CLEVELAND — Mice and a terrible stench like that of dead animals arrived after a man moved into a house where the remains of 11 women were later found, a former tenant testified Wednesday.
"We speculated that maybe there had been a dead animal," Brandon Pompey told jurors in the third day of testimony in the murder trial of Anthony Sowell, 51.
Sowell has pleaded not guilty to killing the women and dumping their bodies around his home. He could get the death penalty if convicted.
Pompey testified that Sowell moved into the third floor of the house owned by Sowell's stepmother in 2005 and mice and a bad odor reminiscent of dead animals or rotten food appeared shortly after.
Pompey moved out of the home in 2006, leaving behind some furniture because of the odor and rodent issues. "We didn't feel comfortable taking it with us," he testified.
The women began disappearing in 2007 and Sowell has not been charged with earlier homicides.
A series of victims' relatives also testified, often with a similar litany of the victims' drug-related problems, unexplained disappearances and the eventual discovery of their remains in and around Sowell's home in 2009.
Police found the bodies after going to Sowell's home on a sex-abuse complaint. Sowell had spent 15 years in prison for a 1989 attempted rape.
Mary Mason, whose sister Michelle Mason, 44, was reported missing eight days she was last seen Oct. 4, 2008, testified that her family was skeptical that police would vigorously investigate the disappearance of a woman with drug problems and an arrest record.
The defense, which has argued that police botched the investigation, picked up on that issue, with attorney John Parker asking Mason whether she was satisfied with the police response.
"Not at all," she replied.
Her mother, Adlean Atterberry, said the family aggressively searched for Michelle and posted missing person fliers in her neighborhood and in a corner store patronized by Sowell.
The fliers were repeatedly removed and the shopkeeper said they disappeared when Sowell showed up, she testified.