Essence.com

Home » News

 

Cleveland Serial Killer Survivor Speaks





UPDATE 11/8/09:
A woman who survived an attack by Anthony Sowell now sees how close she was to being his 12th victim. The woman never reported the incident to the police, which might have tipped them off to Sowell sooner. Nancy Cobbs, the first body to be identified, was friends of this survivor, and went missing within weeks of the attack.


____________________________________________________________________________





Body Count Up to 11 Women for Cleveland Serial Killer; First Victim Identified

UPDATE: 11/05/09: Using a cadaver dog, Cleveland police have found up to 11 victims in the home of serial killer and convicted rapist Anthony Sowell's home. Police are in process of obtaining an additional warrant to dig into walls to search for more remains.

A Cleveland city council member called for an investigation into why police did not catch on to this killer sooner. Neighbors have complained about the incredible stench coming from Sowell's house as far back as 2007.
 
____________________________________________________________________________

anthonysowell_article.jpg

11/03/09: Eight Black Women Victims of Suspected Serial Killer

Cleveland police have discovered eight bodies so far at the home of convicted rapist Anthony Sowell, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Sowell, 50, was arrested last weekend on suspicion of rape and felonious assault. When detectives from the sex crime unit entered his home with a search warrant looking for Sowell (he was not at home at the time) they discovered two decomposing bodies on the third floor. They went on to find several more bodies in the home, outside the home and even dug up a grave under the stairs in the basement. All eight women are African-American. Police have encouraged friends and family members of missing persons from the area to come forward in the possibility that they will be able to identify the women based on dental records.

Authorities are now trying to see if there are other victims to be found by tracing Sowell residential history since he was released from a Cleveland jail in June 2005. So far, five of the deaths have been confirmed as homicides due to strangulation. The coroner however has yet to determine how long the bodies have been there since they were all decomposing at different stages but neighbors have complained about a pungent smell in the area since 2006.

Sowell has been charged with five counts of aggravated murder. His arraignment is scheduled for Wednesday morning.--WLW

Next Story | President Obama Wins Health Care In The House »

Comments | Post a comment now »
 

Population of the United States = 301,237,703 people.

White 223,965,009 = 74%

Black or African American 37,131,771 = 12%

By sheer numbers alone there will be a greater percentage of serial killers being white. Race should mean NOTHING in this discussion as most serial killers strike inside their own racial profile. There are exceptions to every rule but, in this case, the killer struck inside of his ethnicity. Unfortunately, these posts show exactly what is wrong with America -- hate is still way too prevelant in our society. Idiots that spew racial comments (black or white or asian or hispanic or eskimo) just perpetuate the hatred. Someone on here asked that people know the facts before posting -- most multiple murders committed are by whites because they are the greatest portion of the population. Unfortunately, I could not find statistics on the number of serial killers by race ..... thanks for reading. White man who grew up in Jamaica Queens.

 

Black women worth is more than this...she this went on too long and other women who had an encounter with wouldn't tell. Because we don't feel worth.

 

What a sad world we live in, and we are living in the end of times. I viewed the photo of this serial killer, his eyes are full of evil. The devil comes in many forms.
Our justice system has failed the community, where these murders have taken place. There is no way, this animal should have been living among society.
When we have people who value their own hatred among others, they need to be ignored. Why give this individual two cents of your time by responding to her stupidity? You are better than that.

 

I think that it is so sad to think that this evil person was killing women in one community undetected by police, to me it is a crying shame, does that mean that myself being a person of color don't mean anything to anyone, I shudder to think that if I go missing and my immediate family report me missing, the police wont even look for me, I have four beautiful children and a loving husband who depend on me as I do them, I wonder how could they go on with out me. I'm scared to even think such a thought, but all to all the families that are going through this horrific ordeal my prayers are with you and your love ones.

 

Did anyone besides me get a good laugh at the post claiming there are billions of serial killers in the world? There are only 6 people people on the planet. If 2 billion or mote are serial killers, that means a third of the world's population. At that rate, its shocking that there are any people who die of natural causes haha

 

dianne72 he doesnt have to harm white women, enough white men got that covered.

 

I know none of the people he killed were light and bright

 

sureness pits bomb misshapen.Saturn bus sash!... Thanks!!!

 

The only point that i want to make about this serial killer situation is that it is so typical for society to catch on late, or let alone care. If yu were to watch the media 24/7 , you would think that only little white girls and white women go missing. Anytime, its an African-american girl or woman, we never hear about it. So, society needs to do better about that one. There are worse crimes being comitted and have been committed in predominatly black neighborhoods right now that will never get media converage like this.

 

Wow, come on people, as a community we are destroying ourselves. That this guy not only was able to do this for as long as he has, but that the women that have been missing, their cases weren't even investigated says a lot about the area that they live in! The reality is there need to be consequences, from the police that never investigated to the fact that someone had reported a stench and that was never investigated! It's past time that we start making some noise, we as a people pay taxes, and it is time that we start respecting ourselves enough to demand that others start respecting us all!

 

lol...lol...Diannne72 is NOT white. This chick is a black girl that likes to instigate stuff and watch the rest of you come at her while she's laughing. Her comebacks are not the usual white girl comebacks. That's why I think this chick is black. (I hope he didn't get any white women...lol...lol)Dianne72 I can't even take you seriously; you are a trip. Back to the topic...I don't put anything past anybody; I don't care how "nice" they appear.

 

Dianne72, go and kill your own dumb a$$ white self..just do us all that favor..BE-OTCH!!!

 

Thank You Jada for correcting "MS Ignorant". They were women. Black or white that is IRRELAVENT. AND if she don't know mental illness can strike black as well as white. These things was not heard of by many blacks until a few years ago. Things like this was mostly done by whites.Chopping and eating up people. That was yall thing. Yes we know the devil can and will use anyone of any race now days. But don't wolunteer yourself with ignorance.

 

Daine72, Intelligent people want to learn but stupid people like you satisfied with ignorance!!

 

We don't have time to point fingers anymore. We don't have time for this. My community, the BLACK community has enough media outlets of its own in 2009. We need to put pressure on outlets like BET, Black Voices, Essence, Oprah, ALL THE BLACK RADIO STATIONS, media owners like Kathy Hughes, the folks that own Black Enterprise, etc to start spreading the word. I subscribe to the Black and Missing website and read it every single day. We need to do this on our own folks. At this point, I'm just sick and tired of the finger pointing. Is their racism? Of course there is - but we don't have the time for this argument. We have all got to pick up the banner for ourselves and get the word out. I blame the black media more than that white media - sorry - but I do. Let's do something with all this anger and start finding our people. no one is going to care but us - so its up to us.

Leave Your Comment






     


Customer Service | E-mail Newsletter Sign-up | Try 2 Issues Risk Free | Give a Gift of Essence | Change Your Address | Renew Your Subscription | Pay Your Bill | Questions & Comments

Site Map | Our Company | Media Kit | Press Room | Bios | Writer's Guidelines | Careers | Internships | Essence Cares | Contact Us

© 2009 Essence Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use