Cleveland: Suspect in multiple murders ordered held without bond

CLEVELAND -- Anthony Sowell, who lived at a Cleveland house where 10 bodies and a skull have been found, was arraigned Wednesday morning and was ordered held without bond.

The 50-year-old appeared before Judge Ronald Adrine in Municipal Court Wednesday.

He's charged with five counts of aggravated murder after decomposed remains were found at the Imperial Avenue house where he lived. 

Sowell looked straight ahead at the judge as a prosecutor asked that Sowell be held without bond and described him as an "incredibly dangerous threat to the public." 

Sowell has been in jail since last week after police recovered the bodies of six women from his home. Authorities dug up four more bodies on Tuesday and found a skull in a bucket in the basement. 

Police plan to resume a search of the house today, and expand their search of vacant homes in the neighborhood.

On Tuesday, Cleveland Police said four more suspected bodies were found in the home's backyard.

In addition to the remains found in the backyard, police say a skull was found wrapped in a paper bag in a bucket in the home's basement. The remains have been turned over to the coroner.

If all testing bears out, it will bring to 10 the number of victims recovered so far from the house.

Police detectives were at work throughout the night, excavating the home's backyard. 

On Wednesday, Police Chief Michael McGrath said the fire department will be brought in to search the home's walls, ceilings and beneath the floors for potential additional victims.

Besides the five counts of aggravated murder, Sowell was charged Tuesday with rape, kidnapping and felonious assault.

The murder charges are connected to the first six bodies recovered last week at the home.

Cuyahoga County Coroner Dr. Frank Miller has determined five of those six victims were strangled and all were African-American women.

Dr. Miller is still trying to identify the remains of the initial victims using dental records.

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson promised families of missing loved ones that they will be informed first when victims are identified and assured them that investigators are working as quickly as possible.

Also Tuesday, Chief McGrath says uniformed police officers, along with the city building inspectors, searched vacant and abandoned properties within a quarter-mile of the home on Imperial Avenue. Nothing was found.

Police say the search radius will be widened another quarter-mile on Wednesday.

Chief McGrath says Sowell did not appear to have transportation and when he did go anywhere, he did so by bus.

Sowell was released in mid-2005 after serving a 15-year prison sentence for attempted rape.