Missing Susan Powell: Part 1
Hey guys...
Welcome to the offbeat.
Girl meets boy, fall in love, get married, have two beautiful kids, and live happily ever after.Well, this wasn't the case.
Disclaimer: contains elements of criminal behavior,murder, domestic violence, and adult themes. Readers discretion advised.
Susan Powell disappeared from her home (west valley city, Utah) in December of 2009 leaving behind her husband and 2 young boys. Her body has never been found and the man suspected of killing her was never arrested or charged.
On the morning of December 6, Susan attended church with Charlie and Braden at the Hunter 36th Ward, then walked home with a friend. That afternoon, neighbor JoVanna Owings stopped by the Powell home to visit Susan. Susan had asked her to come over to help her untangle some yarn she was using to crochet a blanket for Charlie.
It was dinner time and Josh, Susan’s husband was making some pancakes and eggs. Josh said Owings could stay for dinner and as the two women untangled the knotted web of yarn, the boys helped Josh in the kitchen.
A half decorated Christmas tree stood in the corner of their living room with gifts for kids under the tree. It was rare that Susan had the opportunity to vent to friends about her marriage, and Owings was nervous about having a conversation with Josh there.
"I didn't want to go into it that night because I felt that this should be a private conversation where I could talk with her and not have him butt in.He had a tendency to butt in."
Owings said:
At some point during Owings’ visit, Susan remarked that she was cold. Josh stopped what he was doing and brought her a blanket. Owings was impressed by the sweet gesture. Perhaps he wasn’t as bad as she’d heard — especially since he was making dinner and actively involving Charlie and Braden in the process. When the meal was ready, Josh brought a plate to Owings and his wife where she stayed on the love seat, then sat down at the kitchen table with the boys to eat.
“It was nice because the last time I had been there, he had to dominate the conversation. He had to be at the center of everything. When he came into a room it was all about Josh, what Josh had to say. This time it wasn’t like that, and I thought, ‘That’s really nice.’
The Beginning:
The story of Susan and Josh Powell begins when they meet at a church dinner party in Josh's apartment in Nov 2000. The Powells were devout members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, otherwise known as the Mormon Church. Their relationship moved quickly and they got married just after 6 months of dating on April 6 2001 in Puyallup, Washington. Susan's family and friends were skeptical about this as she was 19 and he was 23 when they got married but the two things Susan wanted the most in her life was to be a wife and a mother. She wanted to be a devoted wife and they moved to Utah from Puyallup to start their family. Josh’s goal was to become a real estate agent, so Susan got her realtor’s license to answer the phones for him. She was dedicated to her new husband’s budding career and what she believed would be their lifetime of love, devotion, and happiness.
until next time, stay snoopy, stay spooky
Goodbye.
Around 5 p.m., Susan decided to lie down for a nap. Owings assumed Susan was just worn out from a recent miscarriage and an ear infection she’d been battling. Owings stayed until about 5:30, untangling the yarn. When Josh told Charlie and Braden to get ready to go sledding, Owings saw herself out. This was the last time anyone saw Susan.
The Beginning:
The story of Susan and Josh Powell begins when they meet at a church dinner party in Josh's apartment in Nov 2000. The Powells were devout members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, otherwise known as the Mormon Church. Their relationship moved quickly and they got married just after 6 months of dating on April 6 2001 in Puyallup, Washington. Susan's family and friends were skeptical about this as she was 19 and he was 23 when they got married but the two things Susan wanted the most in her life was to be a wife and a mother. She wanted to be a devoted wife and they moved to Utah from Puyallup to start their family. Josh’s goal was to become a real estate agent, so Susan got her realtor’s license to answer the phones for him. She was dedicated to her new husband’s budding career and what she believed would be their lifetime of love, devotion, and happiness.
They had 2 sons together Charlie and Braden and for a little while they were happy, but then things started to go downhill. Josh was quick-tempered and super controlling. She wasn’t allowed to use the family car and was made to bike 3.5 km to work on a busy road. He also controlled what the kids ate (he wanted them to split a hot dog rather than have 1 each), he was limiting her spending to 100 $. He never did the cooking, cleaning, or any other household chores and that was always Susan's job but she didn’t want a divorce as faith was very important to her and she did her best to make it work, but things just weren't going her way. Things started getting stormy and she had asked her friends about her legal options and as one can expect Josh wasn’t very happy about this.
