1-7-2010 Ohio:
Lawyers for a registered sex offender charged with killing 11 women and hiding their remains in and around his Cleveland home withdrew their not guilty by reason of insanity plea, Fox8.com reported.
A spokesperson for the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office told the Ohio station Anthony Sowell's attorneys met with a judge and prosecutors and executed a waiver of a speedy trial until July 31.
There was no reason give for the change.
Authorities say Sowell, 50, lured women to his home and attacked them. The remains of 10 women and a skull were found in the residence or buried in the yard.
Sowell faces 85 counts including murder, rape, assault and corpse abuse in the slayings and in the attacks on three women who survived. He could get the death penalty if convicted of any of the killings.
Sowell is expected in court for a pretrial Jan. 27, and the tentative date for his trial is June 2, Fox8.com reported. ..Source.. FoxNews
January 7, 2010
Cleveland Serial Killer Suspect Changes Plea
December 16, 2009
FBI still probing Cleveland suspect’s Okinawa activities
12-16-2009 Ohio:
The FBI said Tuesday that it is too early to know whether any cold cases at U.S. military facilities on Okinawa are linked to alleged serial killer and former Marine Anthony Sowell.
The 50-year-old convicted sex offender is charged with 11 counts of murder and a string of other charges in an 85-count indictment that includes rape, assault and abuse of a corpse after police in Ohio found the decomposing bodies of 11 women at his Cleveland home in October.
The FBI is searching for any unsolved crimes that might be connected to Sowell’s Marine Corps service over two decades ago, including a stint on Okinawa, said Special Agent Scott Wilson, spokesman for the FBI Cleveland office.
“We are looking at that time when he was overseas,” Wilson said. “We want to make sure there aren’t any violent crimes linked to him.”
But so far, the FBI has just started the investigation as part of a broader look into Sowell’s past and has not yet sifted through any potentially connected cases in Japan, he said.
Sowell, who served in the Marine Corps from 1978 to 1985, was stationed at Camp Butler for a year starting in January 1984. After the one-year tour he transferred to Camp Pendleton, Calif., where he was discharged, UPI reported.
Investigation of his service on Okinawa will first require coordination between the FBI overseas, the U.S. military and the Japanese government, Wilson said.
The Marine Corps on Okinawa said it could not comment Tuesday because the issue includes areas outside its command and directed questions to its headquarters in Washington.
Meanwhile, Wilson said the FBI is relying on a national database of unsolved crimes to find possible links to Sowell in the areas he lived within the United States.
While in the Marine Corps, he was also stationed at Parris Island, S.C.; Camp Lejeune, N.C.; and Cherry Point, N.C., UPI reported.
Sowell, who has pleaded not guilty for reasons of insanity to the current charges, was convicted of attempted rape in Ohio in 1989 and sent to prison for 15 years, the wire service said.
Just before Halloween, Cleveland police searched his home and found the bodies of the women, who authorities believe were lured into the home and killed.
The residence became a grim dig site in November as police uncovered evidence in the case. ..Source.. Travis J. Tritten, Stars and Stripes
November 22, 2009
Would the Imperial Avenue killings have been prevented if extra steps were taken?
11-22-2009 Ohio:
What if? The question must haunt anyone whose path intersected that of serial-killer suspect Anthony Sowell over the past two decades.
What if Cleveland police and prosecutors worked to charge Sowell when they had the chance in 2008? Or in 1990? What if city officials kept looking until they found the reason behind a neighborhood stench in 2007? What if East Cleveland detectives investigating three unsolved murders had labeled Sowell a suspect in 1989?
The story leading up to the Imperial Avenue killings includes points at which police, prosecutors, neighbors, public officials and others faced decisions.
In every case, the decisions they made left Sowell on the street.
"I see a system that's completely broken," said Cleveland Councilman Zack Reed, who acknowledges his own role in the failed process. "How do we miss this guy? We need to figure out how that happened, or it can happen again."
Investigators found the remains of 11 women at Sowell's home once the system caught up to him a few weeks ago. Sowell now sits in jail, held on a $6 million bond as a suspect in a mounting list of offenses.
So far, he has been charged by Cleveland prosecutors with five counts of aggravated murder. He also has been indicted by a Cuyahoga County grand jury on two counts each of felonious assault, kidnapping and rape and one count of attempted murder in a September attack that sent police to Imperial Avenue to unearth a horrible truth.
Among the lessons to be taken from the case is that complacency played a role in lives ending. People did not take extra steps that might have stopped a trail of death. These are some of the critical crossroads involving the accused killer.
Three homicides: Sowell ended 1990 in prison. The charge? Attempted rape.
Some wonder now if it should have been murder.
East Cleveland police found three dead bodies within a mile of Sowell's Page Avenue home in 1988 and 1989. Detective Sgt. Ken Bolton said records show that investigators at the time never considered the accused rapist a suspect in the unsolved killings of Rosalind Garner, 36; Carmella Karen Prater, who was about 30; and Mary Thomas, 27.
That opinion is being re-evaluated today, as the homicides show similarities to the Imperial Avenue cases or connections to Sowell:
# Garner was strangled in her home on Hayden Avenue in May 1988.
# Prater lived down the street from Sowell. An anonymous phone tip led police to her beaten and frozen body in an abandoned home along First Avenue in February 1989. The coroner's office could not pinpoint the exact injury that caused her death.
# Thomas turned up dead a month later near another abandoned building on First Avenue. The pregnant woman had been strangled. Left around her neck was the red ribbon used to choke away her life. (Seven of the strangled women discovered on Imperial Avenue had some sort of cord still around their necks.)
The Thomas case also invites comparison to the July 1989 sex crime that imprisoned Sowell. In that incident, a pregnant woman survived Sowell's bruising chokehold and -- despite being bound around her wrists and ankles -- escaped her rapist captor's apartment home by climbing out a third-story window.
Sowell pleaded guilty to attempted rape for the attack. A judge sentenced him in September 1990 to 15 years in prison.
Another rape: The chilling tale a woman told Cleveland police in June 1990 would see sequels. Sowell choked her, she told officers. He raped her, too, right inside her East 71st Street home.
Police arrested Sowell on her words. Then the woman -- and the legal system -- fell silent.
The case unraveled with no charges filed as officials said the victim refused to testify and potentially add another sex crime to Sowell's criminal record. Sowell dodged being branded a serial rapist and, perhaps, more time incarcerated. He entered prison less than three months later with just a single sentence to serve.
Uncorrected: Sowell asked for help to curb his sexual deviancy.
Three years into his prison stay, Sowell told parole officials that he applied to enter a sexual offender treatment program as part of his rehabilitation. A report said the inmate "does wish to participate" in the specialized counseling.
But he never sat in on a sexual-offender session. Officials denied Sowell's request because -- despite his stated desire to participate -- he denied committing a sex crime. He left prison in June 2005 untreated for his carnal urges, though he took other courses designed to control rage and cage personal demons.
Upon his release, a court-ordered evaluation concluded that Sowell was unlikely to be a repeat offender.
On the date of his release, all of the Imperial Avenue victims were alive.
Scent of trouble: The odor hung over the Cleveland neighborhood.
A woman living across the street from Sowell on Imperial phoned Councilman Reed in June 2007 to complain about the overpowering stench. It smelled like rotting remains, like something -- or someone -- had died. The city took action. Workers flushed nearby drain pipes in an attempt to clear the problem. Crews replaced a sewer line.
But the mystery smell remained, even as the search for answers stopped.
Many in the neighborhood simply eyed the meat-filled sausage shop on the corner as the source of the ongoing stink. Employees at the 57-year-old business noticed the foul aroma, too, and took extra care to scrub equipment. It's clear now that the smell didn't originate inside the shop. It wafted from the lot next door. From Sowell's home.
When Reed's phone first rang, at least nine of the Imperial Avenue victims remained alive.
Caught . . . and released: The bloodied woman flagged down a passing police car on Cleveland's Kinsman Road. She described how she battled and fought off her attacker. Then she named him.
"Tone" on Imperial Avenue.
Police entered Sowell's home that night in December 2008 and found evidence of a hard-fought escape. Droplets of blood speckled the steps and wall leading into the house from an open side door. Officers arrested Sowell in his third-floor room and drove away with him. The street cops then handed the case over to detectives.
