Cleveland woman's kin holding out hope

CLEVELAND, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- Relatives of a missing Cleveland woman say they remain hopeful she is not among the 11 victims of a suspected serial killer in the city.

Audrey Webb, sister of Janice Webb, 49, who has been missing since June from the same Cleveland neighborhood where the female bodies were found in a man's house, told Sunday's (Cleveland) Plain Dealer she's not giving in to her worst fears that Janice is among the four remaining unidentified victims.

"All we do right now is pass out the fliers and pray for the best and hope they don't find her on that street," Webb told the newspaper, adding, "I was just hoping and praying she showed up and came home. I didn't want to think the worst, I thought maybe she went to (drug) rehab."

Family members of missing women have shown up outside the home of Anthony Sowell since police found the decomposed bodies of 11 women inside, hoping to gather information about their loved ones.

Authorities accuse Sowell of luring wayward women into his southeast Cleveland home and raping and strangling them, one after the other.

"We stay hopeful, prayerful," Audrey Webb told the Plain dealer.