UPDATE: Anthony Sowell Sentenced to Death

Cleveland, Ohio, a still-developing story:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Cleveland police said they found two dead bodies in a home while serving a warrant Thursday night.
Police said the department's sex crime unit was serving a warrant for 50-year-old Anthony E. Sowell at an
Imperial Avenue home when they made the discovery. The badly decomposed bodies were found in the attic and there is also evidence of a freshly dug grave in the basement, police said. At this point they do not know how long the bodies have been there. The coroner is on his way to the scene.

Police said Sowell is wanted in connection with an attack on a female that occurred at the Imperial Avenue home on Sept. 26.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Lord have mercy, when does this end? What if they hadn't been serving a warrant????????? Were these two on a missing person's report?? So many questions! What a frickin sicko!!!!!

OK, I am getting the Cleveland news and just saw the story..although nothing to add..don't know if this is because this news station sucks or they just don't have any new information.

They might "suck", Wrap, but the Cleveland station at 10:00 news said it was a "still-developing story". Tomorrow will probably bring more details.

Now if they had given him a longer sentence......like eternity, we wouldn't be blogging about him right now. How long before the court system realizes that these pervs don't change and rehab doesn't work. Lock them up and throw away the key!

Sowell is a registered sex offender who served 15 years in an Ohio penitentiary in 1989 for Rape.

Sowell wears eyeglasses and frequently wears a mustache and occasionally a beard.

He is also known to frequent area scrap metal yards.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

OH, PLEASE!

Here is a list of inmates who are going to get a new hearing under the Layne ruling

Ohio Parole Board officials stress that this list includes all prisoners who may be eligible for rehearings because the board placed them in more-serious offense categories than their convictions merited. Between 3,000 and 4,000 of these prisoners will actually receive new hearings, they say.

A223936 SOWELL ANTHONY E June-2003

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"The state of the bodies suggests they have been in the home for a long period of time," Stacho said

Sowell lived in the house with his aunt and uncle, Stacho said. Neighbors told police he has been seen at the residence in the last few days.

Video on this link:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Thanks, BJ, for running with this story---I had no idea that there were thousands whose cases were up for review like this! (And I read the papers, watch all the news on TV, and yet, nobody has even mentioned it in the media.) Thanks for the new links. BTW, just noticed that you are an admin now---congrats! A fine choice they have made in making you one.

He lives with his aunt and uncle. Where are they? What's their story?

Admin........just a title. Nothing has changed. :)

Sex offender sought after Cleveland police find two decomposed bodies
By Stan Donaldson
October 29, 2009, 11:04PM

Anthony E. Sowell
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Police found two decomposing bodies Thursday night in a duplex on the city's southeast side when they went to arrest a registered sex offender wanted for an attack inside the home last month.

The bodies were found on the third floor of the home in the 12200 block of Imperial Avenue. In the basement police found a freshly dug grave.

Police are searching for Anthony E. Sowell, 50, who served a 15-year sentence in an Ohio prison for a 1989 rape.

Sowell, who is 6 feet tall and 155 pounds, wears eyeglasses and frequently wears a mustache and occasionally a beard. He is known to walk the streets "scrapping" and frequents area scrap metal yards, police spokesman Lt. Thomas Stacho said.

The department's sex crimes detectives went to Sowell's home Thursday evening with a search warrant looking for evidence in connection with a rape and felonious assault on Sept. 26, Stacho said. Detectives found two bodies in an advanced state of decomposition on the third floor of the home and what appears to be a freshly dug grave in the basement.

"The state of the bodies suggests they have been in the home for a long period of time," Stacho said

Sowell lived in the house with his aunt and uncle, Stacho said. Neighbors told police he has been seen at the residence in the last few days.

Willie Mack, 50, a resident on Imperial, said he would sometimes see Sowell around the neighborhood and that he kept to himself.

