2009 Powell, Susan 12-6-09

[PorchlightUSA]

2 year anniversary of Susan Powell's disappearance
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Updated: 12/05 6:41 pm | Published: 12/05 5:00 pm
Reported by: Marcos Ortiz

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WEST VALLEY Utah (ABC 4 News) – Friends of Susan Powell say they are at peace and admit that reality has set in.

Tuesday marks the second anniversary of the disappearance of Susan Powell, the West Valley mother of two.

“It's been far too long that she's been gone,” said Kiirsi Hellewell a close friend of Susan.

She says that after two years the pain of Susan's disappearance isn't any easier.

“It's really hard to hold myself together,” Hellewell said. “When I stop to think about how long it’s been and how long she's been missing from our lives and her boys and how long they've been without their mother.”

Susan disappeared on a snowy winter night. On that same night her husband, Josh took their 2 boys camping. He claimed Susan ran off with someone.

Reality is finally setting in for her sister-in-law.

"The one that doesn't seem very likely is she's been held somewhere,” says Jennifer Graves. “The other one is she's looking down from heaven and she's pleased that we haven’t given up.”

And her close friend says the second anniversary a lot harder than last year.

“When we were doing the one year anniversary last year we were just hoping and praying that we wouldn't have to do another one,” says Hellewell.

But Graves says good things have happened.

The two boys are now with Chuck and Judy Cox, Susan's parents.

“I'm actually at a peaceful place because the boys are safe,” Graves says.

And her father Steve Powell is behind bars facing felony charges of voyeurism.

“I view it as positive because he's not going to be able to hurt anyone going forward,” she says.
http://www.abc4.com/content/news/top_stori...QOtRzB_gLw.cspx

[PorchlightUSA]

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=18366373

Charity event marks 2-year anniversary of Susan Powell's disappearance
By Jennifer Stagg and Randall Jeppesen
December 5th, 2011 @ 10:22pm


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WEST VALLEY CITY — This week marks two years since West Valley mother Susan Powell went missing from her home. Monday night, her family and friends gathered to honor her and send a message: they'll never give up hope.

"I never thought we would get to this point and not be done when we began this whole process," said Jennifer Graves, who believes her brother, Josh Powell, is responsible for his wife's disappearance.

"Time does heal, but it just means that there's just a little bit more time in between emotions," Graves said.

This week, Graves and Susan's friends wanted to do something to honor her. They chose to collect donations for the Christmas Box House — a charity that helps children who are in protective state custody, just as Susan's two boys were. Now, the boys are in the care of Susan's parents.

"I know the boys are safe, and I know the police are still working on things. They're working hard to finish this up," Graves said.

Debbie Caldwell was the Powells' daycare provider. When the boys didn't show up to her house on the morning of Dec. 7, 2009, she alerted family members that something was wrong.

"When they didn't call, I started calling on them," Caldwell said. "(I) pounded on the door … and there was no tire tracks and no footprints, so I became very concerned."

The women believe closure will come, and that the truth will come out eventually. But until that happens, the days surrounding Susan's disappearance continue to haunt them.

On Jan.19, a hearing is scheduled in Washington state to review how the Powell boys are doing in the care of their grandparents, and also what progress their father, Josh, is making.

A court order prevents Susan's parents, Chuck and Judy Cox, from granting any interviews. They did, however, release a statement saying the case is still being actively worked and police have assured them the case will be solved.

Currently, Josh Powell remains the only person of interest in the case.

[tatertot]

:....( This is awful, and that poor social worker.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/...oman/52974854/1

Blast kills spouse, sons of missing Utah woman
Updated 7m ago
By Peter Haley, AP

Josh Powell had just arrived for a visit that was supposed to be supervised by a social worker.

The Child Protective Services worker brought the two boys to Powell's home, and Powell let his sons inside � but then blocked the social worker from entering, according to fire officials. The social worker called her supervisors to report that she could smell gas, and moments later the home exploded.

