EP. 70 OHIO - Serial Killer Anthony Sowell: The Cleveland Strangler
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He's the most terrifying serial killer you've never heard of. Haddon Clark has confessed to several murders, but investigators say he could have over 100 victims. At the center of the mayhem, a cellmate of Haddon's that was able to get key evidence into Haddon's murder spree across America,

because Haddon thought he was Jesus Christ. Born Evil, the Serial Killer and the Savior, an ID true crime event. Premieres Monday, September 2nd at 9. Watch on ID or stream on Max. Set your DVR.

In Southeast Cleveland, Ohio, there's a neighborhood called Mount Pleasant.

The population of Mt. Pleasant is around 17,000 and its crime rates are well above the national average. And it was here, on a street called Imperial Avenue, where a rancid smell started filling the air. Many residents in the area complained, thinking that a sausage factory in the neighborhood was responsible. But the smell never went away and after a while people just got used to it.

But around this same time, along these same streets, nearly a dozen women had gone missing, and it almost seemed like they were vanishing into thin air. Their families, who knew something terrible had happened to them, went to the police. But nothing ever came about it.

You see, the majority of these women were black, addicted to drugs, and sex workers. So the Cleveland Police Department didn't put a lot of effort into solving their cases. In their minds, these victims just ran away or were off somewhere getting their next fix. But that wasn't the case. In reality, the 11 victims that had gone missing could all be found in one location.

The rancid smell on Imperial Avenue was not coming from the sausage factory. In fact, it was emanating from the white three-story home directly next to it. Some of the victims were decomposing up in the attic, others were buried in the backyard, and all of them had been kidnapped, raped, and murdered by one single man.

This is the story of serial killer Anthony Sowell, or as you may know him, the Cleveland Strangler. I'm Courtney Browen, and you're listening to Murder in America. ♪♪

It's Saturday, July 22nd, 1989, in East Cleveland, Ohio. At around 6:00 AM, the streets were quiet and just about everyone was settled into their beds fast asleep, but not Malvette Sockwell. The 21-year-old was just now driving back to her motel after a long night. You see, Malvette was a sex worker in the Cleveland area.

And although she was three months pregnant at the time, prostitution was what paid the bills. And on this particular night, Melvette was on her way back to the motel room where her boyfriend was staying. But as she pulls into the parking lot, she sees two suspicious cars and she assumes that they're undercover cops.

Now, Malvette's boyfriend was a drug dealer and to her, it looked like a raid was about to happen. So instead of going inside of their room, she decided to get out of her car and leave the property. She would later say,

As Malvette walks away from the motel, she's nervous. She had a history of drug use and the last thing that she wanted was to be arrested, especially since she was three months pregnant. And her nervousness must have been pretty obvious because all of a sudden, a man comes up to her and starts a conversation.

He's in his 20s with a friendly looking face. And although Melvette didn't know him personally, she had definitely seen him around. He introduces himself as Anthony Sowell. And he tells Melvette that he lives just down the block and if she needs to call someone or needs a place to stay for a few hours, she's welcome to come to his place.

She was hesitant at first, but she ultimately decides to take his offer. It was around 6 a.m. when Mulvett and Anthony pulled up to his house at 1878 Page Avenue. And for whatever reason, Mulvett was a little reluctant to go inside. She would later say, quote, "'There was a big black tree in the backyard that was casting spooky shadows. It was almost like a warning or omen for me.'"

But all feelings of anxiety would soon dissipate once she stepped inside. The house smelled of fresh cornbread. Anthony's sister was sleeping on the couch, and there were children's toys laying all about. Anthony then led Melvette up the stairs, telling her to tiptoe so that they wouldn't wake up his sister. Melvette tried her best to stay quiet as Anthony pointed her in the direction of a bedroom. Nothing seemed to be wrong.

That was until she stepped inside of the room. Once inside, Anthony quickly locked the door behind them and barricaded it with a large suitcase. When he turned back around to face Melvette, she immediately knew she was in danger. The look in his eyes proved that he was no longer a friendly stranger, but someone evil. Anthony then walked over to the bedroom window. He shut it and then told Melvette to take a seat on the bed.

Once she did, he pulled out the biggest knife she had ever seen, and he tells her, "I don't think I need to tell you what's going to happen now." Melvette felt a primal fear running through her body, and all she could think about was her baby. She thought about screaming for help, but something inside of her told her not to. She knew right then that if she was going to make it out of there alive, she needed to comply.

Now, trigger warning, this next part is a horrific description of rape. After Melvette removed her clothes, Anthony shoved a towel in her mouth, threw her down on the bed, and raped her. But afterwards, it seemed like he felt remorse. He kept telling her that he was sorry, and then ordered her to go wash up in the bathroom.

But to her horror, he held her in the bedroom for hours, repeatedly raping her the entire time. Melvet would later say, "He kept saying he was sorry, but then he repeated the whole thing, each time telling me to take my clothes off and raping me again. After a while I started crying and he shoved a towel in my mouth. He then performed oral sex on me.

which surprised me because he didn't know me at all and that's such an intimate act. At one point, Anthony even tried to have anal sex with her, but she quickly told him that she had recently had an episiotomy and that if he did, she would bleed everywhere, which thankfully deterred him. But Malvette's nightmare wasn't short-lived. Anthony kept her inside of that bedroom for around 15 hours.

And by the next day, she was exhausted and hungry. When Anthony heard her stomach grumbling, he told her, "You might as well say your prayers, because I'm going to feed you. Then I'm going to kill you. But first, I'm going to get some rest." Anthony put neckties and belts around Malvette's wrists and ankles. And then he drifted off to sleep right next to her.

She listened closely to his breathing, all while considering her next move. She didn't think she could escape through the bedroom door without waking him up, so she decided to slowly make her way over to the window. She would later say, "My hands were tied around my back, so I had to use my head to nudge the window sash up. The whole time I was trying to get the window open, I was looking at the knife beside him.

I knew if he woke up, he would kill me." Once the window was open, Malvette noticed that the roof of the home was steep and there was a chance she could fall off. But those odds were better than staying inside of the room with her captor. So she dove headfirst out of the window. And luckily, the gutter caught her fall. A little ways down the street, Malvette saw two elderly women getting inside of a car.

She couldn't yell for them because the gag was still lodged inside of her mouth, but eventually she got their attention. Melvette would later say, "They thought I was playing and they waved at first. I was young looking and they thought I was one of the kids there. I'm sure these kids were always playing, but I turned around and I showed them that my hands were bound. He had tied them with a necktie. I didn't want to scream.

They saw that I was tied up and I heard one of them say, "Oh my God, call the police." Minutes later, first responders arrive at the home and take Melvette to safety. Once she tells them what happened to her, officers enter the home and walk into Anthony's room, where he still lays fast asleep. Anthony Sowell is then placed under arrest, while Melvette is taken to the hospital. But unfortunately, Anthony is somehow able to pay his bond.

And he's released to go back home shortly after. His court date is scheduled for that upcoming fall, but he fails to show up. And on December 8th, 1989, a warrant was issued for his arrest. But it wouldn't be long until he struck again. Months later, on June 24th, 1990, Anthony would rape a 31-year-old woman who was five months pregnant.

She was voluntarily hanging out with him at his house when all of a sudden he jumped at her and started to choke her while screaming, "You're my bitch and you better learn to like it!" Anthony then dragged her up the stairs and raped her anally, vaginally, and orally, all while making her say, "Yes sir, I like it." And just like with MelVette, after hours of raping her, he falls asleep. The woman ended up escaping and calling the police.

And again, they show up to the home and wake Anthony up by arresting him. Now, unfortunately, these rape charges would be dropped because the woman didn't want to deal with the trauma of a trial, so we don't know who she is. But because of her, Anthony was now in custody and he wouldn't be able to bail himself out. However, he still wouldn't face the full extent of his punishment. Somehow, he was able to make a plea deal and he was only charged with attempted rape.

And on September 12th, 1990, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison. But the story of Anthony Sowell is far from over. His crimes didn't stop after he was released from prison 15 years later. In fact, they only escalated, earning him the nickname, "The Cleveland Strangler." Now, before we get into that, let's take a look into his upbringing.

Anthony Sowell was born on August 19, 1959, in East Cleveland, Ohio, to parents Thomas Sowell and Claudia Garrison. Claudia was a dry-clean presser, and Thomas was a construction worker. Now, his parents didn't have a great relationship. Thomas was known to drink and kind of drift around, so he wasn't a big part of Anthony's upbringing. Claudia would go on to have four children in total, and she didn't have a lot of help.

So life as a single mother was difficult. In addition, one of her daughters, named Patricia, had seven children of her own that also lived in the house. And five of Patricia's children were born before she was 18, so Claudia had a heavy hand in helping raise them. Patricia would end up passing away in her late 20s from bronchitis, leaving Claudia to care for most of the children and grandchildren on her own.

