UPDATE: Anthony Sowell Sentenced to Death

Like I said already....this man is SO guilty. These women didn't kill themselves and stash their bodies. Give me a break!! What a waste of time, money, and justice for the victim's families!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Updated: Sep 13, 2010 4:48 PM CDT

UPDATE: CLEVELAND, OH (WOIO) - 19 Action News is uncovering more witnesses who could be called to testify for accused serial killer Anthony Sowell, but the list is not what you might think.

So how could these people help the man accused of killing eleven woman and burying their bodies in and around his Imperial Avenue home on Cleveland's Eastside?

The latest witness list says Sowell's lawyers could call someone from the Sheriff's office and the state prison system.

Sowell has served time in prison a sex offender, but the list also includes someone from a former job and the Marines. The accused serial killer is a veteran, too.

An earlier list called for workers at the city and county jails. Plus, an expert who can tell how long someone's been dead by the kinds of bugs on the bodies.

It's not clear what the people on the witness list could say to help Sowell. And it's still not clear if he'll plead not guilty by reason of insanity. In fact, Sowell's attorneys are also complaining the city jail hasn't turned over psychological records and the East Cleveland School District has yet to turn over test records from when Sowell went to school there.

Sowell's trial is slated to start early next year.

Sep 21, 2010
A judge ruled on Tuesday that prosecutors can present in court the recorded police interrogations of a Cleveland man charged with killing 11 women and dumping their remains around his home, rejecting the defense's argument that he was too mentally unstable to submit to questioning.
Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Dick Ambrose denied a motion by Anthony Sowell, 50, that sought to keep statements he made to police when he was arrested last year out of court. Sowell's lawyers had claimed that he was incapable of voluntarily waiving his Miranda rights upon his arrest due to "his mental state."
The defense pointed to one part of the 12-hour interrogation, conducted on two separate days, in which Sowell told officers that he heard "voices" telling him not to enter the room on the third floor of his home, where some of the bodies were found.
Sowell told officers that he didn't remember what happened to the women that "he had over to his house," according to the ruling. He also told police that he had confusing dreams and suffered from depression.
Ambrose wrote that the defense had not shown that Sowell was suffering from a psychosis when he waived his rights or that he was unable to make "free and rational choices." Sowell clarified during the interrogation that the "voices" he mentioned referred to only one voice, and that voice occurred in his dreams and "in conjunction with past events," Ambrose wrote.
Ambrose ruled that Sowell did not say anything or exhibit any behavior on video that would indicate he was hearing voices or experiencing delusions during the interrogation. Sowell was given adequate warning of his Miranda rights and waived those rights in the presence of police officers and in writing on at least two occasions, the judge wrote.
Sowell has pleaded not guilty to charges including aggravated murder, rape, assault and corpse abuse. Prosecutors say he lured the women to his home with the promise of alcohol or drugs. Since the bodies were found, he has been charged with attacking five other women who survived.
Ambrose noted that the defense has still not yet completed its own mental health evaluation of Sowell, even though funding for a mental health expert was approved in December 2009.
The ruling also sheds some light on the sequence of events that occurred after the decomposing bodies were found in Sowell's home in an impoverished city neighborhood. During an evidentiary hearing in July, several police officers told the judge about what happened when Sowell was taken into custody on Oct. 31 on an open arrest warrant for rape — two days after the first bodies were discovered in a freshly dug grave in his backyard.
Police Sgt. Ron Ross testified that at first, officers were not convinced that Sowell matched the description and photograph they were using to confirm his identity, so he was taken to a nearby police station.
Sowell refused to cooperate when officers tried to fingerprint him and "balled up his hands," Ross told the judge. He said Sowell then told the officers: "I'm the guy you are looking for."

