Anthony Sowell: The Cleveland Strangler

Anthony Sowell was someone who on the outside looked like a model citizen, especially considering his seven year military career with multiple medals and commendations. But underneath the surface was a man with a dangerous sexual appetite. This started early in his life, as he was the perpetrator of several sexual assaults as a teenager and also served 15 years in prison and kidnapping and attempted rape charges. In October 2009, his two-story home sat in a poor Cleveland neighborhood known as Mount Pleasant. A foul stench had hovered around the area for the past two years, but initially everyone thought that it was from a nearby sausage factory. Anthony Sowell had invited Latundra Billups to his house for a drink. Afterwards, he beat her, choked her, and sexually assaulted her before she escaped and told the police. As police arrived with an arrest warrant, Sowell was nowhere to be found but now the reason for the foul smell was identified.