Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén - “The Cleveland Strangler” Pt. 2: Anthony Sowell

Episode Date: May 21, 2020

As his living conditions deteriorated in the late 2000's, so did Anthony Sowell’s state of mind. Investigators were horrified when they finally searched his Cleveland home and found the corpses of his victims decaying in nearly every room. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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get a quality candidate within the first day. And now, you can try it for free at ZipRecruiter.com slash killers. That's ziprecruiter.com slash killers. Meet your match on ZipRecruiter. This episode is brought to you by Shopify. Bonnie and Clyde, the Lonely Hearts Killers, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. These are infamous criminal duels, but you don't need to break any laws to find your perfect business partner because you have Shopify.

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Tickets on sale now at Yamavatheater.com, only at Yamava Resort and Casino, celebrating its 40th anniversary. You in? Must be 21 to enter. Due to the graphic nature of this killer's crimes, listener discretion is advised. This episode includes discussions of violence, murder, and sexual assault that some people may find offensive. We advise extreme caution for children under 13. By December of 2008, Winter had taken hold of Cleveland, Ohio. A line of customers waited outside a pizza shop on Imperial Avenue, shivering in the wind as they waited for their food.

Suddenly, their peace was interrupted when a frantic woman pushed past the line and burst through the door. The customers started to protest as she rushed to the counter, but their angry grumbles turned to scared murmurs when they got a good look at the woman. Her expression was crazed, her hands were covered in blood, and her face and neck were badly bruised. The woman said her name was Gladys Wade and begged the cashier to call the police. She claimed there was a man chasing her. He was trying to kill her. Some of the customers scoffed at her story. Drug use was rampant in the area by 2008,

and everyone had seen their fair share of addicts rave about phantom terrors in the streets. Soon enough, the owner came out and told Gladys that she would have to leave. She was bleeding where people were trying to eat. No one helped Gladys as she tried to protest. A few even ignored her to greet someone across the street, she whirled around to see Anthony Sowell limping towards the pizza shop,

smiling as blood dripped from his neck. Gladys fled the shop screaming. Anthony Sowell was only a few steps behind. Hi, I'm Greg Paulson. This is serial killers, a parcast original. Every episode, we dive into the minds and madness of serial killers. Today we will complete We'll complete our exploration into the attacks of Anthony Sowell, the Cleveland Strangler. I'm here with my co-host, Minnesota Richardson. Hi, everyone. You can find episodes of serial killers and all other Parcast originals for free on Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. To stream serial killers for free on Spotify, just open the app and type serial killers in the search bar.

At Parcast, we're grateful for you, our listeners. You allow us to do what we love. Let us know how we're doing. out on Facebook and Instagram at Parkast and Twitter at Parkast Network. In the last episode, we covered Anthony Sowell's childhood and his history of drug use and sexual violence. We also explored how his living conditions deteriorated as he became more of a recluse and eventually a murderer. In this episode, we'll follow Anthony as his bloodlust intensifies. We'll also discuss investigators' shocking discovery of 11 rotting bodies. strewned throughout his house of horrors.

On May 21st, 2008, 48-year-old Anthony Sowell felt the urge to kill again. It had only been a couple of weeks since he'd murdered his victim, Lashonda Long, at his home in Cleveland. But the dark impulse was stronger than ever before. To calm himself, Anthony walked down to the basement

to bask in his latest gruesome handiwork. No one would ever find most of Lashonda's body. Anthony hadn't buried it in his backyard with his first victim, but he did keep Lashonda's decapitated head in a bucket, which he stashed in the basement. That day, Anthony noticed that the bucket had teeth marks around its edges, no doubt from a rat scavenging for scraps. He hurried to move the bin to a high shelf, not wanting the rodent to ruin his trophy. Afterward, he went outside for some fresh hair. He was unemployed and spent a majority of his time either locked in his attic room or out in the streets searching for scrap

metal to resell. That night, he ran into someone else who was having a hard time getting their life together. 30-year-old Tishana Culver was in the midst of one of the worst nights of her life. Before she met Anthony, she'd quit her job and had gone to see her children at her mother's house. But her mother had refused to let her daughter in. Tishana struggled with an addiction to crack. Her mother didn't want Tishana's children to see her until she'd gotten clean once and for all. After being turned away, Tishana returned to the streets, more lost and lonely than ever. That's when she ran into Anthony, who made easy conversation with her. He knew what it was like to struggle with addiction and exactly what to say to tap into Tashana's vulnerability.