Two days later, Sowell walked free with no charges filed. The reason? It depends on who's talking.
A city prosecutor said a detective claimed the woman wasn't credible and that it was then determined the case lacked sufficient evidence. A police spokesman said the prosecutor -- not the detective -- deemed the accuser not credible. The police chief chalked up the decision to a lack of evidence and the "he said, she said" nature of the case.
Several legal experts said they believe enough facts existed for a grand jury to indict Sowell. Nobody took that step.
When officials let Sowell go, at least five of the Imperial Avenue victims remained alive.
Daily contacts: How many people sensed peculiarities at 12205 Imperial Ave. but ignored that prickly feeling of something horribly wrong? How many talked to Sowell and looked into his brown eyes without picking up on an inner anger? How many visited the residence yet overlooked a growing and grisly secret?
A brother of Sowell's said he stopped by the house earlier this year in a search for his stepmother, who once lived there but -- unbeknownst to him -- had been moved to a nursing home. He knocked on the door, but he never made it inside nor talked to Sowell.
A woman who lived with Sowell until 2008 said she noticed the smell but just lived with it.
Neighbors raised little fuss. Neither did others.
Women vanished off nearby streets and nobody reported them gone for days . . . or months . . . or at all. Were there other women who may have survived encounters with Sowell who kept mum instead of sharing their pain with someone who might have been able to end a brutal pattern?' ..Source.. John Horton, The Plain Dealer
November 15, 2009
Cleveland Police Chief Michael McGrath talks about Anthony Sowell case
11-15-2009 Ohio:
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Questions have been raised across the community about what could have been done to prevent the horror found at Imperial Avenue, where police uncovered the bodies of 11 women from Anthony Sowell's home.
Some lamented the breakdown of community, where neighbors did not notice something was amiss. Others have accused the police of being slow to react to reports of missing women because they had criminal records and used drugs.
Cleveland Police Chief Michael McGrath and members of the police staff sat with Plain Dealer reporter Mark Puente Friday for a wide-ranging interview that lasted more than an hour. McGrath was commander of the 4th Police District, which includes the neighborhood around Sowell's home, before becoming chief in 2005. The answers are from McGrath unless otherwise noted:
After any of the arrests or calls to Sowell's house in 2008 and 2009, did officers run Sowell's name in any sex offender database? Should they have? Would you like them to in the future?
"It depends on each situation. Each situation is taken solely on itself. The officers arrive on the scene and assess the situation. Part of our protocol is to notify their supervisor, notify their immediate supervisor. They brief him on what they have. If it is serious rape case, they refer them to the Sex Crimes Unit and reach out to them immediately. They then get their direction from them. Once the case goes to the Sex Crimes Unit, those officers would have done a complete check."
Do responding officers have the ability to check incident reports or criminal histories from their cars, which could have indicated a pattern of behavior by Sowell? Should they have?
"As soon as they got the name, they would not have known his history." Patrol officers can check old incident reports on their car's computers and might have seen the older reports. They could have had access to that reports. Sgt. Toni McMahn, a supervisor in the Sex Crimes Unit, said it is not standard protocol for the patrol officers to run the background checks and that it is the detectives jobs to do all the history checks. Most patrol officers are not certified.
Were officers assigned to that neighborhood aware that Sowell was a sex offender who served 15 years in prison? If not, is there any way to change that?
"I can't answer for those officers. We try to keep them in certain neighborhoods so they are familiar. The numbers of individuals that are labeled as sexual offenders or predators in the neighborhoods are in the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds in our neighborhoods. If they were not familiar with him, probably not. They have Internet access to the sheriff's Web site but the time constraints to do that when they are trying to respond to radio runs are unreasonable to assume they can do that. The numbers are just too many. But if they work that neighborhood, they might have known him."
Given the serious allegations in the Sept. 22 report (in which a woman said Sowell choked and raped her) and Sowell's criminal history, did the case sit for a few days? How many officers are assigned to that unit?
McGrath said it is not usual to have these cases sit. This case did not sit and was assigned to a detective when sex crimes received it Sept. 23, said Lt. Michael Baumiller, who runs the unit. The detective called the victim by phone. The next two days he was off. She did not call him back while he was off, Baumiller said. When the detective returned he tried contacting her again. The unit has 14 detectives. Eleven detectives work the cases and are supervised by two sergeants and one lieutenant.
Are you satisfied with the way cases are moved from the five districts to the specialized investigative units downtown? Will that process be examined?
"I was a district commander for eight years. I have been the chief almost five years and I can't think of any instance where he had a follow-up problem with the units downtown. These district commanders are like police chief in their districts and would be complaining if they're not getting follow-ups. I have never had instance where we had problems. I usually receive letters from the court, judges and prosecutors saying what a good job they do. We have had homicides that are a few years old and the victims families do call. But something immediate where we have a crime, I cannot think of an instance. If people really have an issue with that, they can call the Office of Professional Standards."
Are patrol officers trained in how to handle sexual assaults? Are there patrol officers in each of the districts who are trained to handle the initial sexual assault calls?
"The state requires every officer to be trained on sexual assaults. They have to be trained relative to sexual assaults in our academy. That is part of graduating from the police academy as a cadet." Every year officers receive 40 hours of in-service training. That training is broken into eight hours segments and on some years it is devoted to sexual assaults. One of those components is devoted on how you treat these victims and they received that training last year, McGrath said. "The state mandates 24 hours of training but we do 40 hours of training." Cleveland is above the state mandate.
Nurses certified in Sexual Assault Nursing Exams address the officers and recruits on how to make initial contact with victims in hospitals or at the scenes, Baumiller said. "We train them what to look for so we can have successful prosecutions," Baumiller said
If a woman initially says she was raped, obviously beaten and/or taken to the hospital but does not want to cooperate with detectives, how do police handle that? Are you satisfied with the way it was is handled in these cases?
McGrath said the department has a specific procedures and that he is satisfied with the current protocol. Baumiller said the standard is for detectives to immediately contact the victim and try to get them downtown for an appointment. "We strongly urge them to come in. The victim is the key to our investigation," Baumiller said. "If that is unsuccessful, they will go to the home. If there is no response, they will leave a card. If there is no response to that, they will call again. Then a registered letter is sent to them. If that comes back unsigned, we then take what we got to the prosecutor's office to get a ruling. That is done with every case."
Fairly or not, some relatives of the missing and deceased have complained that they were not taken seriously by police because of their loved ones' criminal records or drug problems? Is this a fair criticism? Why or why not?
"Number one, it's not fair criticism. For the simple reason, we provide a service to the entire community. I don't care who it is in the community, and I make this speech to every academy class three times before they graduate. Then I bring them in just prior to their six month probationary period. Were all about providing service to everyone. It doesn't matter who they are. We take it very seriously and respectfully. There are no other options."
Some relatives of the missing/deceased and others in the black community say the police department has differing polices for investigating black and white crime victims. Are there two policies? How do you respond?
"There are no two policies. You know, I have been a police officer for 36 years the better part of my 36 years has always been in a very distressed African-American community. I am very sensitive to their concerns, their culture and everything else. But not just there. You know I am concerned about everyone in this city. We provide a service to everyone. It doesn't matter who they are or where they are from."
Some people have raised questions about the role of the police given that the mayor's niece lived with Sowell at one point. They said police didn't come around because the niece lived there and as a result Sowell was somehow protected. How do you respond?
"We did not know she lived or associated with this guy until after the fact. In fact, the mayor did not know his niece hung around with this guy until after the fact. This all came out after the fact. That question is very, very out there. We had no knowledge she was living with this individual. None whatsoever."
Are you satisfied with the actions of officers and detectives related to incidents with Sowell in December 2008 (the attempted rape), September 2009 (the rape that lead to indictment) and October 2009 (the 9-1-1 call about a naked woman falling out Sowell's window)?
