News
Ohio woman: I got away from serial killing suspect
3:49 PM on 11/05/2009
A board with flyers for missing persons is hung on a fence across from the home of Anthony Sowell in Cleveland Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009. The remains of 11 women were found in Sowell's home. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan)
MEGHAN BARR, Associated Press Writer
VICKI SMITH, Associated Press Writer
CLEVELAND (AP) -- A Cleveland woman who says suspected serial killer Anthony Sowell once choked and threatened to kill her now feels guilty and wishes she had reported the assault earlier.
Forty-three-year-old Tanja (TAHN'-yah) Doss says that if she had, her best friend Nancy Cobbs might not be missing.
She believes Cobbs might be among the 11 victims whose remains were found at Sowell's home.
Doss says she met Sowell in 2005. She says he invited her over for a beer, then began to strangle her.
Doss says that he forced her to strip and spend the night, but that she talked him out of her harming her and fled the next morning.
She didn't tell police because she served time on a drug charge and assumed they wouldn't take her seriously. She says she finally went to police Monday.
Cleveland police didn't return calls seeking to confirm the report.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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