1
00:00:05,972 --> 00:00:08,241
He invited me to go
with him to his house.

2
00:00:09,042 --> 00:00:10,477
It seemed like
it was all right.

3
00:00:10,577 --> 00:00:13,046
We finally got to his house.

4
00:00:13,146 --> 00:00:18,118
The air was thick
with just something
not good.

5
00:00:18,218 --> 00:00:19,419
Those eyes went black.

6
00:00:20,387 --> 00:00:21,321
He wasn't there.

7
00:00:22,522 --> 00:00:23,623
He kept telling me,

8
00:00:23,723 --> 00:00:25,959
"You don't deserve
what I'm about to do to you."

9
00:00:28,328 --> 00:00:29,496
I'm thinking...

10
00:00:31,364 --> 00:00:33,466
-"Is this how
I'm gonna die?"

11
00:01:05,665 --> 00:01:07,534
Welcome to very scary people.

12
00:01:07,634 --> 00:01:09,469
I'm Donnie Wahlberg.

13
00:01:09,569 --> 00:01:14,674
In 2007, women began
vanishing from the streets
of Cleveland, Ohio.

14
00:01:14,774 --> 00:01:16,710
They all had
one thing in common.

15
00:01:16,810 --> 00:01:19,879
They were all last seen
in the city's
Mount Pleasant neighborhood.

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00:01:20,613 --> 00:01:21,881
In the middle
of this community

17
00:01:21,981 --> 00:01:23,416
was an unassuming house,

18
00:01:23,516 --> 00:01:25,385
The man who lived there
was friendly,

19
00:01:25,485 --> 00:01:27,721
and always ready
to lend a hand.

20
00:01:27,821 --> 00:01:30,423
But behind closed doors,
that friendly neighbor

21
00:01:30,523 --> 00:01:33,026
was actually
a vicious psychopath.

22
00:01:33,126 --> 00:01:34,828
And that
unassuming house,

23
00:01:34,928 --> 00:01:37,364
was his personal
House of horrors.

24
00:01:37,464 --> 00:01:38,932
Home to the worst
serial killer

25
00:01:39,032 --> 00:01:40,834
Cleveland has ever seen.

26
00:01:40,934 --> 00:01:43,103
This is the
Cleveland Strangler.

27
00:02:00,653 --> 00:02:03,523
My sergeant received
a telephone call

28
00:02:03,623 --> 00:02:07,627
from SWAT requesting
that a homicide unit

29
00:02:07,727 --> 00:02:11,564
come to the location
of 12205 Imperial Avenue.

30
00:02:14,200 --> 00:02:16,202
We were informed
at that time,

31
00:02:16,302 --> 00:02:21,307
that detectives had started
an investigation of a suspect

32
00:02:21,408 --> 00:02:25,211
in a rape case by the name
of Anthony Sowell.

33
00:02:27,647 --> 00:02:31,851
And 12205 Imperial
was in fact

34
00:02:31,951 --> 00:02:34,521
the residence
of Anthony Sowell.

35
00:02:36,356 --> 00:02:39,659
Now we were responding
to a suspected homicide,

36
00:02:39,759 --> 00:02:41,795
but Anthony Sowell
was not present.

37
00:02:41,895 --> 00:02:43,930
He was gone upon arrival.

38
00:02:45,231 --> 00:02:48,968
When we arrived
at the outside grass lawn,

39
00:02:49,069 --> 00:02:51,805
the house seemed
to be unkept.

40
00:02:51,905 --> 00:02:56,543
But there was nothing
unusual at this time
that I saw.

41
00:02:56,643 --> 00:03:00,647
Everything changed
the moment we entered
the rear door.

42
00:03:02,482 --> 00:03:05,552
That's when
the smell hit you.

43
00:03:06,653 --> 00:03:07,987
No, it was faint.

44
00:03:08,088 --> 00:03:11,958
You could smell it.
But it didn't reach
this extreme point yet.

45
00:03:13,293 --> 00:03:15,028
I've seen a lot
of dirty houses

46
00:03:15,128 --> 00:03:17,197
and unkept
and untidy houses.

47
00:03:17,297 --> 00:03:18,965
But this was extreme.

48
00:03:19,065 --> 00:03:22,402
Clothing everywhere,
garbage everywhere.

49
00:03:22,502 --> 00:03:24,637
Seemed like the person
whoever lived there

50
00:03:24,738 --> 00:03:27,040
wherever they decided
to discard something.

51
00:03:27,140 --> 00:03:29,976
Whatever it was,
it was discarded
in that location.

52
00:03:36,883 --> 00:03:38,952
Now, you can't see
two feet in front of you

53
00:03:39,052 --> 00:03:40,353
unless you use a flashlight.

54
00:03:40,453 --> 00:03:41,788
So you're not sure

55
00:03:41,888 --> 00:03:43,990
what you're gonna bump into
or what you're gonna feel

56
00:03:48,428 --> 00:03:50,797
Our area of entrance
was the third floor.

57
00:03:56,169 --> 00:03:58,772
And as you
proceeded upward,

58
00:03:58,872 --> 00:04:01,374
the smell became
stronger and stronger.

59
00:04:02,876 --> 00:04:04,711
Then we're following
the SWAT unit

60
00:04:04,811 --> 00:04:07,347
to this locked door,
this closed room.

61
00:04:08,081 --> 00:04:10,116
But we're in a tight hallway.

62
00:04:11,351 --> 00:04:13,086
Now you're
starting to feel

63
00:04:13,186 --> 00:04:16,523
this smell physically,
into your throat.

64
00:04:16,623 --> 00:04:18,158
Into your nose.

65
00:04:18,258 --> 00:04:20,026
Depending on your
gag reflex,

66
00:04:20,126 --> 00:04:22,929
it may make you throw up,
and it may not,

67
00:04:23,029 --> 00:04:24,564
But I'm
a homicide detective.

68
00:04:24,664 --> 00:04:25,865
We have a job to do.

69
00:04:32,505 --> 00:04:35,141
And now we
move into this room...

70
00:04:44,384 --> 00:04:47,454
...and this is not
gonna be good.

71
00:04:57,864 --> 00:04:59,366
The neighborhood
is called Mount Pleasant.

72
00:05:00,834 --> 00:05:03,269
It's a working class
African American neighborhood

73
00:05:03,370 --> 00:05:06,072
where families lived
for generations.

74
00:05:06,172 --> 00:05:07,240
Neighbors hung out
on the porch,

75
00:05:07,340 --> 00:05:09,642
played cards, dice,
chess, checkers.

76
00:05:09,743 --> 00:05:11,378
Everybody knew everybody.

77
00:05:11,478 --> 00:05:12,512
People could walk
to the corner store,

78
00:05:12,612 --> 00:05:14,647
walk to the pizza shop
or sandwich shop.

79
00:05:17,117 --> 00:05:19,552
The people who lived there
for generations and decades.

80
00:05:19,652 --> 00:05:21,154
They loved
the neighborhood.

81
00:05:21,254 --> 00:05:22,922
They weren't leaving.
It was where they were born
and raised in Cleveland.

82
00:05:23,023 --> 00:05:24,190
It was Cleveland.

83
00:05:25,325 --> 00:05:26,559
Oh, my goodness!

84
00:05:26,659 --> 00:05:28,795
We have parties,
street parties.

85
00:05:28,895 --> 00:05:30,830
We knew
all the neighbors.

86
00:05:30,930 --> 00:05:33,133
If somebody
got in trouble,

87
00:05:33,233 --> 00:05:35,935
you know, the neighbor
would call your mom,

88
00:05:36,036 --> 00:05:38,838
and then you would be
in trouble with the neighbor
and your mom.

89
00:05:40,340 --> 00:05:42,676
It's into this
vibrant Cleveland neighborhood

90
00:05:42,776 --> 00:05:44,778
that Anthony Sowell
is born.

91
00:05:46,012 --> 00:05:48,014
Anthony was a good child.

92
00:05:48,481 --> 00:05:49,883
Good in school.

93
00:05:49,983 --> 00:05:51,651
He had a lot of friends.

94
00:05:51,751 --> 00:05:55,055
He used to go out
and play baseball
with his friends

95
00:05:55,155 --> 00:05:57,924
or they would play
basketball right there

96
00:05:58,024 --> 00:05:59,659
in front of the house
or up at the park.

97
00:06:01,528 --> 00:06:04,264
The house that
Anthony grew up in
was large.

98
00:06:05,098 --> 00:06:08,501
Myself, my brother,
my sister,

99
00:06:08,601 --> 00:06:09,803
seven children.

100
00:06:09,903 --> 00:06:12,339
My grandmother
and my mother lived

101
00:06:12,439 --> 00:06:13,673
in the house on page.

102
00:06:15,275 --> 00:06:17,844
Anthony's father had lived
in the house on Imperial.

103
00:06:19,312 --> 00:06:21,047
When my sister
passed away

104
00:06:21,147 --> 00:06:23,983
prior to my mom
getting the house,

105
00:06:25,185 --> 00:06:26,986
The children
were in foster care,

106
00:06:27,087 --> 00:06:29,222
but they weren't
being taken care of

107
00:06:29,322 --> 00:06:32,492
and so they asked my mom
to take the kids in.

108
00:06:35,128 --> 00:06:37,964
At times it was
stressful, definitely.

109
00:06:38,064 --> 00:06:39,733
Because there
was so many of us.

110
00:06:41,067 --> 00:06:44,704
The house was expensive
for a single black mother.

111
00:06:44,804 --> 00:06:47,007
My mother worked
three jobs.

112
00:06:47,107 --> 00:06:49,175
In order to keep it up.

113
00:06:50,844 --> 00:06:51,978
And so it was hard.

114
00:06:54,714 --> 00:06:58,418
With 11 people
under her roof
and a mountain of debt.

115
00:06:58,518 --> 00:07:00,553
Anthony's mother does
what she thinks is right

116
00:07:00,653 --> 00:07:02,255
to keep the house in order.

117
00:07:03,323 --> 00:07:05,558
My mother was raised
the old fashioned way.

118
00:07:05,658 --> 00:07:07,160
You get a whooping period.

119
00:07:08,094 --> 00:07:09,763
One time
he got punched

120
00:07:11,598 --> 00:07:12,866
because she was mad

121
00:07:12,966 --> 00:07:14,934
about not doing
his housework.

122
00:07:16,202 --> 00:07:18,471
Anthony was growing up
in an environment

123
00:07:18,571 --> 00:07:21,541
where physical abuse
likely mental verbal,

124
00:07:21,641 --> 00:07:23,576
emotional abuse
was so common

125
00:07:23,677 --> 00:07:26,246
that it became
part of who he is.

126
00:07:28,381 --> 00:07:30,483
The kid's got the belt
and the switch as well.

127
00:07:31,851 --> 00:07:33,319
Just because someone
is abused doesn't mean

128
00:07:33,420 --> 00:07:35,588
that they're going
to become an abuser.

129
00:07:35,689 --> 00:07:37,490
But many people
who become abusers

130
00:07:37,590 --> 00:07:39,592
have suffered abuse
in their own history.

131
00:07:44,764 --> 00:07:45,965
But young Anthony

132
00:07:46,066 --> 00:07:48,101
is subject to something
more horrific

133
00:07:48,201 --> 00:07:49,436
than abusive punishment.

134
00:07:50,870 --> 00:07:53,907
He was witnessing abuse
constantly in the home.

135
00:07:54,007 --> 00:07:56,242
His niece was raped
multiple times

136
00:07:56,343 --> 00:07:57,911
by the family members.

137
00:07:58,712 --> 00:08:00,780
At 12-years-old,
he was learning

138
00:08:00,880 --> 00:08:03,883
that it was okay to rape
his own niece in the house.

139
00:08:04,718 --> 00:08:07,287
So he also
participated in it.

140
00:08:10,323 --> 00:08:11,725
When Anthony is 18,

141
00:08:11,825 --> 00:08:14,561
he announces he's
leaving home
to join the military.

142
00:08:17,130 --> 00:08:18,298
His mother
kind of mocked him,

143
00:08:18,398 --> 00:08:19,966
said he wouldn't
survive in the military.

144
00:08:20,934 --> 00:08:23,036
And he joined the Marines
to prove her wrong.

145
00:08:24,304 --> 00:08:27,340
Anthony as a child,
was already exposed
to violence,

146
00:08:27,440 --> 00:08:29,909
and now he joins the Marines
where he's learning

147
00:08:30,010 --> 00:08:33,580
how to take his anger
and apply it,

148
00:08:33,680 --> 00:08:35,515
learning how to fight people,

149
00:08:35,615 --> 00:08:37,417
learning how
to take someone down.

150
00:08:38,385 --> 00:08:40,220
In his first
few years as a Marine.

151
00:08:40,320 --> 00:08:42,655
Anthony is the
perfect soldier.

152
00:08:42,756 --> 00:08:44,190
His good behavior
earns him medals

153
00:08:44,290 --> 00:08:45,692
and letters
of appreciation.

154
00:08:48,862 --> 00:08:50,330
Then he's
stationed in Okinawa,

155
00:08:50,430 --> 00:08:52,565
and that's when
things change.

156
00:08:52,665 --> 00:08:56,970
He starts acting out
and getting into bar fights.

157
00:08:57,070 --> 00:08:59,272
He never dealt with the fact
that there was abuse and rape

158
00:08:59,372 --> 00:09:01,041
going on in his household.

159
00:09:01,141 --> 00:09:02,375
So he started drinking,

160
00:09:02,475 --> 00:09:04,944
likely to kind of cope
with some of that

161
00:09:05,045 --> 00:09:09,282
negative trauma
that was revamping
all in his brain.

162
00:09:09,382 --> 00:09:12,352
He was ignoring it,
pretending that
it never happened.

163
00:09:13,286 --> 00:09:14,354
Anthony Sowell
was discharged

164
00:09:14,454 --> 00:09:16,589
from the Marine Corps
in 1985.

165
00:09:16,690 --> 00:09:19,059
He moved back into his home
on Page Avenue.

166
00:09:20,060 --> 00:09:21,361
Anthony
comes home to find

167
00:09:21,461 --> 00:09:22,862
that his old neighborhood,

168
00:09:22,962 --> 00:09:25,565
is very different from the one
that he left behind.

169
00:09:26,466 --> 00:09:28,068
The change
happened in mid '80.

170
00:09:30,003 --> 00:09:33,039
When crack flooded the many
urban cities in America

171
00:09:33,139 --> 00:09:35,008
and Cleveland's
one of them that suffered.

172
00:09:35,108 --> 00:09:36,343
Because of the drugs,

173
00:09:36,443 --> 00:09:38,745
gang activity had increased

174
00:09:38,845 --> 00:09:40,280
in the Mount Pleasant area,

175
00:09:41,681 --> 00:09:42,649
Violent crime
went up,

176
00:09:42,749 --> 00:09:45,552
robberies went up,
burglaries went up.

177
00:09:45,652 --> 00:09:49,422
It was still a good community,
but it was starting to decay

178
00:09:49,522 --> 00:09:52,525
and slowly get worse
and worse and worse.

179
00:09:52,625 --> 00:09:55,128
And it isn't
just the neighborhood
that's changed.

180
00:09:57,564 --> 00:10:00,667
He was totally
different after he came out
of the Marines.

181
00:10:00,767 --> 00:10:03,603
The least little thing
would upset him.

182
00:10:05,038 --> 00:10:08,141
So after Sowell
left the military,

183
00:10:08,241 --> 00:10:10,043
he's going back
to Cleveland,

184
00:10:10,143 --> 00:10:12,312
and it's all brought
right back to his brain.

185
00:10:12,412 --> 00:10:14,848
That this is where
I was raised.

186
00:10:14,948 --> 00:10:16,916
This is where I socialized.
This is where abuse happens.

187
00:10:18,885 --> 00:10:22,055
It kind of is going
to be a re-triggering
moment to him.

188
00:10:23,323 --> 00:10:25,892
It's inevitable that
he's going to act out

189
00:10:25,992 --> 00:10:28,762
on those old desires
on his old behaviors.

190
00:10:28,862 --> 00:10:31,898
That violence
that was ingrained into him
at such a young age.

191
00:10:40,407 --> 00:10:42,642
My name
is Melvette Sockwell

192
00:10:42,742 --> 00:10:45,445
I grew up in a domestic
violence situation.