"I am. But there again with this whole situation with Sowell from the day he enlisted in the Marine Corps up until we arrested him on the 30th of last month, we're going to asses this whole process. And at some point in time, it will go to our Integrity Control section and if there is something there that we missed or if there is a protocol or some type of policy or procedure that we have to change, we will do it. But up to this point after reviewing the reports and talking to some of the investigators and I don't have all the information right now because this is currently under investigation ... but up to this point I am satisfied with the work and response done by the Cleveland Police Department and their partners. We have had a lot of help from other agencies, including the FBI, U.S. Marshals, Sheriff's Office. Everybody stepped up and they're doing a good job. Once it completed well go back and look at it and reassess it. If we need to change something, we will do it." ..Source.. by Mark Puente, The Plain Dealer
November 13, 2009
OH- Neighbor: Sowell said, 'It's all going to come out' after bodies found
11-13-2009 Ohio:
by Susan Candiotti, CNN
Cleveland, Ohio (CNN) -- Upon hearing that police had found two bodies at his home, murder suspect Anthony Sowell said, "It's all going to come out now," according to a neighbor.
Debbie Madison, 54, can see Sowell's house from her front porch. He moved into the Cleveland, Ohio, home in 2005 after serving 15 years in prison for an attempted rape conviction. But Madison said she never saw him until about two years ago.
Sowell kept up the place and mowed his grass, she said.
"We'd say 'Hi' all the time."
The two chatted across the street. Madison said she knew that Sowell's sister lived a few blocks away, because he waved at her once when she saw him at the sister's house.
"He seemed like he loved his sister," she said.
She did, however, smell the same foul stench described by others in the area. It was thought at the time that a nearby sausage factory was to blame. A more sinister explanation for the stench became apparent when police found the remains of 11 people, all African-American women, inside and outside Sowell's home. All that was found of one victim was a skull, wrapped in a paper bag and stuffed into a bucket in the basement.
Sowell, 50, a registered sex offender, is charged with five counts of aggravated murder, rape, felonious assault and kidnapping in connection with the deaths. He also was indicted earlier this week on charges stemming from an alleged rape in September, and his arraignment on those charges is set for Friday.
Madison said she will never forget the day a couple of weeks ago when police showed up and found the bodies while executing a search warrant as part of the investigation into the September rape allegations.
She said she got into her car and drove to Sowell's sister's house.
"I said, 'I'll take a chance and go over there and let them know something's going on at that house.' "
When she got there, Sowell was there, sitting on the couch, she said, "just like it was another day."
"I said, 'Tony, police are at your house and they're saying they found two bodies over there,' and he jumped up," she said.
"I said, 'I'll take you back to the police so you can talk with them.' He looked like he was gonna run."
But she said Sowell got into her car. She said she was nervous and asked one of Sowell's nephews to go along, but Sowell told his nephew to stay behind.
While in the car, she said, "I told Tony, 'I think you should talk to police and find out what's going on.' He said to me, 'It's all gonna come out now. ... That girl made me do it.' "
She said she did not ask him what girl he was talking about, but that the only girl she had seen at the house was Lori Frazier, the niece of Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson. It was unclear if Sowell was referring to Frazier in his comments to Madison.
Jackson's office said earlier this week that Frazier had a relationship with Sowell that ended two years ago, but it was unclear whether the relationship was romantic.
Frazier told CNN affiliate WOIO that she had lived with Sowell and that "he took care of me, good care of me."
Attempts by CNN to contact Frazier were unsuccessful.
Neighbors and police have said that other women were also seen at Sowell's home from time to time, and that he would offer them beer and other alcohol. Police say he might also have offered them drugs.
Neighbors on October 20 reported seeing a naked woman fall from the second floor. Firefighters and police responded and later notified police. But the woman told officers she fell off the roof while she was at the home "partying," and no charges were filed. Another woman said she survived an attack by Sowell at the home.
Madison said when she and Sowell reached the corner near his house, he told her to take him back to his sister's. She did, and let him out.
"When he got out of the car and drove away, I screamed," Madison said, saying she believed that he "just admitted killing two people. ... I went home and my knees were shaking."
She said she accompanied police officers back to Sowell's sister's house, but did not see Sowell there then. Police arrested him a day and a half later, wandering within about a mile of his home.
"I guess it wasn't my time," Madison said of her encounter with Sowell that day. "He did nothing to me."
Sowell has been placed on a suicide watch at the request of his attorney, Kathleen DeMetz, his public defender. A psychiatric evaluation has been ordered but it's unlikely to happen until after the case goes before a grand jury, the next expected step.
"I hope he burns in hell," Madison said. "I'd like to to give him a Bible. At least he can try to save his soul." ..Source..
November 12, 2009
OH- Stench returns near Ohio house that held bodies; police take evidence from nearby home
Just a passing thought, but for the public registry, would Sowell been employed and not have time to commit crimes? As long as sex offender laws, with all their restrictions on registrants lives, keep registrants idle I think we can expect to see a rise in collateral crimes of registrants. We certainly have seen that in Sowell and Garrido cases.
11-12-2009 Ohio:
by THOMAS J. SHEERAN
CLEVELAND (AP) — A stench around the home of a suspected serial killer returned stronger than ever Wednesday as police searched the house next door for more bodies and carried out bags of evidence.
"It's like it got worse," said 22-year-old neighbor Terrance Johnson. "It smells bad in the air, like death."
Four plainclothes officers carried bags of evidence from the house next door to Anthony Sowell's early Wednesday afternoon, but police did not indicate what had been removed. The red-painted house next to Sowell's appeared to be abandoned but in good shape, aside from a broken porch railing.
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.
The east-side neighborhood had reeked off and on for several years, and residents had blamed the odor on a broken sewer or a nearby sausage shop. Now most think the smell came from decomposing bodies.
Neighbors blamed Wednesday's renewed odor on increased activity near Sowell's house.
The FBI, which has offered technical help in the investigation, said the timing of a thermal-energy search of the property would be up to city police, who didn't indicate when that would start.
Makers of thermal-imaging devices say they can help police find buried bodies because dirt that has been turned over radiates heat differently than compacted soil.
Police discovered the first two bodies and a freshly dug grave Oct. 29 at Sowell's house after officers came to investigate a woman's report that she had been raped there. Sowell had fled the home and was arrested two days later.
In all, the remains of 11 women have been found in Sowell's home or yard. All of the women were black and most had been strangled, the coroner said. Nine have been identified through DNA and dental records.
Police said Sowell lured women — often those who were homeless or living alone and who abused drugs or alcohol — with liquor 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 for him.
Scott Wilson, an FBI spokesman in Cleveland, has said investigators are reviewing its national database of unsolved crimes for any clues to possible connections to Sowell, particularly at locations where he served in the military.
Sowell was in the Marines from 1978 to 1985 and spent time in California, the Carolinas and Japan. ..Source..
November 10, 2009
OH- PERSPECTIVE: Registry couldn't stop Ohio deaths
11-10-2009 Ohio:
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — One of Ohio's foremost champions of tougher sexual predator laws conceded a certain futility to such efforts as body after body was removed last week from the Cleveland home of Anthony Sowell.
Republican U.S. Rep. Steve Austria, a former state Senator from the Dayton suburb of Beavercreek, repeatedly championed state laws that he and other supporters believed would make the state safer.
Yet Sowell, a compliant registered sex offender after doing prison time for attempted rape, is accused of murdering several unsuspecting women and stowing their bodies in a house and yard that reeked of rotting flesh.
Remains of 11 people have been found and Sowell, 50, has been charged with five counts of aggravated murder. The FBI has expanded its investigation to unsolved murders in other states where Sowell lived.
Bills that Austria introduced and ushered through the state Legislature cracked down on Internet predators, created a tracking system for sex offenders within and outside the state's borders, and established the country's first substantially complete sex offender registration and notification systems under the federal Adam Walsh Act.
Austria acknowledged, though, that no law probably could have been written that would have avoided the "horrific and disturbing tragedy" that's unfolding in Cleveland.
"While these bills play an important role in allowing us to keep track of sex offenders and requiring them to register, those who are going to commit these terrible acts unfortunately will find ways around any safeguards we create in the law," he said.
States have turned their attention to laws aimed at curbing sexually predatory crimes since about 1994, said Donna Lyons of The National Conference of State Legislatures. Among legislative trends that have swept through the states have been stricter residency reporting requirements for convicted sex offenders and tougher surveillance strategies, including GPS monitoring.
