Serial Killer in Ohio

[MasterOfMagic]

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/11/neighbors_wonder_how_stench_of.html
CLEVELAND, Ohio — The stench in the air near East 123rd Street and Imperial Avenue left residents baffled for years.

Drain pipes were flushed. A sewer line was replaced. But the smell still lingered.
[...]
Last week, police discovered the source of the odor -- it was beyond residents’ worst fears. At least six decomposing bodies lie in and around the house at 12205 Imperial Ave. The corpses could have been accumulating there for years, authorities said.
[...]
"People used to think it was the sausage shop," said the owner of a pizza shop across the street. "We now realize what it was."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/11/04/earlyshow/main5522335.shtml
"What upset me so bad, when I went to the police to try to report her missing, the Fourth District would not take the report, because she lived in (a nearby police district), (even though) she disappeared right around the corner from them, we found the car there. We went to (the other police district) after she was gone three weeks. They belittled it. They made jokes, (such as) 'Oh, go home, she'll show up by Christmas, after the drugs are all gone.' And they wouldn't even take the report. I had to go back up and demand to see the officer in charge. That's the only way I got her reported missing."
[...]
Smith read a statement from a woman who escaped from Sowell's house after, the woman says, Sowell started to try to choke her. The woman said Sowell remarked, "You're just another crack (blank) from the street. No one will know if you're missing."
It appears he was right. He could well still be killing if the girl hadn't escaped.

[Funka Genocide]

I don't know what to say about this, it's so terrible. I guess we just overlook things out of habit in our daily lives.

[bluestarultor]

Serial killers often go after easy targets. Whores, the homeless, and other undesirables bleed like anyone else and often aren't missed or even noticed missing. The worst part is they can do this for years, and no one WILL notice them missing, or care enough to look.

Still, I can't help but feel it should have ended much sooner with the apparent sloppiness of this one. Foul odors around the house all the time? You'd think someone would have had it checked out more thoroughly and much sooner.

[Geminex]

That is quite awful. And far too negligent than the police should be...

Also, you might want to put
undesirables
in inverted commas. Not criticising you, but it might create the wrong impression, otherwise.

[bluestarultor]

That is quite awful. And far too negligent than the police should be...

Also, you might want to put

in inverted commas. Not criticising you, but it might create the wrong impression, otherwise.

Well, this is going to sound terrible, but inverted commas really aren't in order, unless people in general want a ton of whores and homeless running around. Maybe it's a harsh word to describe them, as it's really not a matter of choice in most cases, but it's an appropriate word considering how society treats them.

I mean, that's pretty much how this guy got away with it. Taking people society didn't want or care about and murdering them.

[Archbio]

Maybe it's a harsh word to describe them, as it's really not a matter of choice in most cases, but it's an appropriate word considering how society treats them.

Undesired, then, might be a word that better conveys that meaning.

[Geminex]

Yeah...

I fully agree that society (and we as individuals) don't want more beggars on the streets, more guys having to sleep in cardboard boxes. But what we really (should) find undesireable are the circumstances that drove them to this. Whereas "undesireable" sounds rather judgemental, sounds rather like you'd approve of forcing them out of your neighborhood, sort of thing. I know (or think) that you mean the former, but it sounds like the latter.
Then again, english is my second language, so don't let me lecture you on grammar and meaning.

[bluestarultor]

Well, I said I was going to sound terrible. "Unwanted individuals" is probably a better way of saying it.

[Meister]

I don't think there's any way to make what you're trying to convey actually sound good but I'm willing to go with "not the best word but I know what you mean."

[bluestarultor]

I don't think there's any way to make what you're trying to convey actually sound good but I'm willing to go with "not the best word but I know what you mean."

Some things just lack pretty words by virtue of being un-pretty concepts.

[Meister]

I hope you guys enjoyed taking the time to write 11 completely off-topic posts, 8 of which were Funka and Archbio taking what should have been a PM conversation into public, because I just hard deleted the bunch of them.

You guys who actually tried to get this back on track, you did okay, I just didn't want to keep your posts standing with no context.

Now get back to talking about the goddamn guy who killed six people and kept the bodies in his house.

[MasterOfMagic]

Over 10, actually, 6 was the initial number, but they're still searching for bodies as far as I know. They mentioned wanting to search nearby abandoned houses as well.

This was actually the second most depressing story I found that day, too.

[Meister]

Kinda off topic too but it's at least from one of the articles:
"Not many people know what a dead body smells like," he said. "It’s a very, very strong smell that is foul and indistinguishable. It’s the mixture of gas, flesh and blood. It’s rotting foul flesh. It’s the reason people are embalmed."
Yeeeeeah let's just say embalming isn't common at all over here and cemeteries are far from having an odour problem.

[Archbio]

Yeeeeeah let's just say embalming isn't common at all over here and cemeteries are far from having an odour problem.

From my limited understanding of thanatology I would have assumed that the odour problem he refers to would actually come up in steps prior to inhumation, and not actually after the body is buried. Transport, viewing, and so on. A short portion of a cadaver's life to be sure, but I'd buy people being really sensitive about it, maybe more so in some countries.

Good thing I looked up the serial killer Petiot before posting, because I was under the mistaken impression that he had been initially discovered because of a similar sanitary issue. Maybe I'm remembering a fictional detail from a movie adaptation of his crimes or I'm just thinking of a different, also sloppy serial killer.

[Meister]

Actually I found a lengthy article on embalming on an undertaker's blog I read (www.bestatterweblog.de for the German speakers among you) and he mentions cultural development as a main reason for it - apparently US undertakers started the practice when dead people would regularly have to be transported across great distances. Over here there are a number of factors that make embalming unnecessary, such as different expectations how a dead person is supposed to look at a viewing, different climates etc. (the entire article (http://bestatterweblog.de/archives/Einbalsamierung-Embalming/248#extended) - only in German, I'm afraid, but very interesting). So I guess the guy I quoted is technically correct but you can absolutely do the usual funeral/viewing/transport stuff without embalming and without an inappropriate aroma.

As for the topic at hand, I think disposal issues were what led to a number of serial killers being caught - Fritz Haarmann apparently used to dump bodies into a nearby river, where they would wash up, get found and place him under suspicion (for prior convictions), and I'm sure there was at least one with very similar problems but I can't think of the name.

[Marc v1.0]

I really have to argue that the smell of dead and rot is a very unique and striking smell, that I recognized off the bat as not being a proper stench the first time I ever encountered it. I didn't know it was a dead animal at the time, but in some animal part of my brain it gave me the most uncomfortable sensation and feeling of distant fright like no other smell I had ever encountered. It didn't just reek, it scared me for a moment.

I don't see how you could really not know.

[krogothwolf]

Still, I find it strange that no one really even noticed the 10 girls going in and 0 coming out, or him even burying the dead body in the yard. I've always seemed to live around nosy neighbours who seem to try to see everything that's going on in the area. But yeah, if you try to dispose of a body to close to yourself you'll get caught eventually and there's always the chance that someone might eventually see you in the act of disposing a body.

[Token]

One of the freshmen at my high school found out that his mother was one of the victims this week, after she disappeared two years ago. It's weird as hell to hear people joking about it in the hallways. :/