House of Horrors for Victims and Families in Cleveland Ohio
According to news outlets a convicted rapist home revealed 6 dead bodies to officials. Family members who reported their loved ones missing are awaiting to hear if any of the remains found in the rapist home were of the ones reported missing from his neighborhood. Will post links to this story in a few minuets for follow up.

Bodies found at convicted rapist's home November 1, 2009 - 2:38PM The decomposed bodies of six women were found in the Cleveland, Ohio home of a convicted rapist who was arrested on Saturday, the coroner conducting the autopsies said. "There is a total of six unidentified women," Cuyahoga County coroner Frank Miller told AFP, saying most of the victims found at the home of registered sex offender Anthony Sowell, 50, appeared to have been strangled. Police earlier confirmed that three bodies were found at the home, and that the bodies of three more victims were believed to have been discovered. Released in 2005 after spending years in prison for a 1989 rape, Sowell was arrested in his Cleveland neighbourhood after a local resident recognised him and notified police. He had been walking down a street and did not resist arrest, police said. The first two bodies were found on Thursday when a SWAT team entered the house with a search warrant, police chief Michael McGrath told reporters in a briefing aired by local media. Further searches of the property led to the discovery of four more bodies for a total of six - five in the home and one buried in a grave in the yard, Miller said. "They were badly decomposed bodies," Miller added. Police, citing the coroner, earlier said some of the bodies may have been in the home up to six months. While the coroner continued tests to try and establish the victims' identities, Cleveland police initiated a search of missing person records from June 2005, when Sowell was released after serving a 15-year prison term for rape. Police asked members of the community who may have loved ones missing to come forward with photographs of the relatives in a bid to help the identification process. Department Lieutenant Thomas Stacho said police searched Sowell's home because he was named as a suspect in a rape and assault case. "It was such a disgusting sight" that homicide detectives discouraged Stacho from going into the house, he told CNN. "I can tell you I stood outside the home for about an hour yesterday, and the stench from inside was overwhelming." The United States has experienced several gruesome multiple murders in recent months, including a case in September in which a Florida man was charged with slaying his wife and five small children. Also in September, police arrested an alleged serial killer in Milwaukee, Wisconsin whose DNA was found on nine women murdered over a 21-year period, eight of them prostitutes. www.theage.com.au/world/bodies-found-at-convicted-rapist-home-2009/1101-hrd.html

6 Bodies Found, Ohio Rape Convict Arrested
6 bodies found, Ohio rape convict arrested By THOMAS J. SHEERAN Associated Press Writer CLEVELAND — Anthony Sowell regularly reported to the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office, as required since his release from prison after serving 15 years for a rape conviction, authorities say. Now he is back in custody after four years of freedom, arrested Saturday on new rape charges and after police discovered six decomposing bodies at his home. Two bodies were identified by county Coroner Frank Miller as black females and one had died of a violent death ruled a homicide. No race or gender was determined for the others. Autopsies were performed on all six bodies but no cause of death or names were announced. Police spokesman Lt. Thomas Stacho said 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. 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. "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 most recent allegation against Sowell or the 1989 rape case against him that resulted in his conviction. They also were checking missing-person reports back to June 2005, when Sowell was released. 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. Detectives with a search warrant found the bodies on the third floor of a duplex and began checking a fresh grave dug in the basement. Their advanced state of decomposition suggested the bodies had been in the home a long time. By Saturday, six bodies were counted. Minutes before Sowell's arrest, 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 going door-to-door. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091101/ap_on_re_us/us_rapist_s_home_bodies