"Certainly going back over a decade, there's been a lot of interest in the states," Lyons said.
According to a 2008 report by the Office of Sex Offender Management, a project of the U.S. Justice Department, "these laws have significant resource implications, yet to date very little research has been conducted to examine the extent to which these investments have yielded significant public safety returns."
When he announced in September that Ohio had achieved substantial implementation of the Adam Walsh Act, Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray said registration information was clearly providing benefits to families.
"Effective tracking and monitoring of sex offenders equips parents with the information they need to keep their children safe," he said in a statement at the time. "Taking deliberate steps to provide a common foundation for all the registration systems throughout the United States allows our families to make the most effective use of the information those systems provide."
The Buckeye Sheriffs Association added that electronic sex offender registration was a tool that would provide families unprecedented peace of mind, because it allowed law enforcement agencies to communicate across communities and state borders.
Joyce Lukima, executive director of the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, said registries are most effective when followed up with aggressive monitoring of sex offenders after they're released.
In the Sowell case, police have said they were unable to access his home during their routine visits. Also, some of the women who were his alleged victims were seen fraternizing willingly with Sowell before their disappearances, either unfazed by his sex offender status or unaware of it.
But even women aware of the registries can be at risk. Megan O'Bryan, director of the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center, said sex offender registries as addressing only part of the problem.
"They are focused on convicted sex offenders, and this is a vastly underreported crime," she said. "It's not a comprehensive way of looking at the problem. It may increase the safety of a community, but it limits it to the small number of sex offenders who are actually convicted. It's a false sense of security." ..Source..
OH- Sex Offender Checks Quick; Deputies Can't Enter Homes
Police admitted, that address checks are not preventative? If address checks have no preventative value, then how do address checks make the community safer? If this case proves anything it is that, the registry has no safety value to the community!
11-10-2009 Ohio:
by NewsNet5.com
CLEVELAND -- From the beginning when bodies were first discovered on Imperial Avenue, questions have lingered about whether police missed obvious clues.
Much of the controversy centers on a Cuyahoga County sheriff's deputy who checked on Anthony, a registered sex offender and suspect in the 11 slayings, in late September.
NewsChannel5's Duane Pohlman went along with another deputy checking other sex offenders to reveal a program that is limited by the law and overwhelming in numbers.
Deputy Rodney Blanton knocks on a lot of doors. He is one of just two deputies in Cuyahoga County who check to see if sex offenders are where they're supposed to be.
With 3,600 sex offenders in the county, the routine home visits are quick, some lasting just 15 to 30 seconds.
A little more than a month before the grisly discoveries on Imperial Avenue, another deputy conducted the same quick check on Sept. 22 at the home of Sowell.
"He was there. 'I live here.' Good enough. So, it would have probably been a 30-second verification, just like you witnessed this morning," said Detective Susan DeChant, of the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department.
Since sex offender laws don't allow the deputy to enter the home, the deputy didn't report anything unusual. If he did, detective said they would have investigated.
Just to clarify something, the smell of rotting flesh, reported by half the neighborhood, is not considered UNUSUAL? How many rotting dead bodies will it take for police to consider it UNUSUAL? Maybe police wore a gas mask when going to his house?
"Absolutely, there would have been a report done and there would have been more investigation on it," said DeChant.
But, with thousands of sex offenders, there's no time to check anything other than an address, and the notion that the quick visit to Sowell's home should have caught him in the act is simply not realistic, detectives say.
"It's not going to stop an offender from reoffending, if that's what they're going to do," said DeChant. ..Source..
OH- Case against Ohio bodies suspect expands overseas
11-10-2009 Ohio:
by THOMAS J. SHEERAN
Authorities are investigating whether a suspected serial killer whose home and yard harbored the remains of at least 11 people is connected to any killings in places he lived while in the military, including Japan, California and the Carolinas.
The FBI will investigate any leads in the case against Anthony Sowell, 50, who served in the Marines from 1978 to 1985, said Scott Wilson, an FBI spokesman in Cleveland.
FBI behavioral specialists visited the Sowell property during the weekend and will try to develop a profile of the killings that could help determine whether investigations need to be opened or reopened elsewhere, Wilson said.
Sowell was stationed at various times at Parris Island, S.C.; Cherry Point, N.C.; Okinawa, Japan; and Camp Pendleton, Calif.
The city of East Cleveland is also reviewing three unsolved slayings in 1988 and 1989, after Sowell returned there from service in the Marines and before he went to prison for attempted rape, said Sgt. Ken Bolton, a detective for the police department in the Cleveland suburb.
Sowell has been charged in Cleveland with five counts of aggravated murder in connection with the bodies found at the home.
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.
Sowell has asked for a court-appointed attorney, but court records don't reflect that one has been chosen.
The FBI will review its national database of unsolved crimes for any clues to possible connections to Sowell, particularly at his military service locations, Wilson said. The first step is to get a detailed timeline of his service, Wilson said.
Police in Coronado, Calif., near Camp Pendleton, said a woman told them that she saw Sowell's mug shot on TV and was sure he had raped her in 1979.
Officers talked with the woman but were unable to confirm her story because rape investigation records from 30 years ago have been thrown out, said Jesus Ochoa, Coronado police commander.
"She seemed credible," he said.
Near Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown and his deputies are sifting through paper records to check for any unsolved killings or disappearances during the time Sowell was at the Marine base from May 20, 1978, to July 12, 1978.
Brown said he has already run Sowell's name through computerized court files and hasn't found that Sowell got so much as a traffic ticket while in the area. But the paper search is slow going.
"The computer technology then is not what it is now," Brown said.
Near Parris Island, where Sowell did his initial Marine training, Beaufort County authorities said they were waiting to be told the specific dates Sowell lived in the area before going back over any cases.
"Once we have received more concrete information regarding the time frame in question, we will certainly be evaluating any connections to unsolved crimes in our area," said sheriff's Cpl. Robin McIntosh.
The unsolved East Cleveland slayings of Rosalind Garner on May 27, 1988, Carmella Prater on Feb. 27, 1989, and Mary Thomas on March 28, 1989, will be checked against the autopsies of the bodies found at Sowell's home to check for similarities, Bolton said.
"It's for the family's closure," he said. "They are unsolved and they happened around the time that he was not in jail."
No connections had been made by Monday, he said.
Also Monday, the remains of two additional women - Janice Webb, 48, and Kim Yvette Smith, 44 - were identified by the Cuyahoga County coroner's office, according to Cleveland police Lt. Thomas Stacho.
Webb, of Cleveland, was last seen June 3 and reported missing Aug. 2. Webb had a son and three grandchildren and had struggled with alcohol and drug addictions, said her sister, JoAnn Moore.
"She was loving and regardless of her addiction, she knew that we loved her unconditionally," Moore said.
Police said they had searched for Webb by checking with friends and relatives and at hospitals and shelters. Webb's boyfriend, Ronnie Bowie, said he last saw her in June when she left to visit family and friends in Sowell's neighborhood.
Smith, also of Cleveland, was last seen Jan. 1, police said.
Police discovered the first two bodies and a freshly dug grave Oct. 29 at the house on the city's east side. The number grew to 11 by Tuesday.
Investigators returned Monday to the house, which has been cordoned off as a crime scene under 24-hour guard, but there was no immediate word on their activities inside. ..Source..
November 8, 2009
OH- Anthony Sowell timeline
11-8-2009 Ohio:
by Plain Dealer staff
Aug. 19, 1959: Sowell is born. He is raised in East Cleveland.
Jan. 24, 1978: Sowell enlists in the Marine Corps. He serves eight years, in North Carolina, California and Okinawa.
Jan. 18, 1985: Sowell is discharged from the Marines and returns to East Cleveland.
May 27, 1988: Rosalind Garner is found strangled in her home on Hayden Avenue in East Cleveland. The case has not been solved.
Feb. 27, 1989: Carmella Prater is found dead in an abandoned building on First Avenue in East Cleveland. Prater lived on Page Avenue, the same street as Sowell. She had been beaten but the coroner was unable to pinpoint how she was killed. The case has not been solved.
