The Powell family case began on December 6, 2009, when 28-year-old Susan Cox Powell vanished from her West Valley City, Utah, home, and unfolded over the next fifteen years into a murder-suicide that killed her two young sons, criminal convictions for her father-in-law, the deaths of two Powell brothers, and a $98.5 million negligence verdict against Washington state. Susan’s body has never been found. Her husband Josh was named a person of interest but never charged. The case is still open.
How Susan Disappeared
Susan spent Sunday, December 6, 2009, at church with her sons Charlie, 4, and Braden, 2. A neighbor stopped by that afternoon. Around 5 p.m. Susan said she felt ill and lay down.1Deseret News. Detailed Timeline of Events Surrounding Josh Powell, Susan Cox Powell A neighbor saw Josh pull into the garage around 8:30 p.m. Another neighbor heard a car alarm sounding from inside the closed garage near midnight while the house looked dark.2KUTV. Timeline: What We Know in the 10 Years Since Susan Cox Powell Went Missing
Josh told police he took both boys camping after midnight at Simpson Springs, a remote site in Tooele County about two hours away, in the middle of a Utah winter. He said Susan was asleep when they left. The next morning, when the daycare provider could not reach either parent, she called Josh’s family. Officers broke into the home and found it empty, with two box fans blowing on a wet spot on the carpet.2KUTV. Timeline: What We Know in the 10 Years Since Susan Cox Powell Went Missing
Josh came home around 5 p.m. on December 7. Officers took him in for questioning. He had Susan’s cell phone with the SIM card removed. His van contained a generator, blankets, a gas canister, tarps, and a shovel.2KUTV. Timeline: What We Know in the 10 Years Since Susan Cox Powell Went Missing During a second interview on December 8, he grew defensive about cuts on his hands, asked for an attorney, and was released. He then rented a car at the airport and drove roughly 800 miles, buying a new phone along the way.
On December 9, a search warrant turned up Susan’s blood on the tile floor, $1.5 million in life insurance policies, and a handwritten letter from Susan expressing fear for her life. Investigators also found blood from an unidentified male.2KUTV. Timeline: What We Know in the 10 Years Since Susan Cox Powell Went Missing A search of Simpson Springs the following day found no sign anyone had camped there.
Why Josh Was Never Charged
Police named Josh a person of interest on December 24, 2009. The evidence was substantial but circumstantial. Friends and family said Susan would never have allowed her children to be taken camping in freezing weather in the middle of the night. Four-year-old Charlie told detectives, “Mommy was in the van but didn’t come back with us.”3ABC News. Susan Powell Disappearance, Young Sons Horrific Death Haunts Months later, Charlie told a teacher, “My mom is dead,” and Braden drew a picture of a car and said, “Mommy is in the trunk.”4Oxygen. Crucial Pieces of Evidence in the Susan Cox Powell Case
Investigators also found a handwritten will Susan had placed in a safe deposit box in June 2008 that read, “If I die, it may not be an accident, even if it looks like one.”4Oxygen. Crucial Pieces of Evidence in the Susan Cox Powell Case In 2007, the couple had taken out $500,000 policies on each other with additional riders on Susan. About ten days after she vanished, Josh used a power of attorney to drain her retirement accounts. His sister Jennifer Graves saw him frantically cleaning the van and garage with towels in the days after. He never joined searches or handed out flyers.3ABC News. Susan Powell Disappearance, Young Sons Horrific Death Haunts Friends said Josh had discussed how to commit a murder and dispose of a body, suggesting an abandoned mine shaft in Utah’s West Desert.
Lead detective Ellis Maxwell called it “a pile of circumstantial evidence.” The Salt Lake County District Attorney declined to charge Josh with murder without a body.3ABC News. Susan Powell Disappearance, Young Sons Horrific Death Haunts He remained uncharged for the rest of his life.
The Abuse Behind the Marriage
Documents released after the case closed showed a marriage Susan was trying to leave. In a 2008 journal entry she wrote, “Will he do something irrational? Do I need to pack up kids and run. Will he hurt me and/or take the kids, hurt them?”5The Seattle Times. Diary Reveals Susan Powell’s Growing Fears She told her sister in 2007 that Josh had said he would kill her before agreeing to a divorce.
Josh controlled the money. He changed bank PINs to lock Susan out, refused to let her carry her own car key, and routed home calls to his cell so he could decide which messages reached her.5The Seattle Times. Diary Reveals Susan Powell’s Growing Fears She eventually opened her own bank account, bought her own phone and computer, and set an April 2010 deadline for Josh to get counseling or she would file for divorce. She disappeared four months before that date.
The Puyallup Raid and Steven Powell
After Susan vanished, Josh moved the boys to his father Steven Powell’s home in Puyallup, Washington. In September 2011, Utah police searched the house after Steven and Josh threatened to publish Susan’s girlhood diaries. Instead of the diaries, investigators found computer disks containing thousands of covertly recorded images of women and girls, including footage of Susan, plus more than 2,330 pages of Steven’s journals that police described as documenting a sexual obsession with his daughter-in-law.6The News Tribune. Steven Powell Dies They also recovered images of two neighbor girls, ages 8 and 10, taken through a bathroom window.
