( CNN ) -- A search has been launched for a 50-year-old convicted rapist and suspect in the killings of six people whose bodies were found in and around a house in Cleveland , Ohio , police said Friday . The incident began unfolding a month ago , when a woman accused Anthony Sowell of rape and felonious assault , Cleveland Police spokesman Lt. Thomas Stacho told CNN . `` Once we were able to get the cooperation of the victim , we secured an arrest warrant for Mr. Sowell and subsequently a search warrant for his premises , '' Stacho said . On Thursday , detectives from the department 's sex-crimes unit and members of its SWAT team went to Sowell 's home to execute the warrant and to arrest the suspect , but he was nowhere to be found , Stacho said . What they did find were the badly decomposed remains of two bodies on the third floor of the house , which is owned by an elderly relative of Sowell who did not live there , Stacho said . A subsequent search on Thursday revealed what appeared to be a freshly dug grave under the stairs in the basement , he said . On Friday , investigators returned to the house , dug up the grave and found a third body , he said . A further search of the house and property found two more bodies in a crawl space and a sixth body was found in a shallow grave outside the home , Stacho said . Read local coverage on CNN affiliate WJW . None of the bodies has been identified , and the genders of only two -- those found on the third floor -- have been determined , he said . Both were female . `` He apparently is a serial rapist , '' Stacho said about Sowell , who he said makes his living as a `` scrapper . '' `` He walks around and picks up scrap metal and takes it to junk yards to make a few pennies . '' Sowell was convicted for a 1989 rape for which he was imprisoned from 1990 to 2005 , Stacho said . Authorities plan to continue their search of the house on Saturday .
Search launched for a serial rapist , 50 ; he 's suspect in six murders . Bodies of six people found in and around a house in Cleveland , Ohio . None of the bodies has been identified ; search of house to continue indefinitely .