They had a full house, a lot of mouths to feed, a lot of bills to pay, and life wasn't easy. One of the grandchildren named Leona Davis claimed that there was a lot of abuse in the home as well. According to her, Claudia would beat them nearly every day for just about anything, and she would beat them until she saw blood. During these beatings, Claudia would make the children get completely naked in front of everyone in the home, including Anthony. Leona would later say,

Even at age 10, I had developed breast. So the boys in the house would gather around and stare at me while I was standing there butt naked. Then Claudia would tie my arms to the stale railing so that I couldn't jump away. She'd grab whatever was handy, a cord, belt, stick, or switch, and start hitting me.

The whippings would last until she got tired. Life was really hard inside of their East Cleveland home. Birthdays and special occasions were never celebrated, and none of the children were allowed to have friends over or eat sweets. They constantly felt like they were walking on pins and needles. But strangely enough, Anthony was never at the brunt of Claudia's abuse.

In fact, from what the other siblings can remember, Anthony never got in trouble. He always just watched as everyone else got beaten. Anthony, however, was a lot more quiet and reserved than the other children in the house. According to his teachers when he was younger, he was a great student.

He had a near perfect attendance score. He was always eager to learn, even though he never made the best grades. And because his family moved around a lot, he was constantly switching schools. This, coupled with the fact that Anthony was noticeably different, made it hard for him to make friends. In 1969, Claudia purchased the home on Page Avenue, the same home where Anthony brought Melvette earlier in our story.

Shortly after they purchased the home, Anthony would enter his teenage years, and he recalled that it was around this time when the sight of his nieces getting beat would turn him on. He would even lie and blame things on Leona so that he could watch his mom beat her while she was naked. Eventually, as the young girls in the house developed into women, he started fantasizing about what he wanted to do with them.

And by the time Leona was 12 years old, her uncle Anthony, along with all of the other men in the house, began raping her. As Anthony entered high school, he was still considered an outcast. He was shy and didn't really fit in with any groups. And in 1976, he decided to drop out.

But on his way to pick up his final paperwork from school, he met a girl named Twyla Austin. Twyla would end up being Anthony's first girlfriend and the two quickly fell in love. But Anthony wanted to make something of his life and in the spring of 1977, when he was just 17 years old, he decided to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps. Shortly after joining, Twyla finds out that she's pregnant and that their daughter would be born later that year. But Anthony's focus was on his career.

He spent the next eight years working as a cook and an electrician in the military, based in North Carolina, California, and then finally Japan. During his time overseas, Anthony was considered to be an excellent Marine. There were some military friends of his, however, that said he was known to have violent sex with strippers and prostitutes. But eventually, while he was in Okinawa, Anthony meets and falls in love with a fellow Marine named Kim Lawson, and the two would go on to get married.

For a while, everything seemed to be going well for Anthony, but he did have his fair share of problems. He was known to be a big drinker, and in one instance, he disappeared for two whole months. This incident led to a demotion, but he was quickly able to get himself together and was eventually promoted back. Shortly after this, in 1985, Anthony would be honorably discharged.

putting an end to his career in the military. Almost immediately after he came back to the United States, his wife Kim filed for divorce and Anthony found himself back in East Cleveland where he grew up. But this time he was an adult and he was supposed to take on your typical adult responsibilities. But for the next few years, Anthony's life wouldn't have a lot of purpose.

He couldn't hold down a job, he started drinking a lot more, dabbling with drugs, and he even started selling crack cocaine. He moved back into his family's home on Page Avenue, where Twyla and his daughter were living along with the rest of his family. In the third floor, which was technically an attic, was now all to himself. But something about Mount Pleasant, the neighborhood where they lived, seemed unfamiliar.

During the 80s, jobs became scarce in East Cleveland and because of this job insecurity, many of the homes around Mt. Pleasant became abandoned. There were a lot of families struggling trying to make ends meet. And what was once a place of community was now a place ridden with drug use and crime. Anthony and his family were among the people that were struggling.

He ended up getting a job as a metal fitter at the local auto part shop. And he likes the work, but it doesn't pay much. And soon enough, his drinking and drug use would take over his life. Before his rape charge, Anthony would be arrested for drug possession, disorderly conduct, and public intoxication. His life was quickly going downhill, and his violent urges were getting stronger.

And soon enough, in 1989, Anthony would commit his worst crime yet with the kidnapping and rape of Melvette Salkwell and then the other pregnant woman months later, landing him with a 15-year prison sentence. On September 12, 1990, Anthony was taken to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections Prison in Lorain, Ohio.

And while incarcerated, Anthony was considered a model prisoner. Growing up in a strict household, followed by eight years in the military, he was used to taking orders and following the rules. He worked as the prison's cook and electrician, skills he learned during his service. His cellmate, a man named Roosevelt Lloyd, would later say of Anthony, "...everybody who knew him, the guards, warden, kitchen staff, gave him high praise for his manners and work ethic."

Anthony had that kind of accountability. He had doors open to him.

And Anthony didn't want the 15 years of his sentence to be wasted away, so he actually spent his time wisely. During his incarceration, Anthony earned his GED. He completed a number of different programs including drug awareness, anger management, and Alcoholics Anonymous. And although all of those programs are great and definitely helpful in rehabilitation, Anthony's main problem was his violent sexual urges.

He was enrolled in a sex offender program, but he was unable to complete it. You see, a huge part of sex offender treatment is admitting that you committed a sex crime. And for some reason, Anthony could never admit that. His cellmate, Roosevelt, would later say that Anthony didn't want to admit to his sex crimes because he was scared it would make him a target among the inmates. As you know, rapists are not treated very well in prison. Roosevelt said that Anthony told him,

I'm not going to join a program like that because I don't want anybody to know my business." Roosevelt then continued, saying, "That was one of his main faults. He was still in denial. He would say, 'No matter if they put me in isolation, no matter if they put me in the hole, no matter if they ride me out, I'm going to do 15 years my way.' And he did."

If Anthony would have admitted to his sex crimes and completed the sex offender program, it's likely he would have been paroled a lot sooner. But he didn't, so we ended up serving the full 15 years. And on June 20th, 2005, at age 45, Anthony was released from prison.

A few months later, during his sexual predator evaluation, it was found that Anthony was considered a low risk for reoffending. But boy were they wrong. After his release from prison, Anthony moves into his stepmother's house on 12205 Imperial Avenue, which is the house most people associate with this case.

The white home with brown shutters and a double-decker porch was built in the 1920s. It had three stories and the third floor was originally an attic. But once Anthony moved in, he put up drywall and paint, converting it into a small apartment. He even added his own small private kitchen and bathroom and created his own private entrance on the side of the house.

Now he was free to come and go without any watchful eyes. But soon enough, he would have the entire house to himself. His stepmom eventually moved into a nursing home, and the other family who lived on the second floor moved out as well. Now at first, it seems like Anthony tried to start out on the right foot, following all of the rules.

He registered as a sex offender in the area like he was supposed to. He got a job as a prep cook at the Major Baseball League Stadium.

And he even welcomed a woman into his life. Her name was Lori Frazier. She was the niece of Cleveland's mayor, Frank Jackson. And that summer of 2005, both she and Anthony were at Jay's convenience store buying beer. Lori was about to leave when suddenly she heard a man say, "I can get you something better than beer." And Lori was immediately interested.

She thought Anthony was attractive and charming. The two would end up spending the evening together and by the end of the night, Laurie knew she had met someone she really liked. And it wouldn't be long until she moved in with him at his house on Imperial Avenue. And Anthony really liked her too. Laurie was beautiful, optimistic, and easy to talk to. And many people close to Anthony said that Laurie was really good for him. But Anthony soon figured out that Laurie had a pretty debilitating crack cocaine addiction.

She said that it all started years earlier when she was hanging out with the wrong crowd. And soon enough, her addiction took over her life. It was difficult for her to hold a job, and she didn't have a great relationship with her four children. And Anthony coming into the picture didn't help.

You see, although he wasn't doing crack, he definitely enabled her. Anthony had recently started another job as a machine operator at a rubber factory, and during the day, while he was at work, he let Lori stay at home and he would give her money specifically to buy drugs. But Lori said that Anthony took good care of her, stating, "He shopped for me, told me how beautiful I was. He was protective of me."

Anthony and Lori would date for the next few years. And even though Anthony was known to be a womanizer in the past, he stayed faithful. And for a while, it seemed like their relationship was heading towards a marriage. But that would all change in early 2006.

During that time, Lori ended up going to jail for a drug offense. When she was released, she went to go buy some crack and she heard from her dealer that Anthony had been buying crack while she was away. And this was a deal breaker for Lori. Even though she had a crack addiction, she just couldn't be with someone else that was doing it too. She would later say, "Maybe he just wanted to try it, but I knew then that our relationship was fractured. It wasn't going to work if both of us were smoking."

From then on, everything just started to go downhill. Lori would also say that Anthony became a different person once he started doing drugs, and their relationship became a lot more violent. He'd been nice before he started smoking crack, but now he developed a mean edge, and he got nasty with me. It didn't take much for him to fly into a rage.

