Women Speak Out About Sowell's Alleged House of Horror
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Women claiming to have been attacked by Ohio convicted sex offender Anthony Sowell are coming forward to share their horrifying experiences, Fox 8 Cleveland reported.
Two women told Fox 8 Cleveland that they believe Sowell, 50, would have killed them and said they feel lucky to be alive.
"He was gonna kill me," one alleged victim said.
"I have scars on my neck and nerve damage. I couldn't leave the house for months. I was afraid to go to the store. I could not sleep."
The alleged victim told local reporters that when she turned down an offer from Sowell to drink beer with him, he "punched her in the face and dragged her to his house," according to Fox 8 Cleveland.
She managed to escape from his house and flag down police, Fox 8 Cleveland reported. Sowell was arrested for rape, kidnapping and robbery — but the case never made it to court.
Six bodies found in the home of Anthony Sowell
Other women weren't as lucky as these alleged victims. Police found six decomposing bodies at Anthony Sowell's Ohio home last week, four years after he was released from a U.S. prison after serving 15 years for a rape conviction.
Two bodies were identified by county Coroner Frank Miller as black females and one death was ruled a homicide. No race or gender was determined for the others. Autopsies were performed on all six bodies.
On Saturday, the coroner's office confirmed that all six bodies were female, and most of them appeared to have been killed by strangulation, according to Fox 8 Cleveland.
Anthony Sowell Arrestest
Police spokesman Lt. Thomas Stacho said Sowell was arrested as he walked down the street on the east side of Cleveland. 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"
"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.
As a convicted sex offender, Sowell was required to report regularly to the sheriff's office, which said he had complied.
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.
Source Fox News
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