CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A local family who lived in Sowell's home for nearly 40 years says their warm memories are now tarnished by the discovery of eleven dead bodies earlier this week.

Veosie Cox,96, says she and her husband first moved into Sowell's Imperial Avenue home in 1953. She said Sowell's grandparents lived upstairs during the years she and her family rented the first floor.

"It was a good neighborhood," said Cox.

Cox tells Fox 8 during the 80's, crack/cocaine became a big problem in the neighborhood. By 1991, Cox and her family decided it was time to move.

Little did she know, years later, eleven bodies would be discovered buried inside the living room and the backyard where her grand kids used to play.

"I couldn't believe it because it was so nice when I was there," said Cox.

Her great-granddaughter Kimberly Roquemore says the gruesome discovery of the eleven bodies came as a complete shock. "It started to hurt, it brought tears to my eyes," said Roquemore.

"We had Thanksgiving dinner there, Christmas dinner, Easter Sunday. It was just a safe haven, a warm friendly place and full of love," said Roquemore.

Although Roquemore never met Anthony Sowell, she remembers meeting his father. "He was a painter, he was very industrious, he worked hard."

Roquemore says knowing her family's former home now belongs to an alleged serial killer is hard to fathom. "We're very remorseful about the families that have been affected and the lives that have been lost, but also it was once a home for people, for our family especially, it was once a home."