Sex Offender Confesses to 1 Cleveland Murder: Cops

Police tell WKYC that Michael Madison, the registered sex offender suspected in the murders of three women in Cleveland, has confessed to one of the killings. He was charged with three counts of aggravated murder today, CBS News reports, and his bail has been set at $6 million. Meanwhile, one of the victims has been identified as Angela Deskins, 38. Authorities are asking for anyone with information on possible IDs of the other two women to call 1-800-CALL-FBI. Autopsies on the badly decomposed bodies are complete, but cause of death has not yet been determined.

Volunteer searchers were told yesterday to expect more remains to be found, but the search was called off—for now, at least—last night. All three victims are believed to have been murdered in the past six to 10 days, the AP reports. The mayor says detectives, who are still questioning Madison, have "lots of reasons" to believe there are more victims. A neighbor who saw Madison frequently says the man threatened, about a month ago, to attack women in a similar fashion as Anthony Sowell, who was convicted of murdering 11 women whose bodies were found in his Cleveland home in 2009. Madison also indicated to police that Sowell may have influenced him. (More Cleveland stories.)