Ohio Gothic came back to life this week when police found a half-dozen decomposing bodies in a Cleveland house. All had been murdered.
How long had the house's living occupant lived with the dead? Good question.
Ohio ex-con Anthony Sowell allegedly strangled a series of women in his three-story house over a period of months - or even years.
Rotting bodies were found in upstairs bedrooms, the living room, a crawl space, a shallow grave in the backyard and another grave in the basement, police said.
Somehow, we can find a link to the internet. CBS News finds that the alleged killer and hoarder was cruising for BDSM on Alt.com. Or, as they put it in the restrained way mainstream journalism prefers,
Rapist Anthony Sowell Cruised Sex Fetish Site While Dead Bodies Rotted in His Cleveland Home
Back in the analog world, the story wins bonus points for having the classic serial killer ignorant/enabling neighbor option. Besides the alleged perpetrator being a registered sex offender, and in regular contact with the police, there's worse:
Neighbors knew something was off about Sowell, who smelled so terrible their eyes would water.
"He came into my store last week and reeked so bad, I had to open the front and back doors," convenience store owner Eli Tayeh told the Los Angeles Times.
"I asked why he stunk. He shrugged, bought his beer and walked out."
But people blamed backed up sewers or Ray's Sausage company, housed in an adjacent building.
"We kept away from him and he kept away from us," said neighbor Tamica Pierceton, 26. "We should have said something to someone. I wish I had."
(thanks to Peter Naegele, master of macabre Ohio, for the reminder)
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