Sgt. Ed Troyer, Pierce County sheriff's spokesman, said emails Powell sent authorities seemed to confirm that Powell planned the deadly blast.

"Everything we know right now, this has become a crime scene," Graham Fire and Rescue Chief Gary Franz said.

It was a horrific end to a long, bizarre tale. Josh Powell was under investigation in the disappearance of his 28-year-old wife from their West Valley City, Utah, home in December 2009. He claimed he had taken the boys on a midnight excursion in freezing temperatures when she vanished.

The children, 4 and 6, had been living with Susan Powell's parents since Josh Powell's father Steven was arrested on child porn and voyeurism charges last fall. On Wednesday, a judge had denied an attempt by Josh Powell to regain custody, saying she wouldn't consider returning the two boys to their father until he underwent a psycho-sexual evaluation.

The case took a bizarre turn last year after Powell's father, Steve, was arrested for investigation of voyeurism and possessing child pornography. Josh was living at his father's home at the time, and a judge gave Susan Powell's parents custody of the boys.

"It's the most horrifying thing you can imagine happening," said lawyer Steve Downing, who represented Susan Powell's parents, Chuck and Judy Cox, in the custody fight. "The Coxes are absolutely devastated. They were always very fearful of him doing something like this, and he did it."

Jeffrey Bassett, who represented Josh Powell in the custody case, said he received a three-word email from his client just minutes before Powell and his two boys died in a house explosion. It said, "I'm sorry, goodbye."

The email arrived at 12:05 p.m. Sunday, about 10 minutes before the explosion, but he didn't see it two hours later, when others told him Josh and the boys had been killed. He said he knew Josh was upset after being ordered to undergo a psycho-sexual evaluation recently, but he didn't see this coming.

Sgt. Mike Powell of the West Valley City Police Department in Utah, which is handling the investigation into Susan Powell's disappearance, said it was too soon to say how Josh Powell's death may impact their probe.

"Quite frankly, this has obviously quickly unfolded up in Washington and we're obviously just working through the details ourselves here," Powell said Sunday.

"We are in contact with authorities," Powell added. "It's obviously an ongoing situation in Washington at this point."[U]

[tatertot]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/10/c...nk2&pLid=134720

Josh Powell Update: Comforter In Powell's Storage Unit Tests Positive For Blood
MANUEL VALDES and MIKE BAKER 02/10/12 11:12 PM ET AP

SEATTLE — Police in Washington state who searched a storage unit rented by Josh Powell found a stained comforter that tested positive for blood in initial exams, according to documents filed in court Friday.

Pierce County detectives reported finding a gray-blue-pink comforter with a stain. The search warrant documents say the comforter tested positive for blood. Investigators planned to perform further tests.

Powell killed himself and his two young sons in a gas-fueled inferno Sunday, and Pierce County authorities consider the murder-suicide an admission that he killed his wife.

Investigators had considered Josh Powell a person of interest since his wife, Susan Powell, disappeared in Utah in 2009. At the time, Powell said he took his two sons ice camping in subfreezing temperatures.

Also on Friday, the sheriff's department released a timeline that spans from Saturday, the day before the blast, to Monday, the day after. Among the details that police are trying to determine is if Powell bought the gas cans at a local Fred Meyer store the night before the house fire.

This past week, investigators have tried to piece together Powell's last days, serving search warrants for his sister's cell phone and a local Bank of America branch where security cameras captured him withdrawing money.

Police also received tips from the public, such as a woman who noticed donated books had Josh and Susan Powell written in them.

On blood found on the comforter, Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist said presumptive tests are conducted with a field kit and that a determination of blood won't be confirmed until the item is examined in the lab.

"Field tests are not infallible," he said.

Lindquist said he expects the finding will be something law enforcement will share with colleagues in Utah who have been investigating Susan Powell's disappearance.

The comforter was the only item police kept from what they found in the storage facility, located in Sumner, a city about 12 miles from Graham, where Powell rented a home.