Within minutes, Anthony tempted Tishana to come smoke crack with him at his house. We don't know exactly what happened next, as Anthony never went into detail about most of his murders. But we know from forensic evidence that he strangled her with his hands. As was the case for many of Anthony's victims, Tishana Culver's disappearance was largely ignored by authorities. Because he mostly targeted people suffering from drug addiction, police were slow to investigate, believing that the missing addicts were likely on some kind of bender and would turn up sooner or less. later. The same dismissive mindset allows many serial killers to operate undetected for years. Vanessa is going to take over on the psychology here and throughout the episode. Please

note, Vanessa is not a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist, but she has done a lot of research for this show. Thanks, Greg. According to forensic psychologist Dr. Joni Johnston, serial killers often specifically target victims who they believe will not be missed. She writes, Serial killers often succeed, not because of their cunning and masterful plan, but because they either choose vulnerable victims or they take advantage of other people's basic goodness. They stack the deck in their favor. As an addict himself, Anthony saw the social consequences drugs could bring and how addicts were often ignored by police. He knew exactly where to find drug abusers and how to convince them to trust him. The indifference of the authorities helped Anthony continue killing, but it wasn't just the police who seemed unconcerned about his victims.

Drug use was rampant in the area where Anthony lived, and many residents of his neighborhood also looked down on people struggling with addiction. For example, in the documentary Unseen, the owner of a liquor store down the street from Anthony's home, later said that he wished there were a million of Anthony's Soells because he cleaned up the garbage, referring to the the addicts Anthony killed. Attitudes like this enabled Anthony to vent his violent frustrations on whoever he pleased. In fact, despite a reputation for being somewhat reclusive, Anthony was largely well-liked among his neighbors. Few people had anything bad to say about him, aside from commenting on the revolting smell emanating from his home.

In the summer of 2008, the stench was especially rancid, and many residents actively avoided the street outside because the heat made the odor even worse. Anthony himself seemed immune to the smell and spent much of his time smoking and drinking while locked inside. He wandered around his halls often, noticing the trash and junk piling up on top of his victims without caring. He even ate his meals in the rooms right next to the dead bodies with a morbid excitement. These sickening conditions helped Anthony relive his past murders and for For a while, he believed they kept him from going out to kill again. But eventually, the rage always returned.

In September of 2008, he went out searching for yet another victim. This time, he loitered by the bus stop near his house until 35-year-old Vanessa Gay approached and sat down on the bench. Anthony mused aloud, seemingly to himself, saying it was a shame that he had to spend his birthday that day alone. In reality, he had turned 49 the previous month. His ploy got Vanessa talking, and soon enough Anthony casually mentioned that he had drugs and alcohol back at his home. He invited her to come to his place to smoke and celebrate. Vanessa agreed and followed him down the street. As they walked, a few passers-by greeted Anthony like an old friend.

Clearly he was popular. It made Vanessa feel a bit better about going home with a stranger. But once she got to his house, Vanessa had reason to be worried. She'd used drugs in dirty places before, but none of them had ever smelled quite so bad. Anthony didn't acknowledge the stench, so Vanessa tried her best to ignore it. She followed him up the stairs, passed ever-growing heaps of junk to the third floor. The attic bedroom was just as dark and cluttered as the rest of the home. Anthony hurried around the room, moving things.

around and rooting around in the refuse. Vanessa assumed he was grabbing his stash, but just when she turned away to find somewhere to sit, Anthony whirled around and without warning, punched Vanessa in the face. Vanessa nearly toppled over, just managing to get her bearings as Anthony ordered her to take off her clothes. He told Vanessa that women had taken advantage of him time and time again, and he planned to get those women back. who did him wrong. It's hard to know exactly what Anthony believed he was doing, but he clearly thought of his mission as righteous.

