Ohio serial killer sentenced to death

An Ohio man who murdered 11 women and dumped their bodies around his property will be put to death, a judge ruled Friday.

Anthony Sowell should die by lethal injection for his crimes, Judge Dick Ambrose ruled, accepting the jury's recommendation, Fox News reported.

Sowell, 51, was arrested on Halloween 2009, two days after police went to his house on a sexual-assault complaint and began finding bodies, the Wall Street Journal reported.

He went on trial in June and was convicted July 22 on 82 counts: aggravated murder, kidnapping, corpse abuse and evidence tampering.

The women began disappearing in 2007. Mr. Sowell apparently prayed on women on the fringes of society and lured them to his home with the promise of alcohol or drugs. Police discovered the first two bodies and a freshly dug grave in late 2009 after officers went to investigate a woman's report that she had been raped there.

Many of the slain women had been missing for weeks or months, and some had criminal records. They were disposed of in garbage bags and plastic sheets, then dumped in various parts of the house and yard.

The rotting bodies created an overpowering stench that neighbors blamed on an adjacent sausage factory, the Wall Street Journal reported. The owner spent $20,000 on new plumbing fixtures and sewer lines, to no avail.

Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Pinky Carr has said the case "screamed death penalty," Fox reported. Her prosecution colleague, Richard Bombik, said "if this guy doesn't get the death penalty, nobody should."

Sowell's execution date was set for October 29, 2012, Reuters reported.