193
00:10:45,545 --> 00:10:47,647
My mom, now that
I look back on it,

194
00:10:47,747 --> 00:10:48,715
God rest her soul,

195
00:10:48,815 --> 00:10:51,017
she was doing the best
that she knew how to do.

196
00:10:52,686 --> 00:10:54,854
So I was a runaway

197
00:10:54,954 --> 00:10:56,556
and I learned
to live on the streets,

198
00:10:56,656 --> 00:10:58,725
so I learned to adjust
to the street life.

199
00:11:00,293 --> 00:11:03,496
I was sitting,
like on a concrete stoop,
and I saw him.

200
00:11:03,596 --> 00:11:05,231
He was talking
to another young lady.

201
00:11:05,331 --> 00:11:06,433
But I didn't care.

202
00:11:06,533 --> 00:11:07,500
I just wanted
to use his phone.

203
00:11:07,600 --> 00:11:09,936
So I'm like,
"Hey, can I use
your phone?"

204
00:11:10,403 --> 00:11:11,504
So he looks at me.

205
00:11:13,606 --> 00:11:15,475
And he was like,
"Yeah, well, I live up here.

206
00:11:15,575 --> 00:11:16,910
We're gonna go
through the back door."

207
00:11:19,713 --> 00:11:21,581
And I'm like, I didn't
think nothing of it.

208
00:11:25,785 --> 00:11:27,320
He says, "Well, come on,
I live upstairs

209
00:11:27,420 --> 00:11:28,755
and I wanted
to disturb my sister."

210
00:11:29,622 --> 00:11:31,057
She was sleep
on the couch.

211
00:11:33,026 --> 00:11:34,761
So, honey,
when we get upstairs.

212
00:11:40,033 --> 00:11:42,702
We gone up there,
he said, "Well, here's
my room right here."

213
00:11:43,503 --> 00:11:45,205
He said "Here you sit here."

214
00:11:45,305 --> 00:11:47,874
Which he had my
back to the door.

215
00:11:49,275 --> 00:11:50,410
And I heard him close it.

216
00:11:53,279 --> 00:11:54,981
So but when he
came back in

217
00:11:56,216 --> 00:11:57,984
he came
from behind me,

218
00:11:58,084 --> 00:12:00,353
he had a knife
as long as my arm.

219
00:12:02,856 --> 00:12:04,858
He put the knife
right here. I said,
"Oh, no."

220
00:12:08,595 --> 00:12:10,697
Honey, he hogtied me
like a pig.

221
00:12:12,899 --> 00:12:13,967
He said, um,

222
00:12:16,803 --> 00:12:17,904
"Say your prayers

223
00:12:18,004 --> 00:12:20,006
Because I'm gonna
feed you.

224
00:12:20,106 --> 00:12:21,608
Then I'm gonna
kill you."

225
00:12:30,984 --> 00:12:33,286
For several days,
Anthony repeatedly assaulted,

226
00:12:33,386 --> 00:12:34,821
raped and beat Melvette

227
00:12:34,921 --> 00:12:36,056
and wouldn't let her leave

228
00:12:36,156 --> 00:12:37,924
and threatened he would
kill her if she didn't leave.

229
00:12:41,394 --> 00:12:43,797
Actually,
how many days
I was in that room?

230
00:12:43,897 --> 00:12:45,265
My hand to God,
I really don't know.

231
00:12:46,066 --> 00:12:47,233
Because I was traumatized.

232
00:12:48,234 --> 00:12:49,869
When he
was a child,

233
00:12:49,969 --> 00:12:51,905
he was learning
from the environment

234
00:12:52,005 --> 00:12:56,109
he was in to rape,
beat, torture, his niece.

235
00:12:56,209 --> 00:13:01,514
And so he was re-enacting
those traumas on Melvette.

236
00:13:01,614 --> 00:13:05,618
Anthony transformed
into the devil.

237
00:13:07,087 --> 00:13:08,955
Because he no longer had

238
00:13:09,889 --> 00:13:12,359
red or white in his eyes.

239
00:13:12,459 --> 00:13:13,360
It was black.

240
00:13:14,227 --> 00:13:15,929
Like he was a demon,

241
00:13:16,029 --> 00:13:18,331
like he was
under possession.

242
00:13:18,431 --> 00:13:21,601
And all I knew
was I don't want
to die like this.

243
00:13:21,701 --> 00:13:23,470
Why did I come here?

244
00:13:23,570 --> 00:13:26,206
And I couldn't
plead with him

245
00:13:26,306 --> 00:13:28,241
because he had me
bound and gagged.

246
00:13:30,877 --> 00:13:33,013
So when he finally
did go to sleep,

247
00:13:34,781 --> 00:13:35,915
like an inchworm.

248
00:13:36,449 --> 00:13:37,517
I got to the window.

249
00:13:43,490 --> 00:13:46,393
I didn't care if I broke
every bone in my body.

250
00:13:46,493 --> 00:13:49,029
I just needed
to get out of that house.

251
00:13:49,129 --> 00:13:50,697
I knew that
I would be safe.

252
00:13:51,798 --> 00:13:54,234
I used my head
to raise that window up,

253
00:13:54,334 --> 00:13:56,403
and what saved me
was a ledge.

254
00:13:56,503 --> 00:13:59,005
So I didn't actually
fall to the ground.

255
00:13:59,105 --> 00:14:02,175
There was like
a a little roof type
that caught me.

256
00:14:03,743 --> 00:14:05,545
I saw two old ladies,

257
00:14:05,645 --> 00:14:07,247
when I said "Mmm,
mmm, mmm."

258
00:14:07,347 --> 00:14:10,850
Then I turned around
and I showed her my hand.

259
00:14:12,552 --> 00:14:14,454
And I could hear
her saying, "My God!"

260
00:14:14,554 --> 00:14:15,789
And I knew
I was saved.

261
00:14:17,424 --> 00:14:20,293
I could hear
the fire truck coming.

262
00:14:20,393 --> 00:14:23,396
I could see the police
because I'm outside
on the roof. But then--

263
00:14:25,565 --> 00:14:27,734
Something grabbed me
back through the window.

264
00:14:27,834 --> 00:14:31,271
I'm thinking it's him
and I'm screaming.

265
00:14:31,371 --> 00:14:32,572
But it was his sister.

266
00:14:34,841 --> 00:14:36,376
When I saw Melvette

267
00:14:36,476 --> 00:14:38,778
she had a rope in her hand,
but her hands weren't tied.

268
00:14:39,879 --> 00:14:42,449
I asked her why
she was on the roof.

269
00:14:42,549 --> 00:14:45,218
She said, "Because he tied
me up and put me out here."

270
00:14:45,318 --> 00:14:48,254
I said, "Well, why would
you not come in?"

271
00:14:48,355 --> 00:14:49,923
She said, "Because I
was scared to."

272
00:14:50,023 --> 00:14:51,391
I just couldn't believe it.

273
00:14:52,325 --> 00:14:54,127
She also said
that he raped her.

274
00:14:54,994 --> 00:14:56,262
I couldn't
believe that, either.

275
00:14:57,564 --> 00:15:00,533
He told his sister Teresa
that Melvette set him up

276
00:15:00,633 --> 00:15:01,468
to steal from him.

277
00:15:03,036 --> 00:15:05,638
I think somebody
tried to break into the house.

278
00:15:05,739 --> 00:15:06,940
I think
it was her friend.

279
00:15:07,040 --> 00:15:08,641
She was working
with somebody else.

280
00:15:09,976 --> 00:15:12,679
God bless her
because she carried that lie.

281
00:15:13,613 --> 00:15:16,082
Like, "Oh, my brother
didn't do that.

282
00:15:16,182 --> 00:15:17,217
She was stealing
from him."

283
00:15:19,085 --> 00:15:20,887
When the police
took me to the hospital,

284
00:15:22,489 --> 00:15:25,258
Yeah, they did their
little routine rape kit.

285
00:15:27,660 --> 00:15:31,431
They didn't give me
anything to put on
but the hospital gown.

286
00:15:32,732 --> 00:15:35,435
I had nobody to call
to bring me clothes

287
00:15:35,535 --> 00:15:38,738
because at this point
I just I want out of here.

288
00:15:40,507 --> 00:15:43,543
So I'm walking down
East Cleveland

289
00:15:43,643 --> 00:15:46,880
with a hospital gown
with my whole derriere
hanging out.

290
00:15:48,314 --> 00:15:52,352
Because just only
hours ago, I'm hogtied,

291
00:15:53,553 --> 00:15:55,922
wondering if I'm gonna
live or die.

292
00:15:56,022 --> 00:15:57,557
They knew
what the man did to me.

293
00:15:57,657 --> 00:15:58,591
They knew.

294
00:15:58,692 --> 00:16:02,228
And I was left
to fend for myself.

295
00:16:12,205 --> 00:16:14,240
Anthony Sowell
was arrested for kidnapping

296
00:16:14,341 --> 00:16:16,209
and raping
Melvette Sockwell.

297
00:16:17,610 --> 00:16:19,479
When Anthony
told the police

298
00:16:19,579 --> 00:16:22,349
that he was paying
for sex with Melvette,

299
00:16:22,449 --> 00:16:24,317
he was trying
to find an excuse

300
00:16:24,417 --> 00:16:26,219
as to why this happened.

301
00:16:26,319 --> 00:16:27,620
Then he could claim
he doesn't remember

302
00:16:27,721 --> 00:16:29,422
because drugs, alcohol,

303
00:16:29,522 --> 00:16:32,158
anything else that might have
kind of cut that memory out.

304
00:16:32,258 --> 00:16:35,395
And he's sentenced
to 5-15 years in prison.

305
00:16:35,495 --> 00:16:37,664
He continued to maintain
his innocence

306
00:16:37,764 --> 00:16:40,233
for the rape of Melvette,
despite pleading guilty to it.

307
00:16:42,202 --> 00:16:44,704
While he was in prison,
he had to fill out
a questionnaire

308
00:16:44,804 --> 00:16:47,140
where you were given a prompt
and you fill in the blank.

309
00:16:47,240 --> 00:16:49,075
One of the prompts
was most women,

310
00:16:49,175 --> 00:16:51,811
and in the blank space,
he wrote, "Just tell lies."

311
00:16:55,749 --> 00:16:59,052
It pissed him off
that he did 15 years
for that rape.

312
00:17:00,253 --> 00:17:01,688
But I didn't believe it.

313
00:17:05,658 --> 00:17:06,426
No.

314
00:17:08,995 --> 00:17:11,064
During his
15-year prison term,

315
00:17:11,164 --> 00:17:14,267
Anthony Sowell is on his
best behavior.

316
00:17:15,602 --> 00:17:18,872
He was released
in 2005 after serving
his full sentence.

317
00:17:19,839 --> 00:17:21,408
He's back on the streets
of Cleveland.

318
00:17:23,009 --> 00:17:25,945
And Melvette
has to hear about it
through the grapevine.

319
00:17:26,046 --> 00:17:27,514
When he got out,

320
00:17:27,614 --> 00:17:30,083
-I called the police
department myself.

321
00:17:30,884 --> 00:17:32,786
Told them who I was

322
00:17:32,886 --> 00:17:36,122
and why wasn't I notified
that he was out of prison?

323
00:17:36,222 --> 00:17:38,958
The snobby, nasty
police officer said

324
00:17:39,059 --> 00:17:41,561
he'd done his time
for what he did to you.

325
00:17:41,661 --> 00:17:43,830
So there was no reason
to notify you.

326
00:17:46,399 --> 00:17:48,735
And I became frightened
all over again.

327
00:17:48,835 --> 00:17:51,771
It was years that
I stayed in the house.

328
00:17:53,606 --> 00:17:54,941
And I didn't come outside

329
00:17:55,041 --> 00:17:58,511
because see,
now I've got this awful thing
that happened to me.

330
00:18:02,782 --> 00:18:05,685
That left me
traumatized, nightmares.

331
00:18:09,823 --> 00:18:11,958
But if they had
listen to me,

332
00:18:12,058 --> 00:18:13,827
and took in consideration

333
00:18:13,927 --> 00:18:16,529
of what this man
was capable of doing.

334
00:18:19,499 --> 00:18:21,534
Women would still
be alive to this day.

335
00:18:37,217 --> 00:18:39,719
Anthony Sowell's life
changed a little bit
when he got out of prison.

336
00:18:39,819 --> 00:18:43,056
Once he was released,
he moved in with his father.

337
00:18:45,191 --> 00:18:46,292
On Imperial.

338
00:18:46,393 --> 00:18:49,095
Because his father
had a whole house

339
00:18:49,195 --> 00:18:52,866
and it had a third floor
and a second floor
that was empty.

340
00:18:52,966 --> 00:18:53,900
After his father
passed away,

341
00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:55,702
it became Anthony's
permanent home.

342
00:18:57,504 --> 00:19:00,173
Friends and family
see a change in Sowell,

343
00:19:00,273 --> 00:19:02,042
this time for the better.

344
00:19:03,443 --> 00:19:04,911
He was doing good.

345
00:19:05,011 --> 00:19:06,680
He was doing real good.

346
00:19:09,149 --> 00:19:10,784
He worked at a factory

347
00:19:11,751 --> 00:19:13,420
he was seeing a counselor.

348
00:19:13,520 --> 00:19:16,022
I actually had talked
to the counselor on the phone.

349
00:19:16,122 --> 00:19:19,159
She said he was doing
really good in his program.

350
00:19:19,259 --> 00:19:21,528
And he was doing everything
he was supposed to.

351
00:19:22,629 --> 00:19:23,930
He talked to people.

352
00:19:24,030 --> 00:19:25,598
He hung out,
shared a beer,

353
00:19:25,699 --> 00:19:26,900
shared a drink
with them on the porch,

354
00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:29,269
play dice, play cards,
checkers, barbecued hot dogs.

355
00:19:30,570 --> 00:19:32,572
The people
within the neighborhood

356
00:19:33,106 --> 00:19:35,041
actually liked him.

357
00:19:35,141 --> 00:19:37,410
He was like a jack
of all trades.

358
00:19:37,510 --> 00:19:39,179
He would help them
with different things.

359
00:19:39,279 --> 00:19:40,013
Painting.

360
00:19:40,113 --> 00:19:41,614
He would cook.

361
00:19:41,715 --> 00:19:44,217
Anything electrical
he would help out with.

362
00:19:45,852 --> 00:19:47,987
He looked like
a normal neighborhood
guy who lived there.

363
00:19:48,088 --> 00:19:49,089
Fit in with the crowd,

364
00:19:49,189 --> 00:19:50,557
didn't draw attention
to himself.

365
00:19:51,825 --> 00:19:54,394
It looks like Sowell
is turning things around

366
00:19:54,494 --> 00:19:56,629
when a new woman
enters his life

367
00:19:56,730 --> 00:19:58,164
and changes his heart.

368
00:19:59,432 --> 00:20:01,101
The day I met
Anthony Sowell,

369
00:20:01,201 --> 00:20:03,169
I was walking down Buckeye

370
00:20:03,269 --> 00:20:05,171
and I wanted
something to drink

371
00:20:05,271 --> 00:20:06,339
and I didn't have
no money.

372
00:20:06,439 --> 00:20:08,508
So Anthony was coming
down the street.

373
00:20:08,608 --> 00:20:11,011
When I first saw him,
I thought he was a nice guy.

374
00:20:11,111 --> 00:20:13,213
He was clean cut,
well dressed.

375
00:20:13,313 --> 00:20:14,414
Well mannered.

376
00:20:14,514 --> 00:20:15,782
Talked real nice.

377
00:20:15,882 --> 00:20:17,751
And he asked me,
did I want to go to the bar
and have a drink?

378
00:20:17,851 --> 00:20:19,386
So I said, I want
to go with you.

379
00:20:19,486 --> 00:20:22,288
So we went in the bar.
We sat down and ate, drank.

380
00:20:23,223 --> 00:20:24,491
I told him
I wanted some crack,

381
00:20:24,591 --> 00:20:26,192
so he picked me up
some crack

382
00:20:26,292 --> 00:20:27,327
and we went to his house.

383
00:20:31,331 --> 00:20:33,333
He never smoked,
I only smoked.

384
00:20:33,433 --> 00:20:34,901
and he was okay with it.

385
00:20:45,478 --> 00:20:47,013
He went to work.

386
00:20:47,113 --> 00:20:49,616
He cleaned the house.
He cooked for me.

387
00:20:49,716 --> 00:20:50,884
And he took care of me.

388
00:20:56,156 --> 00:20:57,424
He was a nice boyfriend.