He likely resented his ex-girlfriend Laurie, who had broken up with them months before. Anthony saw Vanessa and his other victims as stand-ins for a woman he thought had wronged him. Mary Myers, a criminal profiler, said that Anthony had learned from his upbringing that women were second class. To him, the women's remains were like garbage. He saw no problem with abusing and killing any woman he saw. To him, they were all the same. Vanessa was simply another outlet for his rage. After berating her and forcing her to strip, Anthony raped and assaulted her. Then he fell asleep next to her as if they were a couple.

All Vanessa could do was remain motionless on the bed, afraid that if she moved, Anthony would wake up and beat her again. She laid next to him for hours until the sun finally rose and Anthony woke up. He seemed more composed than before and didn't acknowledge what he'd done the previous night. As calmly as possible, Vanessa asked him where the bathroom was. Anthony led her nonchalantly down the hall. As they approached the bathroom, he realized in a panic that he had left the door to the adjacent room wide open. Inside was a decaying body wrapped in plastic bags.

He turned to see if Vanessa had noticed, but she had already passed the open door and gone into the bathroom. Once inside, Vanessa trembled uncontrollably. She had definitely seen the corpse in the corner of the other room, yellowed and crusted with dried blood. Now she knew for sure a killer was waiting outside the door for her. She was going to be his next victim. After collecting herself, Vanessa decided that her best chance would be to play dumb.

She walked out of the bathroom and returned to the bedroom as casually as she could. Anthony studied her, still unsure if she'd seen the other body. After looking her up and down awkwardly, Anthony told Vanessa with a shaking voice that he couldn't let her go. She would tell someone what had happened. Vanessa continued to play innocent, pretending she was confused. She told Anthony that she had no idea what he was talking about. Nothing had happened. At this, Anthony seemed to relax.

When Vanessa asked to leave, he walked her to the door and unlocked it. In a surreal haze, she walked out onto the bright street and made for her friend's house a few miles away. Along the way, Vanessa remembered people on the street laughing at her bruised and bloody appearance. Sympathy wasn't easy to find in that neighborhood. Vanessa tried her best to keep her head down and ignore the ridicule. At long last, she reached her friend's home and hid inside for the rest of the day. She felt sure Anthony would show up again to grab her if she stepped back out into the street. After experiencing the terrifying walk home and remembering how police had treated

her in the past, Vanessa wasn't even sure she wanted to contact authorities about the attack. They might dismiss her as a rambling drug addict, and Anthony could return to get his revenge if he heard she'd ratted him out. Eventually, Vanessa did manage to build up the courage to call the police. An officer told her over the phone that she'd have to come to the station in person if she wanted to file a report. Vanessa hung up, deciding that it was safer to forget anything it happened. Everywhere she went, she could feel Anthony's hot breath on her back. She worried he was just a around every dark corner. Though Anthony didn't face consequences for the assault,

he still kicked himself after letting Vanessa go. He was terrified the police would show up any minute. His fears caused him to isolate himself even further, and he didn't even venture out to scavenge for scrap metal in the subsequent weeks. But as always, Anthony's urge to kill eventually overpowered his fear of getting caught. In October, he finally left his home. Once again, out for blood. When we return, Anthony claims his fourth victim.

Now back to the story. By October of 2008, 49-year-old Anthony So Well had killed three women and sexually assaulted many others. He left the bodies of his murder victims to rot among the garbage piled up in his house. But no matter how many he killed, it was never enough. That month, he hit the... the streets of Cleveland, Ohio once again to search for his next victim. This time, his target was Michelle Mason. We don't know exactly how Anthony lured Michelle to his home, but it was likely with the promise

of drugs. She had a history of illness and addiction. She had just begun her recovery in the fall of 2008, but her bright prospects were cut short by a meeting with Anthony so well. In the days following her disappearance, Michelle's family tried and failed to get police to intervene. Left with few options, they took matters into their own hands, hanging missing person posters around the neighborhood, desperate to find anyone who had knowledge of Michelle's whereabouts. Unfortunately, they were too late. Evidence later indicated that by this time Anthony had already strangled Michelle Mason

