Puyallup, Washington – As most have learned by now, Josh Powell, the man suspected of killing his wife in 2009, has killed himself along with his two young sons.
Police say that on Sunday, a social worker arrived at Powell’s home with his two sons — Braden, 5, and Charlie, 7 — for a court ordered, supervised visit. Instead, Powell pushed the worker out of the house and locked himself inside with his two boys. A few minutes later, after the social worker had attempted to gain entry, the house exploded.
Three bodies were found together in one of the rooms in the burned house, and while they have not been positively identified, investigators believe them to be those of Powell, Braden and Charlie. Here’s a gruesome update; the bodies were identified as Josh and his two boys. Josh used a hatchet on Braden and Charlie, causing “chop” injuries to their necks, but both boys and Josh died from inhaling carbon monoxide.
The social worker stated she smelled gas shortly before the explosion while Pierce County sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer stated that Powell had committed murder-suicide, saying the fire “was done intentionally.”
Reports also say that Powell sent emails to friends, family and his attorney shortly before the explosion that rattled windows in the neighborhood. The contents of some of the emails have not been released, but the one sent to his attorney simply said “I’m sorry. Goodbye.”
For those of you who are not aware of the circumstances surrounding this incident, Powell was the lone suspect in his wife’s disappearance back in 2009. He told police that the last time he saw Susan Powell was on the night he took his sons, then 2 and 4, on a midnight camping trip to a desert area in Utah during a blizzard.
This story, along with his actions afterwards, were never believed by police or the public — but investigators have had a hard time finding any evidence to officially charge him with anything. The attorney for Susan’s parents, who have been in a bitter legal battle with Josh to get custody of their grandsons, says that the two boys have been giving more details about that night.
“They were beginning to verbalize more,” Steve 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.”
Josh Powell’s lawyer, Jeffrey Bassett, said that he knew Josh was upset over a judge’s recent ruling that Braden and Charlie remain in the custody of Susan’s parents. The judge said he would not consider placing them back in Josh’s care until he took a psychosexual evaluation and polygraph test. Josh lost custody of his two boys after his weird-ass father who he and his sons were living with, was busted with child pornography.
On September 22, Steve was arrested and charged with possessing child pornography. Police say he had thousands of images of women and girls he’d taken in parks and other public areas, including his neighbor’s two young girls. He’s accused of using a telephoto lens to take photos of them while they were in the bathroom or their bedroom, mostly remaining focused on their breasts and genitals.
He also had photos he’d secretly took of Susan and may have been secretly filming women for at least 10 years.
Steve has had a long, ongoing obsession with Susan confiding in a friend that he had articles of Susan’s clothing and her diary. She may have even been the subject of some of the love songs he had written. Steve also went on air claiming that he and Susan were falling in love shortly before she vanished. He is, obviously, a nutcase.
He was notified in jail of what happened to his fallen apple and has since been placed on suicide watch.
The boy’s grandparents, Chuck and Judy Cox, have declined to comment and have asked for time to grieve before speaking to the media. Which is perfectly understandable. Personally, I cannot fathom what they are going through. They have lost their daughter and their grandkids at the hands of a cowardly douchebag.
“What happened here was an act of evil. Do not call it a tragedy because that sanitizes it. This was a terrible act of murder involving two young children,” Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor said.
Tags: Crime, fire, josh powell, Missing, Murder, Suicide, susan powell, Utah, Washington
You should really not tell others how/what to think or feel. My “freewill” trumps your admonitions. You’re right about one thing though – he was sub-human/non-human. 
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