389
00:20:57,524 --> 00:20:59,325
He was um... gentle.

390
00:21:00,460 --> 00:21:02,162
He did everything for me.

391
00:21:02,796 --> 00:21:04,631
He was a nice guy.

392
00:21:04,731 --> 00:21:08,134
He finds in her
what he's always
kind of been looking for.

393
00:21:08,234 --> 00:21:10,236
Someone to love him.
Someone to care for him.

394
00:21:11,338 --> 00:21:12,539
His mom, you know,
that's the person

395
00:21:12,639 --> 00:21:13,740
that everyone
is supposed

396
00:21:13,840 --> 00:21:15,975
to be able to trust
is their mother.

397
00:21:16,076 --> 00:21:17,844
She failed him.
She didn't protect him.

398
00:21:17,944 --> 00:21:20,213
She didn't save him.
She didn't believe in him.

399
00:21:20,313 --> 00:21:22,982
He meets Lori,
she accepts his past.

400
00:21:23,083 --> 00:21:27,687
Anthony told me that
he had did 15 years
for raping a lady.

401
00:21:27,787 --> 00:21:30,357
But then he told me
that he didn't do it.

402
00:21:30,457 --> 00:21:32,859
And I believe that because
the way he treated me,

403
00:21:32,959 --> 00:21:34,561
I didn't think
nothing else of it.

404
00:21:36,162 --> 00:21:38,631
So she becomes
this perfect person,

405
00:21:38,732 --> 00:21:41,534
this relationship
that he always wanted.

406
00:21:41,634 --> 00:21:42,602
And doesn't ever
want to lose

407
00:21:42,702 --> 00:21:46,339
because she
is someone to trust.

408
00:21:46,439 --> 00:21:48,942
He would refer
to his mother as a bitch.

409
00:21:50,677 --> 00:21:53,813
Sowell didn't tell
anyone about his mother.

410
00:21:54,981 --> 00:21:57,851
It's the trauma
that he just shut in a box

411
00:21:57,951 --> 00:22:00,920
and just kept that
all to himself until
he met Lori.

412
00:22:02,455 --> 00:22:06,826
She was the one person
in his entire life
he could truly trust.

413
00:22:08,962 --> 00:22:10,697
I was happy
with Anthony.

414
00:22:10,797 --> 00:22:13,600
But he started changing
as time went on.

415
00:22:17,170 --> 00:22:20,407
At first, when I met Anthony,
he didn't smoke crack,

416
00:22:20,507 --> 00:22:22,475
and after a little while
we started smoking together.

417
00:22:22,575 --> 00:22:26,012
He was trying to get her clean
and end up started smoking.

418
00:22:26,513 --> 00:22:27,414
Himself.

419
00:22:33,119 --> 00:22:35,555
Anthony was smoking
from sunup to sundown,

420
00:22:38,324 --> 00:22:39,993
Things began
to change for Anthony

421
00:22:40,093 --> 00:22:41,461
when he lost his job.

422
00:22:41,561 --> 00:22:44,764
He started breaking
into houses to steal copper.

423
00:22:44,864 --> 00:22:48,001
He started taking stuff
out of abandoned houses.

424
00:22:48,101 --> 00:22:50,036
Taking it to the junkyard

425
00:22:50,136 --> 00:22:54,074
Getting money
and he just started
looking so nasty.

426
00:22:54,174 --> 00:22:55,008
I didn't want him
to touch me.

427
00:22:56,509 --> 00:22:57,744
When I seen his hands

428
00:22:57,844 --> 00:22:59,546
look like he
was working on cars

429
00:23:00,313 --> 00:23:02,382
and this--
he just turned me off.

430
00:23:06,119 --> 00:23:08,655
2007, my mother
passed away,

431
00:23:08,755 --> 00:23:10,790
so I decided
to stop everything

432
00:23:10,890 --> 00:23:12,058
and go home
with my children.

433
00:23:15,762 --> 00:23:16,763
Yeah, I told Anthony

434
00:23:16,863 --> 00:23:18,598
that I had to get
my life together.

435
00:23:24,404 --> 00:23:28,408
She got clean,
and now he was dirty.

436
00:23:29,976 --> 00:23:31,444
After she left,

437
00:23:31,544 --> 00:23:33,546
I seen that anger
that I had seen

438
00:23:33,646 --> 00:23:35,382
after he was discharged.

439
00:23:37,751 --> 00:23:39,152
He still loved her,

440
00:23:39,252 --> 00:23:42,689
but that probably
was a moment where
he really flipped.

441
00:23:51,364 --> 00:23:52,866
That breakup,

442
00:23:52,966 --> 00:23:55,702
turned into a breaking point
for Anthony Sowell.

443
00:23:56,903 --> 00:24:00,106
Between Lori's leaving him
and his heavy drug use.

444
00:24:00,206 --> 00:24:02,108
A darkness
overtakes him,

445
00:24:02,208 --> 00:24:04,644
and Cleveland will never
be the same again.

446
00:24:07,113 --> 00:24:10,417
In June 2007, 35-year-old
Crystal Dozier went missing.

447
00:24:10,517 --> 00:24:11,618
She was a mother of seven,

448
00:24:12,719 --> 00:24:14,554
In 2008, Tishana Culver
went missing.

449
00:24:14,654 --> 00:24:16,356
She was known
for her kindness,

450
00:24:16,456 --> 00:24:18,191
but she also battled
substance abuse.

451
00:24:18,291 --> 00:24:20,393
Leshanda Long went missing
shortly after.

452
00:24:20,493 --> 00:24:22,362
She was known
as the backbone of her family.

453
00:24:24,864 --> 00:24:27,334
Michelle Mason went missing
in October 2008.

454
00:24:27,434 --> 00:24:30,570
She was a strong woman,
loved by her family,

455
00:24:30,670 --> 00:24:33,073
Many people didn't know
these women were missing.

456
00:24:33,173 --> 00:24:35,709
Unfortunately, they didn't
garner headlines

457
00:24:35,809 --> 00:24:39,045
in the newspaper
or on the TV stations.

458
00:24:39,145 --> 00:24:41,081
It didn't draw the attention
of a wider audience

459
00:24:41,181 --> 00:24:42,816
to realize that
there was a problem

460
00:24:42,916 --> 00:24:43,950
going on in this
neighborhood

461
00:24:44,050 --> 00:24:46,486
and that somebody needs
to intervene. Nobody did.

462
00:24:50,890 --> 00:24:53,126
In the air following
his breakup with Lori,

463
00:24:53,226 --> 00:24:56,596
four women vanished
from the neighborhood
of Mount Pleasant.

464
00:24:56,696 --> 00:24:58,264
Their families
hit the streets

465
00:24:58,365 --> 00:25:00,800
desperately trying to find
their missing daughters,

466
00:25:00,900 --> 00:25:02,769
sisters and mothers.

467
00:25:02,869 --> 00:25:06,006
What no one knew
was that Sowell's
reign of terror

468
00:25:06,106 --> 00:25:07,774
was about to get
much worse.

469
00:25:20,754 --> 00:25:23,356
We responded
to the suspected homicide,

470
00:25:23,456 --> 00:25:25,792
at 12205 Imperial.

471
00:25:27,594 --> 00:25:29,829
Upon arriving
to the house,

472
00:25:29,929 --> 00:25:32,732
we went straight up
to the 3rd floor area,

473
00:25:38,171 --> 00:25:39,939
We moved
into this room

474
00:25:40,040 --> 00:25:44,277
and I observed two bodies
on the floor,

475
00:25:44,377 --> 00:25:48,648
badly decomposed,
to the point that we
can't determine gender,

476
00:25:48,748 --> 00:25:50,350
male or female,
we don't know.

477
00:25:50,450 --> 00:25:53,920
Based upon the size
we think it's an adult.

478
00:25:54,020 --> 00:25:56,556
The victims
were strangled

479
00:25:56,656 --> 00:26:00,627
and the rope or cords
or whatever ligature he used.

480
00:26:00,727 --> 00:26:01,928
He left them
with the body.

481
00:26:03,830 --> 00:26:06,466
The odor from the bodies
was tremendous.

482
00:26:07,434 --> 00:26:10,770
The odors will adhere
to your clothing.

483
00:26:10,870 --> 00:26:13,306
You'll have to wash them
or you'll destroy them.

484
00:26:14,274 --> 00:26:16,276
In this particular
crime scene,

485
00:26:16,376 --> 00:26:20,447
We didn't have any
knowledge of what
was going on.

486
00:26:20,547 --> 00:26:23,183
And it is very important
that we be careful

487
00:26:23,283 --> 00:26:26,286
as to where we walk,
what we touch,

488
00:26:26,386 --> 00:26:28,054
what we pick up,
what we move,

489
00:26:29,789 --> 00:26:32,225
because everything
is considered evidence.

490
00:26:33,960 --> 00:26:36,863
One of the things
that really stuck
in my head

491
00:26:36,963 --> 00:26:39,232
was the amount
of dead flies

492
00:26:39,332 --> 00:26:41,001
in that room.

493
00:26:42,369 --> 00:26:46,773
That degree of insect
infestation tells us

494
00:26:46,873 --> 00:26:50,910
that these bodies
have been here
for a long time.

495
00:26:52,545 --> 00:26:55,415
So now you have
two victims here.

496
00:26:55,515 --> 00:26:59,185
Whoever is committing
what I suspect is a homicide

497
00:26:59,285 --> 00:27:01,654
has no regards for anyone.

498
00:27:04,557 --> 00:27:07,494
Who could put these
bodies there?

499
00:27:07,594 --> 00:27:11,197
And live there under those
conditions of the stench.

500
00:27:11,297 --> 00:27:16,102
It is a stench
that's the worst stench
you can ever imagine.

501
00:27:19,172 --> 00:27:24,678
So that alone is just--
it surpasses what anyone
could think

502
00:27:24,778 --> 00:27:28,615
about what was happening
in that home.

503
00:27:29,449 --> 00:27:30,917
Who was living there?

504
00:27:31,017 --> 00:27:32,352
How was he living there?

505
00:27:32,952 --> 00:27:34,020
That was the question.

506
00:27:34,621 --> 00:27:35,789
I still think about it.

507
00:27:35,889 --> 00:27:39,259
This case, uh,
you can't forget it.

508
00:27:40,894 --> 00:27:44,097
And I was wondering,
were there any more bodies?

509
00:27:45,065 --> 00:27:45,899
Was this it?

510
00:27:50,503 --> 00:27:52,439
By the fall of 2008,

511
00:27:52,539 --> 00:27:55,175
there are four women missing
from Mount Pleasant.

512
00:27:55,942 --> 00:27:58,144
And soon there will be a 5th.

513
00:28:00,380 --> 00:28:02,048
Tonia Carmichael
was a good mom

514
00:28:02,148 --> 00:28:03,350
who was responsible,
caring

515
00:28:05,785 --> 00:28:06,853
But she also liked going out
and having a good time

516
00:28:06,953 --> 00:28:09,456
going to parties
like extravagant events.

517
00:28:12,559 --> 00:28:14,961
She left her house
in the suburb.

518
00:28:15,061 --> 00:28:17,731
Later on, that night,
she ended up in the Imperial
Avenue neighborhood,

519
00:28:19,265 --> 00:28:20,200
and she went missing.

520
00:28:21,301 --> 00:28:22,535
Her truck
was later found

521
00:28:22,635 --> 00:28:24,070
down the street
from Sowell's house.

522
00:28:25,271 --> 00:28:26,973
Tonia was extremely
close with her family

523
00:28:27,073 --> 00:28:29,175
when she didn't come home
and later went missing.

524
00:28:29,275 --> 00:28:30,477
That caused
concern for family

525
00:28:30,577 --> 00:28:32,012
because she always
returned home.

526
00:28:33,279 --> 00:28:35,548
After her family filed
a missing person's report.

527
00:28:35,648 --> 00:28:37,083
They didn't stop there.

528
00:28:37,183 --> 00:28:40,186
They posted missing
flyers and posters
all across the neighborhood.

529
00:28:42,288 --> 00:28:43,990
When Crystal Dozier
went missing,

530
00:28:44,090 --> 00:28:46,860
her family went
to multiple police districts

531
00:28:46,960 --> 00:28:48,261
and police stations.

532
00:28:48,361 --> 00:28:50,130
As they were bounced around
between stations

533
00:28:50,230 --> 00:28:51,231
like a ping pong ball.

534
00:28:51,331 --> 00:28:52,899
Nobody knew which one
should take the report.

535
00:28:52,999 --> 00:28:54,234
Because she lived
outside of the city.

536
00:28:55,802 --> 00:28:58,738
That played into
where she should be
reported missing.

537
00:29:00,306 --> 00:29:03,176
Leshanda Long
was living in East Cleveland

538
00:29:03,276 --> 00:29:06,680
and traveling to the area
of Mount Pleasant.

539
00:29:07,514 --> 00:29:09,516
Mr. Long made
a police report

540
00:29:09,616 --> 00:29:12,052
for his daughter
being missing
in East Cleveland.

541
00:29:14,120 --> 00:29:15,689
But we wouldn't
have never received

542
00:29:15,789 --> 00:29:18,291
that information
in Cleveland.

543
00:29:18,391 --> 00:29:20,226
Unfortunately,
looking back at that,

544
00:29:20,326 --> 00:29:23,730
that was probably
one of the flaws
of missing persons.

545
00:29:25,965 --> 00:29:29,069
They never shared
that information
between departments.

546
00:29:29,869 --> 00:29:32,472
There was at the time,
no network

547
00:29:32,572 --> 00:29:34,607
in regards
to missing persons.

548
00:29:35,742 --> 00:29:37,744
It's all happening around
the same neighborhood.

549
00:29:39,312 --> 00:29:41,047
And they're all very
similar life stories.

550
00:29:41,147 --> 00:29:43,516
Very similar back stories.
Very similar people.

551
00:29:44,517 --> 00:29:46,119
A lot of them struggled
with drug addiction.

552
00:29:47,987 --> 00:29:51,124
They were the kind of people
that the police would not
be out looking for.

553
00:29:51,224 --> 00:29:54,260
The streets knew this
a long time before
any of us did.

554
00:29:54,361 --> 00:29:55,595
It's one of the marks
of shame

555
00:29:55,695 --> 00:29:57,764
that we have
as a community here.

556
00:29:57,864 --> 00:30:01,868
That this was such
an open secret
in the community

557
00:30:01,968 --> 00:30:03,269
and people just weren't
working on it.

558
00:30:05,271 --> 00:30:06,873
Missing women
aren't the only thing

559
00:30:06,973 --> 00:30:08,742
that has the community
on edge.

560
00:30:11,311 --> 00:30:12,379
There was a stench.

561
00:30:13,413 --> 00:30:15,515
The stench was the talk
of the neighborhood.

562
00:30:15,615 --> 00:30:17,884
The neighbors were complaining
that the smell was so bad

563
00:30:17,984 --> 00:30:19,853
that they couldn't live
in that neighborhood anymore.

564
00:30:21,721 --> 00:30:24,057
Next door
to Anthony Sowell

565
00:30:24,157 --> 00:30:27,727
was a sausage factory,
Ray's sausage

566
00:30:27,827 --> 00:30:32,365
and everyone thought that
the older that they smelled,

567
00:30:32,465 --> 00:30:34,534
came from this
particular building.

568
00:30:36,403 --> 00:30:39,072
The owner of Ray's sausage
put a lot of money

569
00:30:39,172 --> 00:30:41,141
and invested a lot
of money in cleaning

570
00:30:41,241 --> 00:30:42,475
what he thought
needed to be clean.

571
00:30:44,544 --> 00:30:46,246
But the smell
persisted at times.

572
00:30:46,346 --> 00:30:48,481
It didn't permeated every day,
but certain times

573
00:30:48,581 --> 00:30:50,717
is when it did permeate
the neighborhood

574
00:30:50,817 --> 00:30:53,119
or anything close
to the neighborhood.

575
00:30:53,219 --> 00:30:55,655
I didn't smell
nothing up in the house
when I was there.

576
00:30:56,356 --> 00:30:57,557
After I got clean,

577
00:30:57,657 --> 00:30:59,926
I went to see Anthony
about three or four times.

578
00:31:00,026 --> 00:31:02,228
I tried to tell him
to go to AA
get some help.

579
00:31:02,328 --> 00:31:03,496
We could probably
be together

580
00:31:03,596 --> 00:31:04,497
if he, you know,
get himself together.

