The Cleveland Strangler
We Have Yet to Heal from the Murders of the Cleveland Strangler
There has been no support offered to the families of the 11 black women who were brutally raped and murdered on Imperial Avenue. This says everything you need to know about the role race and class play in the way we view victims.
The Cleveland Strangler Is on Death Row, but His Victims' Families Still Suffer
In the final part of the series, host Wilbert L. Cooper meets the victims' families who are continuing to try to make sense of Sowell's crimes and the institutional failures that contributed to them.
How Murder Coverage Can Inspire Copycat Killers
By providing lurid details, posting step-by-step recaps, and publishing manifestos that gratify the killer's need for attention, media outlets play a key role in the proliferation of modern copycat killers.
What We've Learned About Rape Since the Murders of the Cleveland Strangler
In many ways, the Imperial Avenue murders opened the eyes of Clevelanders to the prevalence and impact of sexual violence. But there are still a lot of lessons to be learned, or, in some cases, relearned.
Why the Police Didn't Catch the Cleveland Strangler Sooner
Part three of our series looks into the Cleveland police force's overworked and under-resourced sex crimes department, which contributed to Sowell's ability to prey on vulnerable women for years.
How 11 Black Women Fell Victim to the Cleveland Strangler
In part two of our series, host Wilbert L. Cooper meets with survivors of Anthony Sowell's crimes, retracing the timeline of when the victims went missing and chronicling law enforcement's missteps.
How Poverty Leaves People Vulnerable to Horrific Crimes
From the mutilated corpses of the Cleveland Strangler to the castrated cadavers of the Mad Butcher, victims of Northeastern Ohio's most notorious murders have had little agency and even less money.
Read These Poems Inspired by the Murders of the Cleveland Strangler
These poems by community worker and artist R. A. Washington explore another side of the deaths investigated in VICE's feature-length documentary, Cleveland Strangler.
'The Cleveland Strangler': The Story of a Brutal Serial Killer and His Forgotten Victims
Host Wilbert L. Cooper heads back to his hometown to speak with cops about Anthony Sowell's case, and revisits the horrific evidence of the serial killer's heinous murders.
Life, Death, and Inequality in Cleveland
The Anthony Sowell case was always about more than just a psycho with a penchant for raping and butchering women. But it took me a long time to see it that way.