Trial opens for Cleveland man accused in 11 deaths

Anthony Sowell

CLEVELAND (AP) — The bodies were removed many months ago, but the stench of them still clings to the boarded-up house on Imperial Avenue.

The smell surfaces every so often: a reminder of the horrors that unfolded here in November 2009, when police began pulling the remains of 11 women from the depths of this rundown white duplex on an impoverished Cleveland street.

"Every once in a while you can hear people saying ... 'What's that smell?,'" says Tracy Chapman, who lives across the street.

The murder trial gets under way Monday for Anthony Sowell, 51, a convicted sex offender and ex-Marine charged with killing the women and hiding their remains in his home and backyard. The trial, expected to last several weeks, will force Cleveland residents to revisit a dark chapter in the city's history that most would rather forget. Prosecutors say Sowell, who has pleaded not guilty, lured women from the neighborhood into his home with the promise of alcohol or drugs, then killed them.

Read More