CLEVELAND, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- A Cleveland woman who claims she was assaulted by suspected serial killer Anthony Sowell says police didn't believe her story, taking his word over hers.
Gladys Wade told Tuesday's (Cleveland) Plain Dealer she was lucky to escape with her life last December after allegedly being attacked by Sowell in his home, but a police detective, she alleged, didn't believe her.
Wade, 41, told the newspaper she cut her thumb on a shattered pane of glass in Sowell's house while fighting to escape him, ran out into the street, flagged down a police car and reported the crime. She said she was interviewed the next day by Detective Georgia Hussein, whom she contends believed Sowell, a 50-year-old convicted sex offender, over her when he said Wade robbed him.
"The detective, she didn't take me seriously at all," Wade told The Plain Dealer. "(Sowell) told them that I robbed him and that I assaulted him. And evidently his story was somehow more powerful than mine."
Police told the newspaper Hussein presented a case to the city prosecutor, who decided there wasn't enough evidence to pursue charges.
Sowell has since been charged with killing 11 women in his East Cleveland home.
