Anthony Sowell v. State of Ohio, Case No. 2011-1921
Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court
Anthony Sowell of Cleveland is appealing his convictions and death sentence for the murders of 11 women, the attempted murders of three more women, and other crimes between 2007 and 2009.
Sowell lived in his stepmother's house on Imperial Avenue in Cleveland. On Sept. 23, 2009, Latundra Billups went to the hospital to report she had been raped. Billups gave a statement to police that Sowell had attacked and raped her in his house the day before. Police obtained an arrest warrant and a search warrant, and sent a SWAT team to the home on Oct. 29. Sowell wasn't there when they arrived, and police searched the premises.
During the next five days, the bodies of five women and the skull of another woman were found throughout the house. The bodies of five more women were uncovered in the backyard. Most of the women had been strangled.
Cleveland police located and arrested Sowell on Oct. 31. They interviewed him for 11 to 12 hours total during two days.