Coroner Identifies One Of Imperial Avenue Victims
Relatives Of Missing Women Asked To Submit DNA For Identification
POSTED: 4:27 pm EST November 4,
2009
UPDATED: 7:13 pm EST November 4,
2009
CLEVELAND -- One of 10 bodies found at a home on Cleveland's east side has been identified.Cuyahoga County Coroner Dr. Frank Miller said the remains of Tonia Carmichael, who went missing in November 2008, were found at Anthony Sowell's home last week. The remains were identified through DNA.Carmichael's family was notified Wednesday.Her body was one of the first six discovered in the back yard of the Imperial Avenue home.The 52-year-old Warrensville Heights woman was known to frequent the area of East 118th Street and Kinsman Avenue and East Cleveland. Her car had been found in just blocks from the crime scene.Miller said that the number of victims is now at 11, after it was determined that a skull discovered in the home's basement was that of another victim. All 11 of the victims are African American women.Miller said that seven of the women, all of whom died from stragulation, still had what was used to strangle them attached to their necks. He said one of the victims was killed manually, and two others died from "homicidal violence."Miller said the slayings have likely been going on since Sowell was released from prison in 2005, meaning some of the victims could have been in the home for years.At Miller's request, a Cleveland police officer will be assigned to the Coroner's Office to work with investigators to determine the identity of remaining victims.Miller is asking relatives of any missing individuals in the area to submit DNA samples to the coroner's officer so they can use their DNA database to help identify other victims.Police said they will execute a warrant Wednesday to take DNA from Sowell to be entered into the national CODIS database.Sowell's DNA will be compared against known suspect DNA profiles to determine whether he is a suspect in any other criminal matter.Sowell, 50, was charged with five counts of aggravated murder as well as rape, felonious assault and kidnapping. He was not granted bond during a court arraignment Wednesday morning.The public defender asked for bond in the case, but the judge said Sowell is a danger to the community.NewsChannel5 learned in the court appearance that Sowell has been on unemployment for about two years after being laid off from a job. He also has a pacemaker and is on medication for a heart condition.The case will be given to the grand jury.Sowell also served 15 years in prison in connection with rape and was labeled a sexual predator. This, too, weighed heavily in the judge's decision. The hearing lasted about six minutes.Sowell is also being held in an area of the jail in a cell by himself.On Tuesday, four additional bodies and a skull were found when a forensic team and detectives started digging at his Imperial Avenue home. Six bodies had been discovered previously.The skull was wrapped and in a bucket in the basement."It appears that this man had an insatiable appetite that he had to fill," Cleveland Police Chief Michael McGrath said during a Tuesday news conference.The Cuyahoga County Coroner's Office said six of the victims were female and five of the six were strangled. The decomposition has made it difficult to determine how one victim died, spokesman Powell Caesar said.Authorities will be back at the Imperial Avenue home on Thursday and will continue looking for evidence, including looking for the body belonging to the skull that was found Tuesday.
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