Anthony Sowell

Anthony Sowell was born on August 19, 1959 in Ohio. He was raised in East Cleveland by his mother, in a household with nine other children. When he was 18 years old, he enlisted in the Marine Corps. By 1981, he had gotten married to Kim Yvette Lawson. While in the marines, he received training as an electrician. He served in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Okinawa. During his seven years in the Marines, he received a Good Conduct Medal, a Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, a Meritorious Mast, two Letters of Appreciation, and a Certificate of Commendation. He was been described by those who know him as “Very respectable,” to which his various accolades can attest.

It may come as a surprise to you that the above paragraph describing an up-right citizen of Cleveland actually describes a man who has also been dubbed “The Cleveland Strangler.” In addition to the above achievements, Sowell attacked and killed no less than eleven women. Due to his modus operandi and the cooling off period between attacks, he has been classified as a Serial Killer. He committed all of these attacks over only a two year period, from 2007 until 2009. He most likely would have started his “career” earlier, except he had been imprisoned for fifteen years for rape. Authorities are investigating if he may have started his career even earlier than that, and are looking into other cities that he had lived in during the 1980s.

When studying history, it is very important to examine sources. Researchers need to look for any apparent bias in their sources. It was relatively easy to pick out the positive parts of Anthony Sowell’s life. Despite the horrifying crimes he committed, it took very little information to paint him as a contributing citizen of Cleveland. Even primary sources can be misleading., If one only had his military accolades, a researcher may never suspect that Sowell was capable of the atrocities that he committed in his life.

sources: http://murderpedia.org/male.S/s/sowell-anthony.htm
http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/01/anthony_sowell_who_is_the_man.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/anthony-sowells-home-of-horror/