The Cleveland police department were advised repeatedly about violence in the house in the run down district on Imperial Avenue. The suspect Anthony Sowell who is a registered sex offender served 15 years in jail for rape and choking his victim before being released back in to the community in 2005. Sowell, a former US Marine who has struggled with drug and alcohol abuse for years, moved into this crime-ridden district of east Cleveland after his release from jail in 2005. He had been convicted of the rape of a woman who was 3 months pregnant in 1989. She initially went to his home voluntarily but when she tried to leave, he bound her hands and feet with a tie and a belt and gagged her with a rag. He nearly choked her to death while he had his way with her.
15 years of rehabilitation did not seem to have any effect on Sowell. In fact, his attitude towards women took a more aggressive turn. In 2007, reports started to filter in from residents near Sowell's home. One of many came from a neighbor a block away who reported to the health department about a foul odor that "smelt like a dead body".
One one occasion, on October 20 2009, neighbors of Sowell called 911 to report a naked woman who either fell or jumped from a second floor window of his home. Firemen and paramedics arrived and found the woman with cuts and scrapes. Surprisingly, Sowell came out of the house (most likely checking for police presence first) and told responders that he and the woman had been using cocaine and marijuana when she fell from the window. You would think that this would be a violation of his parole?
There were prior reports before such as from a Fawcett Bess, 57 owner of Bess Chicken & Pizza across the street from Sowell's house who reported Anthony Sowell in the bushes alongside his house was standing over a woman naked who was bloodied, beaten and also naked.
On December 8, 2008 another woman reported Sowell of stopping her in front of his house and forcing her to his back door, where he punched, choked and tried to rape her.
Going back to October 2009, the paramedics took the woman to Cleveland's MetroHealth Medical Centre and called police to respond to the the house to further investigate the matter. When officers arrived at the Imperial Avenue location, there was no one at home. At least no one answer the door. The woman claimed her fall was an accident and the police did not investigate the matter further. Given the fact the Sowell was a registered sex offender, why was the matter not investigated further? If probable cause existed, why just a simple door knock? Read on and find how another crime could have been prevented or a life.
Mr. Sowell, as a registered sex offender, was required to report regularly to the Sheriff's department, but officers did not exercise nor have the power to enter his house. Parole officers can make routine or surprise visits whenever they want. At least that's the way it used to be. Police do have the right to enter a domicile if they believe they have "probable cause". They did visit the home on September 22, hours before a woman reported being raped and choked with an electrical extension cord. The woman, who knew Sowell, reported that he offered to share 4 bottles of cheap malt liquor with her at his home. She then voluntarily went to an upstairs bedroom that contained only a chair, a blanket and the electrical cord. After drinking for some time, Sowell became enraged, punched her in the face and began choking her with the cord. He then raped her. Do we see a pattern here? A MO as we call it. The woman said she passed out from being choked. When she came to, she persuaded Sowell to let her go and not kill her. She would return with $50.00 and not report him to the police. He complied. However, as soon as she left, she went directly to the police and reported the attack. As a criminal profiler, this man is a classic psychopath and sexual predator. Most likely abused himself as a minor who no parental control, whose father regularly abused alcohol and drugs, beat his mother & children and may even had molested his own daughter(s).
Following this timeline, on September 25th, this case was reviewed by the police department's sex crimes unit and a detective was assigned the case. However according to police, it was not until October 27 that the victim did not make herself available to be interviewed. I still am at a loss what if any investigation was completed in this interim period of more than a month while a serial rapist/murderer was on the loose. Something must have been completed such as the interview to obtain a warrant.
Next, on October 29, officers went to his home last Thursday night with an arrest warrant for the alleged rape but Sowell was not there. Instead they found two bodies on the living room floor. Two more bodies were found in a crawl space inside the domicile and another in a shallow grave inside the basement and a sixth in a freshly dug grave in the back yard. All the women were black and at least 5 had been strangled. Most of the bodies were so decomposed that a specialist had to be called in to establish time off death.
Authorities are struggling to identify the six bodies they found Monday. They brought in cadaver dogs to search for more bodies and now heavy equipment. They have met with families of missing local women to gather information. As on Monday & Tuesday, police had stated that they have yet to file charges against Sowell relating to the first six bodies and are trying to gather evidence. "We can believe that this guy killed the women," Lt. Stacho remarked. "But we have to prove it." Guess the physical evidence of the bodies and eyewitness testimony wasn't enough.
The police now are tearing down the walls and basically demolishing the house brick by brick and digging up the yard. They are also widening their search to abandoned homes. Police have unearthed 4 more bodies making the body count now at 10 and sources say it is now at 11 when they found a skull wrapped in a paper bag in a bucket in the basement of Sowell's house. DNA was conducted and the skull was determined to belong to a Tonia Carmichael - a 53 year old drug addict who disappeared a year ago. Sowell has been charged with murder, rape and kidnapping. Surprisingly, the prosecutor described him as "incredibly dangerous". Would have been nicely noted back in 2005 when he was released on parole. I'll be further investigating this matter and keeping you informed. What's your thoughts?
