Josh Powell Takes His Secrets & Sins To The Grave

Susan Powell

It's been several years since 28 year old Susan Powell vanished from her Valley City Utah home in the middle of the night.  Susan was the mother of 2 year old Braden and 4 year old Charlie, the sons that by all accounts she absolutely adored. It's tragic that she didn't know she was married to a monster named Josh Powell until it was too late.  The police have long assumed Susan Powell was dead, and the only real viable suspect was her husband.  From that first newscast when Josh Powell told the media about the late night camping trip he took his two young sons on in the middle of a snowstorm, suspicion was that he killed his wife and removed her body.  

The police were alerted to Susan's disappearance after she failed to show up work and attempts to reach her at home were unsuccessful.  When authorities entered the Powell's modest home, they discovered a large fan drying what appeared to be a still-damp area of carpeting in the living room. It appeared that someone was trying to wash away evidence, and that fact with Josh's impromptu Sunday night camping trip put him directly in investigator's cross hairs.  Where was Susan Powell?  Josh didn't seem overly concerned, suggesting she may have simply walked away from her life or ran off with another man, leaving her entire family behind.  That theory was never really plausible.  We all know how this heartbreaking story ended.  With a veil of suspicion cast over him, on February 15, 2012 Josh Powell attacked his two young sons with a hatchet before setting the house on fire - killing all three of them.  What you may not be aware of is that police had a theory that Josh may have had an accomplice in disposing of Susan Powell's body and other evidence.  It was his brother Michael. That theory gained steam after investigators discovered Michael had left his car at a junkyard in the weeks following Susan's disappearance.

There are also theories about the possibility of Josh and Michael's father Steven having a lot more knowledge about Susan's fate than he has previously disclosed. People close to both families have revealed that Steven Powell had an unnatural attraction to his daughter in law Susan. Susan and Josh stayed with Steven Powell for some period of time earlier in their marriage, and Steven made Susan feel so uncomfortable that they eventually had to move out of the house. Steven took countless photos of Susan, wrote and recorded love songs about her. Creepy stuff. Steven Powell was arrested in September of 2011 on charges of voyeurism and child pornography - it doesn't get much creepier than that.  Did Steven's obsession with Susan drive Josh to kill her? Did Steven and/or Michael Powell assist Josh in hiding Susan's remains? Steven isn't talking for now.  And Michael Powell isn't talking, ever. On February 11, 2013 he committed suicide by jumping to his death from a parking garage in Minnesota, taking any secrets he had to the grave.

This story couldn't get more tragic. How could Josh Powell kill the mother of his two children, and why?  And how could any father murder their own children, the most innocent of all victims? Police and Susan's parents have a theory.  Braden and Charlie, both very young at the time of their mother's disappearance were beginning to talk about what happened on the night their mother disappeared.  They drew pictures and began describing their mom as being in the trunk on the night of the infamous camping trip in the snow. They were the silent witnesses that weren't so silent anymore.  Until Josh Powell silenced them forever with his cowardly and cruel act of murdering them. The body count from the Susan Powell disappearance stands at five.  Susan, Josh, Charlie, Braden and Michael Powell are all dead because of the acts of one man - Josh Powell.  It's difficult to imagine how any father could attack his two young boys, who he claimed during a fierce custody battle with Susan's parents to have loved so much that he couldn't live without them.

He put a lot of thought into murdering those kids. In the days before his last 
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Fire ravaged home of Powell

owardly act on this Earth, he methodically donated his son's toys and belongings to various charity drop off spots. He called and sent e-mail messages to family members saying he was sorry and goodbye. Then he waited for the social worker to bring Charlie and Braden over for a supervised visitation.  He rushed the children into the house and slammed the door in the face of the social worker. She banged on the door, she called 911 after noticing the distinct smell of gasoline - then she watched in horror as the house went up in flames.  Sounds like a scene straight out of hell.  So many lives were senselessly lost because of Josh Powell's demons.

Police have learned that Josh Powell seemed to have a secret life.  It was discovered that Powell had been having sex with a woman he met through a dating service and he had paid her approximately $800 for 5-6 encounters or dates. Sounds an awful lot like she was a prostitute, although her identity is unknown (to my knowledge it hasn't been made public).  The "dates" occurred 6-7 months BEFORE Susan went missing. The woman knew Powell as "John Staley" and claims she didn't know Josh was married until after she saw a newscast about the disappearance of Susan Powell. She called police within days of seeing the story, but at the time she declined to provide proof of the relationship with Josh.  Police have also confirmed they found a small amount of Susan Powell's blood on the floor near the recently cleaned sofa and carpet.
Josh was also found to be in possession of Susan's cellphone the night he went on the camping trip, but the SIM card had been removed. He never could explain why he had her phone.

My sense is that Josh Powell was a monster who knew the authorities were getting close to arresting him for the murder of his wife. He couldn't stand the thought of being exposed as the killer, nor could he ever give up custody of his two sons to Susan's parents or the Cox family. With his last cruel and heinous act, he ensured that would never happen by killing his own children.