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June 28, 2011

The trial of Anthony Sowell, a man accused of raping, killing and dismembering 11 Cleveland-area women between 2007 and 2009, is scheduled to enter a second day Tuesday.
Prosecutors spoke for more than an hour during opening statements Monday, detailing each woman Sowell is charged with killing and describing steps police took to obtain arrest warrants and gather evidence at Sowell's house.
Pictures were shown to the entire courtroom to further illustrate the scene SWAT team officers and Cleveland police encountered.
The defense spoke for just a few minutes, stressing that the state of Ohio has the burden to prove that Sowell committed the homicides. The defense argued that there is no DNA, fingerprints or evidence to prove Sowell committed the killings.
The defense also focused on Sowell's character and claimed that he has suffered mentally and physically since a heart attack in 2007 led to the loss of his job.
After opening statements, the prosecution's first witness took the stand. Richard Butler is a member of the SWAT team that worked with other Cleveland police to arrest Sowell and gather evidence at his house.
Butler is the officer who found the first two bodies in a small room on the third floor of Sowell's house.
Sowell has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the 85 counts he faces.
Investigators at Sowell's home unearthed remains of five of the 11 women -- ages 25 to 52 -- in October 2009.
Since then, other women have come forward alleging that Sowell attacked them too.
In April 2010, prosecutors handed down a 10-count indictment against Sowell in connection with the alleged rape of a 34-year-old woman in his home.
Sowell's lawyers have declined previous requests by CNN to explain their case, and the suspect has not been interviewed. But in January 2010, attorney John Parker told The Plain Dealer newspaper in Cleveland that he felt police violated Sowell's Miranda rights as he was being interrogated.
Sowell grew up in East Cleveland, joined the Marines at age 18, and traveled to California, North Carolina and Japan, authorities said. People who interacted with him after his 2005 release from prison, where he had served 15 years for attempted rape, said he appeared to be "a normal guy," known locally for selling scrap metal.
His inconspicuous two-story home sits in a dilapidated neighborhood known as Mount Pleasant, where one in five homes was in foreclosure and at least a third of residents got food stamps, according to a 2010 study by Case Western Reserve University's Center on Urban Poverty and Community Development.
Neighbors and even a city councilman had failed to realize that the stench wafting in the area around Sowell's home was from human flesh, not a byproduct of a nearby sausage factory.
Moreover, the disappearance of the 11 women -- many of whom lived nearby -- went largely unnoticed for almost two years, with only four of them even being reported missing. Many of his alleged victims struggled with drug addiction at some point in their lives, with court records showing that many resorted to stealing and prostitution to support their habits.
In late 2008, Gladys Wade told police that a man in a gray hoodie offered her beer, and when she declined, punched her in the face several times. Wade said that he then tried to rape her, dragging her toward his home, adding that she got out only after "gouging his face."
Police investigated Wade's complaint, with one police report noting blood droplets on Sowell's walls and steps. But officers told CNN affiliate WKYC that the case was dropped after Wade declined to press charges.
After Wade's complaint, six more women would disappear.
Then, on September 23, 2009, a 36-year-old Cleveland woman told police a story eerily similar to those of Wade and the woman whose 1989 account led to Sowell's first conviction for attempted rape. She said he'd invited her into his home for beer, punched her in the face, then began performing oral sex on her -- releasing her only after she promised to return the next day.
Sowell was then arrested. More than a month later, police entered his house and found two bodies rotting in his attic. These were the first of the 11 bodies they'd eventually discover, in various states of decay, on his property.
Most of the women whose remains were found in and around Sowell's home were strangled by ligature -- which can include a string, cord or wire -- and at least one was strangled by hand, officials said. Seven still had ligatures wrapped around their necks. A skull is all that remains of one victim. It was found wrapped in a paper bag and stuffed in a bucket in the home's basement.
While the prosecution will press its case against Sowell in the coming weeks, this may not be the end of his story -- even if he is eventually given a death sentence.
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason has said that his cold case unit is reviewing unsolved murders that occurred during the time Sowell lived in Cleveland and East Cleveland to see if there are any connections. Mason said the group is working its way through 75 cases.[/size]

