U.S. & World

CLEVELAND (CBS) ― Investigators trying to identify the bodies of six women found in the home of a convicted rapist are focusing the inquiry on eight or nine missing women, the coroner said Monday.

It could take days or weeks to identify the bodies using dental records or DNA mouth-swab samples from relatives. Cuyahoga County Coroner Frank Miller said his office has begun the "arduous" process of collecting materials from dentists and relatives.

The six women were black and each had been strangled, authorities said. The investigation will pay close attention to missing women who were living alone, were homeless or had drug or alcohol problems, Miller said.

The bodies were discovered last week after a woman reported being raped at the east-side home of 50-year-old Anthony Sowell.

Sowell hasn't been charged in the rape investigation or in connection with the bodies. Court records and jail officials had no information about whether he had an attorney.

Detectives will seek a warrant to take a DNA sample from Sowell in connection with the homicide investigation, police spokesman Lt. Thomas Stacho said Monday. Investigators also will track his residence history back four years to the time of his release from serving a sentence for rape.

Police will look at unsolved homicides with similarities to see if there are connections to the case, Stacho said.

Police don't believe the Sowell property has more bodies, but Stacho said investigators would send a cadaver dog to the house.

Sowell served 15 years in prison for choking and raping a 21-year-old woman in 1989.

He was a registered sex offender and, after his release from prison, was required to check in regularly at the sheriff's office, which said he complied. Officers also visited his home, most recently on Sept. 22, just hours before the woman reported being raped there.

But since Sowell wasn't on parole or probation, they didn't have the right to enter — until Thursday when they had search and arrest warrants after a woman said he had raped her there. That's when they discovered badly decomposed bodies in the house.

Officers had last visited Sowell at home as part of his sex-offender monitoring on Sept. 22, just hours before the woman reported being raped there.

The three-story house with neat white siding is in a crowded inner-city neighborhood of mostly older houses, some boarded up, and small corner stores. The windows on the third floor, where the first two bodies were found, were wide open Sunday as a slight breeze blew. Some neighbors said a bad smell came from the house several months ago, but they thought then that it might be natural gas.

At least five of the women apparently had been strangled, said Powell Caesar, a spokesman for the Cuyahoga County coroner. Decomposition made it difficult to determine how the sixth died, he said.

The bodies "could have been there anywhere from weeks to months to years," Caesar said.

Police found one body buried in a shallow grave under the basement staircase in the home and the sixth body was found buried in a shallow grave in the backyard, reports CBS affiliate WOIO-TV in Cleveland.

Sowell, 50, previously spent 15 years in prison for choking and raping a 21-year-old woman who was lured to his bedroom in 1989, police said. He was arrested Saturday when officers spotted him walking down the street in his neighborhood.

The first bodies were found Thursday night when police went to arrest Sowell on new charges of rape and felonious assault, but he wasn't home. The woman in that alleged attack said she knew Sowell, and he raped her at the house.

Court records and jail officials had no information about whether Sowell had an attorney. No charges have been filed regarding the bodies.

The gruesome discovery left some in the community concerned about women who hadn't been seen in a long time. Ida Garrett, 72, who walked to church Sunday just one block from Sowell's house, said she was worried that a friend who went missing six months ago might be among the dead.

The friend, 43-year-old Nancy Cobbs, lived one street away from Sowell. She was reported missing in April, and her family told police they fear she is among the victims.

"She seemed to be a very nice, quiet girl," Garrett said. "I've known her since she was a teenager."

Clovice Ramsey, minister at All Nations Deliverance Ministries in nearby Maple Heights, held a "PEACE" sign on a corner within sight of the Sowell house and said the discovery of the bodies had damaged people's trust in law enforcement.

"They don't see the system working for them," Ramsey said. "They are not keeping a watch on him."

Sowell often walked around his neighborhood asking for money and looking for scrap metal to sell, neighbors said.

He returned to the family home in 2005 after his release from prison. The house was owned by two of Sowell's relatives, including a woman — described by neighbors as either Sowell's stepmother or aunt — who maintained it.

Neighbors said the woman moved into a nursing home after Sowell was released from prison. Teresa Hicks, a neighbor, said people feared that she might be dead. Police were looking into her status.

(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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