The Cleveland Serial Rapist-Killer
If the charges against him are proved, Anthony Sowell is the perpetrator of one of the most gruesome series of crimes in recent history. A convicted rapist, Sowell was arrested after police came to his duplex apartment in Cleveland to check on a woman's allegation that he had sexually assaulted her and nearly choked her to death. He wasn't home, but the cops quickly smelled that something was wrong in the house. They found two decomposing bodies in his living room and four more bodies in a shallow grave in the basement and in crawl spaces. The backyard was dug up to discover the remains of four more bodies, and a human skull was found in a bucket, bringing the total to 11. Neighbors said Sowell used to stink so badly that their eyes would water when he approached but that no one investigated his house, despite the terrible odors emanating from it. The former Marine pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to five counts of aggravated murder.