Whenever guys were around, he would turn on me and treat me bad." A few months into his drug use, Anthony received an income tax return of about $3,600. And for some reason after that, he decided to kick Lori out of the house. It was here when Anthony's drug use got pretty bad, and he started hosting drug-fueled parties at his house on Imperial Avenue. Lori would later say, "When he got his refund check, he put me out on the street.

When I tried to come back to the house, I saw that he had girls as young as 15 and 16 there. They were all partying, getting high. Anthony told one of the girls to tell me to go away.

But their relationship was very back and forth. Anthony would kick her out, they would have huge violent fights, and then he would beg for her back. Lori said that it was around this time when Anthony started looking crazed. The house, which was normally pretty clean and organized, was now a complete mess. And it was becoming clear that Anthony's addiction was taking over his life.

Down the street from Anthony's home was a store called Imperial Beverage. The owner was a man named Asad Tayyed and he was very familiar with the crime in that area. You see, Imperial Avenue was known for its drug trafficking and solicitation. Many of the abandoned homes along the street were full of people using drugs and it wasn't a safe neighborhood.

Asad said that his own brother was murdered inside of his store years prior.

In the unseen documentary, he said: "Two young boys, I believe 17 and 18, they came in and they were smoking, they were high on drugs, and they came to rob the store and they pulled a gun on my brother and they shot him three times in his heart and my brother died on the scene. You know the neighborhood over there, 85 to 90 percent of people are on crack cocaine." And for a while, Assad knew Anthony Sowell to be one of the few sober people that would come into his store.

But that would all change. He would later say, Anthony Sowell used to buy his cigarettes from me, juice, ice creams. He was very well spoken, very respectful. My feelings of him were good feelings. I looked at him as a type of high class guy. He was normal for like two years and then he was acting very strange. He changed completely. His appearance, clouds over his eyes, all black. He lost weight. He's not shaving. I said, something is wrong with him.

The way he grabbed his stuff, he's moving and shaking, you know, like crackhead style. I saw him twice, three times buying crack. One time I saw him and he saw me, my eyes to his eyes, and he got very embarrassed when I saw him buying it. He knew that I knew he was smoking that crack. Asad would also recall that around this time, he saw Lori in Tara's store. She hadn't been there in a while, but this time she had bruises all around her neck.

When he asked her about them, she said quote: "I'm not with that crazy motherfucker anymore. He tried to kill me." Asajj suggested that she go to the police, but Lori said she couldn't because she had warrants. Now, the two would continue to see each other over the next year, but she ended up moving out for good and their relationship was definitely deteriorating. And so was Anthony's health.

In February of 2007, Anthony was walking to his sister's house when he noticed he was abnormally fatigued, but he figured he was just sick and continued walking. But right when he walked through her front door, Anthony collapsed. They called 911 and he was immediately transferred to the hospital for surgery. Anthony suffered from a heart attack and the doctors had to unclog his arteries and put in a pacemaker. He would end up recovering but was later let go from his job at the rubber factory.

It required a lot of physical work and Anthony just couldn't do it anymore. He tried to find another job, but with his criminal past, it was difficult. So to make ends meet, he started stealing aluminum and copper from abandoned buildings. It was apparent to everyone that Anthony had hit rock bottom. He was in bad health, addicted to drugs, his relationships were deteriorating, and he didn't have a job.

And it was around this time in 2007 when women around Imperial Avenue started going missing. The first was 38-year-old Crystal Dozier. Crystal was a mother of seven who didn't have the easiest life. Her father died at a young age so her mom had to raise her and her siblings all by herself. After their house got repossessed, Crystal's mom moved into an area known for its crime.

and at an early age, Crystal was exposed to crack cocaine. And once she started, she couldn't stop. Crystal's daughter, Antonia, would later say, "I realized my mother had a very difficult childhood, so I never had any hard feelings towards her. I always knew she had a problem with drugs, but there were also times when she really tried to play her role as a parent. There was a Christmas when she took me to get my nails done.

One of her sons, named Anthony Dozier, would later tell the Unseen documentary that he and his mom didn't have a great relationship. A lot of the memories from his childhood were of his mom's addiction. Anthony would later say,

Crystal always tried to get clean and you know when she was trying to get clean because she was around. I remember one day she was upstairs at my great-grandmother's house and she was on the phone crying. She was talking about how she wanted to get clean and she just couldn't. She kept giving in and she didn't know what to do. She wanted to be a mother. She wanted to be normal, you know? She didn't want to be addicted anymore. And I don't know, I knew when she came around that's what she wanted. She wanted to be clean. She wanted to feel loved. She wanted to have her family.

Because of Crystal's addiction, she often hung around Imperial Avenue, where crack cocaine was easily accessible. And at the time, she was actually living with a friend that lived a few houses down from Anthony. So Crystal knew him pretty well. In fact, a lot of women in the area knew him. You see, Anthony was known to be very generous with his alcohol and crack cocaine, and he would often trade his drugs for sex.

Crystal had hung out with him several times before her disappearance. But on this particular day, in May of 2007, Crystal told her friend that she was in serious need of a fix. So she put on a blue tank top and a pair of jeans and made her way over to 12205 Imperial Avenue. But once she walked out of that door, Crystal Dozier would never be seen again.

No one knows exactly what transpired within the walls of that home, but from what we've gathered, Crystal and Anthony would hang out for several hours, drinking and smoking crack. And for whatever reason, he snapped. It's likely it came out of nowhere, just like it did when he kidnapped and raped Melvette Salkwell. It's assumed that Anthony struck Crystal, and because she was high, it was difficult for her to defend herself.

Anthony then binds her wrist and ankles with cable and at some point in the night, after he raped her, he grabs a knotted cloth, wraps it around her neck and pulls it tight until he sees the life leave her eyes. Afterwards, Anthony grabs two trash bags, putting one over the top half of her body and the other over the bottom. He then wraps silver duct tape around her

securing the trash bags in place. It's likely that Anthony felt a rush after killing Crystal. Strangulation is a very personal method of killing and the feeling it gave him was a feeling he would go on to chase for the next few years. But first, he had to get rid of Crystal's body. Later that night, when it was dark and the streets were quiet, Anthony would go into his backyard

and dig a hole along the fence that he shared with Ray's sausage company next door. Afterwards, he drags Crystal's body outside and buries her in the shallow grave. And to make sure animals wouldn't get to her, he places a piece of plywood on top of the loose dirt. Crystal Dozier was Anthony Sowell's first victim, but she definitely wouldn't be his last.

In the weeks after Crystal's murder, her family knew deep down that something was wrong. Yes, she had an addiction, and her life wasn't always stable, but she would never go this long without at least checking in with them. Her son Anthony would later say, I had talked to her the day before Mother's Day, and we talked on the phone and everything. And I stopped by to see her, and I made sure I didn't call on Mother's Day, because I didn't feel like I should wish her a happy Mother's Day. I grew up by myself, you know.

you didn't earn the title to me. So the next day, after Mother's Day, she had disappeared. I figured she probably got upset that I didn't wish her a happy Mother's Day. And I talked to her the day before. So I gave it a few more days and after that, I went and filed a police report on her. I filed one, my sister filed one, and my aunt filed one. Everyone knew something was wrong.

Because of Crystal's history with drugs, the police didn't take her case seriously, so her family were the only ones looking for her. They ended up getting word that she was last seen on Imperial Avenue.

So they put flyers all along the street, hoping someone would come forward with information. But no one ever did. And they didn't stop there. Her son Anthony said that his family put flyers all over Cleveland. They even spent weeks just driving up and down the streets trying to find her.

He would later say, "It's funny because I would ride down the street sometimes and I would see people that look just like Crystal. And I would stop the car to get a better glimpse at them and be like, 'Okay, that's not her.' So you're always riding down the street and you're always looking and wondering if that's her. Is that her? You know, wondering maybe she's in a mental institution. Maybe she's in prison. Then you check the prison records and they don't see her. I had been checking down at the coroner's office for a while now, trying to see if they had any Jane Does, but nothing."

About a month after Crystal's murder, people in the neighborhood started to notice a smell wafting through the streets of Imperial Avenue. When Anthony would have people over, they would complain about the smell, but he would always blame it on the sausage company next door. And it was so bad that the Cleveland Health Department was even called to Imperial Avenue on multiple occasions to investigate the smell of decomposition.

But when they inspected the neighborhood, they couldn't determine where the odor was coming from. They concluded that a dead animal probably died somewhere in the sausage factory. No one had any idea that the real smell was coming from the decomposing corpse next door. And after a while, the people living around Imperial Avenue just learned to deal with it.

For the next year, Anthony Sowell controlled his homicidal urges. It was what some people call his "cooling off" period. But the high from killing Crystal was slowly wearing off, and by June of 2008, he was ready to strike again. His next victim would be 31-year-old Tishana Culver. Tishana's family said that she was a great girl with an even better heart. Unlike all of Anthony's victims, she too was addicted to drugs.

Her mother, Erby, said that Tishana started doing crack shortly after high school, after her boyfriend died by suicide, and from then on, she was hooked. But she did have moments when things were going really well. She worked hard to become a beautician in the area, and she would go on to have five children over the years. But the one thing consistent in her life was crack cocaine.