"This really bothers me because I am a single father and this happened right down the street from where my kids live and play," Mack said. "I hope the police can find him."

Anyone with information on Sowell's whereabouts is asked to contact the Cleveland Police Sex Crimes Unit at 216-623-5630.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]


I find it inexcusable how Ohio allows convicted SO's out of prison. I completely agree with BJ. WHY do they let them out??

They just said on the news that the bodies are so decomposed, they are identifiable. I still want to know, were these poor people reported missing? Are they children? They were someone's child! And again, what if LE had not gone there to serve the warrant? Horrific!!!!!!!!!!

"Everybody in this neighborhood is on edge," said Sheaillivee Kade. "We want to know what's in the grave. Is this guy a serial killer?"

Nancy Cobbs, 43, lived one block over on Griffin Avenue and has been missing since April. Her daughter, Kyana Hunt, was outside Sowell's home today, concerned that her mother's body might be inside.
"I have no way to describe how I feel," Hunt said. "I want closure."

Police went to the house to arrest Sowell for an attack inside the home last month. Several neighbors said people saw a naked woman jump out of a second-floor window, with Sowell chasing after her. It's unclear if that is why police went to arrest him.
Sowell often asked neighbors to come into the house to "party" with him, Kade said.

The home is owned by Sowell's aunt and uncle, according to county records. He moved in in 2005 after getting out of prison. But neighbors said Sowell now lives in the house by himself, after one relative died and another was moved to a nursing home.

Sowell was required by law to register with the sheriff's office every 90 days. He last registered on Sept. 2, deputies said.
On Sept. 22, deputies went to the house and verified Sowell was living there. Sowell answered the door. Because he was not on probation, deputies were not allowed to enter the house and did not.
Sowell has been registered at the Imperial Avenue address since June 2005, deputies said.
Prior to the Adam Walsh Act, which was passed last year, Sowell and other people classified as Tier III sex offenders had to register with authorities once a year, instead of every three months.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

wow.. it's scary! this guy was left alone to do his evil things..
i just can't understand if we all know these guys will always be evil, why do we trust them to be set free??
ugh!!

by adelacruz Today at 12:21 pm

wow.. it's scary! this guy was left alone to do his evil things..
i just can't understand if we all know these guys will always be evil, why do we trust them to be set free??
ugh!!

Good question Peanut? I want to know why they let these sickos go after only 15 yr sentences knowing they will most likely do it AGAIN!

BJ in OR wrote:He lives with his aunt and uncle. Where are they? What's their story?

I wondered if the two in the attic were his aunt and uncle because their whereabouts is unknown, but on the 6:00 news my hubby yelled to me that they were both females. There is a third body in the grave in the basement and I didn't catch what sex the person was.

They will have an interview with a victim of this demon on the 11 o'clock news tonight. (she got away)

The home is owned by Sowell's aunt and uncle, according to county records. He moved in in 2005 after getting out of prison. But neighbors said Sowell now lives in the house by himself, after one relative died and another was moved to a nursing home.

Where is aunt and uncle now?

Detectives found two bodies in an advanced state of decomposition on the third floor of the home and what appears to be a freshly dug grave in the basement.

Makes me think LE was not really checking on him every 3 months?

LM said "Makes me think LE was not really checking on him every 3 months?"

It certainly looks like someone has dropped the ball.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] This latest news video is not up on the site yet, which was more revealing than what we already know. It concerns the following:

No text at this point for the videos just aired on the 10:00 news. There may be more than 6 bodies there and he is still on the run. They have pics of what he would look like as he is known to change his appearance. Also, in the video, worried parents are coming around thinking that their missing daughters/mothers are in that house. We never knew that so many women and girls were missing from that neighborhood. Maybe because it is what is called "inner city"?, meaning poor and minority and not a nice side of town? No matter where, this dude is nasty and he is still at large and I hope people will look at the video when it is posted to see his changes in appearance so he can be apprehended. This gets sicker and sadder every passing day! There appears to be 2 videos on the page of this story so far, so we must wait for the third video to be posted I guess.