581
00:31:04,597 --> 00:31:05,732
But he would
never would go.

582
00:31:07,267 --> 00:31:09,202
The first time I went
to see Anthony,

583
00:31:09,703 --> 00:31:10,904
I get off work.

584
00:31:11,638 --> 00:31:12,605
He was at home.

585
00:31:15,442 --> 00:31:17,177
The house was bad
and everything,

586
00:31:17,277 --> 00:31:18,345
and he was looking
real bad.

587
00:31:19,679 --> 00:31:20,914
Anthony looked
like a monster.

588
00:31:21,014 --> 00:31:23,616
He looked dirty,
not shaved.

589
00:31:25,385 --> 00:31:26,453
Just horrible.

590
00:31:27,520 --> 00:31:28,988
So I wanted to get
something out the room,

591
00:31:29,089 --> 00:31:30,223
a piece of my
clothing that I had.

592
00:31:30,323 --> 00:31:31,991
When I was over there,
I left it there.

593
00:31:32,092 --> 00:31:33,660
I was going up
to this front room

594
00:31:33,760 --> 00:31:36,096
and he jumped up
and ran and stopped
me and said,

595
00:31:36,196 --> 00:31:39,032
"What you want--
What you wanna-- You need
something out of there?"

596
00:31:39,132 --> 00:31:41,501
So I said, "No.
Just leave it right there.
I don't even want it."

597
00:31:41,601 --> 00:31:43,536
I kept going
to visit him.

598
00:31:43,636 --> 00:31:45,772
But every time I go,
there's something
different going on.

599
00:31:47,640 --> 00:31:49,309
One time
I went in one room,

600
00:31:49,409 --> 00:31:51,244
I seen lye bag in the room
on the floor

601
00:31:51,678 --> 00:31:52,946
and I seen cords.

602
00:31:55,548 --> 00:31:57,283
He got
real secluded.

603
00:31:57,384 --> 00:31:58,985
Didn't want anybody
in the house.

604
00:31:59,085 --> 00:32:00,720
Didn't want to be
around nobody.

605
00:32:01,521 --> 00:32:02,489
Just kind of--

606
00:32:03,857 --> 00:32:05,125
Now that I think
back on it

607
00:32:05,225 --> 00:32:06,893
kind of giving up
on himself.

608
00:32:08,762 --> 00:32:10,497
Man, I tried
to talk to him

609
00:32:10,597 --> 00:32:12,866
and asked him what was wrong,
but he didn't tell me.

610
00:32:15,168 --> 00:32:16,870
And then he has
sores on his head.

611
00:32:16,970 --> 00:32:18,071
He had his throat cut.

612
00:32:18,171 --> 00:32:19,673
His face
was scratched up.

613
00:32:21,574 --> 00:32:23,877
I would ask Anthony about it,
but he always had an excuse.

614
00:32:25,211 --> 00:32:27,147
Like he said he was in
an abandoned house

615
00:32:27,247 --> 00:32:29,516
and that something
fell on his head.

616
00:32:30,450 --> 00:32:31,818
Or he was going
through the park

617
00:32:31,918 --> 00:32:33,086
and he asked
somebody for a light

618
00:32:33,186 --> 00:32:34,054
and they slit his throat.

619
00:32:36,122 --> 00:32:37,691
I believe everything
Anthony told me

620
00:32:37,791 --> 00:32:39,159
about the injuries
that he had

621
00:32:39,259 --> 00:32:41,795
because I didn't expect him
to do nothing like this.

622
00:33:34,314 --> 00:33:35,949
There were
two Anthony Sowell,

623
00:33:36,049 --> 00:33:38,518
there was the one that
interacted with his neighbors,

624
00:33:38,618 --> 00:33:41,187
who was described
as affable, friendly,

625
00:33:41,287 --> 00:33:42,555
would shovel their snow,

626
00:33:42,655 --> 00:33:44,157
would help them
run errands,

627
00:33:44,257 --> 00:33:45,725
would have barbecues
with them,

628
00:33:45,825 --> 00:33:48,161
and he would talk to them
about current events.

629
00:33:48,261 --> 00:33:49,996
What's going on
in the neighborhood?

630
00:33:50,096 --> 00:33:51,765
What's that smell
in the neighborhood?

631
00:33:53,233 --> 00:33:55,402
He cut grass,
go to the store

632
00:33:55,502 --> 00:33:57,470
for people and he was--

633
00:33:57,570 --> 00:33:58,972
he did some
good things for people.

634
00:34:06,613 --> 00:34:08,214
And then
there was the other
Anthony Sowell,

635
00:34:08,314 --> 00:34:09,649
the one who only
revealed himself

636
00:34:09,749 --> 00:34:11,785
to these women
when they were alone
in his house.

637
00:34:25,799 --> 00:34:27,100
I do think
he learned from his mom

638
00:34:27,200 --> 00:34:29,069
how to have these
two different personas.

639
00:34:29,169 --> 00:34:30,937
The outside person,
the inside person.

640
00:34:31,037 --> 00:34:33,306
So his mom inside
the home was abusive.

641
00:34:33,940 --> 00:34:35,308
Outside the home,

642
00:34:35,408 --> 00:34:38,411
it was totally
fine and normal
to any observer.

643
00:34:40,313 --> 00:34:42,882
And so through that,
Anthony learned to socialize

644
00:34:42,982 --> 00:34:45,652
inside his
violent tendencies

645
00:34:45,752 --> 00:34:48,655
outside to be
an upstanding citizen

646
00:34:48,755 --> 00:34:50,223
that can get along
with everyone.

647
00:34:50,323 --> 00:34:51,358
Neighborly person.

648
00:34:51,458 --> 00:34:52,258
Everyone likes him.

649
00:34:54,828 --> 00:34:58,231
On the inside
he was committing these
horrible, heinous acts.

650
00:35:01,601 --> 00:35:03,670
Where no one ever
even suspected him.

651
00:35:10,543 --> 00:35:11,811
In the decaying
neighborhood

652
00:35:11,911 --> 00:35:13,546
in which Sowell lived.

653
00:35:13,646 --> 00:35:14,948
It is the perfect
place for him

654
00:35:15,048 --> 00:35:16,916
to commit these
gruesome crimes.

655
00:35:21,221 --> 00:35:22,756
It was a high
crime neighborhood,

656
00:35:22,856 --> 00:35:24,491
predominantly
black community,

657
00:35:24,591 --> 00:35:28,228
and unfortunately,
that was largely
part of the problem

658
00:35:28,328 --> 00:35:30,663
that the police
were ignoring it.

659
00:35:30,764 --> 00:35:32,799
Cleveland didn't have
a missing persons unit.

660
00:35:32,899 --> 00:35:34,801
You just called the detectives
at the Detective Bureau,

661
00:35:34,901 --> 00:35:36,569
and they may or may not
have made time for this.

662
00:35:38,538 --> 00:35:42,108
Officially, we do not look
for people missing

663
00:35:42,208 --> 00:35:46,846
unless there is a official
missing person's report made.

664
00:35:48,148 --> 00:35:50,450
And checking the reports

665
00:35:50,550 --> 00:35:55,021
we did not see any official
missing persons reports

666
00:35:55,655 --> 00:35:57,457
for most of the victims.

667
00:35:59,459 --> 00:36:01,728
I hate to say that,
but that's true.

668
00:36:01,828 --> 00:36:05,632
Me being a black
police officer, detective.

669
00:36:05,732 --> 00:36:08,835
I can understand that
there was mistrust

670
00:36:08,935 --> 00:36:11,071
between the black community

671
00:36:11,171 --> 00:36:12,739
and the police department.

672
00:36:12,839 --> 00:36:16,042
Their thinking
was that they're not
going to do anything

673
00:36:16,142 --> 00:36:17,277
for my loved ones,

674
00:36:17,377 --> 00:36:21,181
so maybe if we
do it ourselves,

675
00:36:21,281 --> 00:36:23,983
then will be more effective
than the Police Department.

676
00:36:26,052 --> 00:36:29,122
He was able to keep
bringing in these victims,

677
00:36:29,222 --> 00:36:31,891
and he keeps
getting away with it.

678
00:36:31,991 --> 00:36:34,060
If you get away with things
over and over again,

679
00:36:34,160 --> 00:36:36,396
why are you gonna get--
think you're gonna
get caught the next time?

680
00:36:37,297 --> 00:36:39,466
This case was really
just a perfect storm

681
00:36:39,566 --> 00:36:44,170
of every the risk factor
you could possibly have.

682
00:36:44,270 --> 00:36:46,206
Take a convicted
sex offender

683
00:36:46,306 --> 00:36:47,874
with a crack,
cocaine addiction

684
00:36:47,974 --> 00:36:51,044
put him in a densely
populated urban area.

685
00:36:51,144 --> 00:36:53,046
Surrounded by people.

686
00:36:53,146 --> 00:36:55,482
Who the police
will not go looking for
once they're missing.

687
00:36:55,582 --> 00:36:57,450
And then you give him

688
00:36:57,550 --> 00:36:59,753
six years of United States
Marine Corps

689
00:36:59,853 --> 00:37:01,221
military training.

690
00:37:01,321 --> 00:37:03,523
And an intense,
misogynistic hatred.

691
00:37:03,623 --> 00:37:05,125
And it's a recipe
for disaster,

692
00:37:05,225 --> 00:37:07,160
and that's exactly
what happened
in this case.

693
00:37:17,003 --> 00:37:19,272
So we found
two decomposed bodies

694
00:37:19,372 --> 00:37:21,875
on the third floor
in the south bedroom.

695
00:37:24,544 --> 00:37:27,580
Now we decided
to check any closet,

696
00:37:28,148 --> 00:37:29,382
in any enclosed area.

697
00:37:31,151 --> 00:37:32,886
We need to make sure

698
00:37:32,986 --> 00:37:35,822
that we leave
nothing unchecked.

699
00:37:35,922 --> 00:37:38,558
Until we make sure
that there's not a body.

700
00:37:47,100 --> 00:37:49,002
What we discovered

701
00:37:49,102 --> 00:37:52,972
was there were two
plastic garbage bags.

702
00:37:53,073 --> 00:37:55,875
We knew one,
it was full of clothing.

703
00:37:56,843 --> 00:37:59,112
But there was another
garbage bag.

704
00:37:59,546 --> 00:38:00,547
It was tied up.

705
00:38:03,550 --> 00:38:06,753
Unfortunately tapping
in the bag and touching it,

706
00:38:06,853 --> 00:38:09,255
we discovered
that it was not clothing.

707
00:38:09,356 --> 00:38:12,859
There was actually another
body in that plastic bag.

708
00:38:17,097 --> 00:38:18,798
And that was located
on the floor

709
00:38:18,898 --> 00:38:22,402
next to the two
victims that we discovered
on the floor.

710
00:38:23,870 --> 00:38:26,840
Now, as a homicide
detective,

711
00:38:26,940 --> 00:38:28,608
you're thinking.

712
00:38:28,708 --> 00:38:31,311
Okay, we discover
another body in the bag.

713
00:38:31,411 --> 00:38:32,512
How many bodies are there?

714
00:38:32,612 --> 00:38:35,682
We need to be
checking everything.

715
00:38:35,782 --> 00:38:39,486
There was a large mound
of dirt in the basement,

716
00:38:40,620 --> 00:38:41,721
And when I say large,

717
00:38:41,821 --> 00:38:44,491
this is extremely
large and unusual

718
00:38:44,591 --> 00:38:48,395
to have this much dirt
under a stairway

719
00:38:48,495 --> 00:38:49,662
leading to the basement.

720
00:38:51,097 --> 00:38:53,566
You stuck the shovel
into the pile of dirt

721
00:38:53,667 --> 00:38:57,070
Immediately,
the decomp smell

722
00:38:57,170 --> 00:39:00,540
would start to emanate
from the dirt.

723
00:39:01,708 --> 00:39:05,979
We felt that this could be
a victim as well.

724
00:39:07,914 --> 00:39:10,183
They uncovered another body

725
00:39:10,617 --> 00:39:12,018
under that dirt.

726
00:39:13,420 --> 00:39:16,056
The ligature
was still there.

727
00:39:16,156 --> 00:39:21,161
He just decided this the way
I'm going to kill you.

728
00:39:21,261 --> 00:39:23,163
And this is the way
I'm gonna bury you.

729
00:39:23,863 --> 00:39:25,098
With it around your neck.

730
00:39:26,466 --> 00:39:29,102
This is the fourth
dead body police
have discovered

731
00:39:29,202 --> 00:39:31,705
in Anthony Sowell
House of horrors.

732
00:39:33,540 --> 00:39:35,842
Further investigating
the basement

733
00:39:36,943 --> 00:39:38,645
We found the skull

734
00:39:39,112 --> 00:39:40,447
in a red bucket.

735
00:39:42,982 --> 00:39:45,151
No flesh on the skull.

736
00:39:46,419 --> 00:39:47,687
But it was a human skull.

737
00:39:51,624 --> 00:39:53,126
What came
into your mind

738
00:39:53,226 --> 00:39:55,295
automatically
was where's the body?

739
00:39:59,699 --> 00:40:02,235
We never
discovered or found the body.

740
00:40:02,335 --> 00:40:04,304
I think he buried it
somewhere different.

741
00:40:07,407 --> 00:40:09,342
And then the crew
went back to the third floor

742
00:40:09,442 --> 00:40:12,012
because now
we have daylight hours.

743
00:40:13,413 --> 00:40:15,615
We're gonna do
further investigation.

744
00:40:15,715 --> 00:40:17,150
We're gonna look
for more evidence.

745
00:40:19,953 --> 00:40:23,323
There was a crawl space
in there, saw a bedroom,

746
00:40:25,392 --> 00:40:29,195
and there was a large mound
of dirt in the crawlspace.

747
00:40:31,431 --> 00:40:35,835
So we organized a dig party
for that as well.

748
00:40:35,935 --> 00:40:39,839
And we discovered
another body
in the crawl space.

749
00:40:41,608 --> 00:40:43,610
And during that process,

750
00:40:45,078 --> 00:40:47,080
Anthony Sowell
is still missing.

751
00:40:49,416 --> 00:40:51,818
Police discover multiple
decomposed bodies

752
00:40:51,918 --> 00:40:53,386
at the House of horrors.

753
00:40:53,486 --> 00:40:55,555
And they're not even
done searching.

754
00:40:55,655 --> 00:40:58,291
How many women
has Anthony Sowell killed?

755
00:40:58,391 --> 00:40:59,759
And how many
more will die

756
00:40:59,859 --> 00:41:01,361
before they can
track him down?

757
00:41:15,141 --> 00:41:19,012
I was in homicide
for about eight years.

758
00:41:21,948 --> 00:41:23,650
So I've seen
some crime scenes

759
00:41:23,750 --> 00:41:25,318
that was really terrible.

760
00:41:25,418 --> 00:41:29,622
But the number of bodies
I've never seen that before.

761
00:41:29,723 --> 00:41:32,325
And the way they were
hidden and buried.

762
00:41:32,425 --> 00:41:34,661
Never seen that before.

763
00:41:34,761 --> 00:41:38,298
Most of the victims
were killed through
ligature strangulation.

764
00:41:41,101 --> 00:41:43,203
When the police arrive
on the scene,

765
00:41:43,303 --> 00:41:44,270
people come out.

766
00:41:44,371 --> 00:41:45,772
They want to know
what's going on.

767
00:41:45,872 --> 00:41:47,540
The media,
they're reporting it

768
00:41:50,010 --> 00:41:52,278
It had spread
panic throughout the city.

769
00:41:53,079 --> 00:41:56,282
They're seeing us
pull our bodies

770
00:41:56,383 --> 00:41:59,686
on carts going
to the coroner's office.

771
00:41:59,786 --> 00:42:00,720
Who are the bodies?

772
00:42:00,820 --> 00:42:02,889
What's going on?

773
00:42:02,989 --> 00:42:04,557
Why are all these
bodies here?

774
00:42:07,327 --> 00:42:11,231
Because of the stage
of decomposition

775
00:42:11,331 --> 00:42:12,432
of their bodies,

776
00:42:12,532 --> 00:42:15,101
we could not make
proper identification.

777
00:42:18,672 --> 00:42:20,006
Multiple people
showed up

778
00:42:20,106 --> 00:42:22,008
holding photos
and it became,

779
00:42:22,108 --> 00:42:25,979
Oh no. Could these women
be in the house?