And eventually, she and her children moved in with her mom in a house on Imperial Avenue, just a half a block away from Anthony's. And at this point in her life, her addiction became so strong that she got into sex work to support her habits. Her family didn't agree with her decisions, and in March of 2008, her mom ended up making her move out. Months later, in June, her family would see her for the last time.

A missing persons report was never filed for the 31-year-old mother of five because everyone just assumed she ran off with a boyfriend. But unfortunately, that wasn't the case. Sometime in June of 2008, Tishana crossed paths with Anthony Sowell. We don't know for sure, but it's likely she went over to his house to get high, like most of his victims did. After a year of not killing, Anthony was ready to strike.

And now that Tishana was alone with him, in his house, he figured it was the perfect time. But Tishana's untimely death was far more violent than Crystal's. After getting high together, Anthony shifted from a friend to a murderer. He then beat Tishana so brutally that he broke her collarbone. Afterwards, he bound her wrists, wrapped a four-foot-long cloth around her neck,

and strangled her. Within minutes, he had just killed his second victim. In this time, no one would come looking for her. With Crystal, his first victim, he had to see her missing person flyers all around the neighborhood, but not with Tishana. And this would go on to be a part of his M.O. He liked to murder women who were vulnerable.

Women he could easily lure into his home with the promise of drugs, who the police wouldn't go looking for. When disposing of Tishana's body, Anthony didn't want to go through the trouble of burying her in his backyard. Maybe he assumed it was too risky and he was already getting enough complaints with the smell of Crystal's body. So instead, he decided to shove her into a crawlspace on the third story of his home.

It was a hot summer and the smell of decomposition would get even worse on the streets of Imperial Avenue. Unfortunately, Anthony's cooling off period wouldn't last nearly as long as the first one. His next victim would come just two months later in August of 2008. It was also his youngest victim, 25-year-old LaShonda Long. LaShonda's life was difficult from the start.

She was born to a mother who struggled with drug addiction, so she wasn't really in her life Her father, who worked to support six children, was often gone, leaving the kids at home by themselves Eventually, LaShonda's aunt got custody of the children for a while and it seemed like her life was heading in the right direction But as she got older, she began to rebel

By the time she was 18, she already had three children. She was hanging around a bad crowd, started using drugs, and had multiple run-ins with the law. And by her late teens, social workers deemed LaShonda an unfit parent and took her kids away.

This was devastating for her because her kids were everything to her. She even tried to kidnap them from their new homes. Shortly after this, LaShonda's life would take a turn for the worse. Her drug addiction was stronger than ever and she began frequenting Imperial Avenue. The last time anyone saw LaShonda was in August of 2008. No one would hear from her for a few weeks after that.

But that was pretty common. The thing that alerted her family to her disappearance, however, was when her father's birthday came around. No matter what was going on in her life, LaShonda always called on her father's birthday. But not this year. Unfortunately, LaShonda would come into contact with Anthony Sowell in August of 2008.

And one night, while she was over at his house, he strangled her to death, just like the previous two victims. Anthony's favorite method of killing was strangulation, which is why they call him the Cleveland Strangler. But it seemed like during this time, he was still experimenting with his methods of disposal. His first victim, Crystal, was buried in the backyard. His second, Tishana, was hidden in the crawlspace.

and with LaShonda, his third victim, he decided to try dismemberment. After spending hours cutting away at the 25-year-old's body, Anthony disposed of her in an unknown location, but he made sure to keep her head. He kept her skull that was missing its jaw in a plastic bucket in his basement.

The rest of her remains still haven't been found to this day. Now, Anthony and Lori had officially broken up by this time, but she would still come by occasionally to hang out with Anthony at his house. And one thing she began to notice was the putrid smell emanating from around the home. But like always, Anthony just blamed it on the sausage factory next door. Something else that was suspicious to her was that Anthony always had fresh wounds on his body,

Most of them were on his neck and they looked like scratches. And Lori said that these weren't just little marks, they were deep. She even said that you could see the quote "white meat" under his skin. When she would ask him about it, Anthony would tell her stories like he got mugged while stealing copper. Over the next few months, Lori would notice other strange things around Anthony's home. Like the fact that certain rooms of the house

that had never been previously locked were now bolted shut. She noticed a broken window, holes in the wall, holes dug up in the backyard. At one point, she even found blood all over the walls and carpet. When she asked Anthony about it, he told her that he had to fight off someone who had broken into his home. But those stories were most likely untrue because, unbeknownst to Lori, there were three dead bodies around Anthony's property.

And the suspicious things found around his home were from when he was murdering them. And Laurie even knew a number of Anthony's victims. During this time, Anthony's cooling off periods were only lasting him around two months. In October of 2008, shortly after the murder of LaShonda, Anthony would go looking for his fourth victim.

According to the neighbors in the area, Anthony would sit on the second story of his porch and just watch as people walked by. It's likely that he found a number of his victims this way. If he saw a woman walking alone in the street in need of some drugs, he would approach them and offer them a good time. And because of their addiction, it was a hard offer to pass up, which is most likely what happened to 45-year-old Michelle Mason.

who was living near Imperial Avenue at the time. Michelle's mother said that she was a sweet girl with a big and beautiful smile. But shortly after giving birth to her two sons, she became addicted to crack. Over the years, Michelle would be arrested a number of times for drugs and prostitution, and as badly as she wanted to be off the streets, it was hard for her to quit. While she was out there, she came into contact with a lot of horrible people.

One man even shot her in the face and left her on the street to die. She ended up recovering from this, but she had to get a glass eye. Luckily, in the years before her murder, Michelle's life was turning around. She wasn't using as much and she seemed to be a lot happier. And despite the bad people she had come into contact with over the years, she still opened her heart for people. Her mother said, quote, "That's probably how she got caught up with Sowell.

She was just like me. She'd give you the coat off her back. He probably said hello to her on the street and charmed her. In her mind, she was just making friends with him. Michelle was last seen on Imperial Avenue wearing a brown shirt and a sweater. And tragically, she ended up putting her trust in Anthony Sowell. The two of them would walk to his house one day, but Michelle would never walk back out. After strangling her with a brown sock,

Anthony wrapped her body up in a black comforter, orange carpet padding, and black trash bags. He wrapped her in more material than his previous victims, most likely because the smell of decomposition was already very strong. He then dug an 8-inch grave in his backyard and buried her. Michelle's mother would eventually report her missing, but because of her past, the police didn't take her case seriously.

So, Michelle's family searched all around Mt. Pleasant. They put up flyers everywhere, especially on Imperial Avenue where she was last seen. But strangely enough, her mother noticed that the flyers kept going missing. It's likely that Anthony was taking them down himself.

Just one month later, on November 10th, 2008, 53-year-old Tanya Carmichael would become Anthony's fifth victim. Tanya was known for her vibrant spirit and she always liked to have a good time. Throughout her life, she did her best to raise her three kids by herself. When the crack epidemic hit the area, she would yell and chase away the drug dealers, wanting to protect her kids from them. But eventually, when her family started to fall on hard times, she too turned to drugs.

But her children said that their mother was never the stereotypical drug fiend running around in the streets. Tanya liked to dress up, put a cute outfit on, and have fun. She was the life of the party who loved to travel and go to casinos. Her daughter said the last time she saw Tanya was at a family barbecue. She noticed that Tanya kept staring at her. She told her mom to stop, but in hindsight, she believes she was just getting one last look at her kid.

On the day of her disappearance, Tanya told a friend that she was heading out to "have some fun," but she would never return. Shortly after stepping foot into Anthony's home, he would attack her, tie her hands around her back, rape her, and then wrap a cord around her throat. Anthony got great pleasure from straddling his victims and watching them struggle as he slowly took their lives. After she was dead, Anthony wrapped her up in plastic and buried her with the other two victims in the backyard.

When her family reported her missing, the police dismissed them and said she'll likely come back home when the drugs run out. If the police would have taken any of these disappearances seriously, they would have quickly discovered that many of the victims were last seen along Imperial Avenue. And at the bare minimum, if they would have driven out there, they would have smelled the decomposition and known that something was up. Maybe they could have put a few officers out there on patrol.

But they didn't. In their minds, these victims were just off somewhere getting into trouble. And because of this, women continued to go missing. And the bodies inside of 12205 Imperial Avenue continued to pile up. But Anthony's next victim would end up surviving. She would even go to the police about what happened to her. But again, they didn't take her seriously. Her name was Gladys Wade.

And in December of 2008, she was walking along Imperial Avenue after buying some beer at the local convenience store. Along this walk, she hears a man yell out to her from his front porch. Would you like to drink some beer tonight? No, thank you. I have my own, she replies. And the next thing she remembers is feeling a hard blow to her face, followed by someone putting her in a chokehold.

Gladys wanted to scream but her airway was blocked and the man then began to drag her up the front steps of his home. 40 year old Gladys did have a history of drug use but on this night she wasn't seeking it out. When Anthony grabbed her off the street and dragged her into his home, she had lost consciousness. And the next thing she remembers is waking up in one of the second story common areas.