and left her body to rot in his home. along with his other victims. Michelle was the fourth woman to go missing in Anthony's neighborhood over the previous 18 months. There was a serial killer on the loose, but no one would acknowledge it. Only a month later, in November of 2008, Anthony once again went hunting. This time, he seized 52-year-old Tonya Carmichael as she roamed the streets looking for drugs. Just like the others, Anthony was able to lure the woman into his home,

and strangle her, possibly using an extension cord. Anthony started to believe he was bulletproof. He beamed as he wandered the halls of his crumbling house, rife with decay and desolation. To him, it was a glorious monument to his dominance and depravity. The feeling of power led Anthony to grow even more reckless. He believed he could do whatever he wanted and would no longer bother charming his victims

if they didn't immediately seem interested. He'd simply take what he wanted. Flush with confidence, Anthony stepped outside his home in December of 2008, with his head held high. He returned to the bus stop down the street and approached a middle-aged woman waiting on the bench, Gladys Wade. Gladys eyed Anthony suspiciously as he sat next to her. When he asked her if she wanted to come over and drink at his home,

She declined the offer. Something about Anthony rubbed her the wrong way. Gladys could tell that her refusal irritated Anthony, but he silently turned and started to walk away at first. Then, after noticing that the streets were empty, aside from the two of them, Anthony whipped back around and lunged at her. In a single swift movement, he put Gladys in a chokehold.

Then he dragged her back to his house as she screamed and struggled to fight him off. Gladys was unconscious by the time Anthony got her back to his house. As she came to, Gladys realized what had happened and staggered to her feet. When she screamed for help, Anthony emerged from the darkness and rushed over to silence her. But this time, when he lunged to choke her, Gladys was prepared. She fought back, and the two crashed backward through a glass door in the struggle. As Anthony rolled on top of her, Gladys said, clawed wildly at his face. He recoiled, allowing Gladys to jump up at escape. Gladys's first thought was to get somewhere public, and she ran as fast as she could to the

pizza shop down the street. But when she begged someone to call the police for her, the store owner told her to leave. Gladys fled in terror when she saw Anthony approaching the door. The owner knew Anthony and believed him when he claimed that Gladys had stolen money from him. Luckily, while he was trying to mitigate the damage in the restaurant, Gladys ran down the street and found a couple of police officers sitting in their car. She hurriedly told them what had happened, and they took her back to the station. Later, authorities showed up at Anthony's house to arrest him. Afraid they would poke around his house if he fled,

Anthony came outside willingly, still in the same bloody clothes he'd been wearing when Gladys fought him off. Anthony stuck to his story about Gladys robbing him. After a few hours, the police decided that there wasn't enough evidence to support Gladys' claims. Because she'd been charged with drug possession before, they considered her an unreliable witness. And Anthony walked free once again. The near-mis intoxicated Anthony. He felt sure than ever that he could get away with whatever he wanted. So only a few weeks later, he struck again.

This time, he claimed the life of a woman named Kim Smith. Not much is known about the days leading up to her disappearance, but after her murder, Anthony tied her up with a cloth and buried her in his backyard, wrapped in plastic bags. Something about Kim's murder must have sated Anthony. For the rest of the first few months of 2009, he refrained from killing. He even reconnected with a few old friends, inviting them over to smoke with him. Of course, he confined them to the first floor, as the corpses on the upper floors and in the basement continued to decompose.

As the weeks passed, however, Anthony was eventually left alone. Most of his friends stopped coming around, even when he tempted them with drugs. They likely just couldn't tolerate being in Anthony's home anymore. The smell was getting more revolting by the day. But in April of 2009, he did manage to convince one woman, Amelda Hunter, to join him. She'd smoked with him before, and one evening in the middle of the month, she perhaps decided that a fix was worth enduring a few hours in the dilapidated house. It was a mistake. As soon as he got Amelda alone, Anthony used her purse strap to strangle her.

He buried her body in a shallow grave in his backyard. The kill had satisfied his need for violence, but it meant that Anthony had lost one of his few sources of human contact, so it must have felt like a godsend when an old friend, Tanya Doss, reached out to Anthony only days later. Years before, Tanya had been in a relationship with Anthony, but he hadn't seen her much since he dated Lorry. On April 21st, Anthony eagerly invited Tanya to come over to his home. She was shocked what a very different man from the one she remembered answered his door.