780
00:42:26,079 --> 00:42:28,181
They were holding
candles, flowers,

781
00:42:28,281 --> 00:42:31,351
but they stood silent
and you're seeing tears.

782
00:42:31,451 --> 00:42:33,119
I stayed
right down the street,

783
00:42:33,920 --> 00:42:35,021
I wouldn't have
never thought

784
00:42:35,121 --> 00:42:36,890
nothing like that
being in one house.

785
00:42:40,360 --> 00:42:42,195
I got a knock
on the door.

786
00:42:42,295 --> 00:42:43,263
It wasn't the police.

787
00:42:43,363 --> 00:42:46,733
It was somebody
that had been at the house.

788
00:42:46,833 --> 00:42:51,137
And all they said was
they found somebody
dead in the house.

789
00:42:51,237 --> 00:42:53,340
Now my kids
are crying.

790
00:42:53,440 --> 00:42:55,675
Everybody is hysterical

791
00:42:55,775 --> 00:42:56,810
because we're thinking

792
00:42:56,910 --> 00:42:58,945
it's Anthony
in the house dead.

793
00:43:02,515 --> 00:43:03,450
No one
would ever think

794
00:43:03,550 --> 00:43:05,485
Anthony was capable
of doing this.

795
00:43:05,585 --> 00:43:07,253
He was smooth with people.

796
00:43:07,354 --> 00:43:09,656
He was so smooth
and clever.

797
00:43:12,025 --> 00:43:15,362
I went over there,
but they wouldn't let me in.

798
00:43:15,462 --> 00:43:20,233
They just said we found
somebody dead in the house.

799
00:43:20,333 --> 00:43:22,569
We'll come
and we'll talk to you.

800
00:43:25,405 --> 00:43:28,141
You have two
decomposed bodies

801
00:43:28,241 --> 00:43:30,176
that was taken out
the first day.

802
00:43:32,112 --> 00:43:36,016
the three decomposed
bodies that was taken out
the next day.

803
00:43:41,121 --> 00:43:43,423
And a skull that
was in a red bucket.

804
00:43:48,895 --> 00:43:51,231
Could there be bodies
in the backyard as well?

805
00:43:54,134 --> 00:43:55,869
I had walked outside

806
00:43:55,969 --> 00:43:57,704
and walked
to the backyard.

807
00:43:59,706 --> 00:44:00,840
What made this backyard

808
00:44:00,940 --> 00:44:03,176
particularly different
was it was lumpy.

809
00:44:03,843 --> 00:44:05,211
There were areas in which

810
00:44:05,311 --> 00:44:08,448
where you would
suspect the lawn
to be leveled,

811
00:44:09,649 --> 00:44:12,986
or smooth, even though
the grass is high,

812
00:44:13,086 --> 00:44:16,423
We had mounds
in which there was dirt.

813
00:44:16,523 --> 00:44:17,590
No grass growing there.

814
00:44:17,691 --> 00:44:18,925
Why is this mound here?

815
00:44:21,294 --> 00:44:24,130
We had a K-9 come

816
00:44:24,230 --> 00:44:27,901
and the handler
took the dog throughout
the backyard.

817
00:44:28,001 --> 00:44:31,137
There was a spot
closer to the house,

818
00:44:32,305 --> 00:44:35,108
the bush right
at the back stairs.

819
00:44:35,208 --> 00:44:37,610
The dog had sort of hit
on that spot,

820
00:44:37,711 --> 00:44:38,845
so we broke ground.

821
00:44:42,148 --> 00:44:45,352
And now we found
there was an additional body.

822
00:44:46,219 --> 00:44:48,388
In the yard.

823
00:44:48,488 --> 00:44:51,057
Two o'clock,
the 19 action news
chopper arrives

824
00:44:51,157 --> 00:44:53,960
over Anthony Sowell's house
after sources told us

825
00:44:54,060 --> 00:44:56,429
they found more bodies
in the backyard.

826
00:44:58,631 --> 00:45:00,333
The rest
of the bodies

827
00:45:00,433 --> 00:45:02,569
were found
in the rear yard.

828
00:45:05,005 --> 00:45:08,575
And it was
escalated gingerly.

829
00:45:08,675 --> 00:45:12,212
Because 15 inches
on the ground.

830
00:45:12,312 --> 00:45:14,481
That's how deep they were.
Only 15 inch.

831
00:45:18,485 --> 00:45:20,487
We found five
more in backyard.

832
00:45:22,389 --> 00:45:23,890
It was very personal.

833
00:45:23,990 --> 00:45:26,526
I live southeast
of that location.

834
00:45:28,595 --> 00:45:30,196
You have girls.
You spoil them.

835
00:45:30,296 --> 00:45:31,998
You want to be
their protector.

836
00:45:32,098 --> 00:45:33,800
I felt that way.

837
00:45:33,900 --> 00:45:38,204
And so, seeing these
women become victims

838
00:45:38,304 --> 00:45:40,940
of a person like this,

839
00:45:41,041 --> 00:45:43,443
I felt like man,
It's just too close.

840
00:45:46,813 --> 00:45:47,747
You could see
the panic

841
00:45:47,847 --> 00:45:48,882
in everybody's eyes

842
00:45:48,982 --> 00:45:50,483
that how bad is this
going to get?

843
00:45:52,786 --> 00:45:54,421
Kyana Hunt
has not seen her mom,

844
00:45:54,521 --> 00:45:56,389
Nancy Cobbs,
in six months.

845
00:45:58,391 --> 00:46:00,393
I called a top
law enforcement official

846
00:46:00,493 --> 00:46:01,327
at the Cleveland
Police Department

847
00:46:01,428 --> 00:46:02,295
who was inside the scene.

848
00:46:02,395 --> 00:46:04,664
And I said,
"If I report right now

849
00:46:04,764 --> 00:46:06,633
is the number 11,
is that accurate?"

850
00:46:07,500 --> 00:46:09,436
He says, "It is accurate.
God help us."

851
00:46:13,239 --> 00:46:14,674
I sat on
the porch watching

852
00:46:20,480 --> 00:46:21,881
when that
story published

853
00:46:22,882 --> 00:46:24,784
the screaming
and wailing occurred

854
00:46:27,220 --> 00:46:28,421
Mothers broke down.

855
00:46:36,029 --> 00:46:37,030
They fell
to their knees.

856
00:46:39,432 --> 00:46:40,367
People ran around.

857
00:46:40,467 --> 00:46:42,268
They were just in
shock and fear.

858
00:46:42,369 --> 00:46:44,571
I've never seen anything
like that and never
want to see it again.

859
00:46:46,706 --> 00:46:47,874
As police remove

860
00:46:47,974 --> 00:46:51,244
one body after another
from Sowell's house.

861
00:46:51,344 --> 00:46:53,179
One question hangs
over everything.

862
00:46:53,947 --> 00:46:56,416
Where is Anthony Sowell?

863
00:46:56,516 --> 00:46:58,752
He got the name
the Cleveland Strangler

864
00:46:58,852 --> 00:46:59,886
from the news media.

865
00:46:59,986 --> 00:47:02,222
And once everything
started getting out

866
00:47:02,322 --> 00:47:04,057
into the media,
it was chaos.

867
00:47:04,157 --> 00:47:05,492
People were
seeing him everywhere.

868
00:47:05,592 --> 00:47:06,659
I was telling my guys.

869
00:47:06,760 --> 00:47:08,795
It's like the
Michael Myers effect.

870
00:47:08,895 --> 00:47:09,896
From the movie Halloween.

871
00:47:09,996 --> 00:47:11,498
Everybody saw him
everywhere.

872
00:47:11,598 --> 00:47:13,733
There was reports that
he was at his sister's house,

873
00:47:13,833 --> 00:47:15,268
walking down the street
with a beer in his hand.

874
00:47:15,368 --> 00:47:16,970
But they were all
dead ends,

875
00:47:17,070 --> 00:47:19,139
and Halloween
was the next day.

876
00:47:21,608 --> 00:47:23,877
And there was concern
amongst many mothers

877
00:47:23,977 --> 00:47:26,413
should they cancel
Halloween because this man
was on the loose.

878
00:47:29,349 --> 00:47:32,285
Police searched
for this monster
on the eve of Halloween,

879
00:47:32,385 --> 00:47:34,320
but they had a chance
to zero in on him

880
00:47:34,421 --> 00:47:36,256
a year earlier in 2008,

881
00:47:36,356 --> 00:47:37,991
when one of his
surviving victims

882
00:47:38,091 --> 00:47:41,127
told her horrifying story
to Cleveland investigators.

883
00:47:42,829 --> 00:47:44,531
I never knew
Anthony Sowell

884
00:47:45,565 --> 00:47:47,233
before that day.

885
00:47:52,772 --> 00:47:54,574
I didn't grow up
in Mount Pleasant,

886
00:47:54,674 --> 00:47:56,743
and I just became
an honorary member.

887
00:47:56,843 --> 00:47:58,511
I was a happy
mother of four.

888
00:48:00,413 --> 00:48:02,115
well balanced children,

889
00:48:02,215 --> 00:48:04,417
you know, we sat down
to dinner together.

890
00:48:04,517 --> 00:48:06,219
We played together.

891
00:48:06,319 --> 00:48:07,287
We learned together.

892
00:48:07,387 --> 00:48:08,421
We worshiped together.

893
00:48:08,521 --> 00:48:11,257
I was working
a full time job,

894
00:48:11,358 --> 00:48:13,093
and then started
my own business.

895
00:48:19,099 --> 00:48:20,900
I met my husband,

896
00:48:21,001 --> 00:48:23,903
and that's how I got
introduced to drugs.

897
00:48:25,705 --> 00:48:28,808
I started off going down
to Mount Pleasant,

898
00:48:28,908 --> 00:48:30,477
probably about
once a week,

899
00:48:30,577 --> 00:48:32,078
to purchase drugs,

900
00:48:32,178 --> 00:48:34,147
and it just
got to the point

901
00:48:34,247 --> 00:48:35,882
where I didn't
go back home.

902
00:48:41,087 --> 00:48:42,956
When I first met Anthony,

903
00:48:45,725 --> 00:48:47,360
I was standing
near the bus stop,

904
00:48:48,895 --> 00:48:50,630
and he comes
walking past

905
00:48:50,730 --> 00:48:52,932
And he says,
"It's my birthday.

906
00:48:53,033 --> 00:48:55,101
Ain't nobody
celebrating my birthday."

907
00:48:55,201 --> 00:48:57,003
And I said, "Happy birthday."

908
00:48:59,572 --> 00:49:01,875
He invited me
to go with him to his house,

909
00:49:01,975 --> 00:49:03,109
celebrate his birthday.

910
00:49:04,511 --> 00:49:05,879
He said he had

911
00:49:05,979 --> 00:49:09,149
some crack and some drink
and some weed at the house.

912
00:49:09,249 --> 00:49:10,884
He said, and, um...

913
00:49:10,984 --> 00:49:12,018
He asked me,
did I want to come?

914
00:49:15,021 --> 00:49:16,656
We started to walk
to his house.

915
00:49:17,424 --> 00:49:19,292
And as we were walking,

916
00:49:19,392 --> 00:49:20,360
there were people,

917
00:49:20,460 --> 00:49:22,262
you know, waving to him.

918
00:49:22,362 --> 00:49:23,496
He got a lot of respect

919
00:49:23,596 --> 00:49:25,131
as we walked to the house.

920
00:49:26,733 --> 00:49:28,034
It seemed like
it was all right.

921
00:49:32,839 --> 00:49:34,174
We finally got to his house.

922
00:49:34,841 --> 00:49:35,709
When he opened the door,

923
00:49:36,576 --> 00:49:37,610
I could just feel the...

924
00:49:38,511 --> 00:49:41,214
I could feel
the eeriness, the...

925
00:49:42,215 --> 00:49:42,916
the air.

926
00:49:43,016 --> 00:49:44,317
It was thick with just

927
00:49:44,818 --> 00:49:46,953
something not good.

928
00:49:47,487 --> 00:49:48,188
And...

929
00:49:49,189 --> 00:49:50,357
by that time,

930
00:49:50,457 --> 00:49:51,624
it's too late to turn around.

931
00:49:57,764 --> 00:49:59,032
As we went

932
00:49:59,132 --> 00:50:01,067
to where he stayed,
in the third floor,

933
00:50:01,701 --> 00:50:03,003
you could smell

934
00:50:03,403 --> 00:50:04,304
a smell.

935
00:50:05,038 --> 00:50:07,841
And he explained
the smell away.

936
00:50:10,677 --> 00:50:13,313
He said,
"That's the smell coming
from the sausage factory."

937
00:50:15,015 --> 00:50:15,849
So...

938
00:50:17,851 --> 00:50:19,452
we're sitting there.

939
00:50:19,552 --> 00:50:21,321
He was talking about
a relationship

940
00:50:21,421 --> 00:50:22,322
that he was in...

941
00:50:25,458 --> 00:50:27,594
where the girl
did him so wrong.

942
00:50:29,729 --> 00:50:31,164
How he hated her for that.

943
00:50:35,602 --> 00:50:36,503
Those eyes went black.

944
00:50:36,603 --> 00:50:38,204
He... He was...

945
00:50:38,304 --> 00:50:39,406
He wasn't there.

946
00:50:42,409 --> 00:50:43,443
I see them eyes.

947
00:50:44,744 --> 00:50:45,779
That's the most...

948
00:50:48,848 --> 00:50:50,617
Empty, lifeless...

949
00:50:52,185 --> 00:50:54,854
evil I've ever seen.

950
00:50:54,954 --> 00:50:55,889
Ever.

951
00:50:55,989 --> 00:50:57,490
I ain't never seen
nothing like that before.

952
00:51:01,828 --> 00:51:03,196
He turned around
and punched me in my face.

953
00:51:08,501 --> 00:51:10,704
For the next hours and hours,

954
00:51:10,804 --> 00:51:12,005
it was all bad.

955
00:51:12,939 --> 00:51:13,707
And he kept...

956
00:51:15,008 --> 00:51:15,909
He kept telling me...

957
00:51:17,410 --> 00:51:19,512
"You don't deserve
what I'm about to do to you."

958
00:51:19,612 --> 00:51:20,947
I'm thinking,
"What that mean?"

959
00:51:22,582 --> 00:51:23,917
He kept telling me,

960
00:51:24,017 --> 00:51:26,353
he gonna throw me
in the closet

961
00:51:26,453 --> 00:51:28,822
for three days
and not let me out. I mean...

962
00:51:28,922 --> 00:51:29,989
What do that mean?

963
00:51:36,429 --> 00:51:37,163
But...

964
00:51:38,465 --> 00:51:39,232
as...

965
00:51:40,934 --> 00:51:43,970
as he hit me
and raped me and whatever,

966
00:51:44,704 --> 00:51:45,705
I'm thinking,

967
00:51:46,673 --> 00:51:48,041
"Is this how I'm gonna die?"

968
00:51:51,911 --> 00:51:54,147
Ain't nobody gonna
know where I'm at. I'm...

969
00:51:54,881 --> 00:51:56,349
My family ain't gonna know.

970
00:52:00,920 --> 00:52:03,623
I finally asked,
"Could I use the bathroom?"

971
00:52:05,959 --> 00:52:07,227
So he said, "Yeah."

972
00:52:08,828 --> 00:52:11,898
And when he went to
walk me to the bathroom,

973
00:52:11,998 --> 00:52:14,534
there was a space

974
00:52:14,634 --> 00:52:15,702
where there was a tarp.

975
00:52:16,302 --> 00:52:18,238
The tarp was pinned back.

976
00:52:21,841 --> 00:52:23,543
And out the corner
of my eye...

977
00:52:25,278 --> 00:52:25,945
I look at...

978
00:52:27,180 --> 00:52:29,115
I know I don't see
what I'm seeing.

979
00:52:33,253 --> 00:52:34,487
Looked like a body.

980
00:52:34,587 --> 00:52:35,755
It ain't had no head on it.

981
00:52:35,855 --> 00:52:38,458
It was wrapped up

982
00:52:38,558 --> 00:52:39,759
in plastic.

983
00:53:06,219 --> 00:53:07,253
I've never

984
00:53:07,854 --> 00:53:08,788
seen nothing

985
00:53:09,422 --> 00:53:11,925
like that in my life ever.

986
00:53:12,926 --> 00:53:13,760
Never.