7th Body Found At Imperial Avenue Home Coroner Called To Scene POSTED: 11:53 am EST November 3, 2009 UPDATED: 3:27 pm EST November 3, 2009 CLEVELAND -- NewsChannel5's Tracy Carloss reported that a seventh body was removed from the scene of the Imperial Avenue home where a forensic team started digging Tuesday morning. The Cleveland street where the bodies were found has been closed since early Tuesday morning. Officials brought in heavy machinery to start digging in the back yard of the Imperial Avenue home. Detectives are at the house looking for evidence to tie Anthony Sowell, 50, to the murders of at least six women found dead in the house he was living in, Sgt. Thomas Stacho said. Detectives from the Homicide Unit are working with Crime Scene detectives and Cuyahoga County Coroner's staff in searching the home for evidence. Detectives are at the scene with cadaver dogs and digging equipment. Sowell was arrested Saturday after the badly decomposing bodies were found in his home. The Cuyahoga County Coroner's Office said six of the victims were female and five of the six were strangled. The decomposition has made it difficult to determine how one victim died, spokesman Powell Caesar said. None of the victims has been identified but the coroner said they are all African-American. On Monday, police announced that part of the investigation would be to search a 6-mile radius of the Imperial Avenue home. Police have set a 6 p.m. news conference to discuss today's events. NewsChannel5 is also working to provide a live stream of the news conference. http://www.newsnet5.com/news/21508309/detail.html

10th body found at Cleveland rapist's home Last Updated: Tuesday, November 3, 2009 | 7:59 PM ET CBC News Four more bodies and a skull have been found at the Cleveland property of a convicted rapist, who has now been charged with aggravated murder, rape and kidnapping. Tuesday's discovery brings the total to 10 bodies found so far at the home of 50-year-old Anthony Sowell. Police Chief Michael McGrath said the additional bodies were found in Sowell's backyard. The 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. Sowell, who is in jail, was charged Tuesday with five counts of aggravated murder and with rape, felonious assault and kidnapping. The bodies of six women were discovered at Sowell's home last week after a woman reported being raped at the house. Sowell had spent 15 years in prison for a 1989 rape. As a registered sex offender, Sowell is 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. Most found in house Police discovered three bodies after they arrived at the house to investigate the rape complaint, and they later found three more. One of the bodies was found in a shallow grave in the backyard. The rest were in the house — one in the basement, two in the third-floor living room and two in an upstairs crawl space, Stacho said.Cleveland police search the porch at the home of Sowell. (John Kuntz, Associated Press/The Plain Dealer) The bodies could have been there for weeks, months or years, said Powell Caesar, a spokesman for the Cuyahoga County coroner. All the victims were women and five were strangled. 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 homes within a few kilometres of the home, which is in a crowded inner-city neighbourhood of mostly older houses. Police did not say why they were searching the vacant homes or indicate whether they believe more bodies could be found. The search was to continue Wednesday, with fire department crews planning to search in the walls of the home, McGrath said. http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/11/03/bodies-rapist-cleveland.html?ref=rss

No bond for rapist who had 10 bodies at Ohio home (AP) – 33 minutes ago CLEVELAND — A rapist who lived at a Cleveland house where 10 bodies were found has been ordered held without bond. Anthony Sowell appeared Wednesday before Municipal Court Judge Ronald Adrine (AY'-dreen) on five counts of aggravated murder. The 50-year-old Sowell looked straight at the judge as a prosecutor asked that he be held without bond and described him as an "incredibly dangerous threat to the public." Sowell has been in jail since last week after police recovered the bodies of six women from his home. Authorities dug up four more bodies Tuesday and found a skull in his basement. Police plan to resume a search of the house Wednesday and expand their search of vacant homes in the neighborhood. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below. CLEVELAND (AP) — Police are expanding their search of a convicted rapist's neighborhood and his neatly kept home, where 10 bodies have been found in the basement, buried in the backyard, in an upstairs living room and in a crawl space. In addition to the four latest bodies they found buried in the backyard of Anthony Sowell's home on Tuesday, authorities found a skull wrapped in paper inside a bucket in the basement. Sowell, 50, a registered sex offender, was charged Tuesday with five counts of aggravated murder and, in a Sept. 22 attack that led to the search of his home, with rape, felonious assault and kidnapping. He wasn't at the house when police arrived Thursday but was arrested Saturday blocks from his home. Sowell is scheduled to make his first court appearance Wednesday on the charges. Police, asked if Sowell was cooperating, said Tuesday night that he had asked for an attorney. Court records didn't indicate who was representing him. Investigators worked late into the evening Tuesday searching the Sowell property, squeezed between a sausage store and another house in an inner-city neighborhood of aging homes, some boarded up and abandoned. Police searched vacant homes within a quarter-mile Tuesday, looking for more bodies. Police Chief Michael McGrath ordered the search expanded another quarter mile and said firefighters also will search in the walls and floors of Sowell's home on Wednesday. "It appears that this man had an insatiable appetite that he had to fill," McGrath said. The Cuyahoga County coroner hasn't identified any of the bodies but is trying to do so through DNA and dental records. The six found last week were black, and five were strangled. "What kind of man was this?" wondered Regina Woodland, who lives about two blocks away. "He couldn't have been human." A crowd of around 100 people milled about and chatted near the home Tuesday evening. A short while later, around 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. As a registered sex offender, Sowell was 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. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jGQmSQzOVfHOMgQ6cXJ1eqhsCS-QD9BOOGU04

