A typically fun Halloween night in Cleveland took a grotesque detour into the unimaginable with a real-life horror episode of murder, sexual deviancy and possibly necrophilia.
On Oct. 31, Cleveland police accidentally discovered six decomposing female bodies throughout the house ex-felon Anthony Sowell has lived in since being released from prison in 2005. Sowell served 15 years for a 1989 rape conviction. Reports have not determined if Sowell is registered as a sex offender, but Sowell did report to his parole officer regularly in the four years that he has been free.
Another horrific twist has been uncovered in the case: while the bodies rotted in Sowell’s home, some reduced to little more than skeletal remains, Sowell cruised sex sites to satiate his fetish cravings and may have performed necrophilia (sex with dead bodies). One month after being released, Sowell set up a profile on Alt.com, according to CBS.com, calling himself a “master” seeking a submissive subject “to train.”
“If your [sic] submissive and like to please, then this master wants to talk to you,” Sowell’s profile on Alt.com reads, according to CBS. “So get you’re [expletive] on over here NOW!”
Police are faced with the legitimate prospect that they may have a serial killer on their hands in addition to a serial rapist. They are reopening scores of missing-persons cases to try to determine any connection between Sowell and many other women who have gone missing since his 2005 release.
Police only discovered the dead bodies when they came to serve a warrant for Sowell for felonious aggravated assault and suspected rape. Sowell was not home at the time, but police entered the home and were shocked to find two badly decomposing bodies upstairs and another buried in the basement. Police found Sowell two days later walking around in his neighborhood.
In another shocking development, on Tuesday, Nov. 3, police found an additional four bodies in Sowell’s home. On Wednesday, Nov. 4, an additional body was found, bringing the total to 11. –terry shropshire
