'HE HAD AN INSATIABLE APPETITE HE HAD TO FILL' HOUSE OF HORROR CORPSES DISCOVERED IN GARDEN.

Byline: SARAH BARDON

HORRIFIED cops in the US yesterday discovered four more bodies at the home of a convicted rapist - bringing the death toll to 10.

Police dug up the corpses from shallow graves in Anthony Sowell's back garden yesterday and found skulls and bones in paper bags in the basement of his home in Cleveland, Ohio.

He appeared in court yesterday on five counts of aggravated murder.

The 50-year-old looked straight at the judge as a prosecutor asked that he 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.

SEARCH

Firefighters spent the day yesterday tearing apart the walls and ceilings of the property in search of any other places where victims might lie hidden.

Police chief Michael McGrath said: "I would like to believe there is nothing else there, but we won't know until we search everything.

"It appears that this man had an insatiable appetite that he had to fill."

Cops discovered the house of horror when Sowell fled after being accused of another rape.

The victim said she agreed to go home with him for a drink and was led to the second floor, which was empty except for a chair, a blanket and an extension cord.

She claimed Sowell punched her in the face, began choking her with the cord and raped her as she passed out.

The Cuyahoga County coroner hasn't identified any of the bodies but is trying to do so through DNA and dental records.

The six found last week were black and five were strangled.

Neighbours said they had complained for years about the "overpowering" smell from Sowell's house.

Antoinnette Dudley, 29, said she had been aware of a terrible odour all summer as though something was dead.

She added that, in his rare appearances outside the house, she had seen Sowell sitting on his porch drinking beer. She said: "I didn't think he was that sick."

Regina Woodland, who lives about two streets away, added: "What kind of man was this? He couldn't have been human."

Mayor of Cleveland Frank Jackson said: "I can imagine how families feel who have reported a missing person and the anxiety that they are going through."

Six bodies were found last Thursday and Friday. Mr McGrath said he could not assume the women who wound up dead in Sowell's house had gone there against their will. He said: "I have to believe at this point all these victims voluntarily went to this residence."

A spokesman for the coroner said the bodies "could have been there anywhere from weeks to months to years".

The sick rapist has previously served a 15-year prison sentence for raping a woman who was three months pregnant in 1989.

Some relatives of missing people kept vigil in the street as police stretchers carrying bodies came out of the house.

VANISHED

Telacia Fortson, 31, vanished in May, leaving three children behind.

Mum Inez said: "The last time I saw her, she kissed me on the forehead and said she would be back next week."

Residents and local politicians added they couldn't understand how police missed the stench when they were called to the house numerous times during the last four years.

The last visit they made to his house was on September 22, just hours before a woman went to police claiming Sowell had raped her.

However, it was not until last Thursday (October 29) that officers got round to following up her complaint by visiting his property.

CAPTION(S):

THOROUGH Cleveland police search back of Sowell's home VIGIL Patricia Warren with pic of missing cousin SMELL Neighbours complained of odour coming from house SICK THUG Rapist Anthony Sowell in a US court yesterday