khoji parkSerial Killer · Cleveland, Ohio · 2009
A Search for One Woman Revealed Eleven Victims
A routine search of an Imperial Avenue residence revealed eleven victims.
Read in slides1. Neighborhood Complaints
For years, local residents and neighboring business owners complained about a persistent, foul odor emanating from a home on Imperial Avenue in Cleveland. The occupant, Anthony Sowell, claimed the smell originated from a nearby sausage shop or a relative living downstairs. Police initially failed to connect the reports to any broader criminal activity in the neighborhood. Complaints persisted for months while residents continued to question the strange scent.
Neighbors repeatedly contacted local health authorities about the odor.
2. Initial Police Response
On September twenty-second, 2009, a woman named Latundra Billups reported to police that she had been attacked inside Sowell's residence. She stated that she had been invited to the home, where she was subsequently assaulted and choked before managing to escape. Weeks later, officers secured an arrest warrant for Sowell in connection with the complaint. Investigators went to his residence on October twenty-ninth to execute the warrant.
Officers arrived at the Imperial Avenue house with an arrest warrant.
3. Discovery of Remains
Upon arriving at the residence, officers did not find Sowell inside the home but immediately noticed a strong decomposing odor. During their initial search of the property, investigators discovered two bodies buried in a shallow grave in the basement. Further searching revealed additional remains on the third floor and within crawlspaces. Authorities quickly expanded the search to the surrounding yard and interior spaces.
Investigators uncovered multiple bodies hidden throughout the residential property.
4. Expanding the Search
The search widened from rooms and crawl spaces inside the building to the backyard. Investigators established that the property contained remains from eleven women. Identifying them required forensic work and comparisons with missing-person reports. Police were no longer dealing only with the complaint that had brought them to the address; they were investigating a series of deaths and identifying each victim.
The total number of recovered victims reached eleven.
5. Arrest and Charges
Following a manhunt, police located and arrested Sowell two days after executing the initial search warrant at his home. He was subsequently held on a five million dollar bond as prosecutors prepared formal indictments. Sowell was charged with eleven counts of aggravated murder alongside numerous counts of rape, kidnapping, and abuse of a corpse. Investigators began cross-referencing missing persons reports dating back to his release from prison in 2005.
Authorities formally charged Sowell with multiple counts of aggravated murder.
6. Victim Identification
Forensic experts utilized DNA testing and dental records to identify the recovered remains over the following weeks. Families of missing women had previously expressed frustration regarding the police response to their missing relatives. Victims included individuals such as Tonia Carmichael and Leshanda Long, whose disappearances spanned the prior two years. Protesters gathered outside the crime scene holding posters depicting local women who had vanished.
Forensic specialists confirmed the identities of several missing women.
7. Trial and Conviction
After several legal delays requested by defense attorneys, Sowell's trial commenced in June 2011 in Cuyahoga County Court. During the proceedings, prosecutors presented extensive forensic evidence linking Sowell to the victims found in his home. On July twenty-second, 2011, a jury convicted Sowell on all but two of the charges against him. Jurors subsequently recommended the death penalty following the multi-week trial.
A jury convicted Sowell on multiple counts of aggravated murder.
8. Sentencing and Appeals
Following the jury’s recommendation, Judge Dick Ambrose sentenced Sowell to death in August 2011. The prosecution brought eleven aggravated-murder counts and charges connected to assaults and other offenses. Sowell’s lawyers challenged the case through appeals. Sentencing therefore did not end the court process immediately. The original house was demolished after the trial later that year.
The Ohio Supreme Court upheld the conviction and death sentence.
9. The Appeal Reaches Ohio’s Highest Court
Sowell appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court. His lawyers challenged aspects of the proceedings, including publicity and the handling of trial issues. In December 2016, the court upheld the convictions and death sentence. Sowell remained imprisoned after that ruling. The judgment concerned offenses proved at trial, following the earlier work of finding and identifying the victims at the property.
The Ohio Supreme Court upheld the convictions and sentence.
10. Death in Custody
Sowell was transferred to a medical facility while terminally ill and died in February 2021 before execution. His death did not change the convictions against him. The search of Imperial Avenue had identified eleven victims and led to the trial, while bringing scrutiny to how earlier disappearances and assault complaints had been handled. Those responses formed a separate issue from his sentence.
Sowell died from a terminal illness while imprisoned.