She was alone and there was a Christmas tree lit in the corner. But before she could react, Anthony Sowell enters the room, punches her in the face several times and orders her to take her clothes off. But instead, Gladys puts up a fight and she punches him as hard as she could in the testicles. For the next few moments, a struggle ensued before Gladys started running for the stairs.

She started screaming as loud as she could, hoping someone would call for help. But Anthony screamed back, "Bitch, you can scream all you want, you're gonna die!" He was right on her tail, and they both ended up falling down the flight of stairs. At the bottom of the steps, Anthony straddles her, and he squeezes his hands around her neck. But Gladys continued to fight, eventually breaking a nearby window and lacerating her right thumb.

the entire time Anthony is screaming at her. "Stop fighting! Stop fighting!" At this point, Anthony is bleeding everywhere. Gladys had sliced the skin all around his eyes and he had a deep laceration on his forehead, but he still wasn't giving up. So in one last-ditch effort, Gladys again goes for his crotch and she squeezes it with all of her might. Luckily, it works.

Anthony releases his grip and Gladys makes a run for it out the front door. She said that as soon as she was outside, she didn't stop running. She would later tell the Unseen documentary, quote, I was hysterical. I was just crying. My head was bleeding and everything and I ran across the street to a pizza place. I asked them if they could call the police because a man was trying to kill me.

They said they don't want anything to do with it and I had to leave because I was bleeding on their floor. I don't know what they believed, but they were out there laughing. Eventually, Gladys found a patrol car and was able to flag them down. Once she tells them everything that happened to her, the officers make their way over to Anthony's home. Outside, they can see signs of a struggle. There's broken glass all on the floor and blood everywhere.

The officers ultimately place Anthony under arrest and he's booked into the city jail. But by the next morning, they let him go. According to the prosecutor, there wasn't enough evidence to convict him. Because Gladys had a troubled past, she wasn't considered credible and it was basically her word against his. Gladys would later say quote "I begged and said why would you all let him go

She said, "Well, the prosecutor said there just wasn't enough evidence to keep him. They don't listen to women that are on drugs. They don't listen to him. They're nothing." She went on to say, "There are some good cops out there. There are some beautiful cops out there. There are some cops out there that really do care about their job. But there are some cops out there that don't give a shit." And Gladys was right.

The police were not advocating for these women on Imperial Avenue. And because of this, six more women would die at the hands of Anthony Sowell after he attacked Gladys Wade. Six more lives lost when he should have been put away right then and there.

Anthony's sixth murder victim was 44-year-old Kim Smith. When Kim was younger, her older boyfriend introduced her to drugs, and from then on, she was hooked. But despite her struggles with addiction,

Kim deeply cared about her friends and family. In 2007, her father underwent a surgery that left him in a wheelchair. And from that point forward, Kim dedicated her life to caring for her father. She cooked for him, cleaned, took him to doctor's appointments, and she was really motivated to get her life together.

On January 17th, 2009, the day of her disappearance, she and her aunt went to the store to buy her some new clothes. Kim was set to sing in her church's choir performance that upcoming Sunday. Her aunt would later say, "Kim seemed stressed out and worried about her father's condition because he had undergone so many surgeries. After we got home, Kim took her father some Chinese food. Then she said she was going to her boyfriend's house.

And her aunt was right. She had gone somewhere else. Kim Smith had visited Anthony Sowell that afternoon and never returned back home.

After strangling her to death, Anthony wrapped her body up in plastic with her wrists and ankles still tied together with cloth and then buried her in the backyard. When her loved one noticed she was missing, they posted flyers all around the city. They even offered a $500 reward for information that could lead to her whereabouts. Her father said,

A few months later, in April of 2009, another woman would go missing off Imperial Avenue. It was 47-year-old Imelda Hunter, but her friends called her Amy.

Amy grew up in Chicago and eventually made her way over to Cleveland. She had four children all together, one who died at childbirth and another who had disabilities. Her family said that throughout all the stress in her life, Amy found comfort in drugs. She was introduced to crack cocaine at a young age, and although she tried to quit a number of times, it was hard for her to get clean.

Anthony lived right down the road from Anthony Sowell, and according to her sister, she considered him a friend. Amy told her that he was a nice man who was always willing to help her out when she was in need, which is most likely what happened on April 18th, 2009. That day, Amy left her home and was never seen again.

Strangely enough, Amy was actually cousins with Anthony's first murder victim, Crystal Dozier. But when she stepped inside of Anthony's home that day, like she had done many times before, Amy had no idea that her cousin was buried in the backyard. And she definitely had no idea that her life would soon come to an end.

That night, Amy was raped and then strangled with the shoulder strap of a briefcase. Soon after, Anthony would wrap her body up in trash bags and bury her in the backyard alongside her cousin. And unfortunately, because Amy was known to go missing for long periods of time, her family never reported her missing.

Just days after the murder of Amy Hunter, Anthony would attack another woman, who would luckily make it out alive. Her name was Tanya Doss, who lived along Imperial Avenue. The 43-year-old had known Anthony for nearly four years, and she always considered him to be a nice and friendly man. On April 21, 2009, Anthony invited her over for a front yard barbecue.

Apparently, he had invited a lot of people in the neighborhood, but no one showed up because of the horrific smell emanating from his house. But Tanya didn't have any plans for the night and he offered her free alcohol, so she agreed. She would go on to say that Anthony was always a very good host, even making her nice dinners on several occasions. And that night was no different. The two spent the evening drinking, playing cards, and having a good night together.

After a while, they went inside to watch a football game, and they smoked a little crack cocaine. But as the hours passed, Anthony's mood started to change. Tanya said, I was sitting on the edge of his bed, watching the Cavs game. We were talking about walking up to the corner for some beer. Then he just flipped out.

Out of nowhere, Anthony lunges at Tanya, knocking her to the ground. He then wraps his hands around her neck and begins to choke her. After a few seconds, he tells Tanya, "If you want to live, knock on the ground three times." So she does. And surprisingly, he releases his grip. He then screams, "You don't know the real me! I could kill you like any crackhead bitch on the street and no one would give a fuck about you, bitch!" Tanya does her best to stay calm.

and she asks him why he's so upset. But this only makes Anthony more mad and suddenly she's met with multiple slaps to her face. He then yells at her to remove her clothes. Tonya decides the best thing to do here is to just do what she's told. So she takes off her clothes and then asks him if she could use the restroom. He agrees. When she came back into the room, Anthony was lying naked on the bed.

but it seemed like he had calmed down a bit. Tanya laid down on the bed in a fetal position and to her surprise, Anthony didn't rape her. He didn't even touch her. It seemed like maybe he felt a little remorse for what he was doing to his friend. The two had known each other for years and he had never acted this way before. Tanya said, "Every so often I glanced at him. He was just staring into space.

I laid there thinking about my children and praying. Tanya knew that she just came very close to death and she didn't want to take any chances. So she ended up staying the night, hoping that by morning Anthony would let her go home. And surprisingly, he did. She would later say that when she woke up, "He casually asked if I wanted a beer. He was right back to being a good host."

I didn't want a beer, but I figured I should accept his offer. Then, I picked up my phone and acted as if I was talking to my daughter. I told him that I had to help her with something. He said, "Okay." And then I just left." As soon as Tanya stepped out of the doors, she felt a huge sense of relief and she swore that she would never hang out with Anthony again.

She contemplated calling the police, but she knew that they probably wouldn't even do anything about it. They didn't like to help out the women on Imperial Avenue, and Tonya didn't want to go through the trouble, but she would go on to regret this decision. Instead of telling the police, Tonya decided to confide in her best friend from grade school, a woman named Nancy Cobbs.

Little did she know, however, that just three days after her attack, her best friend Nancy would become Anthony's next murder victim. Despite Tanya's warnings about Anthony, Nancy Cobb decided to pay him a visit anyways. She too knew Anthony and she didn't think he was capable of hurting her, but she was wrong.

The 43-year-old mother of three was known to be an extremely loyal friend. She turned to drugs years prior after a bad breakup, but she always found great joy in being around her grandchildren. Many of their memories were of them riding bikes around in the park.

Nancy was last seen just days after Tanya's attack on April 24th, 2009. She was with her family when she suddenly got up and said she needed to run to the store. She was only supposed to be gone for a few hours at most, but by the next day, when she was still not home, her family decided to report her missing. Little did they know that by the time they made the report, Nancy was lying dead in the crawlspace of Anthony Sowell's home.

He had bound her wrists with rope, raped her, and then strangled her with a homemade ligature made of rope and cloth. To try and conceal the smell her body would later give off, he wrapped her in a comforter and placed trash bags all around the body. Nancy Cobb was Anthony's eighth murder victim. Her best friend Tanya would later feel a lot of guilt about not reporting Anthony to the police when she was attacked days earlier. She would later say,

If I had gone to the police and they would have listened, maybe my friend would still be here.

