Article published November 14, 2009
Police questioned Sowell in December after rape claim
Case could have led to earlier discovery of bodies
Anthony Sowell, in court to be arraigned, was investigated after a woman said she was raped at Sowell's home in December.
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
CLEVELAND - A woman told authorities in December that a man now accused of killing 11 women had beaten her and tried to rape her, and police and prosecutors are giving conflicting explanations for why the case, which could have led them months earlier to the bodies scattered around the suspect's house, was abandoned.
The woman's complaint, nearly 10 months before police started finding bodies in Anthony Sowell's home, adds to the questions about whether law enforcement, neighbors, and victims did enough to catch a suspected serial killer. Five victims vanished after the complaint was filed.
The woman had scratches around her neck and was bleeding from a deep gash in her thumb when she flagged down police near Sowell's home on Dec. 8, according to a police report.
Police said they found what looked to be blood on a tissue in the drive and footprints in the snow, indicating a possible struggle. The report shows that police went into the house and to a third-floor landing, where they saw a trash can containing broken glass, a sweater, pink sweat pants, and panties.
They knocked on the door of a third-floor apartment, Sowell answered, and they arrested him. They saw drops of blood inside the house and scratch marks on Sowell's face.
Police suggested Sowell be charged with robbery, but he was freed after two days, Cleveland Lt. Thomas Stacho said. Lieutenant Stacho said a detective gave the information to a prosecutor.The prosecutor decided the woman wasn't credible and wrote a note saying so "underneath a box that the prosecutor checked indicating that the complaint was unfounded," he said.
City Prosecutor Victor Perez told the (Cleveland) Plain Dealer that the detective deemed the woman was not credible.
Mr. Stacho said the police department is not pointing fingers at prosecutors. "We're not in position to judge them on making that decision," he said. "We simply give them the facts."
Meanwhile, the FBI returned to the neighborhood yesterday to conduct two days of thermal imaging, X-rays, and other tests on the house next door to Sowell's in the hunt for more evidence.
Sowell, 50, appeared in court yesterday and entered not-guilty pleas to rape, kidnapping, attempted murder, and felonious assault in a separate report of an alleged Sept. 22 attack.
Police checking that report searched his home starting Oct. 29, and found the remains of 11 women. Authorities believe Sowell, who served 15 years in prison for attempted rape and has been a registered sex offender since 2005, lured them inside with the promise of getting high, then strangled them and left their bodies inside or buried in the backyard.
Judge John O'Donnell of Cuyahoga County Common Pleas set bond at $1 million on the charges and continued Sowell's $5 million bond from last week, when he was charged with five counts of aggravated murder.
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