Police: Sowell In Custody After 6 Bodies Found At Home

CLEVELAND -- The manhunt for a convicted rapist is over. Police took Anthony Sowell in custoday just after noon Saturday.

A citizen called police after seeing Sowell on Manor Avenue.

Police responded and found Sowell walking a block away on Mt. Auburn. Sowell was arrested without incident.

Cleveland police said they found 6 decomposing bodies in his home on Imperial Avenue.

Police said the department's sex crime unit was serving a sexual assault warrant for Sowell at the home Thursday night when they discovered the bodies.

The coroner's office is still attempting to establish age, race and gender of the decedents and to affix manner and cause of death.

Forensics teams and a cadaver dog were brought to the home and found signs of human remains in the basement, police said.

Police said Sowell was wanted in connection with an attack on a female that occurred at the Imperial Avenue home on Sept. 26.

Police said Sowell invited the victim over for beers and then tried to rape her.

Sowell is a registered sex offender and spent 15 years in prison for rape. He wears eyeglasses and frequently wears a mustache and occasionally a beard. He is known to walk the streets "scrapping" and frequents area scrap metal yards.

A neighbor told NewsChannel5 that she picked Sowell up from his sister's house Thursday night and was driving him back to his house when they noticed the police activity. The neighbor said Sowell told her to let him out of the vehicle at that point and then took off.

Another neighbor said that for several months he had noticed a strong odor in the neighborhood.