Nobody's Women: The Crimes and Victims of Anthony Sowell, the Cleveland Serial Killer Read Online Free Page A
Author: Steve Miller
malicious destruction, misuse, or alteration of property and another for “encouraging or creating a disturbance.”
What he found, though, was that prison was not as bad as it could be. His time in the Marines had made him come to appreciate institutional living. He couldn’t drink, didn’t mess around with contraband, and actually made some friends.
Sowell was in with the general prison population and was given a job as an electrician to begin with, tapping his military training. Being employed by the Ohio Penal Industries gives inmates time to work on products—clothing, furniture—or services, like printing.
He later handled the electronic wiring for snow-removal trucks for the prison system, and even later, he would be moved to the Madison Correctional Institution to work on engine repair in its dorms and on the yard equipment. There was other work also to which he was assigned over the years. He worked for a time in the kitchen at Grafton Correctional Institution, first as part of the prep and cleanup crew, then as a cook assistant and “shovel guy,” the one who doles out the food.
He finished his prison sentence in minimum security, housed in a barracks-style dormitory within a perimeter fence. This was for people who had completed their time with little fanfare or trouble.
Parole-consideration reports over the fifteen years, culled from police statements, recounted Sowell’s crime in conflicting and sometimes inaccurate terms. If the system was good at keeping people occupied and treated, it was a mess in the paperwork department.
One parole report in 1991 said:
[Sowell] lied to female victim and tricked her into coming to his house, where he threw her onto the bed, clubbed her and raped her vaginally. She got dressed and tried to leave. He would not let her and removed her clothes again and tried to rape her anally. Unable to. Victim had recent surgery and was four months pregnant. [Sowell] raped her vaginally the second time. Then tied her hands behind her back, feet w/a belt and gagged her w/atowel. Then [Sowell] went to sleep. She finally got free and got out.
There was no mention of the promise of death.
In 1996, Sowell was again up for parole. The report this time assessed the crime: “The victim was at a hotel waiting for her boyfriend. Due to police cars in the lot [Sowell] enticed victim to his house and raped her twice vaginally. He threatened to kill her. She escaped by climbing out a window onto the roof, where she was found with hands tied with a tie.”
But this assessment erroneously listed the crime as not reported until the following summer. This is the trek of inaccuracies the county justice system would take over the years of Sowell’s criminal career.
“The case came to light 8/90, when the victim was in the county jail on an unrelated case,” the 1996 report stated, clearly contradicted by court records. “Victim also said she had been choked and attempted to dress and escape but [Sowell] would awaken and restrain her to the bed.”
The parole records for Sowell portray a system in disorder, complete with crime statements that conflict and reports that have the victim included in the parole hearing when she clearly was not.
“That is something I would remember,” Melvette says. “I never even knew he was being tried back when he went to prison. The first time I ever saw him since that day was when he was on TV for getting arrested. And I started to cry.”
* * *
Melvette Sockwell’s life, not the greatest to begin with, would only get worse.
She was arrested in July 1990 on a charge of possession of a controlled substance, then failed to appear for her November court date. She was sentenced to six months in state prison.
In November 1994, Melvette was again arrested and charged with possession of drugs. This time she got eighteen months in prison, probated. She violated probation and was ordered to undergo mental-health counseling and drug rehab. She
What he found, though, was that prison was not as bad as it could be. His time in the Marines had made him come to appreciate institutional living. He couldn’t drink, didn’t mess around with contraband, and actually made some friends.
Sowell was in with the general prison population and was given a job as an electrician to begin with, tapping his military training. Being employed by the Ohio Penal Industries gives inmates time to work on products—clothing, furniture—or services, like printing.
He later handled the electronic wiring for snow-removal trucks for the prison system, and even later, he would be moved to the Madison Correctional Institution to work on engine repair in its dorms and on the yard equipment. There was other work also to which he was assigned over the years. He worked for a time in the kitchen at Grafton Correctional Institution, first as part of the prep and cleanup crew, then as a cook assistant and “shovel guy,” the one who doles out the food.
He finished his prison sentence in minimum security, housed in a barracks-style dormitory within a perimeter fence. This was for people who had completed their time with little fanfare or trouble.
Parole-consideration reports over the fifteen years, culled from police statements, recounted Sowell’s crime in conflicting and sometimes inaccurate terms. If the system was good at keeping people occupied and treated, it was a mess in the paperwork department.
One parole report in 1991 said:
[Sowell] lied to female victim and tricked her into coming to his house, where he threw her onto the bed, clubbed her and raped her vaginally. She got dressed and tried to leave. He would not let her and removed her clothes again and tried to rape her anally. Unable to. Victim had recent surgery and was four months pregnant. [Sowell] raped her vaginally the second time. Then tied her hands behind her back, feet w/a belt and gagged her w/atowel. Then [Sowell] went to sleep. She finally got free and got out.
There was no mention of the promise of death.
In 1996, Sowell was again up for parole. The report this time assessed the crime: “The victim was at a hotel waiting for her boyfriend. Due to police cars in the lot [Sowell] enticed victim to his house and raped her twice vaginally. He threatened to kill her. She escaped by climbing out a window onto the roof, where she was found with hands tied with a tie.”
But this assessment erroneously listed the crime as not reported until the following summer. This is the trek of inaccuracies the county justice system would take over the years of Sowell’s criminal career.
“The case came to light 8/90, when the victim was in the county jail on an unrelated case,” the 1996 report stated, clearly contradicted by court records. “Victim also said she had been choked and attempted to dress and escape but [Sowell] would awaken and restrain her to the bed.”
The parole records for Sowell portray a system in disorder, complete with crime statements that conflict and reports that have the victim included in the parole hearing when she clearly was not.
“That is something I would remember,” Melvette says. “I never even knew he was being tried back when he went to prison. The first time I ever saw him since that day was when he was on TV for getting arrested. And I started to cry.”
* * *
Melvette Sockwell’s life, not the greatest to begin with, would only get worse.
She was arrested in July 1990 on a charge of possession of a controlled substance, then failed to appear for her November court date. She was sentenced to six months in state prison.
In November 1994, Melvette was again arrested and charged with possession of drugs. This time she got eighteen months in prison, probated. She violated probation and was ordered to undergo mental-health counseling and drug rehab. She
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