Written by myself L. Wilson on this convicted rapist now suspected serial killer. Family has been notified of 1 persons remains found in the home of Anthony Sowell a convicted rapist. As police gave the news to the Carmichael family her daughter became angry as she learned of her mothers death and that Sowell's home is where she was found. According to her daughter her mother had been reported missing by the family some time ago to the 4th District Police Department. Shortly after that report was made her mothers car was found not far from Sowells home. In a press release to news media Carmicheals daughter stated this in her comments. The police had been asked to look into Sowell as a suspect due to her mothers car being found close by. Had the police of the 4th District done so only God knows how many others lives could have been spared. At this time family members have gathered around where the investigation is taking place to try and relocate other possible victims Sowell may have killed. The family members of other missing women reported to police are holding up the posters placed by them in public during looking for their loved ones. They are in shock and awaiting for the DNA so there can be disclosure as to what has happened to them and if their loved ones are among those remains found. An unrest lays on the street where Sowell lived and took so many lives here in Cleveland, Ohio. The residents of this neighborhood are blaming the 4th District Police Department for not acting sooner. It is speculated by some that because Carmichael frequented local taverns that is why police did not act sooner on her disappearance some news out lets have stated while covering this gruesome story. A local public figure running for State Rep next election and member of American Family Rights Association along with Ohio Family Rights called the 4th District Police Department twice today seeking information about vacant lots and surrounding areas. Roz McCallister lives not far from where Sowell lived and comitted these crimes and is very concerned about the issue of sex offenders who are not being properly monitored. Her fear is that other victims may be buried elsewhere other than Sowells residence. After being hung up on by the 4th District Police Department Officer Lloyd when seeking answers as to if empty vacant homes close to where victims were discovered murdered by Sowell would be searched, McCallister called the District City Councilman Zack Reed to offer assistance in possibly bringing in a search team or teams to help speed up the process of searching the vacant properties in question not only by herself but other residence before snow begins to fall. Anyone being treated unfairly should contact ram7275a@aol.com 216-577-0466. McCallister quoted," In my dealings with the 4th District Police Department over several years I find the depatment perosnally to be uncaring at least and ineffiecent at worst when dealing with the public on serious matters brought before them. The fear is we do not know how many more victims will be located in vacant lots and buildings as this is in a povertized area. Cleveland Ohio Officials handled this convicted sex offender as Californias Officials handled the sex offender Garrido case of Duggard when monitoring their sex offender. City Councilman Zack Reed contacted the City Health Depatment after recieving numerous complaints by residence in Sowells area to investigate surrounding areas as well as Sowells home and they did not respond to the request prior to these findings. I feel that the woman who replaced all her sewage drains should be compensated for that expense by the city after these findings at Sowells home prove her business was not the cause of the foul oders residence were smelling and reporting. When a child named Johnson who was found dead was reported missing, officials followed their same pattern that if no abduction is seen then no alert is issued of a missing person for the Amber Alert System here in Cleveland and that needs to be addressed by changing protocol for families whom search for their loved ones." She ended her interview stating,"Her intentions is to once in office if elected seek change with the policy and procedures of how both Amber Alert and the Elderly Alert are handled for residence of her District or Region within Cleveland, Ohio."

