Anthony Sowell's house

This is the site where Anthony Sowell's house once stood.

It was located at 12205 Imperial Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio.

Sowell, who was nicknamed the Cleveland Strangler, murdered at least 11 women between 2007 and 2009.

The city of Cleveland demolished the house on December 6, 2011, after condemning it for pest infestation and other violations.

A memorial garden called the "Garden of Eleven Angels" now sits on the lot. The public space was unveiled at a ceremony on November 6, 2021.

Anthony Sowell

Sowell was a former Marine who had a history of sexual violence.

In 1990, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to attempted rape.

He was released on June 20, 2005, at the age of 45. Although he was registered as a sex offender, a psychiatric report at the time concluded that he was unlikely to reoffend.

Following his release, he secured a job with a local company that designed custom rubber parts. He also began a live-in relationship with a woman named Lori Frazier.

From the outside, Sowell seemed to have successfully reintegrated into society. However, behind closed doors, he was using crack cocaine.

The thin veneer of his rehabilitation started to peel away in 2007 after he was fired by his employer for failing to show up at work. Around the same time, his relationship with Frazier came to an end.

After losing his job, Sowell began collecting unemployment and selling scrap metal to get by. By that stage, he had developed a full-blown crack addiction.

Despite his personal troubles, neighbors knew him as a friendly figure who regularly invited people back to his place to "party."

Murders

In 2007, Sowell began luring vulnerable women with substance abuse issues to his home by promising them alcohol and drugs. Once inside, they would usually drink beer and smoke crack.

At first, everything seemed fine. Sowell was pleasant and willing to share his drugs.

However, after some time, his mood would suddenly shift, and he would beat them, force them to undress, and subject them to sexual violence.

The women who survived these encounters recalled that he became eerily calm following the attack and even offered them food and money. He would then sit and watch as they walked out the front door.

Sadly, many of the victims who stepped inside 12205 Imperial Avenue never got the chance to leave.

The victims were Crystal Dozier (38), Tishana Culver (31), Leshanda Long (25), Michelle Mason (45), Tonia Carmichael (53), Kim Yvette Smith (44), Nancy Cobbs (45), Amelda Hunter (47), Janice Webb (48), Telacia Fortson (33), and Diane Turner (48).

Between 2007 and 2009, Sowell strangled the 11 women and hid their remains in and around his property.

Although neighbors noticed a foul odor in the area, many blamed it on a meat shop called Ray's Sausage, which stood next to his house.

The owner of the store spent thousands of dollars replacing his sewer pipes in an effort to resolve the problem.

Discovery

Sowell was finally caught after one of his victims escaped from a second-floor window and alerted the authorities.

When the police arrived at the residence to arrest him for rape, he wasn't home.

Upon entering the house, the officers saw two bodies on the living room floor.

This led to a full-scale search of the property, which uncovered eight shallow graves in the basement, crawl space, and backyard. A woman's skull was also found inside a bucket in the basement.

Sowell was eventually located and apprehended two days later.

In 2011, he was found guilty of the murders and sentenced to death.

However, his execution was delayed by several appeals, and he died of an undisclosed terminal illness on February 8, 2021.