March, 28, 1989: Mary Thomas is found strangled near an abandoned building on First Avenue, the same street where Prater was found. The case has not been solved.
July 28, 1989: A woman tells police that Sowell took her into his home on Page Avenue, bound and gagged her and raped her.
June 24, 1990: A Cleveland woman tells police that Sowell choked and raped her inside her home on East 71st Street. Police arrest him but no charges were filed because, police said, they were unable to get the woman to testify.
Sept. 12, 1990: Sowell is sentenced to five to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to attempted rape for the 1989 assault in his home on Page Avenue.
June 20, 2005: Sowell, after repeatedly being denied parole, is released from prison. He moves in with his father and stepmother at 12205 Imperial Avenue. He registers with the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office as a sex offender and is required to check in with them once a year.
June 29, 2007: A woman who lives across the street from Sowell calls City Hall to complain about a foul odor in the neighborhood, which she said smells like a dead person or animal.
January 2008: The Adam Walsh Act passes and Sowell is now required to report to the Sheriff's Office every 90 days.
Nov. 10, 2008: Barbara Carmichael sees her daughter Tonia, 52, for what would be the last time. Tonia Carmichael's car is found near East 115th Street and Kinsman Road a few days later, but there is no sign of her.
Dec. 2, 2008: Barbara Carmichael files a missing-persons report in Warrensville Heights. She tells police her daughter had a drug problem and sometimes disappeared between three and five days, but in this case she has not seen her daughter in three weeks and is worried something bad had happened.
Dec. 8, 2008: A bleeding woman runs up to a police car at East 116th Street and Kinsman. She tells police that Anthony Sowell asked her if she wanted to drink beer with him. When she said no, he punched her, choked her and tried to rip off her clothes. Police went to Sowell's home, went to the third floor and arrested him. Police later said no charges were filed because the woman did not want to talk to detectives.
Feb. 10, 2009: Warrensville Heights police check several houses between East 116th Street and East 120th Street near Kinsman Road and Oakfield Avenue, looking for Carmichael. No one recognizes photos of her, as was the case when they made other checks. They also check at bars and motels in Cleveland and East Cleveland, but no one has information on Carmichael.
Sept. 2, 2009: Sowell checks in at the Sheriff's Office, as he is required to do as a sex offender.
Sept. 22, 2009: Sheriff's deputies pay a surprise visit to Sowell's home to verify that he lives at the address he had given them. He answers the door and, as is standard, deputies do not enter.
Several hours later, Sowell persuades a woman to come to his house and drink malt liquor with him. She later tells police he got angry, choked her with an extension cord and raped her until she passed out.
She was able to get away after promising Sowell she would bring him $50 and not tell police about the incident, according to a police report. She went to police.
Sept. 24, 2009: The case is assigned to a sex-crimes detective, who has difficulty reaching the victim. The woman's mother tells police she is difficult to contact.
Oct. 11, 2009: The victim in that case does not show up for an interview with detectives.
Oct. 20, 2009: An ambulance is sent to Sowell's house after neighbors call 9-1-1 to report a naked woman falling or being thrown from a second-floor window. Sowell tells rescue workers he and the woman had been doing drugs all day and that she accidentally fell out the window. EMS takes the woman to MetroHealth Medical Center and calls police, who go to Sowell's home but don't find anyone there. Police then go to Metro, where the woman refuses to talk to investigators.
Oct. 27, 2009: The woman from the Sept. 22. attack meets with sex-crimes detectives, who one day later get an arrest warrant for Sowell and a search warrant for his home.
Oct. 29, 2009: Police go to arrest Sowell but he is not home. They enter the house and find two decomposing bodies.
Oct. 30, 2009: Police find three more bodies -- two in a crawl space in the house and one buried in the basement's dirt floor.
Oct. 31, 2009: Sowell is arrested walking down Mount Auburn Avenue, about one mile from his home.
Nov. 3, 2009: Prosecutors charge Sowell with five counts of aggravated murder. Police find six more bodies at his home, most of them buried in the back yard.
Nov. 4, 2009: The Cuyahoga County coroner announces that all 11 victims are black women. At least eight of them were strangled, the coroner says. He makes the first identification of a victim: Tonia Carmichael.
Nov. 5, 2009: Police identify a second and third victim: Telacia Fortson and Tishana Culver. Both would have been 31 and both struggled with drug addictions, their families say. Fortson was last seen in June. Culver lived four houses down from Sowell and was last seen in 2008. Members of her family say they assumed she was in jail or living with a boyfriend in Akron.
Nov. 6, 2009: East Cleveland police announce they are reopening the investigations into the strangulations of Garner and Thomas and the killing of Prater. Cleveland police identify a fourth woman found at Sowell's home as Nancy Cobbs, 43.
Nov. 7, 2009: Police identified three more victims: Michelle Mason, Crystal Dozier and Amelda Hunter. ..Source..
OH- Hunting at home: Alleged Ohio serial killer, with bodies in house, rare among mass killers
11-8-2009 Ohio:
by JOHN SEEWER and ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS
CLEVELAND — Authorities say Anthony Sowell lured women into his home in a busy neighborhood, killed them — most by strangulation — and scattered their remains throughout the inside and buried some in the backyard.
Such brazenness defies logic, but experts identify a narrow subcategory of serial killers, including the 1893 Chicago Fair killer, Dr. H.H. Holmes, and Milwaukee cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer, who hunt from home.
"These types are so rare that you can't make a summary estimation as to why or what went wrong or anything," said Robert Keppel, a national serial-killer expert who investigated serial killer Ted Bundy in Washington state in the 1970s.
"There's just not a whole lot of these folks running around the world," he said.
Sowell had the perfect lair.
His home and backyard — a burial site for five victims — were shielded by an empty home to the left and the windowless brick wall of a sausage company on the right.
Anytime the stench of decaying bodies blew over the street, neighbors blamed the meat processing next door.
His house stood out only because it was one of the nicest on a block dotted by homes with peeling paint and broken windows, some of them vacant.
It looked safe.
Sowell often sat on the front steps, sipping beer out of a bottle and greeting residents passing by on their way to the corner store that was just steps away for alcohol, snacks and cigarettes.
Neighbors say he'd offer a few the chance to get high.
Sowell's alleged approach reflects an obvious point, said forensic psychologist N.G. Berrill: the potential role of mental illness in such unusual behavior.
"The fact that they would dirty their own nest, as it were, is peculiar to me and suggests a level of mental illness or sickness," said Berrill, director of the New York Center for Neuropsychology and Forensic Behavioral Science.
Tanja Doss told The Associated Press that when she went up to Sowell's third-floor bedroom for a drink last April, he attacked her. "I'm sitting on the corner of the bed and he just leaped up and came over and started choking me," she said.
She said she escaped the next morning when he left for the store.
When people think of serial killers, they imagine predators like Bundy, who stalked women and killed women in Washington, Oregon, Utah, Idaho, Colorado and finally Florida.
Or Gary Ridgway, dubbed the Green River killer, who pleaded guilty to the deaths of 48 women, many of them found in or near Washington State's Green River.
But some of history's most notorious serial killers literally worked close to home.
Holmes, born Herman Webster Mudgett, built a "World's Fair Hotel" he used to lure women to their death during the 1893 World's Fair, a series of crimes recounted in the 2004 best-seller, "Devil in the White City."
While Holmes confessed at one point to killing 27 people, the true number of victims is unknown; some authorities placed it as high as 200.
In Houston, Dean Corll, Elmer Wayne Henley and David Owen Brooks killed 27 boys and young men in a torture-murder ring in Houston from 1969 to 1971. Police found a plywood "torture board" in Corll's home used to torment many of his victims before they were killed.
In Illinois, John Wayne Gacy, a building contractor and amateur clown, was convicted of luring 33 young men and boys to his Chicago area home for sex and strangling them between 1972 and 1978. Most were buried in a crawl space under the home; four others were dumped in rivers. Gacy was executed in 1994.
In Milwaukee, Dahmer, a former candy factory worker, confessed to killing and dismembering 17 people since 1978, some of whom he mutilated and cannibalized. His victims included 11 males whose remains were found in his apartment.
