***Trigger Warning***

Today’s post involves a discussion of domestic violence, suicide, and the murder of two children under the age of 10. If you need support, please contact one of the following organizations:

• The National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1.800.799.7233
• The Suicide and Crisis hotline: 988
• To report child abuse, please contact your local authorities

Disclaimer: This blog post is for informational and entertainment purposes only, and it is not meant to cause harm to anyone connected with the case. Please do not contact, threaten, harm, malign, or otherwise intimidate those mentioned in the post. Please do not release any personal information of the people mentioned in this post, and do not join in attacks conducted by others. Per U.S. law, every person directly or indirectly connected with this case is innocent until proven guilty.

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ABOUT SUSAN

Susan Cox Powell was born on October 16, 1981, to her parents, Charles and Judy Cox. Her family was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS), and as she grew, she became characterized by her faith. In addition to her faith, she was known for being an outgoing, optimistic, and energetic person with a servant’s heart.

It was her faith that led her to take an Institute of Religion course, a course for LDS young adults, in Seattle. In November 2000, she attended a dinner party associated with the course and met her future husband, Josh Powell, who was enrolled at the University of Washington. The two began a relationship and married at the Portland Oregon Temple in April 2001.

For a brief time after they were married, Josh and Susan lived with Josh’s father, Steven, in South Hill, Washington. Over time, Steven developed an intense obsession with his daughter-in-law, to the point where he spied on her and recorded her without her knowledge. The final straw came in 2003 when Steven confessed his love for her.

Following this confession, they relocated to West Valley City, Utah. While they were there, Josh worked a series of jobs, and Susan accepted a job at Wells Fargo Investments. They would also have two sons, Charlie (born in 2005) and Braden (born in 2007).

Reportedly, Josh and Susan’s marriage was not a happy one. According to multiple accounts, this was partly due to Josh’s refusal to attend worship services and cut off contact with his father (despite continued unwanted advances). According to multiple accounts, Josh was also controlling and spent beyond the family’s means. He declared bankruptcy in 2007, with over $200,000 in debt. They tried to attend marriage counseling shortly before she disappeared, but it didn’t appear to work.

Susan did her best to cope with an increasingly turbulent marriage, but things eventually reached the point where she felt the need to protect herself. She would video evidence of Josh’s destruction, and she wrote a secret will with a sentiment that would haunt her loved ones:

“I want it documented that there is extreme turmoil in our marriage…If I die, it may not be an accident, even if it looks like one.”

– Susan Powell, referring to her marriage to Josh Powell

This video was recorded about 18 months before Susan’s disappearance. It’s about 12 minutes long, and I highly recommend viewing it before continuing to the next section.

Disappearance

The day before Susan disappeared, she, Josh, and a friend ate lunch together at their residence. From all accounts, Susan was behaving normally, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

However, that would change the next day when neither Susan nor Josh went to work the next morning. Their sons (Charlie, age two, and Braden, age 4) never showed up at daycare. Neither called their respective employers to let them know that they were calling out sick, and the boys’ daycare didn’t receive a phone call that they would be absent.

At first, it was thought that the family had fallen victim to a carbon monoxide leak, so the police were sent to do a welfare check on the family. In the meantime, the authorities issued a missing persons bulletin for Josh, Susan, and the boys. While they were there, they noticed a “large wet spot with fans blowing on it” in their home.

While the authorities were at the house, Josh returned to the house with his sons in tow. Upon further investigation, it was discovered that he had Susan’s cell phone in his possession, minus the SIM card. He also had a generator, blankets, a gas canister, and a shovel. At that point, he was taken to the West Valley City Police Department for further questioning.

