Latest / Murder Files Unsealed / Everything to Know About Anthony Sowell, the Serial Killer Dubbed The Cleveland Strangler

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Everything to Know About Anthony Sowell, the Serial Killer Dubbed The Cleveland Strangler · Murder Files Unsealed

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the deep Dive. Today. We're going deep on
• 0:03
  the Cleveland Strangler case Anthony sal And, Wow, you really
• 0:06
  gave us some intense stuff to work with, all these
• 0:09
  articles and reports.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, this one's going to be heavy. And you know,
• 0:12
  it's not just about Saul's crimes themselves. I mean, this
• 0:14
  case really brings up those bigger questions, you know, about
• 0:18
  the systems, the things that maybe let this happen for
• 0:20
  so long.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Right, Okay, let's jump in. So who was this guy,
• 0:24
  Anthony Sal? Like, how does someone become the Cleveland Strangler.
• 0:28
  I'm looking at his back down here, rough childhood abuse?
• 0:32
  Did that shape him?
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: Well, his story's complicated. I mean, no one's born a monster,
• 0:36
  right by sal? Yeah, there was some red flags early on,
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  lots of chaos in his childhood home, physical abuse, even
• 0:43
  sexual abuse reported.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: God, that's awful. But how do we separate that, right,
• 0:48
  Like terrible past versus choosing to become a serial killer.
• 0:52
  It's that nature versus nurture thing, isn't it exactly?
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, trauma can really mess someone up, but it doesn't
• 0:58
  automatically make him a killer.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: But here's the interesting part. Sowell was also in the Marines,
• 1:02
  for seven years. Some people say that appeal to him,
• 1:05
  the structure, the discipline, But coming back to civilian life,
• 1:09
  that's tough for anyone, especially with his background.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: That's so interesting because you don't often hear about the
• 1:14
  military angle with serial killers. Makes you wonder did any
• 1:18
  of that experience, maybe skills he learned play a role
• 1:21
  later on.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: It's possible the articles mentioned he was a skilled electrician
• 1:25
  in the Marines. Maybe that knowledge came in handy somehow.
• 1:29
  But don't forget he committed his first violent crime just
• 1:31
  a few years after leaving the Marines, attacked and raped
• 1:35
  a pregnant woman that landed him in prison for fifteen years.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: Hold on, so he was already a violent criminal before
• 1:41
  the murderers even started. That's that's huge. Did the system
• 1:44
  miss something back then? I mean, what went wrong?
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: That is the million dollar question and people still debate it.
• 1:50
  Some say longer sentencing or better rehab programs could have
• 1:53
  made a difference. Others point to the societal stuff that
• 1:56
  leads to people reoffending. Okay, so he gets out of
• 1:59
  prison in two thousand and five, and that's when the
• 2:01
  murders begin.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: Sadly, Yeah, between two thousand and seven and two thousand
• 2:05
  and nine, he killed eleven women, all in his own house.
• 2:08
  And the articles you gave me, they really emphasized that
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  most of these women were struggling with addiction, so we'll
• 2:13
  use that he'd lure them in with promises of drugs
• 2:15
  or alcohol chilling.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: He prayed on the most vulnerable, the people least likely
• 2:21
  to be noticed missing and reading those names, Crystal Dozier
• 2:25
  to Shauna Culver, Lashawana Long, it just hits you. What
• 2:29
  can you tell us about these women?
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: You're right, they weren't just names on a list. They
• 2:32
  were daughters, mothers, sisters, friends. Each one had her own story, hopes, dreams,
• 2:38
  all taken away. Crystal, for example, she had just reconnected
• 2:41
  with her family after years of battling addiction. She was
• 2:44
  trying to get her life back on track.
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  Speaker 1: It's hard to comprehend eleven lives lost, and to think
• 2:49
  he was living in that house with their bodies for years,
• 2:51
  the house of whoors, I can't even imagine. The articles
• 2:54
  described it as just horrific.
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  Speaker 2: And here's what's really creepy. The neighbors had complained about
• 2:58
  a foul smell for you years, but they blamed it
• 3:01
  on a sausage factory nearby. The owners actually spent thousands
• 3:05
  trying to track down the smell. How could something like
• 3:08
  this happen right there and no one knew exactly?
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: How could so many bodies go unnoticed for so long?
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  Was it just the smell or was there something more
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  something about these women their lives that made them invisible.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: That's the really disturbing thing about this case. These women,
• 3:24
  mostly black, struggling with addiction, they were basically invisible to
• 3:28
  society when they went missing. It didn't spark the same urgency,
• 3:32
  the same media attention.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: It's like their lives were considered less important because of
• 3:36
  their circumstances. But somebody must have noticed they were missing, right.
