EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio (AP) — Charges were expected to be filed against a registered sex offender who was arrested following the discovery of three bodies in trash bags in a poor Ohio neighborhood riddled with abandoned houses.

The search for additional bodies was suspended Sunday after police and volunteers scoured about 40 empty homes, with no immediate plans to resume, said East Cleveland Police Chief Ralph Spotts.

Spotts identified the suspect as 35-yearold Michael Madison. He said Madison is expected to be formally charged today, but did not elaborate.

Mayor Gary Norton said the suspect has indicated he might have been influenced by Cleveland serial killer Anthony Sowell, who was convicted in 2011 of murdering 11 women and sentenced to death.

It’s the latest in a series of high-profile cases involving the disappearance of women from the Cleveland area.

Eric Wilson, a neighbor who saw Madison frequently, said Madison threatened about a month ago to attack women in the same fashion as Sowell.

Wilson and others said Madison was a neighborhood fixture, constantly walking up and down streets and seen everywhere.

A woman at a small white house at the address Madison used in the state sex offender database answered a few questions through the blinds of a window Sunday, refusing to come out or give her name. She identified herself as a family member, and said the family was shocked by the allegations.

An odor led to the discovery Friday of one body in a garage. Two others were found Saturday — one in a backyard and the other in the basement of a vacant house. The bodies of the three women, all wrapped in plastic bags, were found about 100 to 200 yards apart, and authorities believed the victims were killed in the last six to 10 days.

Teenager Daniqwa Martin said she smelled the odor Tuesday but ignored it, thinking it was a dead animal. Martin, 16, said Madison had offered her a ride in the past but she always declined.

Spotts indicated later Sunday that the suspect’s comments haven’t provided clarity on whether more bodies might be found.

“He really hasn’t stated that there’s any more, but he hasn’t said anything that would make us think that there’s not,” Spotts said.

Norton said authorities have “lots of reasons” to suspect there are more victims, but he refused to say why.

Norton said Madison, who was arrested Friday after a police standoff, has indicated to authorities he might have been influenced by Sowell.

“He said some things that led us to believe that in some way, shape, or form, Sowell might be an influence,” Norton told The Associated Press.

All three bodies were found in the fetal position, wrapped in several layers of trash bags, Norton said. He said detectives continue to interview Madison, who used his mother’s address in Cleveland in registering as a sex offender, the mayor said.

Madison was classified as a sex offender in 2002 when he was sentenced to four years in prison for attempted rape, according to Cuyahoga County court records. He had previous convictions in 2000 and 2001 for drug-related charges.

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