Dahmer was serving a series of life sentences when he was killed by another inmate at a Wisconsin prison in 1994.
The crimes that Sowell is accused of put him in the same category as Gacy and Dahmer, said Jack Levin, a Northeastern University criminologist.
At the same time, the Cleveland murders resemble the more general portrait of a serial killer who doesn't stray far from his comfort zone.
"They never leave town. They never travel to another state. They stay close to home, where they're familiar with the victims and escape routes and dump sites," Levin said.
Hunting from home may have been easier because of the marginal lives led by Sowell's alleged victims. All four of the Cleveland women identified until now battled addiction in their lives.
It wasn't unusual for some of them to disappear for a week or two and then return.
Naticia Duncan, who lives a few houses away from Sowell, fears that her friend, Kimberly Sharp, may be one of the victims. Sharp would often stay at Duncan's house, do her laundry and then leave when she met a new man.
"I'd see her a month later, then she'd do it again," Duncan said. "Then I never saw her again."
Police remain at Sowell's house for now but investigators say they have no immediate plans to search for more remains.
Sowell, 50, remained in jail Saturday on a $5 million bond on charges of rape and aggravated murder.
Across the street Saturday, the number of fliers on a makeshift memorial wall with pictures of missing women continued to grow.
Police released the identities of three more victims Saturday, bringing the total to seven. Four others are still unknown. The latest are Amelda Hunter, 47, Crystal Dozier, 38 and Michelle Mason, 45, all of Cleveland.
Earlier in the day, Dale Hunter taped a piece of paper with two photographs of his sister on the missing person's board.
Hunter said she used to stay with friends in the area and knew that she drank beer with Sowell in his house. He said he was fearing the worst.
Like most of the victims, she battled drug and alcohol addictions, he said.
"She was real comfortable in this neighborhood," said Hunter. "I dropped her off here a few times." ..Source..
November 7, 2009
OH- Neighbors: Suspected serial killer seemed harmless
11-7-2009 Ohio:
CLEVELAND — The man who lived in the house of rotting corpses never gave people a reason to wonder what he was really doing behind closed doors.
Anthony Sowell was the guy who liked to sit on his front steps drinking King Cobra Malt Liquor for $1.50 a bottle, sometimes in the company of a woman. He was the guy who hung around the corner convenience store bumming change off his neighbors. He was the guy who scrounged around sidewalks and backyards for empty cans and scrap metal to sell.
The suspected serial killer seemed so harmless that when he invited neighbors over for a barbecue in his driveway, they came. So benign that when he beckoned women inside his house that smelled of death, they apparently went willingly.
"If it's up to the people in the neighborhood, he probably never would have got caught," said 52-year-old LaBaron Simpson. "Because he didn't cause no problems around here."
The house where the authorities say 50-year-old Sowell lived among the reeking corpses of 10 women and the paper-wrapped skull of another was silent on Friday, and investigators say they have no plans to resume searching for additional remains. The ex-Marine, who served 15 years in prison for attempted rape, is being held without bail on five aggravated murder charges.
So far only four victims have been identified, including 43-year-old Nancy Cobbs, of Cleveland, whose name was released Friday. Others already identified are Tonia Carmichael, 52, of Warrensville Heights; Telacia Fortson, 31, of Cleveland; and Tishana Culver, 31, also of Cleveland. The city coroner's office is combing through DNA samples from the families of missing women to identify more remains.
Unbeknownst to most neighbors, Sowell was a registered sex offender who checked in with authorities from time to time and fooled people into believing he was just another guy trying to scrape out a living.
The only distinguishing physical characteristic about Sowell, who is about 5-foot-11 and weighed 160 pounds, is a scar under his left eye.
He smelled pretty bad, but then a lot of hard-up folks in this rough Cleveland neighborhood smell less than clean, people say. And even when a terrible, rotting stench wafted down the street and past his house, people didn't think Sowell was the source. Instead, they pointed fingers at the sausage shop next door.
"Nobody could imagine that this man was capable of doing what he was doing," said Fawcett Bess, owner of Bess Chicken & Pizza, a restaurant across the street from Sowell's house. "He always showed respect to you — 'good morning' and 'good evening' and that kind of thing."
The portrait of Sowell's early years is hazy, and no record of his birth could be found.
Court papers show he claims he fathered a child in 1978 with a woman who was not identified. He also said he was married in 1981 and divorced in 1985, but did not name his ex-wife.
In January 1978, when he was 19, Sowell joined the Marines, where he became a rifle sharpshooter and won two good conduct medals during stints in Cherry Point, N.C., Okinawa, Japan, and Camp Pendleton, Calif. In 1985, having risen to the rank of corporal, Sowell left the service.
A few years later, back home in Cleveland, he committed his first known attack.
Records of that 1989 assault show Sowell took a 21-year-old woman to his Page Avenue home, pushed her down on the bed and started to choke her. When she tried to scream, he said: "You can scream all you want, nobody is home."
He sexually assaulted the woman twice, gagged her, threatened to kill her and tied her up with a necktie, the report said.
Because of the viciousness of the crime, the parole board repeatedly denied him early release. In a parole hearing, he owned up to a drinking problem and said he'd been drinking the day of the assault.
The prison system gave Sowell excellent grades, however, for his attitude, initiative and dependability at his kitchen job. "Works well w/all staff & where ever needed," according to a July 22, 2003, inmate evaluation report sent to the parole board.
Upon his release in 2005, Sowell moved into the Imperial Avenue home owned by his father Thomas — who had died two years earlier — and Thomas' wife, Segerna.
Neighbors say Segerna Sowell was often sick, and some believe she moved into a nursing home. Though others had wondered if she was among the dead, police Lt. Tom Stacho confirmed Friday that Segerna Sowell "is alive and well in Cleveland."
Despite Sowell's quiet presence in the neighborhood, he was known to behave strangely at times.
We'd catch him talking to himself," said Martin Lloyd, who hired Sowell off the street to help rehabilitate houses, but fired him six months later for stealing tools. "Sometimes he'd just yell out loud."
The city's public defender says Sowell was laid off two years ago, but it was unclear what kind of work he had been doing. For a while, he was collecting unemployment checks.
Sometimes, neighbors say, they saw Sowell dragging garbage bags down the street.
Although his home was in a crowded neighborhood, his backyard — a burial site for five victims — was obscured by trees and a fence. Alongside the fence stood a trash bin that would start to smell about once a month, said neighbor Robby Adams.
"It would get really, really bad," he says, "and it would go away after they emptied the Dumpster." ..Source.. by MEGHAN BARR and JOHN SEEWER
OH- I-Team: Sowell's Sexual Predator Report
It is important to note that, this report is really a "psychiatric report" used by the Ohio court when it classified Sowell in 2005 (prior to AWA), when he was paroled from prison. The report is not a "Sexual Predator" report, it seems that term was added based on someone's current feelings. More unbiased comments found in the report are found in UPI's "Sowell was considered low-risk" article.
11-7-2009 Ohio:
CLEVELAND -- A psychiatric report on Anthony Sowell raises almost as many questions as it answers about why Sowell allegedly became a serial killer of women.
Fox 8 I-Team Reporter Bill Sheil has obtained a copy of the "Sexual Predator Evaluation." It was done in 2005 - after Sowell finished serving a 15-year prison sentence for a brutal attack on a woman in 1989.
The report says Sowell is one of a two children born to a couple that later divorced. He grew up in Cleveland. His father was a construction worker who died in 2002. His mother worked at a dry cleaners. Despite the break-up, Sowers described "both of his parents in positive terms." Though his father left when Sowell was an infant, he reported staying in touch with his dad throughout his life.
Sowell indicates he was "teased and bullied" growing up, but "said that he had many friends...."
The report says that, in general, Sowell "described his childhood as good."
So how could he grow into the man who allegedly committed so many brutal crimes? The report suggests that alcohol was a major problem - and may have played a role in his attacks. The report says Sowell "had significant problems with drinking" and that he acknowledged "increased aggressiveness with drinking."
Sowell allegedly served malt liquor to at least some of his victims before he attacked.
He attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings while in prison, but said in the 2005 report that he had not been to any meetings since his release.