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: There were attempts to report the missing, families, friends trying
• 3:43
  to raise the alarm, but for different reasons, those concerns
• 3:46
  were often brushed aside. People assumed these women had just
• 3:50
  run off, that they'd turn up eventually.
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  Speaker 1: So the system failed them in life and then tragically
• 3:55
  in death too.
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  Speaker 2: That's the hard truth, and it brings up some uncomfortable
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  questions about how we value and protect certain groups of
• 4:03
  people in our society.
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  Speaker 1: This is all incredibly disturbing, so how did this all end?
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  Did Sall make a mistake or was there someone who intervened?
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  A hero in this story?
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  Speaker 2: There was a hero, a woman named Latundra Billups. But
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  we'll talk more about her in part two of this
• 4:18
  deep dive.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: Okay, we'll definitely be discussing her. So it sounds like
• 4:21
  Sal's capture wasn't some brilliant detective work, but the courage
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  of one woman.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a powerful reminder that even in the face
• 4:29
  of something so horrible, individual bravery can change everything.
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  Speaker 1: All right, let's pause here for a moment before we
• 4:35
  get into Latuendra's story and Sawyl's capture in part two.
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  This is some heavy stuff and I think we all
• 4:41
  need a moment.
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  Speaker 2: To process it. Really is, you know, to think that
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  maybe if it wasn't for Latundra Billups, this guy, this
• 4:47
  Cleveland strangler, he might still be out there.
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: You mentioned her before. Sounds like she was really key
• 4:53
  in stopping this whole nightmare. So tell me more about her.
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  Speaker 2: Okay. So it's September two thousand and nine, right, Latundra
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  goes to Sal's house. She'd been there before, Like a
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  lot of the victims, she was struggling with addiction, and
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  that day sul attacks her, beats her, tries to strangle
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  or tries to rape her, but Latundra she fights back.
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  Speaker 1: Gosh, she must have been terrified. What does she do?
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  How'd she get away?
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  Speaker 2: It's brutal the details. She manages to claw at his face,
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  even bites him, and then somehow she finds this amazing courage, escapes,
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  climbs out a window, runs to a store nearby, and
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  calls the police.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, that's incredible bravery. She literally risked her life to stop.
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  Speaker 2: Him, absolutely, and it was her doing that that changed everything.
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  The police, they finally took her seriously. They went to
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  Swl's house with a warrant.
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  Speaker 1: So that report led them straight to the House of Horrors? Right,
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  what did they find? When they got there?
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  Speaker 2: What they found was just horrific bodies everywhere, decomposing, hidden
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  all over the house. Some are even buried in the backyard.
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  The smell, the stench of death. It was a true
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  house of horrors.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: Ugh, I'm getting chills just thinking about it. The articles
• 6:00
  say they found eleven bodies, all women. Did the neighbors
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  did any of them have any idea what was going
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  on in that house?
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: It's hard to believe, but most of them just thought
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  the smell was coming from that sausage factory nearby. Really
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  shows how easy it is to just not see things,
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  especially in communities that are already struggling marginalized.
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  Speaker 1: That's a really good point. Do you think if Sal's
• 6:24
  victims had been from a different neighborhood, you know, a
• 6:29
  wealthier area, or if they hadn't been struggling with addiction,
• 6:32
  would things have gone differently.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: It's a tough question, but an important one. The truth is,
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  when people go missing, especially from certain communities, they don't
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  get the same attention, the same resources, the same media coverage.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: It's just reality that's really upsetting. It's like their lives
• 6:47
  are considered less valuable because of their struggles, and that's
• 6:50
  just wrong.
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  Speaker 2: Exactly in this case, it forces us to look at
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  those ugly truths. It shows the biases that exist, the
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  biases that can actually have life for death consequences.
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  Speaker 1: This is all so heavy. We need to do better.
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  But let's talk more about Latundra. She's amazing. What happened
• 7:07
  to her after she reported the crime.
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: Well, she became a key witness in the trial. Her
• 7:12
  testimony was crucial in getting Sowel convicted. She showed incredible strength,
• 7:17
  not just escaping sool but then facing him in court.
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  Speaker 1: It's inspiring to hear about her courage. Did she ever
• 7:23
  talk about her experience publicly?
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  Speaker 2: She did. She actually became an advocate for victims of
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  sexual assault and domestic violence. She shared her story to
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  try to empower others and to bring attention to the
• 7:34
  bigger issues that lead to these crimes.
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  Speaker 1: That's amazing. She took something so horrible and turned it
• 7:39
  into something good.
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  Speaker 2: She did. Her story is a reminder that even in
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  the darkest times, there's always hope, there's courage, and one
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  person really can make a difference.
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  Speaker 1: Such a powerful message, but eleven women still lost their lives.
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  So what happened to Sowel after his arrest? What was
• 7:56
  a trial like?
