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Six bodies at US rapist's house | |
(about 6 hours later) | |
Six bodies have been found at the home of a convicted rapist in the US city of Cleveland, Ohio, authorities say. | |
Police discovered the first two bodies on Thursday when they came to arrest Anthony Sowell, 50, on a rape charge. | |
A third was found a day later and police have now confirmed three more. The remains were recovered in the house and in its backyard. | |
The suspect - who spent 15 years in prison for a 1989 rape - was arrested on Saturday not far from his home. | |
Coroner Frank Miller said two of the bodies had been identified as black females, reports the AP news agency. | |
Autopsies had been performed on all six, said the coroner's office, but no cause of death was announced. | |
It was such a disgusting sight... the stench from inside was overwhelming Lt Thomas Stacho | |
Police chief Michael McGrath told a news conference that Sowell offered no resistance when arrested, following a tip-off, while walking down the street on Saturday at around noon. | |
The suspect initially denied he was the man authorities were looking for, but admitted his identity as officers began fingerprinting him, police said. | |
Chief McGrath said the bodies were in "various states of being decomposed" and could have been in the property for up to six months. | |
He said Sowell had initially lived in the house with his aunt and uncle, but his uncle had passed away and his aunt had gone to a nursing home about a year ago. | |
Police Lt Thomas Stacho told CNN: "It was such a disgusting sight." | |
"I can tell you I stood outside the home for about an hour yesterday, and the stench from inside was overwhelming," he added. | |
Neighbours told media that the suspect made a living from looking for scrap metal to sell. | |
Missing-person reports are being checked dating to June 2005, when Sowell was released from prison. | |
Crowds have been gathering outside Sowell's home, in the city's East Side, holding posters of missing loved ones. |