A plea to the unknown victims: Call 216-339-9664 if you survived Imperial Avenue attack

from Connie Schultz of the Cleveland Plain Dealer

There are more of you.

Cleveland police are certain of it.

So is the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center.

Many of the residents in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood are sure of it, too.

They say there are more of you women out there who knew Anthony Sowell. You were beaten and probably raped at his home on Imperial Avenue. You have been terrorized by the memory ever since. But you are terrified to say so.

Maybe the Imperial Avenue killer lured you into his home with promises of drugs or booze, told you he thought you were pretty and deserved a good time. Maybe for a few moments you thought this smooth-talking guy willing to look you in the eye would give you shelter from a scary world. So, you trusted him enough to enter his home.

Miraculously, you were one of the women who got out alive.

And that's the point: You are alive.

But if you are haunted by what happened to you, you are not free from his Hell. He does not deserve to hold you captive any longer.

There are people who want to help you.

Some of them love you even if they've lost all hope of reaching you. Others, though, can't bring themselves to stop trying. They are your parents, your sisters and brothers, your grandparents, your cousins and your children. They are your childhood girlfriends who tell me they used to sit on the grass with you, look up at the same sky and wonder what miracles God might bring into your lives if you just prayed hard enough.

They know you've changed, but they know your heart, too. They love you more than you love yourself. They miss you, but they have no idea how to reach you.

There are also people you don't know who want to help you. They are trained professionals who wish to join you in driving out those demons in your life -- or in your head -- that lie to you and tell you that because you've made some mistakes in your life, you just aren't worth the effort anymore.

There are small mistakes and large mistakes, but the only too-big mistakes are the ones we don't survive.

You are alive.

I repeat: You are alive.

You are worth every effort to free yourself from the nightmare that has been your life since the moment you met the Imperial Avenue killer. And you don't have to do this hard work alone.
I'm not asking you to go to the police. Not now. Maybe not ever. You may have mistakes in your past that make it impossible for you to trust the police. Officials tell me they're working on ways that may make it possible for you to bring charges against Anthony Sowell without your being prosecuted for any outstanding crimes charged against you. So far, there are no guarantees, and so I am not encouraging you to go to the police.

What I am asking of you, and those who love you, is to call a special number that has been set up just for you at the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center.

Here is the number: 216-339-9664.

Starting at 9 a.m. today, there will be a licensed therapist answering the phone 24 hours a day for anyone who may have been a victim of the Imperial Avenue strangler or similar attackers.
Your call will be confidential. That is a promise. No one will call the police if you call this number for help. These counselors believe, as do I, that the police want to put away your rapist forever. But right now, the counselors are putting their faith in you.

They want to help you get back your life, to give you options and the power to decide what is best for you. They have hired additional staff, too, and set up a special site in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood so that you don't have to travel downtown for help.

Again, here is the number: 216-339-9664.

The center's director, Megan O'Bryan, told me over the weekend, "We should have done this sooner."

There is a long list of such apologies, and it includes mine. There are many, many people right now trying to figure out how we could have helped our sisters in Cleveland. As mistakes go, this is a horrific one, and it is ours, not yours.

It is not your fault that you were lured into a false sense of security and attacked. It is not your fault that you trusted Anthony Sowell or any other man like him.

No woman -- not one -- deserves to be abused, raped or murdered.

"If we want to point an immediate finger of blame for these crimes, it's the perpetrator," O'Bryan told me. "If we want to have a higher level of conversation, all of us own it."
At least 11 women met the Imperial Avenue killer and never lived to tell what happened next.

You escaped.

But as long as your fear keeps you hurting, hidden and silent, you are not free.

Please call: 216-339-9664.