Scores of law enforcement officers continued their search for convicted sex offender Anthony Sowell Friday night, while investigators temporarily ended their work at Sowell's home after finding the bodies of possibly six people inside and outside the house.
Investigators intend to continue digging at the Imperial Avenue property today in a search for more bodies. Sowell, 50, has lived in the home since 2005.
Police found two of the bodies on Thursday. When a third was discovered Friday afternoon in the basement's dirt floor, it triggered a more extensive search. Vans from the coroner's office were lined up outside the East Side house as a cadaver dog sniffed at patches of yard without grass.
Stacho said the bodies "appear to be in different stages of decomposition." He said a expert from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History was at the house helping coroner employees determine when the victims had died.

Much more on link worth reading.



[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

At least five dead bodies have been found at Anthony Sowell's home on Imperial Avenue, police sources said.

Personnel from the coroner's office were seen making several trips in and out of the house Friday night. Police officials would not confirm that the number of bodies found had gone from three to five.

Scores of law enforcement officers searched Friday night for Sowell, a convicted sex offender.

At least three additional bodies were found Friday. Coroner's vans were lined up outside the house Friday after a cadaver dog was brought in to assist with the search.

"(Sowell) is the most wanted man in Cleveland right now," said police Lt. Thomas Stacho, who said investigators will continue searching the house and yard "inch by inch, foot by foot."

U.S Marshals were called in from out of state to assist in the manhunt for Sowell, who moved into the home on Imperial Avenue in 2005 after serving 15 years in prison for rape.

It was the report of a rape last month, just eight hours after sheriff's deputies checked on the convicted sex offender, that sent police Thursday to arrest Sowell at his home in the 12200 block of Imperial Avenue. Sowell was gone, but police found two badly decomposed bodies inside.

Friday afternoon they found a third decomposed body, which had been buried in the basement's dirt floor. Two more were found Friday night.

At least two of the victims are women and police are trying to determine the gender of the third victim, police spokesman Lt. Thomas Stacho said.

Sowell's neighbors are scared.

"Everybody in this neighborhood is on edge," said Sheaillivee Kade. "We want to know what's in the grave. Is this guy a serial killer?"

Neighbor Debbie Madison saw commotion at Sowell's house Thursday. She heard talk of dead bodies inside and feared Sowell might be dead, so she went to Sowell's sister's home on East 130th Street. Sowell was resting on a couch inside, she said.

He asked for a ride home and Sowell started talking as they approached the house, Madison said

"He said it was true," Madison said. "That's when I became scared.

"He told me 'It's all gonna come out.' He said 'that girl made me do it,'" Madison said.

Instead of continuing to his home, Sowell asked Madison to drive him back to his sister's and she did.

Sowell moved into the home on Imperial Avenue in June 2005, after he got out of prison. The house is owned by two of Sowell's relatives, but he's had it to himself since one died and the other moved into a nursing home, neighbors said.

Before that, Sowell lived on Page Avenue in East Cleveland. That's where, in 1989, he lured a 21-year-old woman into his bedroom, choked her and repeatedly raped her, prosecutors said. That lead to him being locked up from 1990 until 2005.

Once released, Sowell had to register as a sex offender. He was required to report to the sheriff's office once a year until 2008, when a change in the law forced him to report every 90 days.

He last checked in on Sept. 2. On Sept. 22, deputies did a spot check on him at the Imperial Avenue home to verify he lived there. Sowell was home and answered the door, deputies said. The deputies did not enter the home because, since he was no longer on probation, they were not allowed to without a search warrant.

That was shortly before 9 a.m. Around 5 p.m. Sowell beat and raped another woman, according to a Cleveland police report.

The victim in that 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.