987
00:53:13,860 --> 00:53:14,728
I didn't even

988
00:53:14,828 --> 00:53:16,896
let him know that I seen it,

989
00:53:16,996 --> 00:53:19,466
or that I acknowledged it,

990
00:53:19,566 --> 00:53:21,801
or I think he would have...

991
00:53:21,901 --> 00:53:23,136
I don't know
what he would have did.

992
00:53:25,105 --> 00:53:26,606
Most likely, Anthony knew

993
00:53:26,706 --> 00:53:28,241
she was gonna see that body.

994
00:53:28,341 --> 00:53:29,676
He knows where it was.

995
00:53:30,677 --> 00:53:32,746
Why would you just leave
a headless body there

996
00:53:32,846 --> 00:53:34,481
if not to cause fear?

997
00:53:37,050 --> 00:53:38,418
It was the next day.

998
00:53:39,019 --> 00:53:40,220
He was contemplating on

999
00:53:40,320 --> 00:53:41,588
what he was gonna do with me.

1000
00:53:42,722 --> 00:53:45,792
And I said, "Say, um,

1001
00:53:45,892 --> 00:53:48,395
it was just rougher
than I'm used to.

1002
00:53:48,495 --> 00:53:50,497
But I'll come back
or whatever."

1003
00:53:51,164 --> 00:53:53,233
And whatever the words were

1004
00:53:53,333 --> 00:53:55,035
convinced him to...

1005
00:53:56,202 --> 00:53:57,370
let me go.

1006
00:53:59,506 --> 00:54:01,574
He gets off by making

1007
00:54:01,675 --> 00:54:03,143
these women uncomfortable,

1008
00:54:03,243 --> 00:54:03,943
by hurting them.

1009
00:54:06,146 --> 00:54:07,947
By making them scared.

1010
00:54:08,481 --> 00:54:10,984
And using that to

1011
00:54:11,484 --> 00:54:12,118
get off.

1012
00:54:12,218 --> 00:54:13,653
And so by her saying,

1013
00:54:13,753 --> 00:54:15,155
"Actually,
I kind of liked it,"

1014
00:54:16,189 --> 00:54:17,757
he's no longer aroused by her.

1015
00:54:17,857 --> 00:54:20,493
He's got to have that fear.

1016
00:54:24,097 --> 00:54:25,532
He opened the door
and it was like...

1017
00:54:27,033 --> 00:54:27,834
like birth.

1018
00:54:27,934 --> 00:54:29,569
The sun was out.

1019
00:54:29,669 --> 00:54:32,572
Everything was alive and...

1020
00:54:34,140 --> 00:54:35,108
And I'm walking

1021
00:54:35,909 --> 00:54:37,644
as fast as I could
to get away.

1022
00:54:38,111 --> 00:54:39,312
And people

1023
00:54:39,412 --> 00:54:41,147
are looking at me like I...

1024
00:54:44,417 --> 00:54:46,486
like I'm some kind
of piece of trash.

1025
00:54:48,388 --> 00:54:49,522
And nobody helped me.

1026
00:54:52,025 --> 00:54:55,428
So, made it to the corner,
called the police.

1027
00:54:56,029 --> 00:54:57,263
The police told me

1028
00:54:57,364 --> 00:54:58,698
to come to them.

1029
00:54:59,299 --> 00:55:00,734
Told me to come to them.

1030
00:55:01,768 --> 00:55:04,604
I couldn't come to y'all.
I couldn't even walk.

1031
00:55:05,338 --> 00:55:07,974
So I laid on the bus stop.

1032
00:55:08,074 --> 00:55:09,642
I just laid there...

1033
00:55:11,011 --> 00:55:12,812
until somebody I knew

1034
00:55:12,912 --> 00:55:14,080
walked me down the street.

1035
00:55:15,682 --> 00:55:16,916
Sex Crimes detectives
did not have

1036
00:55:17,017 --> 00:55:18,018
cell phones issued to them.

1037
00:55:18,118 --> 00:55:20,420
They did not have
email accounts issued to them.

1038
00:55:20,520 --> 00:55:21,621
So if you needed
to get in touch

1039
00:55:21,721 --> 00:55:23,656
with a detective who worked
at the Sex Crimes Unit,

1040
00:55:23,757 --> 00:55:25,825
you had to
physically go downtown

1041
00:55:25,925 --> 00:55:27,293
to the Sex Crimes Unit.

1042
00:55:27,394 --> 00:55:28,928
Any expert in this field

1043
00:55:29,029 --> 00:55:30,897
will tell you that's
an absolutely terrible way

1044
00:55:30,997 --> 00:55:32,365
of handling sex assault cases.

1045
00:55:32,465 --> 00:55:34,200
People don't want to go
into the police station.

1046
00:55:34,300 --> 00:55:36,336
They don't feel comfortable
doing that.

1047
00:55:36,436 --> 00:55:38,705
You have to be able
to meet people
on their own ground.

1048
00:55:38,805 --> 00:55:40,306
And the Sex Crimes Unit,

1049
00:55:40,407 --> 00:55:42,776
which was already understaffed
and underfunded at that point,

1050
00:55:42,876 --> 00:55:44,010
just wasn't
getting the job done.

1051
00:55:47,180 --> 00:55:49,416
On different occasions,

1052
00:55:49,516 --> 00:55:52,352
I've tried to tell the police
what happened.

1053
00:55:53,253 --> 00:55:56,089
They never wanted
to listen, you know.

1054
00:55:56,189 --> 00:55:58,458
It's just
appalling levels of failure

1055
00:55:58,558 --> 00:56:00,093
over and over and over again.

1056
00:56:02,062 --> 00:56:04,064
I think a lot of women
did try to come forward

1057
00:56:04,164 --> 00:56:05,298
about Anthony Sowell.

1058
00:56:06,132 --> 00:56:07,567
Every time they were ignored.

1059
00:56:11,204 --> 00:56:11,871
Um,

1060
00:56:12,439 --> 00:56:13,907
there was no urgency.

1061
00:56:16,843 --> 00:56:18,611
We have policies
and procedures

1062
00:56:18,712 --> 00:56:22,415
and ways in which
we perform certain duties

1063
00:56:23,049 --> 00:56:24,818
as the law enforcement,

1064
00:56:24,918 --> 00:56:28,021
and it needed to be revised.

1065
00:56:28,121 --> 00:56:30,156
So many people
have dropped the ball

1066
00:56:30,256 --> 00:56:31,925
and not done
what they were supposed to do.

1067
00:56:33,560 --> 00:56:34,527
In 1997,

1068
00:56:34,627 --> 00:56:35,829
while Anthony Sowell
was in prison

1069
00:56:35,929 --> 00:56:37,464
for the rape
of Melvette Sockwell,

1070
00:56:38,531 --> 00:56:41,935
Ohio created
a statewide database for DNA.

1071
00:56:42,035 --> 00:56:44,237
So they took
Anthony Sowell's DNA,

1072
00:56:44,337 --> 00:56:46,606
and it was sent to a lab
in Fairfax, Virginia,

1073
00:56:46,706 --> 00:56:47,841
where it was to be tested,

1074
00:56:47,941 --> 00:56:49,943
logged, entered
into the system.

1075
00:56:50,043 --> 00:56:51,044
It got lost in the mail.

1076
00:56:53,246 --> 00:56:55,415
So it was very easy for him
to continue to do what he did

1077
00:56:55,515 --> 00:56:56,316
long after

1078
00:56:56,416 --> 00:56:57,684
he should have been arrested.

1079
00:57:00,820 --> 00:57:02,389
We went back to the house

1080
00:57:02,489 --> 00:57:03,423
the next morning,

1081
00:57:03,523 --> 00:57:05,725
first sign of daylight.

1082
00:57:05,825 --> 00:57:08,728
I can recall we were
digging the backyard

1083
00:57:09,562 --> 00:57:10,930
for other victims.

1084
00:57:12,065 --> 00:57:13,633
One of
the uniform officers came

1085
00:57:13,733 --> 00:57:15,135
and told me that

1086
00:57:15,235 --> 00:57:18,171
there was a lady that
requested to see me.

1087
00:57:19,239 --> 00:57:21,174
She was a grandmother,

1088
00:57:21,274 --> 00:57:23,710
and she wanted to make

1089
00:57:23,810 --> 00:57:27,147
a missing persons report
at that point in time.

1090
00:57:27,247 --> 00:57:28,882
Later on, it turned out

1091
00:57:29,649 --> 00:57:31,051
it was her granddaughter,

1092
00:57:31,151 --> 00:57:33,586
Tishana Culver,

1093
00:57:33,687 --> 00:57:35,922
who was actually
one of the first victims.

1094
00:57:36,022 --> 00:57:38,558
She disappeared in 2007.

1095
00:57:41,761 --> 00:57:43,863
Forensic evidence identifies

1096
00:57:43,963 --> 00:57:45,331
Tishana Culver

1097
00:57:45,432 --> 00:57:48,134
as one of the women found
on the third floor house,

1098
00:57:48,702 --> 00:57:50,136
along with Nancy Cobbs,

1099
00:57:50,704 --> 00:57:52,072
Diane Turner,

1100
00:57:52,172 --> 00:57:53,640
and Telacia Fortson.

1101
00:57:53,740 --> 00:57:55,275
The woman discovered
in the basement

1102
00:57:55,375 --> 00:57:56,710
behind the stairs

1103
00:57:56,810 --> 00:57:59,112
is identified as Janice Webb.

1104
00:57:59,212 --> 00:58:01,514
The skull found
in the bucket nearby

1105
00:58:01,614 --> 00:58:03,049
is Leshanda Long.

1106
00:58:03,149 --> 00:58:05,352
And the five women
discovered in the yard

1107
00:58:05,452 --> 00:58:06,853
are Tonia Carmichael,

1108
00:58:07,420 --> 00:58:08,722
Crystal Dozier,

1109
00:58:08,822 --> 00:58:09,889
Michelle Mason,

1110
00:58:10,490 --> 00:58:11,524
Amelda Hunter,

1111
00:58:12,359 --> 00:58:13,259
and Kim Smith.

1112
00:58:15,128 --> 00:58:18,431
Investigators identify
all 11 victims.

1113
00:58:19,265 --> 00:58:20,667
Anthony Sowell,

1114
00:58:20,767 --> 00:58:22,268
The Cleveland Strangler,

1115
00:58:22,369 --> 00:58:23,303
is officially

1116
00:58:23,403 --> 00:58:25,472
the most notorious
serial killer

1117
00:58:25,572 --> 00:58:26,940
in the city's history.

1118
00:58:28,742 --> 00:58:30,310
The day
that I found out

1119
00:58:30,410 --> 00:58:31,845
that this stuff was going on,

1120
00:58:31,945 --> 00:58:33,446
somebody had called my phone.

1121
00:58:33,546 --> 00:58:34,948
They were screaming
and hollering, saying,

1122
00:58:35,048 --> 00:58:37,784
"We thought you were
one of the bodies in the house
that's dead."

1123
00:58:37,884 --> 00:58:38,785
And I'm like, "What?"

1124
00:58:38,885 --> 00:58:40,353
They was like,
"Turn the TV on."

1125
00:58:41,254 --> 00:58:43,023
It's the case
that broke open

1126
00:58:43,123 --> 00:58:46,659
a suspected serial killing
house of horrors.

1127
00:58:46,760 --> 00:58:48,628
Everything started
coming back. Why was this...

1128
00:58:48,728 --> 00:58:50,030
Oh, I was doing this.
He was doing...

1129
00:58:50,130 --> 00:58:52,365
Oh, everything
came back. Everything.

1130
00:58:53,900 --> 00:58:54,801
I was shocked.

1131
00:58:55,735 --> 00:58:57,837
I got a psychiatrist.

1132
00:58:57,937 --> 00:59:01,508
They say I'm diagnosed with
antipsychotic schizophrenic.

1133
00:59:01,608 --> 00:59:03,243
All kinds of stuff. I'd be
looking over my shoulder.

1134
00:59:03,343 --> 00:59:06,146
I just had a lot going on.

1135
00:59:06,246 --> 00:59:08,848
And I cried
because them ladies
didn't deserve that.

1136
00:59:11,317 --> 00:59:12,686
Even though Anthony Sowell

1137
00:59:12,786 --> 00:59:15,355
is the most wanted man
in Cleveland,

1138
00:59:15,455 --> 00:59:17,557
police make
another huge mistake

1139
00:59:17,657 --> 00:59:19,325
and let him slip away.

1140
00:59:19,426 --> 00:59:21,761
A zone car had him
the night before,

1141
00:59:21,861 --> 00:59:23,196
and he lied his way out of it.

1142
00:59:23,697 --> 00:59:25,065
And they let him go.

1143
00:59:26,866 --> 00:59:28,068
We're out there looking,

1144
00:59:28,168 --> 00:59:30,337
and we probably

1145
00:59:30,737 --> 00:59:31,838
searched

1146
00:59:31,938 --> 00:59:34,641
well over 100 vacant houses.

1147
00:59:34,741 --> 00:59:36,976
There are hundreds
and hundreds of officers
out there

1148
00:59:37,077 --> 00:59:38,144
searching for this guy.

1149
00:59:40,613 --> 00:59:43,416
While police are
going house to house,

1150
00:59:43,516 --> 00:59:46,119
an interesting call
comes into 911.

1151
01:00:20,687 --> 01:00:22,922
They were locking down
the bus station,

1152
01:00:23,023 --> 01:00:24,024
the airport,

1153
01:00:24,124 --> 01:00:26,593
the train station.

1154
01:00:26,693 --> 01:00:28,361
I was like,
"He's not gonna be there.

1155
01:00:28,461 --> 01:00:30,930
He's a person
of the neighborhood.

1156
01:00:31,031 --> 01:00:32,332
You know,
he's somewhere here."

1157
01:00:35,335 --> 01:00:37,704
The detectives had me
riding all around the city,

1158
01:00:37,804 --> 01:00:39,673
asking me what I know.

1159
01:00:39,773 --> 01:00:42,342
I kept telling them,
"No, I don't know where he at,
I haven't seen him."

1160
01:00:43,777 --> 01:00:45,745
I feel like I was a suspect,

1161
01:00:45,845 --> 01:00:47,480
but I knew
in my mind, in my head,

1162
01:00:47,580 --> 01:00:48,581
that I didn't do anything.

1163
01:00:50,750 --> 01:00:52,419
Anthony called me.

1164
01:00:52,519 --> 01:00:53,620
He said,

1165
01:00:53,720 --> 01:00:56,856
"The police are gonna tell you
some things that I did."

1166
01:00:56,956 --> 01:00:58,224
He said, "I did them."

1167
01:01:00,193 --> 01:01:00,994
And that was it.

1168
01:01:04,564 --> 01:01:06,399
When I found out
what Anthony did,

1169
01:01:06,499 --> 01:01:07,600
I couldn't believe it.

1170
01:01:08,835 --> 01:01:09,803
All I can say is

1171
01:01:09,903 --> 01:01:11,371
that was very selfish.

1172
01:01:13,039 --> 01:01:15,442
During most of
his murderous rampage,

1173
01:01:15,542 --> 01:01:17,410
Sowell is never a suspect.

1174
01:01:18,078 --> 01:01:18,712
Partly

1175
01:01:18,812 --> 01:01:20,413
because Cleveland police

1176
01:01:20,513 --> 01:01:23,016
barely bother to investigate
reports from women

1177
01:01:23,116 --> 01:01:24,984
about his violent attacks.

1178
01:01:25,085 --> 01:01:27,187
Women like Gladys Wade,

1179
01:01:27,287 --> 01:01:29,556
who was attacked
in December of 2008.

1180
01:01:30,957 --> 01:01:32,425
I think a lot about

1181
01:01:32,926 --> 01:01:34,027
how many times

1182
01:01:34,127 --> 01:01:36,129
Anthony Sowell
should have been caught

1183
01:01:36,229 --> 01:01:37,630
during this
serial murder spree.

1184
01:01:42,736 --> 01:01:44,070
I think a lot
about Gladys Wade.

1185
01:01:47,707 --> 01:01:49,175
Gladys Wade lived on
the east side of Cleveland.

1186
01:01:50,110 --> 01:01:52,679
One night
she was walking home.

1187
01:01:52,779 --> 01:01:55,115
She walked past
Anthony Sowell's house
on Imperial Avenue.

1188
01:01:56,516 --> 01:01:58,885
And he was outside
and he said "Merry Christmas."

1189
01:01:59,953 --> 01:02:01,788
She said "Merry Christmas"
back to him.

