50 year-old Anthony Sowell was released from prison in June of 2005 after serving 15 years in an Ohio prison for choking and raping a woman. He never missed a meeting with his parole officer and completed all of his sex offender paperwork.

This past Thursday, police detectives went to Anthony Sowell’s house in Cleveland, Ohio to serve a search warrant and arrest him in connection with another sexual assault case. He wasn’t home, but the detectives serving the search warrant noticed a horrific smell coming from the three story home. They found two dead bodies, in an advanced stage of decomposition, on the third floor. As of November 3, 2009, a total of 10 bodies and one human skull has been found throughout the house, basement, and yard. The first six bodies found were all women and all African-American. The coroner is not sure just how long they have been dead, “weeks, if not months or years.” Five of the bodies were determined to be strangled. The cause of death, sex, and race of the other five bodies is not known at this time.  DNA testing will need to be used to try and determine the identity of the victims.

On Wednesday, cadaver dogs will continue searching Anthony Sowell’s property and vacant property within a six-mile radius. Anthony Sowell was arrested Saturday morning. His arraignment is scheduled for Wednesday, November 4, 2009. The Cleveland Police Dept. have established a command post in the neighborhood to take missing persons reports and any other useful information.

Residents and business owners in the community described Anthony Sowell as smelling so bad that their eyes would water. However, they chalked it up to bad hygiene and/or the nearby sausage company. Now, they know that it was because he was living with decomposing bodies.

My Opinion:

I hope these victims are identified and can finally be laid to rest. I usually get a lot of flack from my liberal leaning friends for firmly believing that rapists and child molesters should be more closely monitored and exposed to whatever community they live in. Some believe that these people have done their time, been rehabilitated, etc… and should be left alone to live their lives without prejudice since the re-offender rate for sexual offenders is “so low.” I doubt supposed “low re-offender rates” will ease the pain of the families of these 10 victims.