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Coroner on standby as police dig at home that hid 11 bodies
By: cnn.comPosted On: 11/18/2009 12:37 P
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Six members of the coroner's office were summoned Wednesday to a home in Cleveland, Ohio, where investigators recently found 11 bodies.
Six members of the coroner's office were summoned Wednesday to a home in Cleveland, Ohio, where investigators recently found 11 bodies.
The coroner's office was on standby after investigators returned to the house Wednesday to dig by hand, said Powell Caesar, a spokesman for the Cuyahoga County Coroner's Office.
The digging focused on "suspect areas" near the home of Anthony Sowell, a registered sex offender who served 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to attempted rape,
Authorities found the remains of 11 women inside and outside Sowell's home between October 29 and November 3.
Investigators returned to Sowell's home on Friday and Saturday to search it and the property next door. They used thermal-imaging equipment and ground-penetrating radar and marked several areas outside the home with spray paint.
The search under way Wednesday focused on areas identified during that search, Lt. Thomas Stacho of the Cleveland police said in a statement.
Asked Sunday whether any evidence was found in the search Friday night and Saturday, Stacho told CNN, "We will evaluate yesterday's examination and determine how to proceed in the coming days." He added, "No evidence was taken from either Sowell's home or the home next door."
No additional bodies had been found as of mid-morning Wednesday, Caesar said, but the coroner's office employees were there just in case.
Wednesday's search is being conducted by Cleveland police and the Cuyahoga County Coroner's Office, the FBI and Cleveland's Department of Building and Housing.
Sowell faces five counts of aggravated murder, rape, felonious assault and kidnapping in connection with the deaths.
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