Anthony looked sickly and had a slightly glazed overlook in his eyes. Despite his unsettling appearance, he greeted Tanya warmly and ushered her in the house. The two talked for a while and caught up, but as soon as he thought Tanya had let her guard down, he sprang towards her and put her in a chokehold. He explained that if she wanted to live, she'd have to do exactly as he said. Then he commanded her to take off her clothes and get into bed next to him. She did as he demanded and lay in fear by his side for the rest of the night.

He soon drifted off to sleep without sexually assaulting her. The next morning, Anthony casually arose and grabbed a beer. He offered Tanya a drink, but she cautiously declined, saying she had to get back to her daughter. Anthony shrugged and led her downstairs as if nothing strange had happened the previous night. Tanya rushed out of Anthony's house

and made it back to her friend Nancy Cobb's house. Nancy also knew Anthony. When Tanya told her what happened, she dismissed the incident. She didn't think Anthony was violent and just assumed he'd been too high to know what he was doing at the time. In fact, only a few days later, Nancy reached out to Anthony herself for some drugs.

He welcomed her over, but unlike Tanya, he had no intention of letting her leave. Once she was inside, Anthony used a tube sock to strangle her. He wrapped Nancy's body in plastic bags, rolled her up in a discarded comforter, and crammed her corpse into his front room. Now, with seven corpses either stashed in his house or buried in his yard, the summer of 2009 made a sickening miasma around Anthony's house worse than ever.

But no matter how bad things got, no one looked too closely at him. And so Anthony just kept killing. He abducted recovering addict Talatia Fortson in June of 2009. He strangled her like the others and left her body on the floor next to Nancy Kauk. Only days later, Anthony used a belt to choke 48-year-old Janice Webb to death. He hid her body in the basement with the belt still around her neck. Even though by then, Anthony had murdered several close friends and survivors of his attacks had warned police that he was homicidal, authority still failed to act.

Anthony would make them regret it. That same summer, he attacked a woman named Diane Turner, Diane Turner and left her dead on the floor of his home. On July 2nd, police noted Diane's disappearance when she didn't show up for a probation hearing, but they never suspected foul play. Like so many others, her vanishing was explained away. The more he murdered, the more intense Anthony's bloodlust became. He even lost count of the number of bodies rotting inside his home.

With nothing but violence in mind, Anthony can continued to stalk the streets of his neighborhood, looking for his next opportunity. On September 22, 2009, a woman named Latandra Billups approached Anthony as he exited the liquor store. La Tundra had smoked with him before and asked if she could come over to grab a beer. He gladly let her inside his home, cautioning her to stay on the second floor,

as the third was too dirty. As Anthony puttered around the living room, Latundra casually mentioned Anthony that she'd heard some local women gossiping about him. They were talking about his previous arrest for sexual assault. Anthony didn't respond with words. Instead, he swung around and slammed his fist into Latundra's face. As she went down, Anthony wrapped an extension cord around her neck. The last thing she saw before she blacked out was a wild, unhinged look in Anthony's eyes.

Latundra woke up sometime later. She didn't know how long she'd been unconscious, but knew immediately that she'd been raped. She slowly shook herself out of her days and saw Anthony looking down on her from a chair a short distance away. He looked pensive. Anthony explained to Latandra that he was going to have to kill her. He couldn't let her go because she would tell someone what happened.

He claimed that he wanted to kill himself as well, saying he was going through a lot of things. Latundra played dumb, exactly as Vanessa Gay had nearly a year earlier. She told Anthony that she didn't believe anything had happened and that she had nothing to report to police. Anthony nodded slowly as she talked. Then, in a show of nonchalance,

Latundra told Anthony that she was tired and closed her eyes. She pretended to sleep for the rest of the night, terrified that Anthony would see through her lie and kill her. The next morning, Anthony let her go. Latunda rushed as fast as she could to a hospital for a rape kit. Vanessa and Latandra had both used similar tactics to talk Anthony down, but the reason he let them both go may have been more complex. According to criminologist Eric Beauregard,

most sex offenders have a preferred type of victim, but they will often attack anyone they feel as violent. vulnerable, prioritizing an easy target over an ideal one. This means it's possible that though Anthony seized the opportunity to sexually assault both Vanessa and Latundra, they didn't meet his preferred criteria for murder victims. As Anthony told Latundra, he didn't want to kill her, but he felt he had to for his own safety. When she convinced him that she wouldn't alert police about the sexual assault, he felt safe letting her go. Luckily, Latunga notified authorities about the attack as soon as possible.