One of 10 bodies identified in Cleveland sex offender's home Cleveland, Ohio (CNN) -- Authorities have identified one of 11 bodies found at a Cleveland, Ohio, home as a 52-year-old woman who had been missing for about a year. Tonia Carmichael's remains were found at the home of Anthony Sowell, but the news was no surprise to Carmichael's family members. "This is what I've been saying since Monday, when, you know, we were called to the coroner's office and since this story broke," said Danita Carmichael, the victim's daughter. Tonia Carmichael was last seen on November 10, 2008, police said in a statement Wednesday. She disappeared from Warrensville Heights, a Cleveland suburb near Sowell's home, and her vehicle was found in Cleveland. In the missing persons report, Carmichael's mother, Barbara, told police her daughter was addicted to crack and had previously disappeared for several days at a time. But she said she believed something had happened to her because she had not picked up two paychecks. Though not surprising, the news was still tragic for her family especially the victim's mother, Danita Carmichael said. "As you can imagine, it's heartbreaking for the whole family, but this was her child. This was her daughter, her angel, her princess, and now we will never see her again. She's gone," Danita Carmichael said. Tonia Carmichael was identified using DNA -- a process that authorities are performing on the other 10 victims found at Sowell's three-story home. Sowell, a registered sex offender, is now facing five counts of aggravated murder, rape, felonious assault and kidnapping, police said. A judge on Wednesday denied bond for him, saying the latest allegations against him are "gruesome" and the "most serious" he has heard in his years on the bench. Seven of the victims died from strangulation by a ligature, said Frank Miller, Cuyahoga County coroner. All of the seven still had something tied around their necks, Miller told reporters. An eighth victim died from manual strangulation, meaning strangulation by hands. Two other bodies were too badly decomposed to determine the cause of death, although Miller said he believes they were victims of "homicidal violence." Autopsy results on the 11th victim are pending. "It's most likely strangulation in all cases," Miller said. Some of the victims could have been missing for up to five years, Cleveland Police Chief Michael McGrath told reporters, and he doesn't believe authorities were able to discern any pattern relating to the disappearance of African-American women. Sowell was arrested Saturday, two days after police discovered bodies inside and outside the home. Sowell was charged with a 1989 rape, but pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted rape under a plea agreement, court records show. Police said he was imprisoned from 1990 to 2005. Since his release from prison he was listed as living at the Cleveland home where the bodies were found, McGrath said. As police work to identify the other victims, many in Sowell's neighborhood wonder how they could have missed the signs of the violence. For some time, some in the area said they complained about a foul smell that permeated the neighborhood, turning the stomachs of residents and curtailing their outdoor activities. "We used to think that it was coming from out of Ray's Sausage," said one resident. "But you smell these smells, and I live right there and ... we used to come out here and oh, these smells would just be horrible." Ray's Sausage Co. replaced a sewer line and grease traps, trying to rid the area of the stench. But the stench, of course, stayed until police found the bodies at Sowell's house adjacent to the sausage company. Six of the victims were found inside the home and five outside, including a skull, wrapped in a paper bag and stuffed into a bucket in the basement. Police said they had no information about the smell in the area before the bodies were found. But some in the neighborhood disagreed. "You could smell it," said another neighborhood woman. "I came around the corner and I smell it. You could smell the dead bodies. How are you going to tell me people in the neighborhood couldn't smell that?" Sowell showed no emotion during his hearing Wednesday before Municipal Judge Ronald Adrine. Asked whether he could afford a lawyer, Sowell responded quietly, "No sir." Kathleen Demetz, the public defender representing Sowell, asked that he undergo a psychiatric evaluation. She also said that Sowell, an ex-Marine, has a heart condition and wears a pacemaker. Cuyahoga County Assistant Prosecutor Brian Murphy said during the court hearing: "The state believes he's an incredibly dangerous threat." http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/11/05/cleveland.bodies.identified/index.html?section=cnn_latest

