Who Was Cleveland Serial killer Anthony Sowell? How Did Anthony Sowell Die? – The “Cleveland Strangler,” Anthony Sowell, who will go down in history as one of America’s most infamous serial killers, passed away in 2021 from a terminal illness while awaiting execution.
He was detained in October 2009 concerning the murders of 11 women who vanished in Cleveland without explanation. He allegedly used narcotics and alcohol to get these women to his Imperial Avenue house. There, he would rape them and kill them by strangulation. Starting in 2007, this continued for two years.
It wasn’t until after a survivor’s official report that officials raided Sowell’s home and discovered his crimes. Authorities reportedly entered his residence a few days before Halloween and found the gruesome crime scene. They characterized it as a “house of horrors,” reeking of the decaying remains scattered across the property.
In advance of the forthcoming episode of Living With a Serial Killer, which will air on Saturday, August 27, 2022, at 9 pm ET on Oxygen, read on to find out more about the murders committed and what transpired to convicted serial killer Anthony Sowell.
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Who Was Cleveland serial killer Anthony Sowell?
The Cleveland Strangler, aka Anthony Edward Sowell, was an American serial killer and rapist who lived from August 19, 1959, until February 8, 2021. In 2011, he was found guilty of killing 11 women whose bodies were found in his Cleveland, Ohio, house in 2009. Sowell passed away in prison after receiving a death sentence for the murders due to a severe illness.
Anthony Edward Sowell was born and raised in East Cleveland, Ohio. He was one of seven children whose mother, Claudia “Gertrude” Garrison, raised them alone.
The home also housed Sowell’s sister’s additional seven kids, who had moved in after her demise from a long-term sickness. Leona Davis, Sowell’s niece, claimed that Garrison physically abused them as her own children observed from nearby rooms.
At the age of 18, Sowell joined the US Marine Corps on January 24, 1978. He underwent Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in South Carolina’s recruit training before completing his electrician training in Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.
A three-month pregnant woman attempted to escape Sowell’s house in 1989. He used a knot and belt to bind her hands and feet, then a rag to choke her. He was accused of rape, attempted rape, and kidnapping. He received a 15-year sentence after entering a guilty plea to attempted rape. In 2005, he was released.
Sowell invited Latundra Billups over for a drink in September 2009. On September 22, she reported to authorities that he had been irate after a few drinks and had hit, choked, and raped her when she was unconscious. Police showed up at his residence on October 29, bearing an arrest warrant.
Four other women’s bodies were discovered on the third floor of the house and in crawl spaces, in addition to the two whose bodies were buried in a shallow grave in the basement. Investigators dug in the backyard and discovered three additional deaths and the fragmented remains of a fourth. The death toll rose to 11 when a human skull was discovered inside the residence in a bucket. Most victims were strangled by hand, while several were found with ligatures around their bodies or gagged.
In addition, Sowell raped three women after inviting them to his property to smoke crack with him.
How Did Convicted serial killer Anthony Sowell Died in Prison?
Sowell was accused with 74 charges of rape, kidnapping, tampering with evidence, and mistreatment of a corpse, in addition to 11 counts of aggravated murder. He initially entered a plea of not guilty due to insanity, but he later modified it to “not guilty.” On July 22, 2011, he was found guilty on all counts, except for two, including the 2009 homicides of the eleven women whose remains were discovered in his home. On August 10, the jury made the death penalty recommendation. Judge Dick Ambrose upheld the jury’s recommendation on August 12. He was jailed and assigned to death row at Chillicothe Correctional Institution on September 14.
Anthony Sowell, a convicted serial killer, reportedly passed away on February 8, 2021, due to a fatal illness. According to officials, he had been in the end-of-life care unit at Franklin Medical Center in Columbus since January 21, and his passing had nothing to do with COVID-19. The true reason for his death was never made public by the authorities.
The relatives of six of Sowell’s victims have sued Cleveland. The police “failed to follow up on the missing person reports that were taken, along with a failure to monitor detectives’ work,” according to their legal representation.
The city gave the families a total of $1 million in a 2018 settlement, which was divided among them. A $2,500 payment was made to the family of Crystal Dozier, who is thought to have been Sowell’s first victim. In the end, $300,000 was awarded to the two still living victims in 2019.
