Thread: Husband of missing Utah woman Susan Powell, retains attorney

Human remains found in search for Utah mom
By JENNIFER DOBNER - Associated Press | AP – 13 hrs ago

DELTA, Utah (AP) — Nearly two years after a mother vanished, her friends and family are waiting to learn whether her case may have seen a major break after authorities discovered human remains during their latest search for clues in the Utah desert. Susan Powell was 28 when she was reported missing Dec. 7, 2009, after she failed to show up for her stockbroker job. The case has cast a harsh spotlight on Powell's husband, who remains the only person of interest but has never been arrested or charged.

It wasn't immediately known if the remains found Wednesday belonged to Powell, or if they were even female. Authorities planned to resume their investigation Thursday morning.

Last month, investigators searched mine shaft-dotted mountains near Ely, Nev., and later served a search warrant at the Puyallup, Wash., home that her husband, Josh Powell, shares with his father, seizing computers and journals. The Powell family put out a statement late Wednesday saying urging police to put out details about the remains. "With very little information available to the public, we can only hope that additional information is released quickly to minimize heartache to those of us who love Susan. In the meantime, we continue to hope for Susan's safe return," it stated.

This latest search is in an area popular for gem and rock hunters. Police have said Josh Powell liked to rock hunt in the area. "From the very beginning, he clearly indicated he had been in and around the area," said Sgt. Powell, who is not related to the family of the missing woman.

Susan Powell's father, Chuck Cox, expressed doubt that the remains belonged to his daughter. He said that would mean whoever took her would have had to dump her body in the middle of a high desert freezing winter where the ground would have been covered in snow and frozen solid. "We're just waiting," he said Wednesday evening.

Josh Powell has said he believes his wife ran off with another man and has told police he left her at home about 12:30 a.m. on that Dec. 7 to go winter camping in freezing temperatures with their young sons — then 4 and 2 — about 80 miles west of Salt Lake City. The 4-year-old confirmed the trip to police.

Over the past weeks, the case has taken salacious turns as family members on both sides sparred over truth and fiction, and accusations of sex and lies. Josh Powell's family claims Susan Powell was sexually promiscuous, emotionally unstable and suicidal. They were offering as proof several diary pages from the missing woman's teenage years. Her family says the entries were written by a young girl still growing up and have no bearing on her disappearance. They got a temporary order in a Washington court prohibiting the Powells from distributing them.

Josh Powell has mostly remained quiet throughout the investigation, and police said he hasn't been cooperative.

But in a string of national television interviews in August, Josh Powell denied having anything to do with her disappearance.

In another strange twist, Steve Powell, Josh's father, said he and Susan Powell were falling in love and even implied a sexual relationship had occurred.

Susan's father, Chuck Cox, said the allegations are false. He claims it was Steve Powell who initiated unwanted sexual advances, and that his daughter had no interest in her father-in-law.

The feuding between the two sides got so heated that a court commissioner in Washington state ordered Chuck Cox and Josh Powell to keep 500 feet apart.

http://news.yahoo.com/police-human-r...075946825.html

Husband of missing Utah mom subject in porn case
By GENE JOHNSON - Associated Press | AP – 2 hrs 48 mins ago

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — The husband of a missing Utah woman is a subject in a child pornography and voyeurism investigation that has already ensnared his father, a lawyer for the Washington state attorney general said Tuesday.

The comments came during a court hearing in Pierce County Superior Court as the parents of missing Susan Powell sought custody of her children.

"He's a subject of that investigation," said John Long, who represented Child Protective Services at the hearing.

Josh Powell immediately denied any such activity and noted he hasn't been arrested or charged with anything.

"I have had nothing to do with any kind of illegal pornography," he said.

Pierce County sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer did not immediately return an email seeking to confirm Long's assertion, but told The News Tribune of Tacoma that everyone in Steve Powell's house is a person of interest: "We have not eliminated anybody and we are not at the point of arresting anybody else," Troyer said.

Powell has been living at the home of his father, Steve Powell, in the Tacoma suburb of Puyallup with his two sons, ages 4 and 6, since his wife disappeared in December 2009.

Authorities said that when they searched the home recently looking for evidence in the disappearance, they found child pornography and other troubling videos in Steve Powell's bedroom.

Steve Powell was arrested last Thursday and pleaded not guilty to 14 charges of voyeurism and one of possession of child pornography. He remains jailed on $200,000 bail. Prosecutors said that for at least a decade, he had been secretly filming women, including Susan Powell, and that he shot footage of two young neighbor girls as they took baths and sat on the toilet.

The arrest prompted the state to place the children in temporary foster care, while Susan Powell's parents sought immediate custody of the boys. They wrote in court papers that they believed Josh Powell's arrest in her disappearance was imminent.

In court Tuesday, their attorney, Steve Downing, told the judge that the children were being harmed because they had never received counseling about their mother's disappearance, they might have been exposed to the inappropriate videos and they had been cut off from their maternal grandparents without explanation.

"Those kids may know something, and he sure as the dickens doesn't want them talking to anybody," Downing told Judge Kathryn Nelson.

Powell countered that he's a good, loving father; that the children are not at risk; and that they've never been exposed to porn of any kind. He also made clear that his family would not be posting bail for his father, and that if Steve Powell somehow managed to return home, Josh Powell would take the boys and stay at a hotel.

"There is no clear and present danger to my sons," he said.

The judge took the matter under consideration and told the parties to reconvene Wednesday morning. CPS had until the end of Tuesday to begin dependency proceedings to determine whether it's safe to return the boys to the home. Any such proceeding would immediately put on hold the motion for custody by Susan Powell's parents.