During questioning, Josh claimed he had gone camping with his sons at Simpson Springs (a desert along the Pony Express Trail), late Sunday night. Susan stayed at home because she wasn’t feeling well. As a result, he last saw her at 12:30 AM on December 7th. He didn’t realize she was missing until he came back to the house at 5 PM. When asked why he didn’t go to work or drop the boys off at daycare, he reportedly didn’t do so because he was unsure about which day of the week it was. The authorities also didn’t know why Josh would take his two small children for a seemingly impromptu camping trip, especially since it was raining, snowing, and well below freezing in the area at the time.

They also interviewed Charlie, who confirmed that the camping trip occurred. According to him, Susan came with everyone else, but she didn’t return.

The authorities quickly classified Susan’s disappearance as suspicious. Within a week, Josh hired an attorney, and he was officially labeled a person of interest. Police scheduled subsequent interviews, but he failed to show up to at least one of them.

A few weeks after her disappearance, Charlie’s teacher came forward and claimed that he had stated that Susan was dead. Around the same time, Braden drew a disturbing picture. In it was a van with three people inside (possibly Josh, Charlie, and Braden), and he reportedly told his daycare teacher that “mommy was in the trunk.”

In early 2010, a month after Susan disappeared, Josh packed the family’s belongings and moved to Puyallup, Washington with his father, Steven. At that point, Josh and Steven cut off contact with Susan’s family, including her parents. The relationship between Josh’s family and Susan’s family continued to deteriorate over the next 18 months or so. In August 2011, following an altercation between Josh and Chuck Cox, Josh filed and obtained a restraining order. They were issued anti-harassment orders, meaning that they had to stay a minimum of 500 feet apart at all times.

By September 2011, Josh’s father (Steven) was charged with both voyeurism and possession of child pornography. Authorities ended up finding more than a thousand videos of women and girls on his computer; Susan was one of the women in these videos. It’s suspected that Steven had been making films for at least a decade before his arrest. (He was convicted of 15 charges and sentenced to 2.5 years in prison).

Following Steven’s arrest, Charlie and Braden were taken into foster care. They were later moved to Chuck and Judy Cox’s home after they were granted temporary custody. During this time, Josh was required to have twice-weekly supervised visitation, rent a new home, and undergo a psychological evaluation.

He underwent a psychological evaluation, where he was diagnosed with a narcissistic personality. The evaluator noted that while Josh was affectionate and attentive towards the boys, he repeatedly told them inappropriate, alienating things to them despite being told not to.

Recent Years

By early 2012, authorities found hundreds of disturbing images on Josh’s computer, including child pornography. A few weeks later, following this revelation, a judge ruled that Chuck and Judy Cox would maintain custody of the boys. He also ordered Josh to undergo a psychosexual evaluation, where it was revealed that his narcissistic personality traits left him unable to admit shortcomings and weaknesses. Despite this, the examiner found that because Josh has “adequate” parenting skills, steady employment, and no criminal record, he recommended that Josh receive more frequent supervised visitations.

On Sunday, February 5, 2012, a social worker brought Charlie and Braden to Josh’s residence for a supervised visit. Instead of allowing all three inside, Josh grabbed the kids, threw them inside, and locked the door before the social worker could enter. The social worker called 911, but before the authorities could arrive, Josh blew up the residence, killing himself and the boys in the process.

About a year after Josh’s murder-suicide, his brother Michael killed himself by jumping off of the roof of a parking garage at the apartment complex where he lived. Five years later in 2018, Steven died of natural causes at age 68.

The case has been closed since May 2013. Susan has not been seen or heard from since December 7th, 2009. Her case remains unsolved.

***

Next week, we’ll take a closer look at the evidence and try and figure out what happened to Susan Powell.

If you’re looking for more information about the Susan Powell case, there are a variety of articles, books, podcasts, YouTube videos, and documentaries discussing the details of her disappearance. The following articles helped me as I wrote this post:

• abcnews.com
• susancoxpowellfoundation.net
• kutv.com
• wikipedia.org
• Charley Project

If you have any information about the disappearance of Susan Powell, please contact the West Valley Police Department at (801)963-3462.

What do you think happened? Leave your thoughts in the comments.