Breaking News: Sowell's violent past offers glimpse of accused rapist suspected of mass murderer By John Caniglia, The Plain Dealer CLEVELAND, Ohio — With a necktie wrapped around her wrists, the first woman to accuse Anthony Sowell of rape climbed through a third-floor window to a rooftop in East Cleveland to get away from him. The woman, three-months pregnant, yelled until neighbors spotted her on that July 1989 morning. Sowell was convicted a year later. The crime was so vicious that state parole officials refused to release Sowell early from of a 15-year prison sentence. The attack and his subsequent prison sentence give insight into Sowell, a former Marine who struggled with drugs and alcohol for years and is now accused of preying on women. "He choked me real hard because my body started tingling," the woman told police. "I thought I was going to die." Over the years, prison officials kept coming back to her words and injuries as they considered him for parole. Often, they gave the same reason for denial: "The serious nature of the offense." Despite the seriousness of the attack, Sowell did not get sexual-offender treatment while in prison, even though he made a request for it, according to parole records and interviews. Sowell is being held in City Jail on a rape warrant after a woman accused him of raping her and choking her with an extension cord in September. Detectives are also trying to determine if he killed six women whose bodies were found decomposing Thursday and Friday in and around his home. Police arrested him Saturday about a mile from his Imperial Avenue house. The victim in the latest case, who knew Sowell, said he offered to split four bottles of malt liquor with her. She entered Sowell's home and went to the second floor, which was empty except for a chair, a blanket and an extension cord, police said. The woman told police that after drinking for a while, Sowell became upset, punched her in the face and began choking her with the cord. He raped her as she passed out, the woman said. All the bodies have been identified as black females, and five died by strangulation, according to police. The last died of unknown causes. The coroner's office is trying to determine their identities. Detectives are focusing the investigation on missing persons in Sowell's neighborhood and will expand it to other unsolved homicides with similar causes of deaths. Sowell had shared the duplex with his stepmother since 2005, when he was released from prison after serving 15 years for raping a 21-year-old woman in East Cleveland. Parole records show that Sowell was seldom in trouble while behind bars between 1990 and 2005. In fact, Sowell did not have any major rule infractions while in prison, a spokeswoman said. He was given four verbal warnings for minor violations. Sowell also did not have a juvenile record in Cuyahoga County, a spokeswoman said. The East Cleveland rape that landed him in prison mirrored the latest attack, according to police and court records. It began at 6 a.m. on July 22, 1989, when police showed up at a motel on Euclid Avenue and Lee Road in East Cleveland. The woman was waiting for her boyfriend, and she feared officers were going to raid the motel. Sowell was there, as well, and lured the woman to his car and told her that her boyfriend would want her to stay with Sowell until after the officers left. Sowell drove her to his home -- a third-floor apartment on Page Road in East Cleveland. Once inside, Sowell threw her on his bed, choked her and repeatedly raped her. When she tried to leave, Sowell tied her hands with a necktie, wrapped a belt around her feet and stuffed a rag in her mouth. He threw her on the bed and began pacing up and down the stairs. He later came back into the room and fell asleep on the bed. The woman got her feet loose, spit out the rag and crawled out the window, onto the roof and screamed for help. She feared opening the squeaking door would wake Sowell. "He told me that he was going to kill me, and I believed him," the woman told police. Sowell pleaded guilty to attempted rape charges. The victim, along with county prosecutors, opposed early release of Sowell from prison each time it was considered. A parole official noted in 1993 that Sowell "stated he was denied sex-offender program participation." It also said the "inmate does wish to participate in sex-offender programming." A prison spokeswoman said Monday that "we have no record of participation or completion of sex offender treatment." Sowell took other courses aimed at controlling his violent temper, such as "Living without Violence," "Cage your Rage" and "Positive Personal Change." He also took the 12-step Alcoholics Anonymous program, "Adult Children of Alcoholics" and "Drug Awareness Prevention." The records show Sowell drank heavily and used drugs before to his arrest. From 1978 to 1985, Sowell served in the Marines. He was honorably discharged, according to parole records. Repeated attempts to reach the victim of the 1989 attack were unsuccessful. A message left at Sowell's attorney in the case was not returned late Monday afternoon. http://www.cleveland.com

Your right convicted of rape not murder but in my book guilty. We also found the name Sowell in Z-town. Now we are wondering if there is a connection to those women murdered in Z-town??