Though it took several weeks, police eventually reached out after Latunta's report was filed. They were finally building a case against Anthony Sowell. Unfortunately, while the gears were in motion, they didn't turn quickly enough to stop Anthony, now 50 years old from continuing his killing spree. On the morning of October 20th, he returned to his usual hunting ground at the nearby bus stop. There, he struck up a conversation with Sean Morris. Sean didn't know Anthony well, but had heard that he was generous with his drugs. She asked if he'd be willing to share some crack with her.

With a smile, Anthony led Sean up to his second floor, and the two wilded the morning away, smoking and chatting. Around noon, Anthony walked her out of the house. She went back to the bus stop, But as the bus approached, Sean realized that she left her ID at Anthony's. It was a fatal mistake. She hurried back to Anthony's home, who was surprised and delighted to see her. He'd shown restraint by letting her go before, but now that she returned, he felt a swell of violent desire.

He ushered her inside to look for her wallet, but only let her get halfway up the stairs before wrapping his hands around her neck. He dragged Sean up the stairs to his bed, room on the third floor and sexually assaulted her. Afterward, when he got up for a moment, Sean seized the chance to escape. Sean saw that a window facing an alleyway on the side of the house was open.

She ran toward it, pushed out the screen, and looked out. The ground was a dizzying distance away, but she had no other choice. She clambered out and attempted to slowly lower herself down. Anthony leapt to the window and tried to yank Sean back inside. As he pulled, she struggled against him. Suddenly angry, Anthony yanked his hands away. When he did, Sean lost her grip. She slipped and fell two stories. In a moment, Anthony tries to explain to bystanders why a naked woman fell out of his window. Now back to the story.

By the fall of 2009, 50-year-old Anthony Sowell had strangled 11 women. That October, he tried to claim his 12th victim, Sean Morris. But after Anthony sexually assaulted her, Sean attempted to flee and ended up falling out of his third floor window into the alley below. Anthony watched from above as Sean crashed to the pavement. He hoped that the fall had killed her. He figured he could drag her body back inside the house, relatively easily as long as he acted fast.

But he wasn't the only one with a view of the alley. The owner of a store across the street was serving a customer when he saw Sean plunge two stories. He ran outside to see what had happened. He found Sean alive, but in terrible shape. She had broken both hands, eight of her ribs, and fractured her skull. The owner hurriedly called an ambulance as a small crowd gathered around, Sean. Anthony sprinted through the house and down to the street, still naked himself.

He told the gathering people that he and Sean were having sex when she had accidentally fallen out the window. Then he grabbed Sean roughly off the ground and tried to carry her inside, but the store owner stopped him, insisting that the ambulance was on its way. With little choice, Anthony let go of Sean and backed off. The ambulance arrived soon afterward and rushed her to the hospital. She awoke hours later, confused but thankful to be alive. When she asked the nurse if she could call her husband,

the woman happily responded that her husband was right outside. He'd even ridden in the ambulance with her. It took a second for Sean to realize what was going on. Anthony had tricked the EMTs into believing that they were married. He didn't exactly have a plan going forward, but he wanted to get to Sean before the police did. Despite his efforts, the police interviewed Sean before he got a chance to speak to her. But even just knowing he was out there seemed enough to affect Sean.

