I SURVIVED A SERIAL KILLER: The Cleveland Strangler
Cold Case Files
A&E / PodcastOne
4.1 • 8.2K Ratings
🗓️ 11 April 2026
⏱️ 25 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In September of 2008, Vanessa Gay met Anthony Sowell on a sidewalk in Cleveland Ohio. He invited her to share drinks and drugs at his home. She was unaware that she was walking into a house where 11 of his victims had been hidden and buried. Vanessa recounts her escape from death, as Detective Lemmy Griffin and Prosecutor Rick Bombik walk us through this murderer's capture and sentencing.
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Transcript
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| 0:30.1 | This program contains subject matter that may be disturbing to some listeners. Listener discretion |
| 0:35.1 | is advised. On August 12th, Anthony Sowell is sentenced to death for the murders of 11 women, |
| 0:42.5 | whose remains were found in and around his Imperial Avenue home. |
| 0:46.8 | He prayed upon African-American women, down on their luck, hooked on drugs. |
| 0:53.4 | He continued and he continued, and that's how sick he was. |
| 0:57.0 | He's a sick individual. |
| 0:58.5 | He choked someone with your hands. |
| 1:00.6 | That's all I can take. |
| 1:02.4 | He looked me in my eyes, and I've never, ever seen eyes like that. |
| 1:07.8 | They were just black holes. |
| 1:10.5 | Police officers see bad things every day, but this is about as bad as it gets. |
| 1:15.6 | And as I'm walking, I see sitting on the floor what appears to be a body lit in on head. |
| 1:23.6 | I just kept thinking, is this how I'm gonna die? Is this how I'm gonna die? |
| 1:28.3 | You remember what happened, right? |
| 1:30.3 | Yeah, but it's like a dream, like hate, punish, |
| 1:34.3 | maybe not you have anything. |
| 1:37.3 | Did you tell us about one of the dreams? |
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