1190
01:02:01,888 --> 01:02:03,323
And he invited her
into his house.

1191
01:02:04,791 --> 01:02:06,559
And she said no,
she wasn't interested.

1192
01:02:06,659 --> 01:02:07,660
She kept on walking.

1193
01:02:11,264 --> 01:02:12,532
And then
the next thing she knew,

1194
01:02:12,632 --> 01:02:14,000
he grabbed her from behind.

1195
01:02:14,100 --> 01:02:16,302
He physically dragged her
inside the house.

1196
01:02:16,403 --> 01:02:17,737
She did not go willingly.

1197
01:02:17,837 --> 01:02:18,538
And she passed out.

1198
01:02:23,743 --> 01:02:25,111
He took her up
to the third floor

1199
01:02:25,211 --> 01:02:26,579
where he was
living at the time.

1200
01:02:26,680 --> 01:02:29,416
The same place where police
would later find the bodies.

1201
01:02:29,516 --> 01:02:30,650
And that's where she woke up.

1202
01:02:31,518 --> 01:02:32,385
She was lying on

1203
01:02:32,485 --> 01:02:33,753
the front room
of the third floor

1204
01:02:33,853 --> 01:02:35,188
on the south side
of the house.

1205
01:02:36,122 --> 01:02:37,357
He came back into the room,

1206
01:02:37,457 --> 01:02:38,825
closed the door behind him.

1207
01:02:40,994 --> 01:02:42,762
Then he said
something to the effect of,

1208
01:02:42,862 --> 01:02:44,464
"You can scream
but no one's gonna hear you."

1209
01:02:48,034 --> 01:02:50,403
Will Gladys Wade end up
like so many other victims

1210
01:02:50,503 --> 01:02:52,238
of The Cleveland Strangler?

1211
01:02:52,339 --> 01:02:54,441
Dead and buried
in his house of horrors?

1212
01:02:55,175 --> 01:02:57,077
Or will she somehow escape

1213
01:02:57,177 --> 01:02:58,545
and live to tell the tale?

1214
01:03:11,658 --> 01:03:13,793
Gladys Wade decided to fight.

1215
01:03:13,893 --> 01:03:16,029
She grabbed his testicles.
She gouged his eyes.

1216
01:03:16,129 --> 01:03:17,163
She gouged his face.

1217
01:03:18,164 --> 01:03:19,332
She was able to get past him

1218
01:03:19,432 --> 01:03:21,468
and run down the stairs
down to the first floor.

1219
01:03:24,104 --> 01:03:27,107
He chased her, he struggled
with her in the front lawn,

1220
01:03:27,207 --> 01:03:29,142
and she was able
to fight him off again.

1221
01:03:34,280 --> 01:03:36,016
After Gladys Wade
came forward,

1222
01:03:36,816 --> 01:03:38,051
Anthony Sowell was arrested.

1223
01:03:39,886 --> 01:03:41,287
But the arresting officer

1224
01:03:41,388 --> 01:03:43,590
incorrectly labeled
the incident as rape

1225
01:03:43,690 --> 01:03:45,158
in his incident report.

1226
01:03:45,959 --> 01:03:47,127
Gladys had been very clear,

1227
01:03:47,227 --> 01:03:48,695
a rape didn't actually
take place.

1228
01:03:48,795 --> 01:03:49,662
There was a kidnapping,

1229
01:03:49,763 --> 01:03:50,930
there was an assault,

1230
01:03:51,031 --> 01:03:53,199
but she fought him off
before the rape could happen.

1231
01:03:53,299 --> 01:03:54,334
So the city doesn't charge it

1232
01:03:54,434 --> 01:03:55,802
because the arresting officer

1233
01:03:55,902 --> 01:03:58,104
checked the wrong box
on his incident report.

1234
01:04:01,941 --> 01:04:04,010
This shocking act
of police incompetence

1235
01:04:04,110 --> 01:04:07,180
lets Anthony Sowell
off the hook again.

1236
01:04:07,280 --> 01:04:09,249
And that incompetence
costs lives.

1237
01:04:09,916 --> 01:04:11,451
Sowell murdered six more women

1238
01:04:11,551 --> 01:04:13,586
after Gladys Wade
escaped from his house.

1239
01:04:14,587 --> 01:04:16,056
He leaves behind
another witness

1240
01:04:16,156 --> 01:04:17,590
less than a year later.

1241
01:04:17,691 --> 01:04:19,993
In September 2009,

1242
01:04:20,093 --> 01:04:21,761
he attacks Latundra Billups.

1243
01:04:31,471 --> 01:04:33,707
Latundra Billups met Sowell.

1244
01:04:33,807 --> 01:04:36,343
He lured her
in the house to party.

1245
01:04:36,443 --> 01:04:38,678
While in the house,
she told Anthony Sowell

1246
01:04:38,778 --> 01:04:40,980
about a rumor
that he had raped

1247
01:04:41,081 --> 01:04:42,215
a woman prior.

1248
01:04:42,315 --> 01:04:43,583
That set Sowell off.

1249
01:04:45,185 --> 01:04:47,420
That was
a triggering moment for him

1250
01:04:47,520 --> 01:04:49,022
because he didn't want

1251
01:04:49,122 --> 01:04:50,123
to be found out.

1252
01:04:50,223 --> 01:04:52,359
And so she's
calling him out on this.

1253
01:04:53,460 --> 01:04:55,161
As he's bringing in
these women,

1254
01:04:55,261 --> 01:04:56,996
there's part of him
that's probably just hoping

1255
01:04:57,097 --> 01:04:58,665
maybe this is the new Lori.

1256
01:04:58,765 --> 01:05:00,734
Maybe this is
someone I can love.

1257
01:05:00,834 --> 01:05:02,902
But as he talks to them,

1258
01:05:03,003 --> 01:05:04,704
as he's interacting with them,

1259
01:05:04,804 --> 01:05:06,573
something probably clicks
and he goes, "No,

1260
01:05:06,673 --> 01:05:07,907
this is not Lori."

1261
01:05:08,008 --> 01:05:10,710
And that's when he starts,
you know, harming them.

1262
01:05:13,246 --> 01:05:16,149
And so by making
that single statement,

1263
01:05:16,249 --> 01:05:17,484
Latundra changes
the whole dynamic

1264
01:05:17,584 --> 01:05:21,187
as someone who is
his mother, not the Lori.

1265
01:05:22,856 --> 01:05:25,025
He attacked her brutally.

1266
01:05:25,125 --> 01:05:27,360
He strangled her
with an electrical cord.

1267
01:05:27,460 --> 01:05:28,628
He thought she was dead.

1268
01:05:30,030 --> 01:05:32,532
But she woke up.
And that surprised him.

1269
01:05:35,502 --> 01:05:36,670
And he let her go.

1270
01:05:38,204 --> 01:05:41,508
Maybe at that point,
he felt some sort
of excitement that, "Oh,

1271
01:05:41,608 --> 01:05:44,010
she knows that I've done this
and yet she's still here."

1272
01:05:45,478 --> 01:05:46,413
Maybe he wanted

1273
01:05:46,513 --> 01:05:48,481
to see what would happen
by letting her go.

1274
01:05:50,283 --> 01:05:52,886
A friend brings
Latundra to the hospital

1275
01:05:52,986 --> 01:05:54,354
where police take a statement.

1276
01:05:55,188 --> 01:05:56,690
But after
that first interview,

1277
01:05:57,290 --> 01:05:58,491
Latundra vanishes.

1278
01:05:59,626 --> 01:06:01,695
Police have no way
to follow up.

1279
01:06:01,795 --> 01:06:04,531
And they
never questioned Sowell
about the attack,

1280
01:06:04,631 --> 01:06:06,900
leaving him free to continue
raping and murdering

1281
01:06:07,000 --> 01:06:08,168
whenever he wants.

1282
01:06:08,935 --> 01:06:10,904
And in Sowell's twisted mind,

1283
01:06:11,004 --> 01:06:14,407
he believed he was doing
some kind of public service.

1284
01:06:14,507 --> 01:06:16,609
These were women
he thought deserved to die.

1285
01:06:17,577 --> 01:06:20,213
He saw it as helping society,

1286
01:06:20,313 --> 01:06:22,515
removing drug-addicted mothers
from the streets.

1287
01:06:23,616 --> 01:06:25,251
Sowell definitely was aware

1288
01:06:25,352 --> 01:06:27,554
he was committing
these crimes.

1289
01:06:27,654 --> 01:06:31,257
The question is whether or not
he thought they were crimes,

1290
01:06:31,358 --> 01:06:34,127
as opposed to
appropriate behavior.

1291
01:06:48,241 --> 01:06:50,643
When you can blame a victim,

1292
01:06:51,511 --> 01:06:53,013
someone that you murdered,

1293
01:06:53,980 --> 01:06:55,815
for their own death,

1294
01:06:55,915 --> 01:06:57,450
then

1295
01:06:57,550 --> 01:06:59,652
you have no feeling whatsoever

1296
01:07:00,086 --> 01:07:00,954
for anyone.

1297
01:07:02,922 --> 01:07:05,458
One month
after he attacks Billups,

1298
01:07:05,558 --> 01:07:07,093
Sowell strikes again.

1299
01:07:08,895 --> 01:07:11,431
Shawn Morris went
to Sowell's house to party.

1300
01:07:11,531 --> 01:07:13,066
After partying with Sowell,

1301
01:07:13,166 --> 01:07:14,601
Shawn Morris left the house.

1302
01:07:15,935 --> 01:07:17,037
On the way to somewhere else,

1303
01:07:17,137 --> 01:07:19,005
she realized she left her ID.

1304
01:07:20,106 --> 01:07:22,042
She went back to the house
to retrieve her ID.

1305
01:07:23,076 --> 01:07:23,977
He attacked her.

1306
01:07:25,679 --> 01:07:26,713
Anthony seemed to have

1307
01:07:26,813 --> 01:07:29,149
a ritualistic approach
to all of these attacks.

1308
01:07:29,249 --> 01:07:31,518
By targeting certain women,

1309
01:07:31,618 --> 01:07:32,719
bringing them into his home,

1310
01:07:32,819 --> 01:07:34,387
getting them comfortable,
before he then

1311
01:07:34,487 --> 01:07:36,322
went on to the rampage attack.

1312
01:07:36,423 --> 01:07:38,925
We'll start with the beating,
we'll strangle them,

1313
01:07:39,025 --> 01:07:40,427
make them fearful.

1314
01:07:42,062 --> 01:07:43,663
As he was
assaulting Shawn Morris,

1315
01:07:43,763 --> 01:07:45,532
he was screaming,
"I hate bitches."

1316
01:07:48,668 --> 01:07:49,669
She fell out of a window

1317
01:07:49,769 --> 01:07:51,705
from the third story
of his house.

1318
01:07:51,805 --> 01:07:53,707
And Sowell came
out of the house naked,

1319
01:07:53,807 --> 01:07:55,375
trying to pull her
back into the home.

1320
01:07:58,078 --> 01:07:59,813
He doesn't fear being seen.

1321
01:08:01,414 --> 01:08:03,950
The neighbor called
the ambulance.

1322
01:08:15,428 --> 01:08:18,064
While Shawn Morris
recovers in the hospital,

1323
01:08:18,164 --> 01:08:21,201
police finally track down
Latundra Billups.

1324
01:08:21,301 --> 01:08:24,437
This time, she gives them
a full statement.

1325
01:08:24,537 --> 01:08:27,107
And enough for a warrant
to search Sowell's house.

1326
01:08:28,274 --> 01:08:30,910
Two days after
the first bodies were found,

1327
01:08:31,511 --> 01:08:33,780
a call comes in to 911.

1328
01:08:36,349 --> 01:08:37,617
A citizen called and said,

1329
01:08:37,717 --> 01:08:40,320
"Hey, there's a guy that looks
like this Anthony Sowell

1330
01:08:40,420 --> 01:08:42,589
that you're looking for
over on Mount Auburn."

1331
01:08:43,890 --> 01:08:46,292
We were close by,
and I told my guys,

1332
01:08:46,393 --> 01:08:47,494
"We're gonna get him today."

1333
01:09:01,074 --> 01:09:02,809
We got there,
and I'm looking at him,

1334
01:09:02,909 --> 01:09:05,845
and he didn't look
like the picture that I had.

1335
01:09:08,515 --> 01:09:10,583
But there's just
something that told me

1336
01:09:11,851 --> 01:09:12,619
that...

1337
01:09:14,020 --> 01:09:15,488
I gotta look
a little bit further.

1338
01:09:17,323 --> 01:09:18,858
He had a scratch on his face,

1339
01:09:18,958 --> 01:09:20,393
like somebody scratched him.

1340
01:09:21,728 --> 01:09:24,330
So I said,
"Hey, we're looking for a guy.

1341
01:09:24,431 --> 01:09:26,633
You're pretty close
to who we're looking for."

1342
01:09:28,668 --> 01:09:30,003
I said, "I'll make
a deal with you."

1343
01:09:31,171 --> 01:09:33,540
I said, "We've been out
running around.

1344
01:09:33,640 --> 01:09:35,909
If you're not the guy
we're looking for,

1345
01:09:36,009 --> 01:09:38,345
you can go
to breakfast with us,
'cause we're hungry."

1346
01:09:41,147 --> 01:09:42,816
He was relaxed. He was

1347
01:09:43,516 --> 01:09:45,218
cool as a cucumber.

1348
01:09:45,318 --> 01:09:46,353
And...

1349
01:09:50,123 --> 01:09:51,791
For a fleeting moment there,
I said,

1350
01:09:51,891 --> 01:09:53,393
"Well, maybe this isn't him."

1351
01:09:56,162 --> 01:09:58,031
And he goes, "I'm Anthony.
I'm Anthony Sowell.

1352
01:09:58,131 --> 01:09:59,766
I'm the guy
you're looking for."

1353
01:10:03,737 --> 01:10:06,506
And he goes,
"I just want to die."

1354
01:10:06,606 --> 01:10:08,708
We were all standing around
looking at each other, like,

1355
01:10:09,843 --> 01:10:10,944
wow.

1356
01:10:13,713 --> 01:10:14,848
We just got

1357
01:10:14,948 --> 01:10:17,283
the biggest serial killer
in Cleveland history.

1358
01:10:18,918 --> 01:10:20,186
We didn't know what to say.

1359
01:10:20,286 --> 01:10:24,457
There was like
a really weird silence

1360
01:10:24,557 --> 01:10:25,558
the whole time.

1361
01:10:27,027 --> 01:10:29,129
So after Anthony Sowell
was arrested...

1362
01:10:31,598 --> 01:10:35,268
...my partner and I,
we conducted an interrogation.

1363
01:10:35,368 --> 01:10:37,437
This is my partner,
Detective Griffin.

1364
01:10:37,537 --> 01:10:39,539
I'm Detective Smith
with the Homicide Unit.

1365
01:10:40,640 --> 01:10:42,676
Our thought process
at this time is,

1366
01:10:43,209 --> 01:10:44,177
you have

1367
01:10:44,277 --> 01:10:46,646
to work for the victims.

1368
01:10:48,281 --> 01:10:49,916
And you have to figure out
why are they there,

1369
01:10:50,016 --> 01:10:51,184
how did they get there,

1370
01:10:52,252 --> 01:10:53,353
and what happened to them.

1371
01:11:24,551 --> 01:11:26,653
Anthony Sowell's
answers mostly were

1372
01:11:26,753 --> 01:11:28,555
nonspecific answers.

1373
01:11:28,655 --> 01:11:31,057
Wouldn't give us anything,
any details.

1374
01:11:32,392 --> 01:11:34,494
But what he started to do

1375
01:11:35,328 --> 01:11:37,731
was to relate things

1376
01:11:37,831 --> 01:11:39,699
to dreams.

1377
01:11:39,799 --> 01:11:42,702
So we thought maybe we could
get these answers,

1378
01:11:42,802 --> 01:11:43,837
pull these answers from him

1379
01:11:44,571 --> 01:11:46,606
by talking about his dreams.

1380
01:11:56,983 --> 01:11:58,585
We understand that

1381
01:11:58,685 --> 01:12:00,520
doing interviews
and interrogations,

1382
01:12:00,620 --> 01:12:02,555
it's gonna be hard
to get to the details.

1383
01:12:02,655 --> 01:12:04,157
Most of the time,

1384
01:12:04,257 --> 01:12:05,925
they want to give us a story.

