CORONADO, Calif. -
A convicted sex offender suspected of killing at least 11 people in his Ohio home is being investigated in connection with an unsolved rape in Coronado, a police official said.
Anthony Sowell, 51, has been charged with aggravated murder, as well as rape, felonious assault and kidnapping in Cleveland.
"It appears that this man had an insatiable appetite that he had to fill," Cleveland police Chief Michael McGrath said.
Police discovered the bodies of six women Thursday and Friday after a woman reported being raped at Sowell's home. All six were black, and five were strangled. The bodies found Tuesday were also black women. A human skull was found at the house wrapped in paper bag in a bucket.
The national coverage of the case has led to an investigation into whether Sowell may have raped a woman in San Diego, Coronado police Chief Lou Scanlon told Fox 5. Police received an e-mail from North Carolina from a woman who said that she had been raped there in 1979. She said that she recognized Sowell from news coverage as the man who attacked her, Scanlon said. So far, police have not been able to verify the woman's story.
"All we have right now is a person who believes she was raped by this individual 30 years ago," Scanlon said.
Investigators are trying to verify that an unsolved rape took place in 1979, but the statute of limitations on rape is 10 years, and the records of the case may have been purged years ago, Scanlon said.
According to news reports, Sowell joined the Marines in 1978, at age 18, and was stationed in California at one point. Investigators have not verified if he was in the San Diego area in 1979, when the Coronado rape supposedly occurred, Scanlon said.
Because of the statute of limitations, no charges could be brought against Sowell for a rape in 1979, Scanlon said. However, if the investigation turns up evidence linking Sowell to a crime in Coronado, police will share the information with the victim, he said.
Anthony Sowell, 51, has been charged with aggravated murder, as well as rape, felonious assault and kidnapping in Cleveland.
"It appears that this man had an insatiable appetite that he had to fill," Cleveland police Chief Michael McGrath said.
Police discovered the bodies of six women Thursday and Friday after a woman reported being raped at Sowell's home. All six were black, and five were strangled. The bodies found Tuesday were also black women. A human skull was found at the house wrapped in paper bag in a bucket.
The national coverage of the case has led to an investigation into whether Sowell may have raped a woman in San Diego, Coronado police Chief Lou Scanlon told Fox 5. Police received an e-mail from North Carolina from a woman who said that she had been raped there in 1979. She said that she recognized Sowell from news coverage as the man who attacked her, Scanlon said. So far, police have not been able to verify the woman's story.
"All we have right now is a person who believes she was raped by this individual 30 years ago," Scanlon said.
Investigators are trying to verify that an unsolved rape took place in 1979, but the statute of limitations on rape is 10 years, and the records of the case may have been purged years ago, Scanlon said.
According to news reports, Sowell joined the Marines in 1978, at age 18, and was stationed in California at one point. Investigators have not verified if he was in the San Diego area in 1979, when the Coronado rape supposedly occurred, Scanlon said.
Because of the statute of limitations, no charges could be brought against Sowell for a rape in 1979, Scanlon said. However, if the investigation turns up evidence linking Sowell to a crime in Coronado, police will share the information with the victim, he said.