After drinking for awhile, Sowell became upset, punched the woman in the face and began choking her with the cord. He raped her as she passed out from being choked with the cord, the woman told police.

"She got away after she bribed him and told him she'd give him money and promised not to tell," the woman's mother said Friday.

Two days earlier, police were called to his house after neighbors reported seeing a partially clothed woman pushed out of a window.

In December 2008, another woman told police Sowell tried to rape her. That woman bought a beer at a store on the corner of East 123rd Street and Imperial Avenue when Sowell asked her to drink beer with him.

When she said no, he punched her in the face, dragged her to the back of the his home and told her "take your clothes off," according to a police report.

The woman broke free, ran away and flagged down a police car. Police went back to the house and arrested Sowell for attempted rape and robbery, but said Friday the woman ultimately did not want to talk to detectives and no charges were filed.

Cuyahoga County coroner's officials were trying to determine the age and race of the people found inside the home and how they were killed. At least one of the victims died from violence, Stacho said.

Neighbors who gathered outside the house Friday were worried about who might have been found inside.

Kyana Hunt lived with her mother Nancy Cobbs one block away, on Griffing Avenue. Cobbs, 43, has been missing since April and her daughter fears the worst.

"I have no way to describe how I feel," Hunt said. "I want closure. I want to be happy to know she's in a better place. If it isn't her, I want the other family to have closure."

Sowell is 6 feet and 155 pounds, wears eyeglasses and frequently wears a mustache and occasionally a beard. He is known to walk the streets looking for scrap metal and frequents area scrap metal yards, police spokesman Lt. Thomas Stacho said.

Anyone with information on Sowell's whereabouts is asked to contact the Cleveland Police at 216-623-5630.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
CNN reporting
Police find 6 bodies in Cleveland; convicted rapist sought
October 30, 2009 10:52 p.m. EDT

2-3rd floor of house
1-Under basement stairs
2-In crawl space
1-Shallow grave outside house

LE intends to continue searching the house on Sat.

Six bodies. OMG! What do you want to make a bet there are bodies that he didn't hide at the house, too.

This guy does NOT drive a car so wherever he's running to he's doing it on foot, unless he has a friend.

insane!

Cleveland police have arrested a convicted rapist after they found as many as six bodies at his house. Police say Anthony Sowell was arrested today, days after officers discovered the decomposing bodies when they went to his home to arrest him on charges of felonious assault and rape. Efforts are under way to identify the bodies and how they died.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Officers took Anthony Sowell, 50, a convicted rapist, into custody after someone walked into a police station and reported seeing a man resembling him, The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer reported.

Police asked people with missing family members to bring objects with their DNA in to help with identification. The bodies were in various stages of decomposition.http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2009/10/31/Owner-of-house-where-bodies-found-arrested/UPI-99711256988138/

Police spokesman Lt. Thomas Stacho said Anthony Sowell was walking down the street in 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 checking his fingerprints, Stacho said.

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.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

BJ in OR wrote:Officers took Anthony Sowell, 50, a convicted rapist, into custody after someone walked into a police station and reported seeing a man resembling him, The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer reported.

Police asked people with missing family members to bring objects with their DNA in to help with identification. The bodies were in various stages of decomposition.http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2009/10/31/Owner-of-house-where-bodies-found-arrested/UPI-99711256988138/

:cheers: :clapping: 1 monster off the streets.

Officials were continuing the search today, using cadaver dogs and extending the hunt to nearby houses and vacant lots, meaning that the actually number of bodies could be much higher.

None of the bodies discovered so far have been identified because they were in such an advanced state of decay. Indeed only two have had their sex determined, both of them being women.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

The six women whose bodies were found in a convicted rapist's home in Cleveland appear to have been strangled, the coroner said Saturday.

Cuyahoga County Coroner Frank Miller III said all six bodies showed signs of "homicidal violence," CNN reported. Miller said he could not determine yet how long the women had been dead.