Okay. Real quickly, everyone, this is not an ad. We just have a favor to ask of y'all. If you love murder in America, you love the shows that we're producing head to Apple podcasts and leave us a five-star review. We really want to boost those reviews and we want to get that five-star rating. So if y'all are listening, just take the two seconds, head to Apple podcasts. It's on every phone. Well, every iPhone, I should say, and give us a good review because it means a lot to be able to hear from y'all that you're enjoying the show. And, uh,

Yeah, you can always follow us on Instagram @murderinamerica where we post photos from all the cases that we discuss. But yeah, sorry for the self promo here. I had to. We love y'all so much and let's get back to today's story. As spring turns to summer in the neighborhood of Mount Pleasant, the temperatures start to rise and the horrible smell along Imperial Avenue becomes stronger than ever.

There are now 8 bodies decomposing on Anthony's property. Some are buried in a shallow grave in the backyard. Some are up in the attic. Others down in the crawlspace or the basement. But soon enough, the smell becomes so overwhelming that people avoid the area. Even the residents who didn't have air conditioning began shutting their windows during the hottest day of the summer.

To them, the heat was better than the smell of death. Ray's Sausage Company next door to Anthony's house spent tens of thousands of dollars replacing their sewers and plumbing systems, thinking that they were responsible for the odor. They even invested more money into bleach and deodorizers. But the smell never went away.

And I don't know if you've ever smelled decomposition, but even the smallest of animals release an intense odor that can be smelled from very far away. So I can't even imagine what it was like with eight full-grown bodies in the summer heat. And you may be wondering, why were all of these women still going inside of his home when the smell was so bad?

Well, many of the survivors would later say that when you're an addict, you will do anything to get your fix. If it meant sleeping with violent men or staying in nasty homes, that's just what you do. Then after you get high, you don't even notice. It can be difficult to understand this, but when someone is that addicted to a drug, they will do anything to be able to get that drug.

A resident of Imperial Avenue named Theresa Mays would later say of the drug use, "Where I grew up, I remember seeing my best friend's mom out on the street turning tricks for drug money. Your own uncle would crawl through your bedroom window to steal your television set. Mothers would even sell their kids for a fix." And those are just some examples of what people will do to support their addiction.

There are many people out there that don't understand it. But until you've experienced it yourself, you never know the struggles that these people face. Almost all of them don't want to be in the situation that they're in. But because of their disease and lack of money and resources, it's incredibly difficult to get help. That was the case for 31-year-old Talisa Fortson.

In June of 2009, Talisa would give her adopted mother a kiss on the forehead and walk out of her home for the very last time. Talisa grew up in the foster care system and even though she was adopted, she struggled with feelings of abandonment her entire life. She started experimenting with drugs at just 14 years old. And throughout the years, she would have many run-ins with the law.

Because of this, she was deemed an unfit parent and full custody was given to her children's father. This was devastating to Talisa because her children were her life. Soon afterward, she fell into a depression and her drug use got even worse. But in the months before her disappearance, her mother said that she seemed to be doing better. She was even seeing her daughters again and healing their broken relationship.

On June 3rd, 2009, Talisa came by her mother's home to deliver a bag of groceries. She cleaned the house, cooked a meal for the family, and then left. Her mother would go on to say, "We were on good terms at that point. I had the feeling she was really trying to get her life on track." But after Talisa kissed her mom on the forehead and left their home, she would never be seen again.

Her family knew something was wrong when she stopped contacting her daughters. For weeks, she had been stopping by to braid their hair. But when they didn't hear from her, they knew something bad had happened. And they were right. After spending some time with Anthony Sowell at his home, Talisa would face the same fate as the previous eight victims. But by now, Anthony was getting sloppy.

Or maybe he was running out of places to store the bodies. Because instead of burying Talisa, he just decided to leave her in one of the rooms upstairs. Her body would lie naked on the floor with a cloth ligature still wrapped around her neck. All while her family ran around East Cleveland trying to find her.

Anthony Sowell's tenth victim would die just one week later. Her name was Janice Webb. The 48-year-old mother of one was last seen in early June of 2009. Janice talked to her sister every single day, and she was supposed to come by to see her that week, but she never showed. Although Janice struggled with a drug addiction for the last few decades, she was reliable, and she always followed through when it came to her family.

But unfortunately, after spending time with Anthony Sowell, she would become victim number 10. After binding her wrists together with shoelaces, Anthony raped her, put a green belt around her neck, and strangled her to death. Afterwards, he brought her body down into his basement, and to cover the smell, he piled dirt on top of her body. And for the next few months, Anthony would lay low. Maybe this smell was getting too strong. Maybe he wanted to make room for more bodies.

But his 11th and final murder victim would come three months later in September of 2009. It was 38-year-old Diane Turner. Diane was a mother of five who worked as a dishwasher at a local Jamaican restaurant. She absolutely loved her children, but her drug use always got in the way.

To support her habits, she turned to prostitution, which landed her in jail on multiple occasions. And over the years, she would lose custody of all five of her kids. And by the time of her disappearance, she was using more than ever. Because of this, she was estranged from her family. They didn't even realize she had gone missing until they received a call from her job, telling them that they hadn't seen Diane in over a week.

They weren't sure what happened to her, but they definitely didn't assume that she was a victim of a murder. In early September of 2009, Diane would go to Anthony Sowell's house to use drugs. And like every victim before her, she wouldn't make it out the doors alive.

After she was killed, her body would sit on Anthony's third floor, left out in the open to decompose. Diane Turner would be Anthony's 11th and final murder victim. But he wasn't finished just yet. Anthony would go on to victimize two more women before the law finally caught up to him. Now, we know there have been a lot of victims so far, but stay with us because this story is nearing its end.

and Anthony Sowell's next victim would end up surviving. Her name is LaTundra Billups, but most people called her Lala. And in September of 2009, Lala's life was gripped by addiction. She would go on to tell the Unseen documentary, "What I heard about crack in the early 90s was that it was addictive. People would do some of everything to get it, rob and steal. It turned people into bums.

I know I didn't want to be one of those people. When I was 13-14 years old, becoming a teenager, I wanted to go to all of the parties. I just wanted to party and have fun. So I started disobeying my mother's rule. The day that I tried crack cocaine, I was with a neighbor. We were doing other drugs, marijuana, alcohol. She used crack cocaine and I asked to try it.

So I tried it and I was high. It was a rush that I can't really describe. It was a rush that came over your body and then it goes away very quick. So you have this high sensation for five minutes and then it's gone. You know, at first it was maybe once a week and then it grew to where it was a couple times a week. Then to where I had somebody supplying me. Then to where I had to buy it on my own.

Then, to where I had no money to buy it on my own, so I had to use other means to get it. In 2007, Lala moved to Imperial Avenue, and it was around this time when she met Anthony Sowell. The two had hung out on multiple occasions, and from what she could tell, he was a good guy. So on September 22, 2009, when he passed her on the street holding a case of beer, Lala asked if she could join him.

Anthony agreed, but his plans for the night looked a lot different. Once inside of the home, Anthony took Lala to the second story, which was strange because they usually hung out on the third story. But Talisa Fortson's body was lying up there, so they stayed downstairs. Anthony and Lala did drugs for a while and then he told her to go into the other room.

When she stepped inside, she noticed that there was a blanket lying on the floor next to a piece of an extension cord. She didn't realize it at the time, but Anthony had placed it there to prepare for her murder. And once inside of the room, Anthony places his hands around her neck and begins to squeeze. Lala turns around and pushes him off.

She said next that he "hit me in my face really hard to where we're not playing around anymore. He ripped my shirt and made me turn over on my stomach. And that's when he got the extension cord and he put it around my neck. When I woke up, I remember my neck was burning." When Lala regained her consciousness, she realized she was naked lying on top of the blanket that was on the ground.

and it was apparent that she had been raped. Lala immediately sat up. Anthony, who was sitting on a chair, was shocked to see her alive. He then told her, "I'm going to kill you and then kill myself because I'm going to jail soon." Lala did her best to calm him down, telling him, "You're not going to jail. It's okay.

Anthony then apologized for his actions and he told her that he'd been going through a lot lately. Lala assured him that everything was fine and to her surprise, he walked her outside. She said that once she was out of the home, she looked back several times to see if he was still watching her. But once she hit the corner, she took off running. Lala came within an inch of her life that day and she didn't want Anthony to get away with it.

So she immediately went to the police. The hospital ended up doing a rape kit on her, but she wouldn't even be contacted by law enforcement for another three weeks. When they finally do call Lala about her assault, they ultimately decide that they finally have enough evidence against Anthony to create a case.

But before they could make an arrest, Anthony Sowell would victimize one more person at his home on Imperial Avenue. In the month after Lala's attack, Anthony was able to walk around a free man, even though law enforcement had proof that he was sexually assaulting women. And on October 19th, 2009, he would strike again.

51-year-old Shawn Morris was walking to the bus station after a fun night of drinking with her friends when she ran into Anthony Sowell. You see, she had never seen him before,

But he told her that he was a veteran and he seemed to be a really nice guy. So when he offered to buy her some crack and continue the party at his house, she agreed. You see, Sean had been using drugs for over 20 years. And even though she would go through periods of being sober, it was really hard for her to pass it up when someone offered for free.

