Washington  - An 11-fold serial murder suspect in Cleveland, Ohio, was ordered held without bail on Wednesday after prosecutors said he posed a great danger to the public.

Anthony Sowell, 50, is suspected in the murders of 11 women whose bodies have been found in or near his house since last week, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported.

The 11th body was identified late Wednesday afternoon. Authorities said a skull wrapped in a paper bag and stuffed in a bucket in the basement was all that was found of the 11th victim, CNN reported.

Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Ronald Adrine ordered Sowell held without bail, overruling his public defender's request for his release because he has a heart condition and wears a pacemaker.

"In 28 years on the bench, this is without question the most serious of allegations I've ever faced," Adrine said to Sowell at the hearing. "Given the gruesomeness of what's facing you ... you are being remanded without bond."

Assistant county prosecutor Brian Murphy said the state believed Sowell was "an incredibly dangerous threat to the public, not only in Cleveland, but beyond the city's limits."

Sowell's neighbours told broadcasters that they had smelled a horrible odour on their street for years, and blamed it on the nearby Ray's Sausage Co factory. The company replaced a sewer line and grease traps to try to get rid of the smell, CNN reported.

City councilman Zach Reed said he had received several complaints about the odour on the street.

A mobile police presence surrounded the home of Sowell, a convicted rapist who was released from prison in 2005 after serving 15 years in jail.

"He had an insatiable appetite to fill," police chief Michael McGrath said.

Sowell was charged Tuesday with five counts of murder, rape and kidnapping, and faces the death penalty, the prosecutor said.

Faced with the gruesome task of removing and identifying the bodies, McGrath met with several ministers Wednesday morning who offered their help in comforting families of the dead.

The first body to be identified was that of a 53-year-old local woman, Tonia Carmichael, who was reported missing a year ago by her family.

"We expected the worst when these bodies starting popping up," Donnita Carmichael was quoted by the Plain Dealer as saying. "We knew she could be one of them. We feared this."

Police found the first six bodies last week at the home after they came to arrest Sowell on suspicion of committing another violent sex crime.

Two of the bodies were in the living room, two in a cellar and one under the basement stairs. The sixth body was in a grave dug in the garden, where officers also found four other victims on Tuesday.

The first six bodies found were badly decomposed. The victims were all African-American women. Sowell is also African-American. Reports said they could have been dead for months or even years.

Initial investigations showed five of the women had been strangled.

Sowell fled when police came to his house, but was captured nearby on Saturday. (dpa)