Josh Powell frequently came near tears during Tuesday's hearing, breaking up as he described how the boys sat on his lap and hugged him during a visit supervised by CPS on Monday. He also grew emotional as he described the failure of the "general public" to look for his wife: "That, your honor, is deeply hurtful to me."

Josh Powell has said he took his boys, then 2 and 4, on a late night camping trip in freezing temperatures the day his wife disappeared from their West Valley City, Utah, home.

Authorities wrapped up a 12-day search of the desert Friday about 30 miles from where Josh Powell said he went camping that night. At one point, they said they found a "shallow grave" after cadaver dogs alerted them to the spot. But they found no human remains. Charred wood chips discovered in the hole have been sent to a lab for testing.

http://news.yahoo.com/husband-missin...213824348.html

WOW. Prayers for all the family and friends ...

I feel so bad for her parents..First their daughter and now the grandsons..How horrible for them. At least he spared the social worker.

Originally Posted by gmyers

On yahoo its saying the oldest boy said his mom was in the trunk of the car the night they went camping. That she left the car with the dad and only the dad came back. I believe they were starting to remember and thats why he killed them. And they said his dad had been taping videos of his sons wife. and other women.

Josh Powell Tragedy: Son Said Mom Was In Trunk of Car, Lawyer Claims
By KEVIN DOLAK, OLIVIA KATRANDJIAN, DEAN SCHABNER and COLLEEN CURRY | Good Morning America – 5 hours ago

http://gma.yahoo.com/josh-powell-tra...-abc-news.html

The young sons of Susan and Josh Powell, who died with their father when he ignited an explosion in their Washington home, were beginning to verbalize that their mother was in the trunk of their father's car on the night that she disappeared in 2009, a lawyer for the missing woman's parents said.

Attorney Steve Downing told the Associated Press that Braden and Charles Powell, who were 2 and 4 at the time of Susan Powell's disappearance, were beginning to tell their grandparents details about the night that their father took them on a late-night camping trip during a blizzard, including the fact that their mother disappeared after leaving in the car with their father. "They were beginning to verbalize more," Downing said. "The oldest boy talked about that they went camping and that mommy was in the trunk. Mom and dad got out of the car and mom disappeared."

Sgt. Mike Powell of the West Valley City Police Department in Utah did not return phone calls inquiring about the children's assertions about their mother's presence on the December 2009 camping trip, AP reported. "Quite frankly, this has obviously quickly unfolded up in Washington and we're obviously just working through the details ourselves here," Powell, who is not related to the family, said earlier on Sunday.

Josh Powell set off an explosion at his home Sunday that killed himself and his two sons, who were there for a supervised visit. "We believe that he killed his kids and himself," Pierce County, Wash., Sheriff's Department spokesman Sgt. Ed Troyer said Sunday.

Josh Powell's lawyer, Jeffrey Bassett, said he received an email from his client minutes before the explosion that said "I'm sorry, goodbye," but he didn't see it until two hours later, when he was informed of the blast.

Bassett told AP he knew his client was upset about being denied custody of his sons at a court hearing last week, when he was ordered to undergo a psychosexual evaluation and polygraph test in order to get them back.

Graham, Wash., Deputy Chief Gary Franz told ABC News that a Child Protective Services (CPS) worker had just dropped off Powell's two sons at the house for a supervised visit. Powell took his two sons inside the house and then locked the CPS worker out. "The children were just right in front of her as she was walking up to the door," Child Protective Services spokeswoman Sherry Hill said. "They went into the house and Josh shut the door right in front of her and locked it." The CPS worker smelled gas, stepped away and the house exploded. The case worker was not physically harmed. "He grabbed the kids, locked her out of the house, and immediately the house went up in flames, very quickly, very big, so we believe that Josh Powell intentionally set this fire," Troyer said.

Firefighters arrived at the scene and found the three bodies. Police are awaiting verification from the Medical Examiner's Office, but said they believe the bodies are those of Josh Powell and his two sons. Troyer told ABC News affiliate KOMO-TV in Seattle that emails Powell sent to authorities seemed to confirm that Powell planned the explosion. Troyer did not elaborate on the contents of the emails. The house, which was on a dead end in a quiet residential neighborhood, has burned down to a charred frame.

Josh Powell is the only named person-of-interest in Susan Powell's 2009 disappearance, but he had not been charged. The couple's two sons were placed in custody of Susan Powell's parents in 2011 after Josh Powell's father, Steve Powell, was arrested on charges of voyeurism and child pornography.

At a hearing Wednesday, a statement from the West Valley City, Utah, police noted that information and images were found on Josh Powell's computer that "specifically related to their children's welfare," according to ABC affiliate KTVX in Salt Lake City.

The police did not specify what the information was, but Judge Kathryn J. Nelson ruled that because of that information, Josh Powell would not be allowed to have his children back until he submitted to a psychosexual evaluation and a polygraph test, the report said.

Bassett, Josh Powell's attorney, said the ruling was unfair to his client, who has not been charged with any crimes. "Utah was dangling the alleged content of this disk. If this disk contains what they're saying it contains why haven't they arrested my client?" he said at the hearing.

The children were to remain with Chuck and Judy Cox until Josh Powell's next hearing, which was scheduled for July. Josh Powell was allowed twice-weekly supervised visitations with his sons during that time, KTVX reported.

I sure hope there is a he!! and this chump burns in it for all eternity!, along with his pedophile, freak father!

GRAHAM, Wash. (AP) — Josh Powell painted himself as a tortured man, ridiculed without reason in the disappearance of his wife, steadfastly insisting he was innocent until the end.

Yet the investigation and autopsy reports released late Monday show the acts of a violent man who meticulously planned the double murder-suicide of himself and his two young sons, culminating Sunday in Powell setting his house ablaze and taking a hatchet to his children's necks.

http://news.yahoo.com/autopsy-kids-k...083040308.html