Allen Sowell said his younger brother rented the third floor of the house, which had belonged to their father and grandfather, from their stepmother when he was released from prison in 2005 after serving 15 years for rape. Allen said he has not seen his stepmother for months.

Police said two of the bodies were found on the third floor, one buried in the basement, two hidden in a crawl space and one buried in the yard.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Does the brother mean that the stepmother might be missing? Could she be one of the women found in the house?

Coroner: 6 bodies found at home; Ohioan arrested

By THOMAS J. SHEERAN, Associated Press Writer Thomas J. Sheeran, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 56 mins ago

CLEVELAND – A convicted rapist who fled before police arrived to arrest him on new rape charges was arrested Saturday in his inner-city neighborhood after police found six decomposing bodies at his home.

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 initially identified three bodies at Sowell's home, Stacho said. Powell Caesar, a spokesman for the Cuyahoga County coroner's office, said additional remains were found and confirmed Saturday as three more bodies, for a total of six.

As of Saturday, autopsies had been performed on all six bodies but no cause of death or names were announced. Two autopsies were done Friday.

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 a 1989 rape.

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 others.

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.

As a convicted sex offender, Sowell was required to report regularly to the sheriff's office, which said he had complied.


[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Got back in a bit ago..just got online. This is GREAT news!! You can bet LE and the FBI are grilling this monster hard!!

Sowell was livng with is stepmother, aunt and uncle. The home has been in the Sowell family for many years according to his older brother Allen, 66 ,of Cleveland Heights,OH. Allen Sowell said he had not been in touch with his brother since Anthony went to prison in 1990.

Anthony Sowell rented the top floor from their stepmother, Segerna Sowell, after leaving prison. Soon afterwards Mrs. Sowell complained of Anthony’s drug use and non-payment of rent because he says that he shouldn’t pay rent because father owned the house.

Allen Sowell last seen his stepmother at cookout in 2008. He had talked their stepmother several times after that and said she told him that she was filing papers on Anthony to evict him. That was the last time Allen talk to their step mom. He has tried to contact her. Neighbors said Mrs. Sowell is living in a nursing home.

Now Allen fears the worst.

“She would be calling me,” he said. “That’s not happening, and that worries me.”

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Women Speak Out About Sowell's Alleged House of Horror

Women claiming to have been attacked by Ohio convicted sex offender Anthony Sowell are coming forward to share their horrifying experiences, Fox 8 Cleveland reported.

Two women told Fox 8 Cleveland that they believe Sowell, 50, would have killed them and said they feel lucky to be alive.

"He was gonna kill me," one alleged victim said.

"I have scars on my neck and nerve damage. I couldn't leave the house for months. I was afraid to go to the store. I could not sleep."

The alleged victim told local reporters that when she turned down an offer from Sowell to drink beer with him, he "punched her in the face and dragged her to his house," according to Fox 8 Cleveland.

She managed to escape from his house and flag down police, Fox 8 Cleveland reported. Sowell was arrested for rape, kidnapping and robbery — but the case never made it to court.

Other women weren't as lucky as these alleged victims. Police found six decomposing bodies at Anthony Sowell's Ohio home last week, four years after he was released from a U.S. prison after serving 15 years for a rape conviction.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Detectives are meeting with the families of missing people today and gathering evidence to help identify the six bodies found Thursday and Friday at Anthony Sowell's Imperial Avenue home.
Police are asking anyone with information to visit the 4th District police station at 9333 Kinsman Road from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
"Citizens are encouraged to take a photo and biographical information related to any missing or suspected missing persons to the 4th District," Lt. Thomas Stacho said.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

All the victims are female and the cause of death of all but one of them is strangulation. They were dismembered.

I wonder if one of the victims is his step mother that hasn't been heard from in awhile. She wanted to evict him.....that would have been a good enough reason for him to get rid of her.

That same thought occurred to me also, BJ. Only time will tell.