The Cleveland Strangler

May 27, 1988: Rosalind Garner is found strangled in her home on Hayden Avenue in East Cleveland. The case has not been solved.

Feb. 27, 1989: Carmella Prater is found dead in an abandoned building on First Avenue in East Cleveland. She had been beaten but the coroner was unable to pinpoint how she was killed. The case has not been solved.

March, 28, 1989: Mary Thomas is found strangled near an abandoned building on First Avenue, the same street where Prater was found. The case has not been solved.

Kaplan Stares at these police reports. He is speechless. He looks over at his partner:
“What do you think about this?”
“I think, we’ve got a serial killer on our hands” Wilson said
“You read my mind”

East Cleveland wasn’t the cleanest nor the most safe city around. It’s violent crime rate of 7.69 per 100,000 residents is over twice the national rate of 3.8. So as you can imagine these investigators and officers were never bored.

The investigators try to put pieces together. They gathered clues and created a list of what was known and what needed to be found.

All three have been strangled, (possible strangled).
All three were women.
2 women were found on the same road.

This serial killer for sure follows a pattern.

The first thing Wilson and Kaplan did was go through the prior murder conviction lists. Through all the evidence they had narrowed it down to 5 suspects that lived near First Avenue.

Michael Madison, recently out of prison for attempted murder.
Christopher Whitaker, recently out of prison for attempted homicide.
Ariel Castro, recently released for rape.
Anthony Sowell, recently released for attempted rape.
Edward Edwards, recently released for assault.

June 29, 2007, Recorded call:

*dial 3-1-1*
*City Hall automated voice message comes on*
“Hello I would like to make a complaint”
“Let me connect you to one of our assistants”
*classical music plays*
“Hello, how may I help you?” someone finally comes on
“I want to report a foul odor in my neighborhood”
“Okay ma’am what street do you live on?”
“Imperial Avenue in Mount Pleasant”
“How would you describe the smell?”
“It smells like a dead person, or animal, it’s awful really”
“Alright I’ll make sure to have someone come over there and inspect within a few business days, is there anything else I can do for you ma’am?”
“Thank you, make it as soon as possible please I can’t stand this god awful smell” she exclaimed.

As soon as the news of this strange call  got to Wilson’s ears, he knew he had just gotten a bit closer. Imperial Avenue in Mount Pleasant was the same neighborhood, Michael Madison, Anthony Sowell, and Edward Edwards lived on. They were now down to 3 suspects.

At this time, they had 3 police cars on neighborhood watch on Imperial Avenue. Yet nothing seemed to happen.

Nov. 10, 2008: Missing person, Tonia Carmichael's car is found near East 115th Street and Kinsman Road, but there is no sign of her.

Her mother tells police her daughter had a drug problem and sometimes disappeared three to five days, but in this case she has not seen her daughter in three weeks and is worried something bad had happened.

Another police report with no leads in the case. No leads until...

6 days later, Dec. 8, 2008: A bleeding woman runs up to one of the watch police cars. She tells police that Anthony Sowell asked her if she wanted to drink beer with him. When she said no, he punched her, choked her and tried to rip off her clothes.

Police went to Sowell's home, went to the third floor and arrested him. Eventually there were no charges filed because the woman did not want to talk to detectives.

Now Wilson thinks he’s got the serial killer, but realizes no evidence connects these previous killings to him, therefore he is just another suspected criminal in a series of unsolved crimes.

One day, Sowell checks in at the sheriff's office as a sex offender is supposed to do. The man he interacted with smelled an awful odor and became suspicious.

On Sept. 22, 2009: Following the suspicions, sheriff's deputies pay a surprise visit to Sowell's home to verify that he lives at the address he had provided them with.

All goes well.

Several hours later that day, a woman with tears and ripped up clothes walked into the police department.
“I need to talk to a detective”
It was obvious she was weak in the legs as was taken into the interrogation room.
“My name is Nick Wilson, what can I call you?”
“Patty”
“Why are you here today patty?” he asks
“he got angry and choked me with an extension cord. Then he raped me until I passed out.” she explained frightfully shaking.
“Who?’”
“The man at the bar, he invited me to his house for some liquor.”
“What did this man look like?”
“He was black”
“Can you tell me more?”
“He had no hair, and big ears, squinted eyes, and a beard”
“How’d you escape?”
“I was able to get away after promising him that I would bring him $50 and not tell the police about the incident”
“Would you be able to recognize the house he took you to?”
“I can try”
They sit in the back of a squad car pulling out of the police department. There’s two police men at the front and Wilson and patty in the back.
“Okay, what bar was this at?”
“Club Togo”
“Club Togo!” Wilson yells to the front of the car, telling them where to go.

Eventually, Patty identifies the house as 12205 Imperial Ave, Anthony Sowell’s house.

Investigators now know they have a good victim and a good suspect who can also qualify to be the serial killer they’re looking for.

2 days after Patty had come in, the case got assigned to a sex crime detective who was having difficulty reaching her. The detective showed up at her house only to find nobody but her mom. She told him that Patty was always difficult to contact. So when it was time for her interview she didn’t show up, therefore there was no real case against Sowell without a real victim.

It was Oct. 20, 2009: When there was a very strange call to the police department.

“911 what’s your emergency”
“A woman fell from the second floor, Imperial Avenue, please hurry”

*hangs up*

An ambulance is sent to Sowell's house. A naked woman had fallen from the second-floor window. Sowell claims he and the woman had been doing drugs all day and that she accidentally fell out the window. EMS takes the woman to MetroHealth Medical Center. Police show up at Sowell's home hoping to get some answers, but don't find anyone there. Then they go to MetroHealth, where the woman refuses to talk to investigators.

One week later, Patty from the Sept. 22 attack meets with sex-crime detectives, who one day later get an arrest warrant for Sowell and a search warrant for his home.

Two days later, on October 29th, Police go to arrest Sowell, who was not home. They enter the house and find two decomposing bodies.

Oct. 30, 2009: Police find three more bodies. two in a closet in the house and one buried in the basement dirt floor.

Oct. 31, 2009: Sowell is found and arrested about one mile from his home.

Nov. 3, 2009: Police find six more bodies at his home, most of them buried in the backyard.

Nov. 4, 2009: The Cuyahoga County announces that all 11 victims are black women. At least eight of them were strangled, the coroner says.

Anthony Sowell received 11 death sentences when he was convicted and is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Oct. 29, 2012.