5 Unnecessary Deaths?

I was following the news story about Anthony Sowell, the man who
was recently arrested for the slayings of 11 women.
I happened upon this story that really upset me,
http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/12/grand_jury_
indicts_anthony_sow.html.To summarize it quickly, a women
named Gladys Wade ran out of Sowell's house, bleeding

and begging for a phone to call the police. She said that
she had escaped being strangled and
raped. All of the neighbors refused to let her use their cell phones,

and pointed her down the street to use a public phone.
However, she ended up chasing
down a cop car, and they took her to the hospital where
she was treated and received stitches.

However, since Wade had a pending assault charge, she wasn't
seen as a viable source, and they didn't investigate even though
Sowell was convicted of attempted rape and
robbery in 1990. Only after another rape complaint, did the
police investigate him, only to find the decomposing bodies
of 11 women in his backyard and in his crawl
space, 5 of which are thought to have been killed after
Wade filed her complaint to the police.

Now, we are left to wonder what would have happened had
the police believed and followed through on the obvious assault
and attempted rape of Wade. Would these 5 women have been
saved? I believe that yes, these 5 women were killed by
a man that could have been stopped if
the police had simply believed Wade. This case shows
the injustices facing women in the
criminal justice system. The only reason we know about this
specific fall through of the police
is because there were extremely negative consequences that
followed. If this man hadn't been
a serial killer, but a gym teacher or a friend,
how would we know that a women who was
raped wasn't believed by the police?

This story brings a sad reality into light that must be
changed. Rape is a crime and
needs to be treated and investigated like one.