She worried what he might do if she told the truth and the police didn't believe her. The effect of physical intimidation can be powerful, even from a distance. Author Jennifer Latson writes, Feeling intimidated typically boils down to a sense that the person you're interacting with is more powerful than you. One way we react to these power differences is by deferring to people in higher positions, trying to please them and do what they say. Sean knew that Anthony was waiting just outside the door when she spoke to authorities. Like many in Anthony's neighborhood with a history of drug abuse,

she didn't have much trust in the police. But she did believe that Anthony would make her pay if she implicated him. In a panic, Sean lied to the officers questioning her. She told them that she and Anthony were partying together when she accidentally fell out of the window. When police questioned Anthony, against all odds, he told a story that was similar to Sean's. Since Sean didn't allege any wrongdoing, police waved the matter away for the moment. But privately, many detectives knew Anthony was guilty. They were still in the midst of investigating the claims of Latundra Billups,

a previous victim that had survived Anthony's assault. Nine days after the incident with Sean Morris, Cleveland police gathered enough information to arrest Anthony for sexually assaulting La Tundra. On October 29, 2009, police stormed his home. By coincidence, Anthony was out walking when they came by to arrest him, so police forced their way inside.

There, they found a nightmare worse than they could have ever imagined. Struggling not to gag from the stench, police moved to the third floor, searching for Anthony. At one point, they burst through a door, demanding that the figure inside put their hands up. It took them a second to realize they were yelling at a dead, decaying body. With a creeping horror, they realized they weren't just searching for a rapist. They had stumbled upon a mass grave. Meanwhile, Anthony's neighbors found him while he was out walking to tell him they were police. searching his home. Anthony knew right then that it was all over. He met up with his half-sister,

Tressa, and told her cryptically that everything she was about to hear was true. With that, he disappeared. Anthony remained at large the following day, when police conducted a full search of his home and excavated his backyard. What they discovered was chilling. Bodies were in the basement on the third floor and buried in the backyard. Investigators had to wear masks to prevent themselves from retching as they navigated heaps of sickening rot. The scale of the findings prompted police to offer a financial reward for any information about Anthony's whereabouts. 48 hours later, on Halloween night, a man found Anthony walking down the street and turned him over to police.

Anthony Sowell was eventually found guilty of 82 counts of murder, rape, and kidnapping. He said little after his conviction, only raising his cuffed hands as if it was some kind of triumph. If Anthony did feel proud of what he did, it likely didn't last for long. After years of preying on the most vulnerable members of society, he finally faced the consequences of his actions. The jury sentenced him to death. Anthony Sowell is currently being held at Chilicothe Correctional Institution in Ohio. Though the cells on death row are likely far from spotless, one can only assume they're

still much cleaner than he would like. Thanks again for tuning in to serial killers. We'll be back next week with another episode. For more information on Anthony Sowell, amongst the many sources we used, we found Nobody's Women by Steve Miller extremely helpful to our research. You can find more episodes of serial killers and all other Parcast Originals for free on Spotify. Not only does Spotify already have all of your favorite music, but now Spotify is making it easy for you to enjoy all of your favorite parcast originals, like Serial Killers, for free from your phone, desktop, or smart speaker.

To stream serial killers on Spotify, just open the app and type Serial Killers in the search bar. don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Instagram at Parcast and Twitter at Parcast Network. We'll see you next time. Have a killer week. Serial Killers was created by Max Cutler and is a Parcast Studios original. Executive producers include Max and Ron Cutler, sound design by Brian Gallup, with production assistance by Ron Shapiro, Carly Madden, and Aaron Larson. This episode of Serial Killers was written by Jordan Crawford, with writing assistance by

Abigail Cannon and stars Greg Paulson and Vanessa Richardson. Want to hear something spooky? Some monster, it reminded me of Bigfoot. Monsters Among Us is a weekly podcast featuring true stories of the paranormal. One of the boys started to exhibit demonic possession. Stories straight from the witnesses' mouths themselves. Something very snakelight lifted its head out of the water. Hosted by me, your guide, Derek Hayes.

Somehow I had lost eight whole hours. Listen now on Spotify or wherever you get your podcast. A beloved 75-year-old man washing up getting ready for bed is brutally beaten and killed. Despite an exhaustive investigation, the killer avoids arrest and then strikes again. I'm Global News crime reporter Nancy Hicks. You might listen to a lot of true crime podcasts this year, but they're not crime beat. Search for and follow the award-winning podcast Crime Beat on Apple Podcasts. Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you find your favorite podcasts.