Eleven-fold murder suspect held without bond in Ohio (Roundup)

Nov 4, 2009, 21:14 GMT

   Washington - An 11-fold serial murder suspect in Cleveland, Ohio, was ordered held without bail on Wednesday after prosecutors said he posed a great danger to the public.

Anthony Sowell, 50, is suspected in the murder of at least 10 women whose bodies have been found in or near his house since last week, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported.

An 11th body was identified late Wednesday afternoon, CNN reported. But further details about its identity were not given.

Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Ronald Adrine ordered Sowell held without bail, overruling his public defender's request for his release because he has a heart condition and wears a pacemaker.

'The state believes (he) is an incredibly dangerous threat to the public, not only in Cleveland, but beyond the city's limits,' assistant county prosecutor Brian Murphy was quoted as saying.

A mobile police presence surrounded the home of Sowell, a convicted rapist who was released from prison in 2005 after serving 15 years in jail.

But the search for further bodies had apparently stopped. Detectives had a court warrant to tear apart the house to look for more bodies, but that work had not yet begun, the Plain Dealer reported.

'He had an insatiable appetite to fill,' police chief Michael McGrath said.

Sowell was charged Tuesday with five counts of murder, rape and kidnapping, and faces the death penalty, the prosecutor said.

Faced with the gruesome task of removing and identifying the bodies, McGrath met with several ministers Wednesday morning who offered their help in comforting families of the dead.

The first body to be identified was that of a 53-year-old local woman, Tonia Carmichael, who was reported missing a year ago by her family.

'We expected the worst when these bodies starting popping up,' Donnita Carmichael was quoted as saying. 'We knew she could be one of them. We feared this.'

Police found the first six bodies last week at the home after they came to arrest Sowell on suspicion of committing another violent sex crime.

Two of the bodies were in the living room, two in a cellar and one under the basement stairs. The sixth body was in a grave dug in the garden, where officers also found four other victims on Tuesday.

Police also found a skull hidden in a bucket, but it was not immediately clear if this was related to the reported discovery of an 11th victim.

The first six bodies found were badly decomposed. The victims were all African-American women. Sowell is also African-American. Reports said they could have been dead for months or even years.

Initial investigations showed five of the women had been strangled.

Sowell fled when police came to his house, but was captured nearby on Saturday.