In a chilling sentence, the report states "the defendant reports having no deviant sexual preferences and there is no documentation of such." Sowell admitted to looking at pornography and said he had more than fifty sexual partners in his lifetime.
Sowell was in the Marines for seven years, and married a fellow Marine. The two later divroced, but not before having a daughter who today would be 31 years-old.
The fact that Sowell is older, 46 at the time of the evaluation and 50 now, and the fact that he had a daughter, were two factors plugged into a formula to try and estimate if he was likely to commit another sexual crime.
The formula concluded that Sowell only had a six percent of offending in the next five years, and a seven percent chance in the next ten or fifteen years.
The report cautions that the numbers are only an "estimate." If what police believe about Sowell repeatedly killing women is true, the estimate was dead wrong. ..Source.. by Bill Sheil Fox 8 I-Team Reporter
November 6, 2009
OH- Accused serial killer previously stationed at Lejeune
11-6-2009 Ohio:
An accused serial killer arrested on Halloween after Cleveland police found at least 11 dead bodies in his home spent time as a Marine at Camp Lejeune and Cherry Point.
Anthony Sowell, 50, a registered sex offender in Ohio, is being held without bond on five counts of murder.
Sowell had duty stations as an electrician at Camp Lejeune from May 1978 to July 1978 and the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing at Cherry Point from July 1978 to March 1980. After a year in California, Sowell returned to Cherry Point from April 1981 to December 1983. He was discharged in January 1985, all according to Maj. Shawn Haney, public affairs officer with Marine Manpower and Reserve Affairs at Quantico, Va.
Sowell’s awards include Good Conduct Medal, a Meritorious Mast certificate, Sea Service Deployment ribbon, Certificate of Commendation and two Letters of Appreciation.
Four years after his discharge, Sowell went to prison in Ohio for 15 years for a 1989 rape conviction. He was paroled in 2005 and moved into his family home on Imperial Avenue in Cleveland.
Ohio authorities went to Sowell’s home to serve a sexual assault arrest warrant and found two bodies in the three-story house Oct. 29. After a two-day manhunt, authorities arrested Sowell a few blocks from his home, according to Associated Press news reports.
Over the next several days investigators discovered nine more bodies, some inside, some buried in the backyard. On Tuesday, investigators found a skull in a bucket in the basement of the home, all according to police reports.
Local residents had complained of foul odors near the home for years, the Associated press reported.
Cleveland firefighters were tearing Sowell’s house apart Thursday, but police told reporters they did not know whether they would find more bodies.
Sowell could face the death penalty if convicted on the murder counts, according to the Cuyahoga County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
Drew Wilson and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Contact Lindell Kay at 910-219-8456. Read his blog at http://onslowcrime.encblogs.com.
An accused serial killer arrested last week after Cleveland police found at least 11 dead bodies in his home spent time at Camp Lejeune in the 1970s as a Marine.
Anthony Sowell, 50, a registered sex offender in Ohio, is being held without bond on five counts of murder.
Sowell joined the U.S. Marine Corps in January 1978. He was stationed at Camp Lejeune from May to July 1978 before being transferred to California. He also spent from April 1981 to December 1983 at Cherry Point, according to his military personnel file obtained by multiple media outlets. He was honorably discharged in 1985.
Ohio authorities went to Sowell’s home to serve a sexual assault arrest warrant and found the bodies of 10 women and a skull in his basement and backyard. The women had been strangled, according to police.
Cleveland firefighters were tearing Sowell’s house apart Thursday, but police told reporters they did not know whether they would find more bodies.
Sowell was released from prison in 2005 after serving 15 years on an attempted rape conviction. He could face the death penalty if convicted of the murder counts, according to the Cuyahoga County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
Neighborhood resident Gladys Wade told WKYC-TV that Sowell attacked her and dragged her into his house last year.
“It was like the devil, eyes glowing,” she said. “He was demonic or something. You could see the demons in him.”
She said she watched in horror last week as bodies were removed from the house she said she escaped.
“I was actually in that house with all those bodies and didn’t know it,” she said. “I could have actually been one of them. I’m the one that got away.” ..Source.. by LINDELL KAY
November 5, 2009
OH- Anthony Sowell's neighbors wonder how stench of rotting bodies went unidentified for years
11-5-2009 Ohio:
CLEVELAND, Ohio — The stench in the air near East 123rd Street and Imperial Avenue left residents baffled for years.
Drain pipes were flushed. A sewer line was replaced. But the smell still lingered.
Some residents believed the overpowering odor came from a 57-year-old sausage shop on the corner. Others were still convinced it was the sewers.
Last week, police discovered the source of the odor -- it was beyond residents’ worst fears. At least six decomposing bodies lie in and around the house at 12205 Imperial Ave. The corpses could have been accumulating there for years, authorities said.
Anthony Sowell, 50, is being held in City Jail on a rape warrant as detectives try to determine if he killed the six women. All the bodies found inside the home Thursday and Friday have been identified as black females. Five died by strangulation, according to police. The last died of unknown causes. 
The coroner’s office is trying to determine their identities. Officers entered the home Thursday night with an arrest warrant after a woman accused him of raping her and choking her with an extension cord, police said. Police arrested him Saturday about a mile from his house.
A man familiar with decomposing bodies said it takes someone familiar with rotting bodies to detect the odor. The smell is extremely pungent and hard to describe, said Albert Samuels, chief investigator for the Wayne County medical examiner in Detroit.
He compared the odor to a pile of rotting meat.
"Not many people know what a dead body smells like," he said. "It’s a very, very strong smell that is foul and indistinguishable. It’s the mixture of gas, flesh and blood. It’s rotting foul flesh. It’s the reason people are embalmed."
The foul odor eventually loses its edge until a body is disturbed, Samuels said. Still, he is amazed that people lived with the smell for years.
"Hindsight is 20-20," Samuels said, "but it should have alerted someone."
Cleveland Health Director Matt Carroll said the department has not had any recent complaints about foul smells in the neighborhood or at Sowell’s house.
Bystanders have milled around the intersection since Friday afternoon, wondering why nobody realized the root of the stench.
Ray’s Sausage sits next to Sowell’s house. The company makes and distributes pork products all over the region. Some residents in the neighborhood had accused the shop of emitting the overpowering odor.
"People used to think it was the sausage shop," said the owner of a pizza shop across the street. "We now realize what it was."
The owner of Ray’s Sausage always scoffed at the idea that her business stunk.
Renee Cash said the smell baffled her and other employees and that they always took extra steps to clean equipment because nobody knew the cause of the odor. State inspectors regularly visit the business and find no violations, she added.
"If we had any smells like that, we wouldn’t be in business for 57 years," Cash said. "That is wrong. This smell from here makes you want to eat."
Drains lines on the street have been cleaned and flushed in the last few years, but the odor still overpowered people in the second-floor offices of the sausage shop. Employees smelled the odor as soon as they walked up the steps, Cash said, and they kept the windows closed.
The windows sit six feet from Sowell’s house, and police removed a body from a shallow grave just below the windows. Cash never figured the smell to be rotting bodies. She believes the smell has lingered since at least 2006.
"We always thought it was the sewers," Cash said. "We’ve been smelling something for a long time."
Eli Tayeh manages a convenience store at the intersection and said Sowell frequented the business twice a day to buy King Cobra beer. He called Sowell a nice man but said he cringed when Sowell walked through the door.
"He smelled bad," Tayeh said. "I was always too embarrassed to ask him about it." ..Source.. by Mark Puente, The Plain Dealer
November 4, 2009
OH- Cleveland mass killing suspect linked to prior attack in Coronado
11-4-2009 Ohio:
The suspect in a gruesome mass killing in Cleveland, Ohio may be responsible for the attack on a woman in San Diego.
Authorities think a woman may have been raped in San Diego years ago by the convicted rapist at the center of a mass killing in Cleveland.
Ten bodies have been found at the Cleveland home of Anthony Sowell.
A Cleveland woman who recognized his photo on television called the Coronado Police Department and said she was raped in Coronado in 1979 by Sowell.
Sowell joined the Marine Corps at age 18 in 1978 and was stationed in San Diego for some of the eight years he was in the Marines.