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  Speaker 2: Well, they charged him with eighty five counts murder, rape, kidnapping,
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  abuse of a corpse, the whole nine yards. His trial
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  started in twenty eleven, and the evidence they had against
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  him was just overwhelming.
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  Speaker 1: What about the public reaction? Did people demand justice?
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  Speaker 2: Oh? Absolutely, people were horrified by what he did. There
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  was so much grief for those women and their families.
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  The whole country was watching the trial as these awful
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  details came out.
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  Speaker 1: What about Soowel himself? How did he act? Did he
• 8:26
  seem to feel any remorse at all?
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  Speaker 2: So well, he basically stayed stonefaced through the whole thing,
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  almost no emotion, kept saying he was innocent. But his lawyers,
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  they really couldn't fight all that evidence and the verdict.
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  What happened. Guilty on eighty one of the eighty five charges,
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  including all eleven counts of aggravated murder, they sentenced him
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  to death.
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  Speaker 1: So justice was served legally.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, Saul was held responsible for what he did, But
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  for the families, no verdict can ever really heal that
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  kind of loss.
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  Speaker 1: That's true, and this whole case, it brings up so
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  many bigger questions. How do we protect homeulnerable people? What
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  about the system the failures that allowed this to happen
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  for so long?
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  Speaker 2: Exactly? And it's not over just because the trial ended.
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  We need to keep talking about this, keep pushing for change.
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  This case exposed something really broken in our society, and
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  fixing that it takes more than just laws. It takes
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  a real change in how we think, how we act,
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  what we prioritize.
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  Speaker 1: You use that phrase earlier, expose something broken. Can you
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  explain what you meant by that? What exactly is broken?
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  Speaker 2: It's how we value different lives. It's the visible walls
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  that separate us based on race, class, all those things.
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  It's how easy it is to just look away from suffering,
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  blame the victim, and lack empathy, and that allows injustice
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  to keep happening.
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  Speaker 1: And in this case, that's what allowed Anthony Salt to
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  go undetected for years. He preyed on women who were
• 9:46
  already forgotten by society.
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  Speaker 2: Exactly when they disappeared, nobody really noticed, The police didn't
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  really care, and that's terrifying. It shows how easy it
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  is to be part of the problem just by not seeing,
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  not hearing, not caring.
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  Speaker 1: So how do we fix this? How do we stop
• 10:01
  something like this from happening again?
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  Speaker 2: It's complicated, but it starts with admitting there's a problem.
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  We have to face our own biases and then work
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  to change the systems that create inequality.
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  Speaker 1: That sounds overwhelming. Where do we even.
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  Speaker 2: Start start with educating ourselves, learning about these issues, supporting
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  organizations that help marginalize communities, organizations that fight for victims,
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  and we each need to look at ourselves, challenge our
• 10:26
  own beliefs, and become allies in the fight for justice.
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  Speaker 1: You're right, we all have a part to play. But
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  beyond those bigger societal changes, did anything specific happen in
• 10:36
  Cleveland after the Sowel case, Like, were there new policies
• 10:39
  or anything?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, Actually, there were a few big changes the Cleveland police.
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  They started doing things differently, especially how they handle missing
• 10:46
  persons cases, especially when it involves vulnerable people.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: Can you give some examples like what did they change?
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  Speaker 2: Well, for one, they made it mandatory for officers to
• 10:54
  get training on biases how to recognize and deal with them.
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  This is especially important when dealing with people who are
• 11:00
  homeless or struggling with addiction. And they also created a
• 11:04
  new unit specifically to investigate missing persons, focusing on cases
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  that might otherwise get ignored.
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  Speaker 1: So they took some real steps to try to prevent
• 11:12
  another tragedy like this. Did it make a difference.
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: It's hard to say for sure, but there are signs
• 11:18
  that things are better. They're being more proactive and sensitive
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  about these cases.
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  Speaker 1: Now that's good to hear, but it's sad that it
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  took something so awful to make it happen. Eleven women
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  had to die for things to change.
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  Speaker 2: That's the tragic truth. It shows how urgent this is.
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  We can't wait for another tragedy to happen before we act.
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  Speaker 1: You know, we've talked a lot about the victims, about Saoul,
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  about society, but what about the house? That House of
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  Horrors has become almost as infamous as Soowel himself.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it has. It makes you think, what do we
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  do with places like that? Places that become symbols of
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  such evil.
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  Speaker 1: What did happen to the house? Was it just left
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  there abandoned?
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  Speaker 2: No, people couldn't live with that. It was a constant
• 11:59
  reminder of what happened there.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: So they tore it down.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, in twenty eleven, brick by brick. It was like
• 12:05
  they were trying to cleanse the space, trying to move on.
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  Speaker 1: Did they build something else there?
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  Speaker 2: They did. They made a memorial garden for the victims,
• 12:12
  a place to remember them, to honor them.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: That's nice, a sitting tribute, it is.
