Beginning in 2007, the people of Cleveland's Mount Pleasant neighborhood started complaining about a foul odor in the air. Many soon blamed the stench on a nearby sausage shop, prompting the owners to do everything they could to locate the source of the smell.
They scrubbed the store from top to bottom with bleach and spent $20,000 on new plumbing fixtures, sewer lines, and grease traps, but the odor still remained.
Finally, in 2009, police raided the home of the man who lived next door to the shop after a woman claimed he'd beat and ra’ped her. And when police stepped inside, they suddenly realized that the terrible smell had been coming from his house the entire time.
Officers uncovered the decomposing remains of 11 women scattered throughout Anthony Sowell's house and backyard, bringing an end to the grisly mur’ders of the most notorious serial kil’ler in Cleveland's history.
Anthony Edward Sowell, often known as the Cleveland Strangler, was an American serial killer and rapist. In 2011, he was found guilty of murdering 11 women whose bodies were discovered in his Cleveland, Ohio, house in 2009. Sowell died in prison from a terminal illness after being sentenced to death for the crimes.
Anthony Edward Sowell grew up in East Cleveland, Ohio, as the youngest of seven children.
1989 Crime
In 1989, a three-month pregnant woman sought to flee Sowell's house. He gagged her with a towel after tying her hands and feet with a knot and belt. She told the cops: "He choked me so tightly that my body began to tingle."
"I was afraid I was going to die." He was charged with kidnapping, rape, and rape attempts. He pleaded guilty to attempted rape and was sentenced to 15 years in jail. He was freed in 2005.
Life After Jail Term
Sowell worked in a factory until 2007, when he filed for unemployment benefits. According to his neighbors, he made a living by selling scrap metal. They reported a foul odor in the area to the health department.
He also dated a woman, Lori Frazier. Lori claimed he frequently smelled decaying bodies but was told the smell was emanating from Sowell's stepmother. When she moved out, she claimed the odor came from Ray's Sausage Shop, which was located next door.
Discovery of His House of Horror
Sowell invited Latundra Billups to his home for a drink in September 2009. On September 22, she told police that he became enraged after a few drinks and beat, choked, and raped her while she passed out. On the 29th of October, cops arrived at his house with an arrest warrant. He was not present, but he was tracked down and arrested two days later.
The bodies of two women were discovered in a small grave in the basement, while the bodies of four additional women were discovered on the third floor and in crawlspaces. Investigators discovered three more bodies and the partial remains of a fourth after digging in the backyard.
Sowell also raped three women after enticing them to his property with the promise of crack cocaine.
Sowell was 50 years old at the time of his arrest. He had been living at that address for four years. The trial started on June 6, 2011.
Trial and Sentencing
Sowell was charged with 11 charges of aggravated murder and 74 counts of rape, kidnapping, evidence tampering, and corpse abuse. He initially pled not guilty due to insanity, but then changed his plea to simply "not guilty."
He was convicted on all but two counts on July 22, 2011, including the murders of the eleven women whose remains were discovered in his residence in 2009. On August 10, jurors recommended capital punishment.
Anthony Sowell died in prison on February 8, 2021, of an unnamed terminal disease.
His Choice of Victims
All of Sowell's victims were African-American women in their early 30s or mid-to-late 40s, plus or minus 5 years, with either a slim or morbidly obese frame (none in between).
Records of missing people dating back to Sowell's release from jail in June 2005 were searched, and DNA testing was performed on the bodies discovered at Sowell's house. At the moment, protesters carrying posters of lost loved ones gathered outside his home.
In addition, East Cleveland police reopened other cold cases from the late 1980s. The strangulation murders followed a similar pattern and ended about 1989, around the time Sowell was arrested. At the time, the FBI was gathering evidence to see if Sowell may be related to unsolved cases in cities where he had previously lived.
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