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July 22, 2011


An Ohio jury Friday found Anthony Sowell guilty in connection with the kidnapping, abuse of corpses and aggravated murder of 11 women around Cleveland between 2007 and 2009.
Sowell had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to all 85 counts against him, which also included rape and tampering with evidence. The verdict -- which makes the defendant eligible for the death penalty, a decision that will come during the sentencing phase of the proceedings -- came after more than three weeks of testimony, with the prosecution resting its case against him Monday.
The defense did not call witnesses or present any evidence during the trial, according to CNN affiliate WOIO, and rested Tuesday. That paved the way for closing arguments, and by Wednesday, the case was in the jury's hands.
The jury's forewoman gave Cuyahoga County Judge Dick Ambrose the scores of completed verdict forms around 2:30 p.m. Friday, at which point he briefly adjourned the session so he could review the documents. Sporting a gray polo shirt, glasses and clean-cut goatee, Sowell stood and then sat stoically when the lengthy verdict was read aloud -- a process that lasted about an hour, starting around 3 p.m. He yawned once the process was complete.
The jurors found him guilty on 84 counts, with the sole not guilty verdict coming on an aggravated robbery charge.
In addition to murder, kidnapping and other charges, the defendant was also convicted of felonious assault, attempted rape and attempted murder in several cases. The jury determined that he committed numerous crimes "with a sexual motivation," a variation of the offenses that is distinct from the rape charges.
The verdicts ended a saga that began, for investigators, in October 2009 with the discovery of the first two sets of victims' remains inside Sowell's home. Eventually, prosecutors shaped a case claiming that the ex-Marine killed at least 11 women, ages 25 to 52, even as law enforcement reopened cold cases to determine if Sowell might be complicit in other murders.
More women, meanwhile, have since come forward alleging that they'd survived attacks by the now-convicted serial killer. One such story led prosecutors, for instance, to seek a 10-count indictment against Sowell in connection with the alleged rape of a 34-year-old woman inside his home.
Sowell grew up in East Cleveland, joined the Marines at age 18 and traveled to California, North Carolina and Japan, authorities said. People who interacted with him after his 2005 release from prison, where he had served 15 years for attempted rape, said he appeared to be "a normal guy," known locally for selling scrap metal.
His inconspicuous two-story home sits in a dilapidated neighborhood known as Mount Pleasant, where one in five homes was in foreclosure and at least a third of residents got food stamps, according to a 2010 study by Case Western Reserve University's Center on Urban Poverty and Community Development.
Neighbors and even a city councilman had failed to realize that the stench wafting in the area around Sowell's residence was from human flesh, and not a byproduct of a nearby sausage factory.
Moreover, the disappearance of the 11 women -- many of whom lived nearby -- went largely unnoticed for almost two years, with only four of them even being reported missing. Many of his alleged victims struggled with drug addiction at some point in their lives, with court records showing that many resorted to stealing and prostitution to support their habits.
In late 2008, Gladys Wade told police that a man in a gray hoodie offered her beer, and when she declined, he punched her in the face several times. Wade said that he then tried to rape her, dragging her toward his home, adding that she got out only after "gouging his face."
Police investigated Wade's complaint, with one police report noting blood droplets on Sowell's walls and steps. But officers told CNN affiliate WKYC that the case was dropped after Wade declined to press charges.
After Wade's complaint, six more women disappeared.
Then, on September 23, 2009, a 36-year-old Cleveland woman told police a story eerily similar to those of Wade and the woman whose 1989 account led to Sowell's first conviction for attempted rape. She said he'd invited her into his home for beer, punched her in the face, then began performing oral sex on her -- releasing her only after she promised to return the next day.
Sowell was then arrested. More than a month later, police entered his house and found two bodies rotting in his attic. These were the first of the 11 bodies they'd eventually discover, in various states of decay, on his property.
Most of the women whose remains were found in and around Sowell's home were strangled by ligature -- which can include a string, cord or wire -- and at least one was strangled by hand, officials said. Seven still had ligatures wrapped around their necks. A skull is all that remains of one victim. It was found wrapped in a paper bag and stuffed in a bucket in the home's basement.
Sowell's lawyers have declined previous requests by CNN to explain their case, and the suspect has not been interviewed. But in January 2010, attorney John Parker told The Plain Dealer newspaper in Cleveland that he felt police violated Sowell's Miranda rights as he was being interrogated.[/size]

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August 12, 2011

A judge Friday upheld a Cleveland, Ohio, jury's recommendation that convicted serial killer Anthony Sowell be sentenced to death.
Jurors convicted Sowell of 11 counts of aggravated murder and more than 70 other charges, including abusing corpses and kidnapping. Wednesday, they recommended the death penalty.

The convictions ended a saga that began in October 2009 with the discovery of the first two victims' remains inside Sowell's home in Cleveland. He eventually was accused of killing at least 11 women ranging in age from 25 to 52.

Cuyahoga County Judge Dick Ambrose imposed the sentence Friday morning. He could have overruled jurors and imposed a life sentence.
Sowell, who pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, had his eyes closed during almost all of Friday's hearing, CNN affiliates reported. He made no comment.
Family members of the victims were allowed to make statements.

"Anthony, you will deal with a much higher power for the pain you have caused," said Donnita Carmichael, daughter of victim Tonia Carmichael. "You are an animal and hell awaits your arrival."

Sowell's lawyers had asked for life in prison. Parole would not have been an option because Sowell, 51, is classified as a "sexually violent predator."
During the penalty phase of his trial, Sowell said he was "sorry."

"I know that may not sound like much. But I truly am sorry from the bottom of my heart," he said.

During his trial, Sowell maintained a candid banter with members of his defense team as he recounted claims of childhood abuse -- both physical and sexual.
He grew up in East Cleveland, joined the Marines at age 18 and traveled to California, North Carolina and Japan, authorities said.
Sowell served 15 years in prison for attempted rape before being released in 2005. People who met him after his release described him as "a normal guy." He was known locally for selling scrap metal.

Sowell's inconspicuous two-story home sat in a dilapidated neighborhood known as Mount Pleasant. A stench hovered around the area, but no one realized it was the scent of decaying human flesh, instead assuming it was a byproduct of a nearby sausage factory.

Many of Sowell's victims struggled with drug addiction at some point, and court records showed many resorted to stealing and prostitution to support their habits. The disappearances of the women -- many of whom lived near him -- went largely unnoticed for two years, with only four women being reported missing.

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