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: But those scars they run deep. Even though the house
• 12:21
  is gone. The memories, the pain, the questions, they're still there.
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  Speaker 1: It all comes back to Latandra Billups she escaped and
• 12:30
  because of her bravery, because she spoke up, Anthony Soowell
• 12:33
  was stopped. But what if she hadn't gotten away.
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  Speaker 2: It's a chilling thought. Right would those women still be missing?
• 12:40
  Would Sowl still be out there hurting people?
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  Speaker 1: That's a really heavy question to think about as we
• 12:45
  go into part three.
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  Speaker 2: It is, but it's an important one.
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  Speaker 1: It reminds us that even in the face of something
• 12:50
  so dark, one person's actions can have a huge.
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  Speaker 2: Impact, and we all have a responsibility to speak up,
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  fight for justice and protect those who need it most.
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  Speaker 1: It really makes you think, you know, about how one person,
• 13:02
  one choice, can change everything, Like Latundra, if she hadn't escaped,
• 13:07
  it's scary to think about what might have happened.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you wonder how many other stories like hers are
• 13:11
  out there, how many people have survived something terrible but
• 13:14
  we never hear about it.
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  Speaker 1: It brings us back to the women Soul killed. Eleven lives,
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  each one with a whole story, hopes, dreams, all gone
• 13:23
  because of him. We talked about Crystal, but what about
• 13:25
  the others? To Shanna Culvershonda Long, Jenis Webb, who were they?
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: We can't forget that these were real people, not just
• 13:33
  names on a list, like Deshanna. She was a mom,
• 13:35
  had three kids, People said she had this amazing laugh,
• 13:38
  loved music, and Lashanda she was an artist, a really
• 13:41
  loyal friend. Each one of them leaves behind a whole
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  circle of people grieving, not just their families.
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  Speaker 1: It's just devastating to think about those families, the mothers, fathers, children, siblings,
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  all those empty spaces. How did the community react to
• 13:54
  all of this? Was there a sense of I don't know,
• 13:57
  shared grief, anger.
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: Oh, definitely were heartbroken, outrage. There were vigils, protests, everyone
• 14:03
  demanding justice. But there was also this feeling of trauma,
• 14:06
  like the whole community had been wounded, and this realization
• 14:09
  that the system had failed these women, not just when
• 14:12
  they were alive, but even in death.
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: We talked about so being sentenced to death. Did he, ever,
• 14:17
  I don't know, show any remorse. Did he try to
• 14:20
  explain what he did? Why?
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: You know, he insisted he was innocent right up until
• 14:24
  the end. He actually died in prison in twenty twenty
• 14:27
  one from a terminal illness, never admitted guilt, never gave
• 14:31
  any explanation for any of it.
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: That's almost scarier that he never seemed to get it,
• 14:35
  you know, like he didn't understand the enormity of what
• 14:37
  he'd done. But maybe in a way it's better for
• 14:40
  the families, the survivors. They don't have to hear him
• 14:43
  try to justify it, make excuses.
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: It's an interesting way to look at it, like they're
• 14:47
  taking back some of the power he stole from them.
• 14:50
  It still leaves that big question, how do we move
• 14:53
  on from something like this? How do we make sure
• 14:55
  their deaths weren't meaningless?
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's the tough part. We talked about changing policies,
• 15:00
  fixing the system, but what about us individually? What can
• 15:03
  we do to actually make a difference.
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: It starts with being aware, educating ourselves about these issues,
• 15:08
  understanding how bias works, how it makes some groups more
• 15:11
  vulnerable to violence. We have to challenge our own thinking,
• 15:15
  our own assumptions.
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: And speak up right when we see something wrong. We
• 15:19
  have to say something, be allies, stand up for people
• 15:21
  who are being pushed down, silenced.
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: Exactly, it's about building empathy, valuing every single life, recognizing
• 15:28
  everyone's dignity no matter what their situation is.
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: It's about creating a world where someone like Latundra Billips
• 15:34
  isn't the exception, but the norm where everyone feels safe,
• 15:38
  seen valued.
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: That's a powerful goal something we should all be working towards.
• 15:44
  This deep dive into the Cleveland strangler case, it's been heavy,
• 15:47
  but I hope it's also made people think, made them
• 15:50
  want to do something.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: It definitely has for me. It's a reminder that we
• 15:53
  can't just sit back, that we all have a responsibility
• 15:56
  to make the world better, safer, and more just, and.
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: To honor the memory of those victims by working to
• 16:02
  prevent this kind of horror from happening again. Their stories
• 16:06
  can't be forgotten.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us for this deep dive. We've
• 16:10
  explored some really dark territory, but I think it's important
• 16:13
  and hopefully it sparks some ideas, some conversations. Remember knowledge
• 16:16
  is power, use it wisely.