1385
01:12:07,160 --> 01:12:08,628
My philosophy is,

1386
01:12:08,728 --> 01:12:10,897
as long as you
tell me a story,

1387
01:12:10,997 --> 01:12:12,132
I'm gonna listen.

1388
01:12:12,232 --> 01:12:15,068
And I'll ask questions
from your stories.

1389
01:12:15,168 --> 01:12:17,971
So, fortunately for us,

1390
01:12:18,071 --> 01:12:20,473
his stories
happen to be his dreams.

1391
01:12:34,154 --> 01:12:34,888
No.

1392
01:12:46,066 --> 01:12:47,901
When Anthony was
talking with the police,

1393
01:12:48,568 --> 01:12:50,770
he was the Cleveland neighbor,

1394
01:12:50,870 --> 01:12:52,872
that upstanding, good citizen.

1395
01:12:52,972 --> 01:12:54,541
But when he was in his house,

1396
01:12:55,642 --> 01:12:56,910
he was well aware
of what he was doing

1397
01:12:57,010 --> 01:12:58,311
when he was
talking to the police.

1398
01:12:58,411 --> 01:13:00,847
He's most likely seeing it
in that dreamlike state,

1399
01:13:00,947 --> 01:13:02,082
because he's

1400
01:13:02,949 --> 01:13:05,285
completely separated
these two personas

1401
01:13:05,385 --> 01:13:07,821
and created that
outside-inside person.

1402
01:13:09,723 --> 01:13:11,958
He was frightening
in the sense that

1403
01:13:12,058 --> 01:13:14,227
he would trick
these individuals

1404
01:13:15,095 --> 01:13:17,030
to come to a location,

1405
01:13:17,130 --> 01:13:19,966
knowing all
what he had plans on doing.

1406
01:13:22,369 --> 01:13:23,870
You would never think

1407
01:13:23,970 --> 01:13:26,039
that he would do
those things that he did...

1408
01:13:27,340 --> 01:13:28,608
from talking to him.

1409
01:13:31,811 --> 01:13:34,514
He's a monster
in sheep's clothing.

1410
01:13:37,384 --> 01:13:40,420
Police keep
pushing Sowell for answers.

1411
01:13:40,520 --> 01:13:43,656
He claims he can't remember
important details.

1412
01:13:43,757 --> 01:13:46,126
But his contempt
for vulnerable women

1413
01:13:46,226 --> 01:13:47,861
comes through loud and clear.

1414
01:13:51,598 --> 01:13:52,932
So, for Anthony,

1415
01:13:53,033 --> 01:13:54,801
his crimes

1416
01:13:54,901 --> 01:13:57,070
and these violence
against these women

1417
01:13:57,170 --> 01:14:00,206
is playing out the violence
he learned from childhood.

1418
01:14:01,975 --> 01:14:05,011
Where he learned
to physically harm women.

1419
01:14:08,048 --> 01:14:10,283
They are women
who he doesn't think
deserve to live.

1420
01:14:14,120 --> 01:14:16,856
He divided women
that he met on the street
into two categories.

1421
01:14:18,191 --> 01:14:19,559
The good ones
and the bad ones.

1422
01:14:19,659 --> 01:14:21,594
The good ones are the ones
who were doing something
with their lives.

1423
01:14:21,695 --> 01:14:23,396
And the bad ones were
just walking the street.

1424
01:14:36,776 --> 01:14:37,877
He connected that

1425
01:14:37,977 --> 01:14:39,646
to his experience as a child

1426
01:14:39,746 --> 01:14:40,847
where he watched his mom...

1427
01:14:44,684 --> 01:14:48,221
...beat, torture,
really mistreat the children.

1428
01:14:50,390 --> 01:14:52,559
And he was able to associate
those two things in his mind,

1429
01:14:52,659 --> 01:14:53,893
that the women
that he met on the street,

1430
01:14:53,993 --> 01:14:55,195
they were the bad ones.

1431
01:14:55,295 --> 01:14:56,596
And that's the way
he treated them.

1432
01:14:59,165 --> 01:15:01,301
From the moment he met them
until their bodies were found,

1433
01:15:02,502 --> 01:15:03,470
they didn't matter.

1434
01:15:07,307 --> 01:15:09,309
Detectives press Sowell.

1435
01:15:09,409 --> 01:15:12,112
They believe he might have
even more victims.

1436
01:15:21,287 --> 01:15:22,856
Emotionally, I'm...

1437
01:15:24,858 --> 01:15:27,627
I'm a little more extreme
on this case, particularly.

1438
01:15:43,376 --> 01:15:45,011
Mm. Mm. Mm.

1439
01:15:49,849 --> 01:15:51,584
So yeah,
I'm a little emotional.

1440
01:15:51,685 --> 01:15:54,154
But I'm also a detective.

1441
01:15:54,254 --> 01:15:56,623
I need to know
before I leave here

1442
01:15:56,723 --> 01:15:58,224
that we have all the victims,

1443
01:15:59,159 --> 01:16:01,161
because there could be
possibly more.

1444
01:16:09,936 --> 01:16:12,038
I looked into the eyes
of Anthony Sowell

1445
01:16:12,138 --> 01:16:13,640
and I saw

1446
01:16:13,740 --> 01:16:15,809
a person who did not care

1447
01:16:16,509 --> 01:16:18,345
about anyone but himself.

1448
01:16:57,083 --> 01:16:58,051
Anthony Sowell

1449
01:16:58,151 --> 01:17:00,320
never admits
to having more victims.

1450
01:17:02,389 --> 01:17:04,057
What still haunts me
about this case?

1451
01:17:04,924 --> 01:17:06,559
That there's more bodies.

1452
01:17:06,659 --> 01:17:09,429
I truly believe there are
more bodies out there

1453
01:17:09,529 --> 01:17:10,964
that are attached
to Anthony Sowell.

1454
01:17:12,265 --> 01:17:15,702
How do you have that much hate

1455
01:17:15,802 --> 01:17:16,770
to do that to people,

1456
01:17:17,337 --> 01:17:19,172
and just keep doing it?

1457
01:17:20,674 --> 01:17:22,442
To me, that is the,

1458
01:17:22,542 --> 01:17:24,577
like, epitome of all evil.

1459
01:17:26,646 --> 01:17:27,947
What did you have
to kill them for?

1460
01:17:29,249 --> 01:17:30,483
I didn't understand it.

1461
01:17:30,583 --> 01:17:32,886
I still don't understand it.

1462
01:17:37,891 --> 01:17:40,827
Despite a staggering amount
of evidence against him,

1463
01:17:42,295 --> 01:17:44,597
Anthony Sowell
pleads not guilty

1464
01:17:44,698 --> 01:17:46,466
and goes to trial.

1465
01:17:46,566 --> 01:17:48,902
Sowell faces
85 criminal counts

1466
01:17:49,002 --> 01:17:51,004
in connection with
attacks on women.

1467
01:17:51,104 --> 01:17:53,907
I was there
for the whole duration
of the trial.

1468
01:17:54,007 --> 01:17:56,242
I think the strongest
piece of evidence

1469
01:17:56,343 --> 01:18:00,280
are the testimonies from
the females who got away.

1470
01:18:00,380 --> 01:18:03,316
I was the prosecution's
star witness in the trial.

1471
01:18:04,017 --> 01:18:05,418
She got on that stand,

1472
01:18:05,518 --> 01:18:08,221
and I knew what was coming,

1473
01:18:08,321 --> 01:18:09,556
and I just felt like
the pressure

1474
01:18:09,656 --> 01:18:11,558
in that courtroom
was just turned up to 100.

1475
01:18:17,197 --> 01:18:19,099
I wouldn't have had
problems with testifying,

1476
01:18:19,199 --> 01:18:20,734
but it was about me, too.

1477
01:18:20,834 --> 01:18:23,470
I'm still alive,
dealing with this every day.

1478
01:18:23,570 --> 01:18:24,471
Every day.

1479
01:18:27,273 --> 01:18:28,842
I answer questions.

1480
01:18:28,942 --> 01:18:30,643
Anthony was over there
smiling, giggling,

1481
01:18:30,744 --> 01:18:31,644
and everything.

1482
01:18:31,745 --> 01:18:33,413
He was acting like
nothing ever happened.

1483
01:18:35,849 --> 01:18:37,684
I didn't want to be there.

1484
01:18:37,784 --> 01:18:39,652
I didn't want to see him
ever in my life again.

1485
01:18:42,856 --> 01:18:44,991
"We, the jury, being
duly impaneled and sworn...

1486
01:18:45,091 --> 01:18:48,228
On July 22nd, 2011,

1487
01:18:48,328 --> 01:18:50,063
the jury reaches a verdict.

1488
01:18:50,964 --> 01:18:54,401
Guilty of all 11 murders.

1489
01:18:54,501 --> 01:18:56,169
Deputies came in
and handcuffed him,

1490
01:18:56,269 --> 01:18:58,204
and as he was being lead out
of the courtroom, he put

1491
01:18:58,304 --> 01:18:59,539
his hands up, handcuffed,

1492
01:18:59,639 --> 01:19:02,375
in a show of defiance
for the cameras

1493
01:19:02,475 --> 01:19:04,377
as he's being lead out
of the courtroom.

1494
01:19:04,477 --> 01:19:07,380
I always wondered what was
going on in his mind
when he did that.

1495
01:19:08,581 --> 01:19:09,816
If he was saying, like,

1496
01:19:09,916 --> 01:19:12,052
congratulations, you got
your pound of flesh,

1497
01:19:12,152 --> 01:19:15,288
but look at
all the things that I was able
to accomplish beforehand.

1498
01:19:15,388 --> 01:19:16,523
You could just tell

1499
01:19:16,623 --> 01:19:19,259
there was
a vacuum there where,

1500
01:19:19,359 --> 01:19:20,994
uh, a soul would normally be,

1501
01:19:21,094 --> 01:19:24,664
where his empathy
for other people
would normally be.

1502
01:19:24,764 --> 01:19:27,100
"We therefore unanimously find
that the sentence of death

1503
01:19:27,200 --> 01:19:29,803
should be imposed
upon the defendant,
Anthony Sowell."

1504
01:19:34,507 --> 01:19:37,077
Today my sister
can rest in peace now.

1505
01:19:37,177 --> 01:19:39,212
That's all.
She can rest in peace,

1506
01:19:39,312 --> 01:19:40,747
along with
all the other ladies.

1507
01:19:40,847 --> 01:19:42,182
It feels good.

1508
01:19:43,083 --> 01:19:45,051
It feels really good.

1509
01:19:45,151 --> 01:19:46,586
I really don't want
to say this out,

1510
01:19:46,686 --> 01:19:49,656
but Anthony needed
the death penalty
after what he did,

1511
01:19:49,756 --> 01:19:51,524
because them 11 women
didn't deserve that.

1512
01:19:57,697 --> 01:19:58,798
The house was
eventually torn down.

1513
01:19:58,898 --> 01:20:00,900
It's now a memorial
to the victims.

1514
01:20:01,001 --> 01:20:03,169
But I don't think
Anthony Sowell

1515
01:20:03,269 --> 01:20:05,739
will ever disappear
in Cleveland.

1516
01:20:06,573 --> 01:20:08,041
I still think the lore

1517
01:20:08,141 --> 01:20:10,276
of a serial killer
in this quiet,

1518
01:20:10,377 --> 01:20:12,379
working-class neighborhood
won't ever go away.

1519
01:20:12,479 --> 01:20:13,813
I still think

1520
01:20:13,913 --> 01:20:16,983
his crimes will haunt
that corner for eternity.

1521
01:20:17,083 --> 01:20:19,753
To me, he turned
into a monster,

1522
01:20:19,853 --> 01:20:21,988
didn't care about
nothing but his self.

1523
01:20:22,088 --> 01:20:23,289
Nobody.

1524
01:20:23,390 --> 01:20:24,657
He wanted what he wanted.

1525
01:20:25,692 --> 01:20:27,560
And he wanted to hunt,
and he got it.

1526
01:20:31,164 --> 01:20:33,466
What is so frightening
about this case is

1527
01:20:33,566 --> 01:20:35,435
that he embedded himself

1528
01:20:35,535 --> 01:20:37,337
within the community,

1529
01:20:37,437 --> 01:20:39,039
and they would never believe

1530
01:20:39,773 --> 01:20:41,207
that he would be the culprit.

1531
01:20:42,409 --> 01:20:43,543
Never.

1532
01:20:46,046 --> 01:20:48,648
He is scary
because nothing
was gonna stop him.

1533
01:20:48,748 --> 01:20:50,617
He was gonna continue
targeting women.

1534
01:20:50,717 --> 01:20:52,819
He was going
to continue acting out

1535
01:20:52,919 --> 01:20:54,721
exactly as he did.

1536
01:20:54,821 --> 01:20:56,423
It's how he got off sexually.

1537
01:20:56,523 --> 01:20:59,659
It's how he coped
with his childhood trauma.

1538
01:21:01,995 --> 01:21:02,962
Without any intervention,

1539
01:21:03,063 --> 01:21:04,564
it would have
continued onward.

1540
01:21:08,335 --> 01:21:10,437
Is it justice
or is it just us?

1541
01:21:10,537 --> 01:21:12,105
And I think it's just us,

1542
01:21:12,205 --> 01:21:14,507
'cause he got away with it.

1543
01:21:14,607 --> 01:21:16,943
They let him slip through
the crack, you know?

1544
01:21:17,777 --> 01:21:20,280
He was allowed to kill women.

1545
01:21:26,052 --> 01:21:28,621
Anthony Sowell
was never executed.

1546
01:21:28,722 --> 01:21:31,458
His case was
under appeal until 2021,

1547
01:21:31,558 --> 01:21:34,594
when he died in prison
at the age of 61.

1548
01:21:34,694 --> 01:21:36,763
But the shocking revelations
of his case

1549
01:21:36,863 --> 01:21:39,065
still resonate
throughout the city.

1550
01:21:39,165 --> 01:21:41,401
If disappearances
hadn't been ignored,

1551
01:21:41,501 --> 01:21:44,437
if survivors' accounts
hadn't been shrugged off,

1552
01:21:44,537 --> 01:21:46,706
lives could have been saved.

1553
01:21:46,806 --> 01:21:49,843
Today, there is
a Garden of Eleven Angels
on Imperial Avenue,

1554
01:21:49,943 --> 01:21:53,113
where
The Cleveland Strangler's
house of horrors once stood.

1555
01:21:53,213 --> 01:21:54,647
It's a tribute to the memory

1556
01:21:54,748 --> 01:21:57,050
of the 11 women
Sowell murdered.

1557
01:21:57,150 --> 01:21:59,486
But it also serves
as a painful reminder

1558
01:21:59,586 --> 01:22:00,820
of a damaged man

1559
01:22:00,920 --> 01:22:03,823
who preyed on the city's
most vulnerable women,

1560
01:22:03,923 --> 01:22:07,093
in a system that failed to
protect them from a monster.

1561
01:22:07,927 --> 01:22:09,195
I'm Donnie Wahlberg.

1562
01:22:09,295 --> 01:22:11,231
Thanks for watching.
Good night.

1563
01:22:11,998 --> 01:22:15,468
Coming up on season 6
of Very Scary People...

1564
01:22:18,104 --> 01:22:20,807
Scott Lee Kimble has multiple
parts to his identity.

1565
01:22:23,443 --> 01:22:26,813
At my house in the freezer is
a dead body

1566
01:22:26,913 --> 01:22:28,882
and Marjorie Diel Armstrong
killed him.

1567
01:22:28,982 --> 01:22:30,884
I'm a good person and I didn't
do anything wrong.

1568
01:22:32,585 --> 01:22:36,356
We had no idea what Pandora's
box we were about to open up.

1569
01:22:40,060 --> 01:22:42,896
Doerbal is trying to remove
their heads with this chainsaw

1570
01:22:42,996 --> 01:22:46,066
but it keeps getting stuck in
Christina's hair.

1571
01:22:48,335 --> 01:22:49,169
That's what he did to me.

1572
01:22:50,437 --> 01:22:51,971
Turned me into a monster.

1573
01:22:53,106 --> 01:22:54,908
I knew they wouldn't stop til
they had my sisters.

1574
01:22:57,644 --> 01:22:59,546
The woman is begging
for her life.

1575
01:22:59,646 --> 01:23:01,848
We're dealing with
a psychopath.

1576
01:23:07,620 --> 01:23:08,855
Evil happened that day.