Now, it was already getting into the early hours of the next morning, so she only planned to stay there for a few hours. Once they got back to his place, she immediately noticed the horrible odor emanating from the house. But regardless, the two continued to drink and smoke until about 9 a.m. Sean then gathered her things and Anthony walked her out. All was well and Sean left having had a good time.

But once she was a few blocks down the street, she realized she left her ID at his house. So tragically, she turns back around, but as soon as she steps inside of his home for the second time, everything changes. She was no longer with the friendly stranger she had spent the last few hours with, and before she knew it, Anthony had her in a chokehold and was dragging her up the stairs. All along the way, he whispered in her ear, "You're not leaving here. You're not going anywhere until I say you can."

If you scream or run, I'll kill you. Trigger warning, the next scene is a violent description of rape. But once in the bedroom, Anthony threw Sean on the bed, removed her clothes, and then violently raped her. During it, he said, I hate you bitches, look at you. You got a husband at home and you're out in the streets. After raping her vaginally, Anthony anally raped her, causing Sean to let out a scream.

He then went downstairs to turn on some music, hoping to drown it out so the neighbors wouldn't hear. Shawn knew right then and there that Anthony was planning on killing her, and if she didn't think fast, she wouldn't make it out of there alive. At that moment, she noticed that one of the bedroom windows had been left open.

Sean told the Unseen documentary, "I was sitting right in front of this window and I'm telling God that I found myself in a situation and to please don't let me die when I come out of that window because I'm about to jump." There was no roof below this window like in the case of Melvette Saukwell. This window dropped straight down into an alley between Anthony's house and the sausage company.

But Shawn decided to take the risk. She knew if she didn't, she would never see the light of day. So she jumps. When she hit the ground below, she broke both of her hands, ate ribs, and she fractured her skull. Fawcett Bess, the owner of the restaurant across the street,

was busy working when one of his employees ran in, yelling that a naked woman fell out of a window and was lying injured in the alley. - Hey, y'all gotta hurry up to 12205. - No, no, back to the right hand right. - 12205. - Okay. - Imperium.

The Ray's Sausage Company surveillance camera that was pointed toward the alley where Sean fell then captured footage of Anthony Sowell coming into frame. He was shirtless, disheveled, and he even attempted to pick Sean up and carry her back inside. Anthony then yelled out to the crowd that had gathered and said,

But they quickly advised him that the police were already on their way. When the ambulance arrived, Sean was so badly injured she couldn't even tell them what had happened. So Anthony Sowell rode with her to the hospital, telling first responders that he was her husband and that she accidentally fell out the window. Sean would later say,

She told me, "Your husband rode with you in the ambulance." And I told her, "That was not my husband." And she was so embarrassed that she decided to lie about what actually happened.

She knows how bad it looks falling out of another man's window naked. So instead of pressing charges, she ultimately tells everyone that she was getting high and accidentally fell. About a week later, on October 29th, 2009, law enforcement finally gets a warrant for Anthony Saville's arrest for the rape of Lala that occurred a month earlier. If only they had come a little sooner.

Not only had Anthony attacked another woman during that time, but as police ascended upon his home, Anthony was nowhere to be found. The attack of Sean Morris must have spooked him. They do find crack pipes, garbage bags full of clothes, a bunch of random trash, and big holes gouged from the windows and ceilings. But one of the most noticeable things upon entering the home

is the unmistakable smell of death. So they follow the smell, which leads them to the third story sitting area. As the officers enter the room, they find two bodies decomposing on the floor. One was naked wearing a clover necklace and the other had on a white dress. Both had their feet bound and lying in the middle of them was a shovel.

These bodies would later be identified as Talisa Fortson and Diane Turner. But as we know, they wouldn't be the only bodies that the police would find on the property. Eventually, a canine would alert authorities to a wall that had recently been patched up. After removing the drywall, detectives found a crawlspace containing two more bodies and another two downstairs in the basement.

Then finally, they would find five more buried in the backyard. Now all of the bodies found on Anthony's property were so decomposed that they were essentially unrecognizable. I mean, they weren't even able to determine their race or gender. And in the months following, the only way they were able to identify their victims was through the DNA of their family members.

Once word got out about the serial killer on Imperial Avenue who was kidnapping women who were addicted to drugs, people from all over Cleveland began to worry that their loved one was one of the bodies found inside of the home. Many of them found that their worst fears had come true. And it wouldn't take long for the media to name Anthony Sowell the Cleveland Strangler

And just about everyone in the area was on the lookout for him. To some extent, the investigation here is just beginning. Police are going to go through this house inch by inch trying to discover six decomposed, dismembered bodies inside this home. So far, no identities on any of the victims, but we do know that 10 bodies are those of African-American women. What happened in this house behind me is simply a nightmare.

and there are a lot of deeply disturbing questions for authorities here with 12 bodies inside of the home the search for anthony sowell becomes one of the biggest manhunts in the history of ohio his face was all over the media and police were even offering a 12 000 reward for information leading to his whereabouts little did they know while they were pulling the bodies out of his home anthony was a few blocks over playing video games with his nephew

One of Anthony's neighbors knew he was over there and decided to go by to inform him on what was going on at his house. The neighbor's name was Debbie Madison, and as soon as she walked through the door, she told Anthony, there are two dead bodies at your house and the police are there. I'll take you over there. You need to talk with police. Anthony slowly gets off the couch and agrees to go over there with her. On the two-minute drive, he shamefully admits, that girl made me do it. Now it's all gonna come out.

But when they approach the red and blue lights, he freezes and timidly asks Debbie to take him back to his sisters. And surprisingly, she agrees.

Anthony's sister would later tell the Unseen documentary that while he was on the run, he called her and wanted to meet up, saying: "I actually met him around the corner right around two streets. He was in plain view. He said, 'Meet him.' I met him on the street. We stood there and we talked. It was two streets away. He said, 'I got something to tell you,' and I'm like, 'What? Tell me.' He said everything that they say is true. He said, 'I don't know why I did it. I spazzed out. I'm just all fucked up in the head.' That's exactly what he said. He said, 'I love you, and I'm going to call you later.'"

but I gotta go because the police are looking for me." And he walked off. - But he wouldn't be on the run for long. Just a few days after the police found the bodies inside of his home, on October 31st, 2009, Anthony was seen walking near Imperial Avenue. He had been staying in an abandoned house in the neighborhood. Officers quickly placed him under arrest and brought him back to the station for questioning.

But throughout the eight hours of interrogation, Anthony refused to admit exactly what happened with all of his victims. He couldn't seem to remember and ultimately, all he could recall of the murders was that it was all just a bad dream. Here are some clips from his interrogation. I know it's hard to hear, we've been here a long time, you can try it.

*Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying* *Crying*

I don't like the smooth things. The dreams come back to you. You think about the dreams now? You think about the dreams now? Huh? Huh? You trying to think about it?

I gotta jog you, man. I gotta jog you a little bit harder. I need this, man. I need to tell these people. These people need this just as bad. They need it. See, as much as I'm pressing you, I need it, but they need it. They need it.

The need that I'm feeling cannot even come close to equaling the need that they feel. But do you know how much fog and stuff is there? I know it's there. Let's blow it away. Tell me what I need to do. I'm trying to do the best I can. Like this one, I'm trying, man. There's something there. Try it down on the shirt, right? Just take a break, man. Give me some time. Would you please give us some thought, though?

That's all I've been doing. Think hard. You want some water or something like that? We heard you tell us you can't remember nothing about these six females. It's like it's all running through. It ain't running nothing.

Here I ask you, I say, well how did you kill number one? I don't know. How did you kill number two? I don't even remember. I don't know. How did you kill number three? I don't even remember actually killing nobody. How did you kill number four? I don't know. How did the dirt get up in your house on the third floor in the crawl space above a body, on the body? I don't know. How did the dirt get downstairs in the basement underneath the seventh step

stairwell on top of the body I don't know how did the body get dug up out of your backyard I don't know how did you do that all you know now is trying to save your damn ass save my ass how can I save my ass my life is over well then tell us about these girls okay you punished them right you punish all six of us yes okay tell me the way you punish these girls yeah you do remember that

See what I'm saying, Tony? It's like... No, see, that's why... That's what I'm saying. It's like... Let's get along with each other. What is this? I can just get the vision out of my chump, and I just... You get the vision that you choked on me? I don't know. Yes. This is what you did to these six girls. You choked on me. I think, yes. That's... All I can do is tell you what comes to my mind. Specifically, you didn't stab them or cut them. No. You know specifically that you didn't shoot any of these girls. Right. You know specifically that you...

Anthony's trial started on June 27th, 2011, and he was charged with 85 counts of murder, kidnapping, and rape. He was also charged with the abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence, attempted rape, felonious assault, and attempted murder for the three women that survived: Gladys Wade, Latundra Billups, and Sean Morris. Anthony would plead not guilty to these charges by reason of insanity.