Circumstances around Susan's disappearance:
As the spring of 2009 approached things at the Powell’s family was getting abysmal, but Susan still believed that her husband would turn around. While Josh was backing further and further away from the church, Susan was spending more and more of her time there. She had put money aside for tithing, a requirement to enter the temple against Josh’s wishes. Susan explained to Owings that she and Josh had started going to marriage counseling through the church, but Josh had stopped attending the sessions and wasn’t reading a marriage book that had been assigned to them as homework.
Going back to Dec 7 2009, Josh's mom calls 911 to report Susan, Josh and the 2 boys missing. Susan and Josh should have already left for work and the boys were normally dropped off at day care at this point. The day care provider grew concerned as the boys were not dropped of that day as they were normally. She calls the emergency contact, Josh's sister and the police arrive at their house and they end up breaking in, immediately few things struck them as odd. The couch had been freshly cleaned, and there were 2 box fans hooked up and blowing on to the couch as if to dry it. Susan's purse was in her bedroom, untouched and the house was completely locked up. Fresh snow had fallen and there was no tracks leaving or entering the house.
No one had heard from or seen the Powells for 18 hrs and then all of a sudden Jovana gets a hold of josh, whom she had been calling Susan and Josh since she was worried and she tells Josh that everyone has been so worried and asked where the hell they were. He says that he and the boys were at the west valley camping last night and Susan should be at work and she clarifies by saying that Susan hadn’t been to work that day and asked what was really going on.
He tells her that he was on his way home, but he turns around and drives 20 min in the opposite direction and leaves Susan a voice mail telling her that he is on his way home and asking her whether she got to work safely.
For people anticipating this part things turn sinister here:
Circumstances around Susan's disappearance:
As the spring of 2009 approached things at the Powell’s family was getting abysmal, but Susan still believed that her husband would turn around. While Josh was backing further and further away from the church, Susan was spending more and more of her time there. She had put money aside for tithing, a requirement to enter the temple against Josh’s wishes. Susan explained to Owings that she and Josh had started going to marriage counseling through the church, but Josh had stopped attending the sessions and wasn’t reading a marriage book that had been assigned to them as homework.
Going back to Dec 7 2009, Josh's mom calls 911 to report Susan, Josh and the 2 boys missing. Susan and Josh should have already left for work and the boys were normally dropped off at day care at this point. The day care provider grew concerned as the boys were not dropped of that day as they were normally. She calls the emergency contact, Josh's sister and the police arrive at their house and they end up breaking in, immediately few things struck them as odd. The couch had been freshly cleaned, and there were 2 box fans hooked up and blowing on to the couch as if to dry it. Susan's purse was in her bedroom, untouched and the house was completely locked up. Fresh snow had fallen and there was no tracks leaving or entering the house.
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| Half decorated Christmas tree and the fan blowing at the wet section of the sofa Source: The Salt Lake Tribune |
He tells her that he was on his way home, but he turns around and drives 20 min in the opposite direction and leaves Susan a voice mail telling her that he is on his way home and asking her whether she got to work safely.
For people anticipating this part things turn sinister here:
1) He cooked dinner on the day of Susan’s disappearance, which he has never done before.
2) Why did he turn around 20 minutes away from home?
3) Why did he leave a voice mail to Susan asking whether she got to work alright when Jovana clearly told him that she never showed up at work.
Later that day he gets a call from the lead investigator Ellis Maxwell asking him to get to the town immediately but now instead of heading back home, he drives to Susan's workplace and leaves her a voice mail asking how she was, and that he was there to pick her up (This is so weird).
When Josh arrived home, he was immediately taken to the West Valley police station for questioning. He gave them his nonsensical story about the spontaneous camping trip in dangerous winter weather. He seemed nervous, suspicious even. Susan was still missing but Josh claimed not to know where she was. Little Charlie also told police about the camping trip, but when the police went to the recreation area, they could find no evidence that the Powells had been there, due to fresh snow cover. He tells the police that he had come back from sledging around 8:30 that night, watched a Christmas movie with the boys and it was approximately 12:30 a.m. when Josh Powell said he loaded his boys into the minivan and took them camping at the Simpson Springs Campground, some 25 miles west of Vernon in the remote west desert of Tooele County. Susan, he said, remained at home, asleep. (What? Why on earth would he take his 2 and 4 yr old boys out camping in the middle of a chilly, snowy, stormy night? Are your spidey senses tingling?)