Investigators also found toys and kids' clothes in garbage bags, as well as framed pictures. Those items were given to Susan Powell's family.

In the warrant, the investigator wrote items were "returned to Cox family."

[PorchlightUSA]

New searches being planned in Susan Cox Powell disappearance

Posted on: 9:28 pm, April 6, 2012, by Ben Winslow, updated on: 10:13pm, April 6, 2012



WEST VALLEY CITY � New information that has emerged over the past week in the disappearance of Susan Cox Powell could lead to a new area to search for the missing mother.

Susan�s best friend Kiirsi Hellewell told FOX 13 on Friday that they were looking in areas of Idaho based on cell phone information revealed in a search warrant unsealed by a judge in Washington state last week.

�Now that we have some cell phone information from Josh and we know he was in the Tremonton area on Wednesday (Dec. 9) in the rental car,� she said. �We�re looking at Idaho and seeing what could have happened. Especially because it would be a halfway point between Washington and Utah.�

The new plans for volunteer searches comes as a former co-worker of Steven Powell�s raised suspicions about any possible role he may have had in Susan Cox Powell�s disappearance. The woman�s story was first disclosed in detail by Cox family attorney Anne Bremner on FOX 13 Thursday night.

�Her description of the camping trip sounded very much like the trip that Josh had described,� Bremner said.

The woman contacted Bremner, claiming Steven Powell told her he went camping with his son, Josh Powell, and grandchildren in the winter. She claimed to have reported it to police a year ago.

Bremner said the woman initially claimed it was about the same time Susan went missing. On Friday, Bremner told FOX 13 it may have been in November of 2009.

�All I can tell you is I have a number of e-mails, one of which gives the information of it being that camping trip,� she said. �But there�s also one talking about he left in late November and was gone for one to two weeks, which would put it up to when Susan disappeared.�

Susan was last reported being seen on the evening of Dec. 6, 2009. Friends said she went to bed, not feeling well. Search warrants said that earlier in the day, Josh Powell called his father on his cell phone. That was the last call made before Susan disappeared, police said.

Josh Powell told police he had gone camping in the early morning hours of Dec. 7 with his sons. One of the boys told police in an interview that their mother went with them, but he didn�t know where she was.

On Dec. 8, police said in a search warrant, Josh Powell left a police interview and rented a car, putting more than 800 miles on it. The warrant stated that he also activated a cell phone in the Tremonton area on Dec. 9.

Washington state authorities said Steven Powell was at work at the state�s Dept. of Corrections on Dec. 7, but then abruptly called in sick the next two days.

�I don�t think he was in Utah,� Hellewell said. �But as for the days that Josh had the rental car? I�d really like to know where he was those days.�

Steven Powell has refused to talk to authorities about Susan�s disappearance. He remains in jail facing trial next month on voyeurism and child pornography-related charges. He is accused of taking inappropriate pictures of children and women. One of those he photographed, police allege, was Susan Cox Powell.

West Valley City Police Chief Buzz Nielsen has said he would consider criminal charges against Steven Powell, should evidence reveal that he was involved in Susan�s disappearance. Police declined to comment Friday on Bremner�s claims about her witness.

Bremner said she planned to have a private investigator from her law firm question the woman in an effort to more definitively confirm her story and when she claims Steven Powell was camping.
http://fox13now.com/2012/04/06/new-searche...-disappearance/

[PorchlightUSA]

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-04-02...ell-utah-police
Denise Cox, sister of missing Utah woman Susan Powell, said newly released evidence proves Utah police should have arrested Josh Powell for Susan's murder after she disappeared in December 2009. Above, Cox in September 2011. >

Denise Cox, sister of missing Utah woman Susan Powell, said newly released�
Susan Powell's sister: Utah police have blood on their hands
PHILIP CAULFIELD
Monday, April 02, 2012

The sister-in-law of Josh Powell, the suspected wife slayer who killed himself and his two sons in a house explosion in February, said Utah police had the children's blood on their hands because they failed to arrest him for murdering her sister.

