and repeatedly raped her.

When she tried to leave, Sowell tied her hands with a necktie, wrapped a belt around her feet and stuffed a rag in her mouth. He threw her on the bed and began pacing up and down the stairs.

He later came back into the room and fell asleep on the bed. The woman got her feet loose, spit out the rag and crawled out the window, onto the roof and screamed for help. She feared opening the squeaking door would wake Sowell.

"He told me that he was going to kill me, and I believed him," the woman told police.

Sowell pleaded guilty to attempted rape charges. The victim, along with county prosecutors, opposed early release of Sowell from prison each time it was considered.

A parole official noted in 1993 that Sowell "stated he was denied sex-offender program participation." It also said the "inmate does wish to participate in sex-offender programming."

A prison spokeswoman said Monday that "we have no record of participation or completion of sex offender treatment." Sowell took other courses aimed at controlling his violent temper, such as "Living without Violence," "Cage your Rage" and "Positive Personal Change."

He also took the 12-step Alcoholics Anonymous program, "Adult Children of Alcoholics" and "Drug Awareness Prevention." The records show Sowell drank heavily and used drugs prior to his arrest.

From 1978 to 1985, Sowell served in the Marines. He was honorably discharged, according to parole records.

Repeated attempts to reach the victim of the 1989 attack were unsuccessful. A message left at Sowell's attorney in the case was not returned late Monday afternoon. ..Source.. by Mark Puente and John Caniglia, Plain Dealer Reporters