Later that day he gets a call from the lead investigator Ellis Maxwell asking him to get to the town immediately but now instead of heading back home, he drives to Susan's workplace and leaves her a voice mail asking how she was, and that he was there to pick her up (This is so weird).
When Josh arrived home, he was immediately taken to the West Valley police station for questioning. He gave them his nonsensical story about the spontaneous camping trip in dangerous winter weather. He seemed nervous, suspicious even. Susan was still missing but Josh claimed not to know where she was. Little Charlie also told police about the camping trip, but when the police went to the recreation area, they could find no evidence that the Powells had been there, due to fresh snow cover. He tells the police that he had come back from sledging around 8:30 that night, watched a Christmas movie with the boys and it was approximately 12:30 a.m. when Josh Powell said he loaded his boys into the minivan and took them camping at the Simpson Springs Campground, some 25 miles west of Vernon in the remote west desert of Tooele County. Susan, he said, remained at home, asleep. (What? Why on earth would he take his 2 and 4 yr old boys out camping in the middle of a chilly, snowy, stormy night? Are your spidey senses tingling?)
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| Police interrogate a nervous Josh Powell Source: Fox 13 News |
So now the question was where was Susan? If she’d gotten out of bed and decided to leave, she left the house woefully unprepared and this very question remains unanswered to this day.
He was asked to come back tomorrow for a formal interview and the next day he is cleaning the house and his car when he was supposed to be at his interview. He shows up at his interview 4 hrs late, with no explanation for his delay. When asked why he was calling and leaving voice mails to Susan when he had her phone, he tells the police that he forgot about that (dude what?....you forgot that you had your wife’s cell phone).The police ask if she had any enemies, was she suicidal, was she depressed as you can expect such questions in a disappearance as hers, and Josh just jumps all over that and says she was definitely suicidal. They finish up the interview and they inform him that they have a search warrant for his house and his car and they were now finishing up the search in his car and that he could collect it in a few minutes. Instead of hanging out, he takes a taxi to the airport and rents a car at the airport.
Josh Powell's disturbing past:
There is no such thing as a perfect family and neither was Josh's family. Josh’s parents, Steven and Terrica Powell had a tumultuous relationship too — one that ended in divorce in 1992. According to Terrica, Steven was a harsh disciplinarian who “pointedly attacked” Josh. This had a profound and tragic impact on Josh, who tried to hang himself as a teen.
The divorce of Steven and Terrica Powell reads like a novel. They disagreed over everything from parenting to religion, and court documents reveal allegations of mental unfitness, pornography, polygamy, and witchcraft. Steven accused his then-wife of adopting a mixture of New Age mysticism combined with Mormonism so intense that she practiced “witchcraft and devil worship”. Terrica argued that Steve was addicted to pornography and would often show pornographic material to their sons. She also stated that Steven harangued and verbally abused Josh on a daily basis. She further alleged that Steven was at times physically abusive to his children.
David Reiss, a California psychiatrist and expert in character and personality dynamics, spoke a bit about what a child-like Josh often goes through while growing up in a family like the Powells
He was asked to come back tomorrow for a formal interview and the next day he is cleaning the house and his car when he was supposed to be at his interview. He shows up at his interview 4 hrs late, with no explanation for his delay. When asked why he was calling and leaving voice mails to Susan when he had her phone, he tells the police that he forgot about that (dude what?....you forgot that you had your wife’s cell phone).The police ask if she had any enemies, was she suicidal, was she depressed as you can expect such questions in a disappearance as hers, and Josh just jumps all over that and says she was definitely suicidal. They finish up the interview and they inform him that they have a search warrant for his house and his car and they were now finishing up the search in his car and that he could collect it in a few minutes. Instead of hanging out, he takes a taxi to the airport and rents a car at the airport.
