The Cleveland Serial Killer

Fifty year-old Anthony Sowell is in custody in Cleveland, OH, charged with forcible rape and suspected of the murder of at least six women.  This is not Sowell’s first arrest for rape.  In 1989, Sowell lived in East Cleveland where he lured a 21-year-old woman into his bedroom where he choked her and repeatedly raped her.  He was convicted and spent 15 years in prison.  He was released in 2004.

Sowell was required to register as a sex offender and to check in with authorities every 90 days.  On September 22, 2009, Sheriff’s Deputies went to Sowell’s home to do a “spot check” to make sure that he was, in fact, living at his registered address.  Eight hours later a woman told police that she had been inside Sowell’s home drinking with him when he punched her in the face, choked her with an extension cord, and raped her.

Police officers investigated the reported rape and, on Thursday, October 29, went to Sowell’s house with both arrest and search warrants.  Officers entered the home and, while Sowell was not present, the officers discovered two decomposing bodies.  Over the next two days officers discovered the remains of at least six women, all of whom had been strangled.  After a massive search of the city, Sowell was quietly arrested while walking down the street about a mile from his home on Saturday, October 31st, almost fittingly on Halloween.

MOTIVATION – While the investigation is continuing, it seems clear to me that Sowell is driven in large part by anger with much of his anger directed towards women. The Anger-Retaliatory Rapist is usually motivated by the anger felt towards a specific woman, or group of women, that he feels has done him wrong in the past.  In some instances it is an angry encounter with one of these women (mother, wife, authority figure) that serves as a trigger causing him to go out and seek another victim upon which to vent his built-up anger. (It would be interesting to find out whether or not one of the deputy sheriffs that went to do the spot check on Sowell just eight hours before his last reported rape was a female deputy.)

A sketchy family history that has emerged indicates multiple female authority figures in Sowell’s past.  Sowell’s brother Allen, 66, indicated that he has not had contact with Anthony from some time but, while they had the same father, they had different mothers.  The home where Sowell was living was being rented from Segerna Sowell, a woman who was a stepmother to both brothers indicating at least three different “mothers” that he has had.  Interestingly, Segerna Sowell seems to be missing.  When Allen last spoke with her in 2008, she indicated that she was in the process of evicting Anthony because of his drug use and failure to pay rent.  Neighbors have said that they believe she is in a nursing home, but Allen feels that Segerna would still maintain contact with him and he is worried.

Another woman from the neighborhood, Nancy Cobbs, 43, has been missing since April.

The expression of anger through rape is also about control.  An individual who, for most of his life has felt that he has NOT been in control and feels that he has been subjugated by women, or at least one specific woman, wants to be able as an adult to have control and to express it without contradiction or opposition.  In fact, resistance makes this individual even angrier.  A telling comment was made by Teresa Hicks who, apparently, has known Sowell since high school.  ”He was crazy,” she said. “Sometimes he would just go off if he didn’t get his way.”

Based on the information released by the police so far, it would appear that Sowell’s M.O. (Modus Operandi, Method of Operation) hasn’t changed much over the years. He probably lured most of his victims into his home with the promise of drugs or alcohol and then attempted to sexually assault them.   If it does turn out that he is a serial killer, he is not the most organized of serial killers.  Rather than being planned, these murders have all the markings of spontaneous bursts of anger, most probably while overcoming resistance to the act of rape.

In the end, if Sowell does decide to speak with the police and he confesses to his crime, he will not take full responsibility for his actions.  He will undoubtedly place some of the blame on the victims themselves.  He will rationalize, I’m sure, that if these women had only submitted to his sexual assault, they would probably be alive today.

And please don’t think that such a position is a symptom of insanity, for Mr. Sowell is not insane.  He is simply a cold-blooded rapist/murderer.

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