The Cleveland Nawell And The Case Of Anthony Edward Sowell

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In August of 2011, Anthony Edward Sowell, also known as “The Cleveland Strangler,” was sentenced to death in the State of Ohio. Sowell’s killings began in 2007 and continued until his arrest in 2009. Sowell’s conviction include eleven counts of aggravated murder, eleven counts of abuse of corpse, three counts of attempted murder, four counts of rape, one count of attempted rape, two counts of kidnapping, and eleven counts of tampering with evidence. Sowell is currently being held at the Chillicothe Correctional Institution located in Chillicothe, Ohio. Prior to these murders, Sowell already had a criminal history of sex crimes and in 2008, one year after Sowell had begun his killing spree, law enforcement officials missed an opportunity to arrest him and stop the killings. All of Sowell’s victims were women ranging in age from twenty-five to fifty-three and there is currently an ongoing civil suit filed by victim’s families.

Anthony Sowell was born August 19, 1959. He grew up with Cleveland Ohio. His mother was Claudia Benson Garrison and his father was Thomas Sowell. Sowell’s father was not present during his childhood and Sowell lived with his mother, grandmother, half-sister, and seven cousins. Sowell never graduated high school and on January 24, 1978, at the age of 19, he joined the United States Marine Corps (Blanco, n.d.). Sowell spent seven years in the Marine Corps and received several awards including a Good Conduct Medal with one service star, Certificate of Commendation, Meritorious Mast, and a Sea Service Deployment Ribbon. Prior to him joining the military, Sowell got a girl pregnant and she gave birth approximately 8 months after he enlisted. Sowell was discharged from the Marines on January 15, 1985...

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...ted, “I don’t like people who hurt kids, especially women. Women are supposed to be our protectors, over everyone else. But that’s not the way it is.” (Krouse, n.p.).

According to Rachel Dissell, family members of two of Sowell’s victims have filed civil lawsuits against the Cleveland and Warrensville Heights Police Departments for refusing to take missing person reports. The lawsuits were dismissed by a Federal Court Judge but attorneys representing the families have filed an appeal (Dissell, n.p.). Cuyahoga County Court of Common Please also has a pending civil suit filed by eight different relatives of Sowell’s victims citing similar allegations as those dismissed in the Federal Courts.

Anthony Sowell, Ohio inmate number A604609, is currently being held at the Chillicothe Correctional Institution awaiting death . His case is currently under appeal.

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