CLEVELAND -- The Sowell home has come to be known as a house of horrors, but for one Cleveland woman it was for more than 40 years simply her home.

The place at 12205 Imperial Ave. is now set in Cleveland history, but it can do nothing to erase the memories of 96-year-old Veosie Cox and her family, who lived there for 40 years.

Cox has seen a lot in her life, much while living at the home that is now synonymous with mass murder.

But for Cox it was synonymous with a life well lived, which is why she was shocked when she learned what happened there.

"It just got me. I couldn't believe it," Cox said.

Cox rented the first floor from the grandparents of suspected killer Anthony Sowell and watched generations of her family mark milestones under its roof.

That includes her great granddaughter, Kimberly Roquemore, whose childhood memories are now mixed with a harsh reality.

"I'm thinking like, who was killed in the back bedroom? Was someone killed in the yellow kitchen where my great grandmother cooked collard greens and sweet potato pies? We had Thanksgiving dinner for generations in the dining room, so were bodies in that room?" said Roquemore.

As they look through their pictures, the family realizes that's all that may eventually remain of the house as the police search for clues and bodies continues.

For Cox, that hurts.

"Tearing down the walls, I hate that, but I guess you have to do it because somebody might be in the walls, right?" she said.

"I just hate to see the house go down because it was so lovely so comfortable and everything when I was there," her great granddaughter said.

Cox and her family wanted to stress how much their hearts break for the 11 victims found in the house and how a house full of such love could be tied to such pain.