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| Josh Powells's Rental car Source: Twitter/The Cold Podcast |
Josh Powell's disturbing past:
There is no such thing as a perfect family and neither was Josh's family. Josh’s parents, Steven and Terrica Powell had a tumultuous relationship too — one that ended in divorce in 1992. According to Terrica, Steven was a harsh disciplinarian who “pointedly attacked” Josh. This had a profound and tragic impact on Josh, who tried to hang himself as a teen.
The divorce of Steven and Terrica Powell reads like a novel. They disagreed over everything from parenting to religion, and court documents reveal allegations of mental unfitness, pornography, polygamy, and witchcraft. Steven accused his then-wife of adopting a mixture of New Age mysticism combined with Mormonism so intense that she practiced “witchcraft and devil worship”. Terrica argued that Steve was addicted to pornography and would often show pornographic material to their sons. She also stated that Steven harangued and verbally abused Josh on a daily basis. She further alleged that Steven was at times physically abusive to his children.
David Reiss, a California psychiatrist and expert in character and personality dynamics, spoke a bit about what a child-like Josh often goes through while growing up in a family like the Powells
“A child living within the family dynamics often tries to appease a parent who terrifies them by usually subconsciously, adopting their beliefs and thought patterns. On some level, the child is going to align himself with the person he sees as a threat.”
Terrica’s mother, Carol Martin, painted a picture of Steven that portrayed him as a “very anti-church, anti-country, anti-authority, anti-morality, very radical” individual who “taught the boys to mock and insult their mother” as he often did.
Terrica’s sister noted that the older Powell boys had a “very distorted image of their own questionable right to do anything they darn well please…combined with a very deep contempt towards women in general and any authority at all”. She placed the blame for this behavior strictly on Steven Powell.
While most people who come from abusive and dysfunctional backgrounds never become violent towards others, the same could not be said of Josh Powell. He once threatened his mother with a butcher knife after she asked him to do the dishes. With his father’s influence, he adopted a disparaging view of women. He even killed his sister’s pet gerbil. Josh, along with his two brothers (Michael and John-bipolar, schizophrenic) ended up in his father’s custody, while his sisters (Jeniffer – oldest and Alaina-youngest) went to live with his mother but eventually, Alaina too went to live with Steven.
According to Terrica, he once proclaimed that he had a “right” to take another wife and had his sights set on another already married woman. He wrote songs about her and journaled his sexual fantasies involving her. In response to the chaos in the family, Josh became withdrawn and was “unwilling to interact, even to make eye contact for a year or two” Terrica said. She added that he seemed to “have a soul-deep hurt” as a result of his father’s “erratic and explosive behavior” and it will soon become clear how much of a negative influence Steve Powell had on his son, Josh.
Is Josh the culprit? Do they ever arrest the suspect?Will Susan get justice? This and more in the next blog.
Terrica’s sister noted that the older Powell boys had a “very distorted image of their own questionable right to do anything they darn well please…combined with a very deep contempt towards women in general and any authority at all”. She placed the blame for this behavior strictly on Steven Powell.
While most people who come from abusive and dysfunctional backgrounds never become violent towards others, the same could not be said of Josh Powell. He once threatened his mother with a butcher knife after she asked him to do the dishes. With his father’s influence, he adopted a disparaging view of women. He even killed his sister’s pet gerbil. Josh, along with his two brothers (Michael and John-bipolar, schizophrenic) ended up in his father’s custody, while his sisters (Jeniffer – oldest and Alaina-youngest) went to live with his mother but eventually, Alaina too went to live with Steven.
According to Terrica, he once proclaimed that he had a “right” to take another wife and had his sights set on another already married woman. He wrote songs about her and journaled his sexual fantasies involving her. In response to the chaos in the family, Josh became withdrawn and was “unwilling to interact, even to make eye contact for a year or two” Terrica said. She added that he seemed to “have a soul-deep hurt” as a result of his father’s “erratic and explosive behavior” and it will soon become clear how much of a negative influence Steve Powell had on his son, Josh.
Is Josh the culprit? Do they ever arrest the suspect?Will Susan get justice? This and more in the next blog.
Stay tuned!
Source:
until next time, stay snoopy, stay spooky
Goodbye.
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