6 women found dead at convicted rapist's home

“There is a total of six unidentified women,” Cuyahoga County coroner Frank Miller said, adding most of the victims found at the home of registered sex offender Anthony Sowell, 50, appeared to have been strangled. The police earlier confirmed that three bodies were found at the home, and that the bodies of three more victims were believed to have been discovered.

Released in 2005 after spending years in prison for a 1989 rape, Sowell was arrested in his Cleveland neighbourhood after a local resident recognised him and notified the police.

The first two bodies were found on Thursday when a SWAT team entered the house with a search warrant, police chief Michael McGrath told reporters. Further searches of the property led to the discovery of four more bodies for a total of six —five in the home and one buried in a grave in the yard, Miller said. “They were badly decomposed bodies,” Miller added. The police, citing the coroner, earlier said some of the bodies might have been in the home up to six months.

While the coroner continued tests to try and establish the victims’ identities, the Cleveland police initiated a search of missing person records from June 2005, when Sowell was freed after serving a prison term for rape.