In an interview with ABC News, Denise Cox, Susan Powell's sister, slammed Utah authorities for not acting on a trove of newly released evidence she and others say proves Josh Powell murdered his wife.

"Look what it did, it killed my nephews, by not putting (Josh Powell) behind bars when he should have been," Cox told ABC News in an interview broadcast Sunday.


"They didn't act on anything that they should've acted on."

Documents unsealed Friday in Pierce County, Wash., where Powell set the deadly home inferno, revealed a pile of previously unseen evidence investigators collected after Susan Powell disappeared from the family's West Valley City home in December 2009.

According to the documents, investigators who searched the home found Susan's blood on a tile floor near a couch that appeared to have been recently washed and had fans blowing on it.

Josh Powell had several hefty life insurance policies on his wife, totaling about $1.5 million, and 10 days after she vanished, he tried to drain her retirement account, the documents showed.

Investigators also found a hand-written letter by Susan Powell in a safety deposit box in which she said she didn't trust her husband and predicted someone might kill her and try to cover it up.

"If Susan Powell dies it may not be an accident, even if it looks like one," Powell wrote in the letter, titled "Last will and testament for Susan Powell.�

INVESTIGATORS FOUND BLOOD, HAND-WRITTEN 'WILL' AFTER SUSAN POWELL WENT MISSING

Susan wrote that the letter was for family and friends only � not her husband.

Cox said her family never saw the letter.

"They were foolish in keeping it from us," Cox told ABC News. "All the signs were there and the police didn't act on it."

Susan Powell, then 28, disappeared on Dec. 7, 2009.

Josh Powell denied any involvement, saying his wife vanished after he took their toddler sons on a midnight camping trip in freezing weather.

Powell and the boys later moved to his father's house in Washington state, but he lost custody of the children after his father was arrested on child porn charges.

On Feb 5, during a supervised visit, Powell locked a social worker out of his home, attacked the boys with a hatchet and then ignited a gas explosion inside his home in Graham, Wash.

After the new evidence was released Friday, Pierce County Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said Powell would have been locked up if his department had handled Susan's case.

West Valley City Mayor Mike Winder defended his police department, saying its critics were playing "Monday morning quarterback."

"It is easy for those of us who watch TV to say, 'Hey, there is plenty of evidence,'" Winder told The Associated Press. "It is a different matter if you are in the legal community to have enough evidence to go in for an arrest."

With News Wire Services

[ELL]

Susan Powell�s father says bones found are likely animal remains

Missing � West Valley City police to give updates on case at Monday news conference.


By Michael McFall

| The Salt Lake Tribune


First Published May 18 2013 12:26 pm � Updated 27 minutes ago

Chuck Cox says that investigators found bones in rural Oregon while searching for the remains of his missing daughter, Susan Powell, but that they aren�t likely to turn out to be hers, or even human.

The West Valley City Police Department concluded its search of a Scotts Mills, Ore., property on Thursday, the latest effort to find the remains of Powell. She was last seen on Dec. 6, 2009, at her home, which she shared with her husband, Josh Powell, the only person of interest ever named in the case. Josh Powell killed himself and their sons last year.

Police did not find any sign of Susan Powell at the property, which Josh Powell�s aunt and uncle rented at the time of her disappearance.

Investigators did find remains, but they�re suspected to be animal bones, said Cox, who traveled to Oregon for the search. "All the search teams do is they find stuff and somebody has to look [at them to make sure]," Cox added.

West Valley police have scheduled a news conference for Monday afternoon to give detailed updates on the Susan Powell case. Deputy Chief Mike Powell declined to comment on any specifics about the event.

Cox, who lives in Washington, said he and his wife do not plan on traveling to Utah for the news conference.

mmcfall@sltrib.comTwitter: @mikeypanda
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/56330891...x-news.html.csp