Anthony Sowell

Who is Anthony Sowell?

Anthony Edward Sowell is an American serial killer, identified in press reports as the Cleveland Strangler. He was arrested in October 2009 as a suspect in the murders of eleven women whose bodies were discovered at his Cleveland, Ohio, duplex at 12205 Imperial Avenue in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood.

Sowell was charged with eleven counts of murder, rape, and kidnapping; he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity but later changed his plea to simply "not guilty". On July 22, 2011, he was convicted on all but two counts against him, including the murders of the eleven women whose bodies were found in his house in 2009. On August 10, jurors recommended the death penalty for Sowell. On August 12, Judge Dick Ambrose upheld the jury's recommendation. As of June 2013, Sowell continues his legal fight. He has asked the Ohio Supreme Court to change his sentence from death to life in prison on the basis that he did not receive a fair trial because of the extensive media coverage of the murders.

In October 2012 the book Nobody’s Women: The Crimes and Victims of Anthony Sowell, the Cleveland Serial Killer, was published detailing Sowell's crimes and how he picked his victims.