San Diego 6 News has confirmed Coronado Police are trying to learn more about the unsolved crime from 31 years ago. They have not been able to find any records related to the crime and are now checking with other law enforcement agencies in the area to see if they may have handled the case.
“We are researching this and looking for information,” said Coronado Police Chief Louis Scanlon in an interview with the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Investigators in Cleveland are preparing to begin tearing apart walls Sowell’s house where 10 bodies have been found.
Authorities say they’re going to go “bit by bit, piecStae by piece” as they look for more evidence or bodies in the case of Sowell.
Sowell appeared in court Wednesday under tight security. He was ordered held without bond.
A prosecutor called Sowell “an incredibly dangerous threat to the public” and said he could face the death penalty if convicted of the charges: five aggravated murder counts. In addition, he faces charges of rape, felonious assault and kidnapping for an alleged attack on a woman at his home.
A public defender told the judge that Sowell has medical problems, including a heart pacemaker and cardiac medication.
The case now goes before a grand jury. ..Source.. by Staff
November 3, 2009
OH- Police: 4 more bodies removed from Ohio rapist’s home where police found 6 bodies last week
11-3-2009 Ohio:
CLEVELAND — Remains of four more people were unearthed from the backyard of a rapist’s home Tuesday, raising to 10 the number of bodies found in and near the house, as police also searched boarded-up homes in the neighborhood where residents complained for years of a stench that one even said “smelled like a dead body.”
Anthony Sowell, 50, a registered sex offender who lives in the home, was charged Tuesday with five counts of aggravated murder.
“It appears that this man had an insatiable appetite that he had to fill,” police Chief Michael McGrath said.
He said the four bodies were found buried in the backyard of the home and a skull was found in a bucket in the basement.
Authorities do not know whether the skull belongs to an 11th victim, said police spokesman Lt. Thomas Stacho.
The search was to continue through the night and into Wednesday, with fire department crews planning to search in the walls and ceiling of the home, McGrath said.
Police discovered the first six bodies Thursday and Friday after a woman reported being raped at Sowell’s home. Investigators said they found one body in a shallow grave in the backyard. The rest were inside the house — one in the basement, two in the third-floor living room and two in an upstairs crawl space.
The Cuyahoga County coroner is attempting to identify those women through DNA and dental records. All six were black, and five were strangled.
Sowell was also charged Tuesday with rape, felonious assault and kidnapping related to the woman’s complaint.
He is to be arraigned Wednesday, Stacho said.
The bodies could have been there anywhere from weeks to months to years, said Powell Caesar, a spokesman for the coroner.
“What kind of man was this?” wondered Regina Woodland, who lives about two blocks away.
“He couldn’t have been human.”
Detectives used cadaver dogs and digging equipment to scour the home and backyard Tuesday, looking for evidence to connect Sowell to the bodies, Stacho said.
Police turned up nothing in an initial search of a quarter-mile swath of abandoned homes near Sowell’s residence, which sits in a crowded inner-city neighborhood of mostly older houses.
Investigators have brought lights and heavy equipment to the home and are putting a tent around the yard, WKYC-TV reported.
They plan to scour another quarter-mile area Wednesday, McGrath said. He said Sowell did not have a car would have had to take a city bus to travel.
A crowd of about 100 people milled about and chatted near the home Tuesday evening. A short while later, about 50 people joined hands and put their arms around each other in the middle of the street and prayed aloud.
One of those in the crowd, Antoinnette Dudley, 29, lives a few houses away. She said she could smell a terrible odor like something was dead all summer. She said she saw Sowell only a few times, mainly drinking beer while he sat on his porch.
“I didn’t think he was that sick,” she said.
Sowell is a registered sex offender and required to check in regularly at the sheriff’s office. Officers didn’t have the right to enter his house, but they would stop by to make sure he was there. Their most recent visit was Sept. 22, just hours before the woman reported being raped.
For the past few years, Sowell’s neighbors thought the foul smell enveloping their street corner had been coming from a brick building where workers churned out sausage and head cheese.
It got so bad that the owners of Ray’s Sausage replaced their sewer line and grease traps.
City Councilman Zack Reed, whose mother lives a block from the area, said he called the city health department on more than one occasion.
“What happened from there, we don’t know,” he said. “It was no secret that there was a foul odor. We don’t want to point fingers, but clearly something could have been done differently.”
Reed said he and other community leaders want an investigation into whether police and health inspectors missed signs that could have tipped them off to the bodies.
Reed said he can’t imagine how police officers and sheriff’s deputies could have missed the smell. His office records show that he called the health department in 2007 after a resident told him about an odor that “smelled like a dead body,” he said. ..Source.. by Thomas J. Sheeran
OH- Cleveland Rapist Charged with 5 Murders
11-3-2009 Ohio:
Six Bodies Were Found at Man's Home Last Week, But Total May be Higher; Two Bodies Seen Being Removed Today
A rapist living in an Ohio home where the bodies of several women have been found was charged Tuesday with five counts of aggravated murder, along with charges of rape, felonious assault and kidnapping.
Anthony Sowell, 50, was to be arraigned Wednesday on the charges, Cleveland Police spokesman Lt. Thomas Stacho said Tuesday.
Police recovered the bodies of six women from the home last week, and a television station reported Tuesday that two more bodies were removed from Sowell's home.
The bodies were removed after investigators excavated the yard of the home where Sowell lives, WKYC-TV of Cleveland reported on its Web site.
Two coroner's vans arrived shortly before the remains were removed, the report said, and the bodies were being taken to the Cuyahoga County coroner's office.
Stacho could not confirm that additional bodies had been recovered. He said more details would be provided at an evening news conference with Police Chief Michael McGrath.
A coroner's spokesman also could not confirm the report.
Investigators have brought lights and heavy equipment to the home and are putting a tent around the yard, WKYC reported.
Police discovered the six bodies Thursday and Friday after a woman reported being raped at Sowell's home. The coroner is attempting to identify the bodies found last week through DNA and dental records. All six women were black, and five were strangled.
Sowell is a registered sex offender and required to check in regularly at the sheriff's office. Officers didn't have the right to enter his house, but they would stop by to make sure he was there. Their most recent visit was Sept. 22, just hours before the woman reported being raped.
For the past few years, Sowell's neighbors assumed the foul smell enveloping their street corner had been coming from a brick building where workers churned out sausage and head cheese.
It got so bad that the owners of Ray's Sausage replaced their sewer line and grease traps.
City Councilman Zack Reed, whose mother lives a block from the area, said he called the city health department on more than one occasion.
"What happened from there, we don't know," he said. "It was no secret that there was a foul odor. We don't want to point fingers, but clearly something could have been done differently."
Reed said he and other community leaders want an investigation into whether police and health inspectors missed any signs that could have tipped them off to the bodies inside the house.
Reed said he can't imagine how police officers and sheriff's deputies could have missed the smell. His office records show that he called the health department in 2007 after a resident told him about an odor that "smelled like a dead body," he said.
One of the bodies was found in a shallow grave in the backyard. The rest were inside the house — one in the basement, two in the third-floor living room and two in an upstairs crawl space, said police spokesman Lt. Thomas Stacho.
The bodies could have been there anywhere from weeks to months to years, said Powell Caesar, a spokesman for the Cuyahoga County coroner.
On Tuesday, detectives brought in cadaver dogs and digging equipment to scour the home and backyard, looking for evidence to connect Sowell to the bodies, Stacho said.
Authorities also were searching vacant properties within a few miles of the home, which sat in a crowded inner-city neighborhood of mostly older houses. Police did not say Tuesday why they were searching the vacant homes or indicate whether they believe more bodies could be found.
Neighbors are bracing for what could be inside a boarded-up home across the street and a shuttered school a block away.
"We hope they don't find any more," said Renee Cash, whose family has operated the sausage company for 57 years.
About four years ago, she and other workers started noticing a smell that was so bad on some days that it forced them to leave their office.
"In the summertime, it was gross," Cash said. "You could always smell it. It smelled like something rotten."
They poured bleach down the sewer in the basement, and eventually the company had it replaced. Health inspectors thought the meat processing was to blame, she said. ..Source.. by CBS News