And surprisingly, the prosecution brought forward another victim that we haven't discussed. Her name was Vanessa Gay. Like the other victims, Vanessa was a drug user and a prostitute. And in September of 2008, she came into contact with Anthony Sowell. Vanessa said the following in the unseen documentary: "I was standing at the bank and this man walked past on his cell phone.

He stayed in range so that he could say "it's my birthday" and nobody was celebrating. I told him I don't celebrate birthdays but happy birthday and I'm thinking do I stay out here and wait for something else or do I go with him? People were saying hi to him as we were walking, nothing to indicate that the whole night was about to be terrible. When we got to his house, we stepped in and you can feel an eerie feeling.

And then you got closer to the upstairs and you smelled something. So I asked him, what's up? What are we about to do? Smoke? Are we about to drink? What are we going to do? And he said, yeah, do you have a stem? And I stood up, handed it to him. He turned his back and I heard the lighter. I heard a sizzle and then I felt a punch. He turned around and punched me in the face. And he told me, bitch, take your clothes off.

I did exactly what he told me to do. He looked me in my eyes and I've never seen anybody's eyes as evil. All you could see is black holes. You didn't see a spark. You just see black. And then I got raped and raped and raped and beat and beat and beat. And it went on for hours.

The next morning, Vanessa asked to use the restroom, and Anthony told her she could, but what she would see on her way over to the restroom would be forever ingrained in her mind.

There, in one of the rooms, she saw a dead body. Where the testimony you're about to give shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so I'll be God. My name is Vanessa Gay. That's V-A-N-D-S-S-A-G-A-Y. Thank you. All right, Mr. Bob, I can hear you. Good afternoon, Miss Gay. How are you? I'm here. How old are you, Miss Gay? I'm 37. 37.

As you walked to the bathroom, did you notice anything about the room on the left? The plastic was pulled up. Something on the floor. It looked like it was a body and it had no hand on it. Oh, my God.

Did you use the bathroom? Yes. Was he nearby when you used the bathroom? I think he was outside the door. I don't know. I just don't. I thought it was over the air for real. I just... I kept thinking to myself, I can't see what I saw.

This is not possible. This is not real. I'm thinking I cried too much. I was not seeing, but I saw. Alright, thank you Miss Gay. You may step out. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll take a break. We'll be back in in five minutes. I had to go to the bathroom without acknowledging anything. Without changing my expression. Without freaking out. Without crying. Without letting him know what I had seen.

I was not supposed to make it out of there. He kept saying, "You're going to tell if I let you out of here." But I told him, "Tell them what? It may have been a little rougher than what I'm used to, but what am I going to tell?" Then he got his keys and I walked arm in arm standing right by his side. And I felt if he got behind me, I'm not going to make it. We walked down the stairs, he opened the door, and I was finally out.

I walked down the street limping and bleeding and everything and my whole body was done. It was a Sunday morning. I went to all of these churches and they turned the other way. I heard a couple laugh and nobody helped me.

Afterwards, Vanessa called the police and they told her to go to the station to file a report. But she was so traumatized by everything that she decided to go to an abandoned house instead. Once there, she said she just slept for days, hoping to forget the nightmare she had just lived through. She ended up never filing a report. And Vanessa would later say, When I was on crack, people already thought I was crazy. They didn't want to believe an addict.

The trial was long and extremely hard for the victims' families to sit through. After hearing what their loved one experienced at the hands of Anthony Sowell, they couldn't believe it. But at the end of it all, the jury deliberated for 15 hours. And ultimately, they convicted Anthony on 84 of the 85 counts against him. And on August 10th, he was sentenced to death.

Lala, one of Anthony's survivors, refused to let this story take over her life. And although it's been a struggle, she decided to make the best out of her situation. She would later tell the unseen documentary: "Dealing with this horrific memory every day has become easier as time has gone on. Dealing with myself and what I went through, I had to stop being a victim. I'm no longer a victim. I'm a survivor, and I heal from this by helping others. You would have never told me in two and a half years that I would have an associate's degree.

she's going to attend Cleveland State. She's going to have a daughter that's going to graduate. Her kids are going to be with her, and she's going to be sober. Lala went from a crippling crack cocaine addiction to turning her life around and getting her master's degree in social work at Cleveland State University.

So at least there was a little light at the end of the tunnel in this horrific story. And a really unfortunate part about this case is that no one was looking for these women, aside from their families. There were many people that went to the police, claiming that Anthony was dangerous. But nothing was done. Anthony should have been arrested after raping Gladys Wade, but he wasn't.

and 6 more women would die afterwards. After discovering this information, many people in the community were outraged. How could law enforcement have let this happen? 11 women had gone missing and no one seemed to care. And it's important to mention that Anthony Sowell wasn't some skilled methodical serial killer who was good at covering up his crimes. He was actually very messy and disorganized.

but he got away with it for so long because of the victims he chose to kill. He killed women who were black, poor, had a history of drug use, and were restrained from their families. And it's clear that if these were not factors, the police would have intervened a lot sooner. Although there are only 11 confirmed victims, many people, including investigators, believe that there could have been a lot more.

You see, interestingly enough, the smell emanating through Imperial Avenue started right around the time Anthony was released from prison. I mean, the first reports of the smell were around 2005, a whole two years before his first confirmed murder. And it's important to note that some of his victims' remains were only partially found. 25-year-old LaShonda Long was only identified by her skull.

They never found the rest of her, so it's possible that Anthony disposed of remains elsewhere, meaning there could be more victims that just weren't found at his house. Frank Miller, one of the coroners associated with the case, said quote "Saul had access to industrial dumpsters at Ray's Sausage and also at the corner beverage store." Ray's was getting a lot of attention from the city health department.

So that may have prompted him to alter his plans of using their dumpster. We thoroughly searched Sowell's house, but we didn't find LaShonda's body. Where is it? Anthony Sowell, the Cleveland Strangler.

No name has stricken fear into the hearts of Cleveland residents quite like the moniker that Anthony earned himself after committing his string of horrific crimes. But to me, one question that I had after learning about this story was, what happened to Anthony's house? This was a place that had seen true evil.

This was a place with blood-soaked walls where unspeakable acts of darkness had been committed. This truly was a house where the devil had lived.

Well, shortly after Anthony was convicted and sentenced to death, city leaders ordered that his house was to be demolished. After the house was torn down, its pieces and parts were then shredded to prevent curious members of the general public from gathering macabre mementos. And neighbors who lived in Anthony's neighborhood cheered on this action. It was healing. It was the true end of the nightmare.

Even though the pain of the crimes would still be felt throughout the community, at least the eyesore that was Anthony Sowell's house of horrors was gone. And 10 years after the house was torn down, just last year in 2021, the Garden of Eleven Angels was constructed on the property where Anthony Sowell's house once sat. Now visitors can indeed go visit the location where these crimes took place, but the space is intended for respect, reflection,

and memorialization of the victims, not a monument to a killer. Because you see, sadly, that history will never die. It's now woven into the fabric of East Cleveland. But it's how we frame the history, how we look back at it, with respect rather than morbid curiosity, that really matters. The victims in this story are often referred to as the women of Imperial Avenue.

And regardless of who they were and the choices they made, it's important to remember that they were human. They had feelings, life stories, and families who loved them. There was a chance they could have turned their life around, just like Lala did. They could have had more years with their loved ones, but Anthony Sowell took that away from them.

But he would go on to face the ultimate price on February 8th, 2021. While on death row, Anthony would die in prison from a terminal illness, putting a true end to the horrible story of the Cleveland Strangler.

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Hey everybody, it's Colin here. And Courtney. Thank you guys again for listening to this week's episode of Murder in America. Now, Courtney, this was quite the story. You wrote the whole thing. How was it writing this episode? I always wanted to cover it, but I feel like we learned a lot more throughout our research and everything. So, insane story, and I can't believe that

It went on for so long without anybody ever knowing. Seriously. And another fact that's interesting is that Ariel Castro, if you know that story, he lived pretty close to where Anthony Sowell lived in Cleveland. So, yeah, you can look that one up if you want to read about it. I want to give a shout out to our new patrons this week. Jason, Melody, Musselberg, Madeline B, Mason Pedroza, Jessica Robertson.

IWFG 2021, Jabin Satterfield, Vanessa James, Elizabeth Tiffany, Julie Huntsman, Ismael Guzman, Kate Stimson, Uwu Ghost, Zach Knapp, Lori Lua, Ariana Madrid, Lucas Walgren, Hannah Burkhart, and there's so many more. We'll get to the rest of the people next week. But seriously, thank you all so much for all the love and support. Courtney? If you want to follow us on Instagram, you can at Murder in America, or you can join our Facebook group.

Yeah, we love interacting with everyone on Facebook. So we're just so incredibly grateful to have everybody out there listening. And now we are back to our regular Tuesday scheduling. So we will see you next week with a brand new episode. Tuesdays it is. But until next week, we love everybody. We love everybody. And yeah, catch you on the next one.