Multiple murder suspect held without bond

Cleveland: A registered sex offender, whose Cleveland residence contained the remains of 10 bodies and a human skull stored in a bucket, was ordered held without bond on Wednesday as police prepared to tear down the walls of his home in search of more bodies.

At the bond hearing, assistant Cuyahoga County prosecutor Brian Murphy said that Anthony Sowell, 50, could face the death penalty if convicted of the murders and that he was "an incredibly dangerous threat to the public."

Kathleen DeMetz, Sowell's court-appointed defence attorney, argued that Sowell should be granted bond because of medical concerns. Sowell has a pacemaker due to a heart condition, she said.

Judge Ronald Adrine denied bail for Sowell due to the "macabre nature" of the murders that he is charged with committing.

Sowell has been so far charged with five counts of aggravated murder.

Prosecutors said they expect more charges to be filed against the unemployed Cleveland resident in the coming weeks.

Charges

In addition to the murder counts, Sowell has been charged with rape, felonious assault and kidnapping in connection with a September 22 attack against a woman that allegedly took place inside his home.

Sowell moved into the duplex's upstairs unit in 2005. He had spent the previous 15 years in state prison for luring a 21-year-old woman into his home, then choking and repeatedly raping her, according to the county prosecutor's office.

Last week, when police arrived at Sowell's house to arrest him for the alleged September attack, investigators discovered the bodies of two women inside.

They were lying on the living room floor. As the days passed, more bodies were discovered. Another was in a freshly dug grave underneath a set of stairs in the backyard. Two more were crammed into a crawl space inside the house. The sixth was in a shallow grave in the basement.

The Cuyahoga County coroner's office has ruled that five of the six women were strangled to death.

On Tuesday, police said they had located another four bodies buried in the backyard and a skull wrapped in either paper or plastic in the basement.