In May 2012 a Pierce County jury convicted Steven Powell on 14 counts of voyeurism. Two counts were later dismissed as redundant, and he received 30 months.7ABC News. Steven Powell Guilty on Voyeurism Charges After his release, prosecutors pursued a child pornography charge that had been dismissed by a trial judge and reinstated on appeal; in August 2015 Steven received five more years.8Pierce County, WA. Steven Powell Sentenced for Child Pornography He was released in July 2017 and died of heart complications in October 2021 at age 67. Investigators believed he knew something about Susan’s disappearance, noting he had called in sick to work the day after she vanished, but he refused to cooperate after Josh’s death.
The Murders of Charlie and Braden Powell
Steven’s arrest cost Josh custody. Charlie and Braden were placed with their maternal grandparents, Chuck and Judy Cox, with Josh granted supervised weekly visits. In early 2012 a judge ordered Josh to undergo a psychosexual evaluation and a polygraph after investigators found sexually explicit cartoon images of minors on his laptop.3ABC News. Susan Powell Disappearance, Young Sons Horrific Death Haunts
On February 5, 2012, social worker Elizabeth Griffin-Hall brought Charlie, 7, and Braden, 5, to Josh’s rental home in Graham, Washington, for a scheduled visit. Josh pulled the boys inside, told Charlie he had “a big surprise,” and locked the door. Griffin-Hall pounded on the door, heard a child crying, and smelled gasoline.9ABC News. Josh Powell Told Sons About Surprise
She called 911 at 12:08 p.m. Dispatcher David Lovrak did not treat the call as an immediate emergency, asking questions later deemed irrelevant and telling her deputies “have to respond to emergencies, life-threatening situations first.”10CBS News. Josh Powell Murder-Suicide 911 Dispatcher Reprimanded Eight minutes later, at 12:16 p.m., the house exploded. The autopsy showed Josh had attacked both boys with a hatchet before dousing the home in gasoline and setting it alight. Charlie and Braden died of carbon monoxide poisoning. All three were killed.11KSL TV. Ten Years Since Tragic Deaths of Charlie and Braden Powell Detective Maxwell later said the killings were “definitely an admission of guilt” about Susan.3ABC News. Susan Powell Disappearance, Young Sons Horrific Death Haunts
The $98.5 Million Verdict Against Washington State
Chuck and Judy Cox sued the Washington Department of Social and Health Services for wrongful death, arguing that DSHS was negligent in supervising Josh’s visits with the boys. The Coxes said the agency moved supervised visits from an approved facility to Powell’s own home in violation of its own policy, failed to consult law enforcement despite an active investigation, and ignored warning signs that included sexually explicit material on Josh’s computer and the children’s statements about their mother.12Washington Courts. Cox v. DSHS, Division II Unpublished Opinion They also presented evidence that a social worker had identified Josh as an abduction risk and never reported the assessment to the judge overseeing custody.13The Columbian. Jury: Washington State Liable in Powell Boys’ Deaths The state responded that its workers took the case seriously and that Josh Powell was the “sole cause” of the murders.
Josh’s sister Jennifer Graves testified that she had contacted a DSHS official after Susan’s disappearance to warn that Josh was capable of harming his sons.14Fox 13 Seattle. Emotional Testimony From Sister of Man Who Killed His Two Sons Graves had cooperated with investigators from the start of the case, even wearing a wire during a January 2010 visit to her father’s house to try to get Josh to confess. He refused to talk; after the visit, she told her husband, “My God. He killed her.”15KSL NewsRadio. Jennifer Graves Wire Recording
After a Pierce County Superior Court trial that was interrupted by the pandemic, the jury found DSHS negligent on July 31, 2020. Jurors awarded $57.5 million in noneconomic damages to each boy’s estate. After the court segregated damages attributable to Josh Powell’s intentional acts, the net award against the state came to roughly $98.5 million.16The News Tribune. Jury Finds State Negligent in Powell Boys Deaths
The trial judge granted a remittitur cutting the award by two-thirds. The Coxes rejected the reduction and chose a new trial over a smaller recovery. On April 18, 2023, the Division II Washington Court of Appeals reversed the remittitur, held that the jury’s award was supported by substantial evidence, and reinstated the full $98.5 million verdict.12Washington Courts. Cox v. DSHS, Division II Unpublished Opinion
What Happened to the Rest of the Powells
Josh’s younger brother Michael Powell became a focus of the investigation after police concluded he had “intimate involvement” in Susan’s disappearance. The brothers exchanged encrypted messages investigators could not decipher. A car belonging to Michael was found abandoned near Pendleton, Oregon, in 2009; DNA from the trunk did not match Susan, though search dogs alerted on it. About four months before the murder-suicide, Josh changed his life insurance beneficiary to make Michael the primary recipient of 93 percent of the proceeds.17The Oregonian. Susan Powell Case Investigation Closed
On February 11, 2013, roughly a year after Josh killed the boys, Michael died by suicide at age 30 after jumping from a parking garage in Minneapolis.18CBS News. Josh Powell’s Brother Commits Suicide in Minnesota His death removed the last person investigators believed could directly explain what happened to Susan.
Where the Case Stands Now
On May 20, 2013, the West Valley City Police Department ended its active investigation into Susan’s disappearance, citing a lack of leads after three and a half years. The department released more than 30,000 pages of case files.19Fox 13 Seattle. Police End Active Investigation of Susan Cox Powell, Case Files Released The investigation had spanned 11 states, logged more than 800 tips, and searched more than 400 mine shafts in Nevada.20Deseret News. Search for Susan Cox Powell Is Over, West Valley Police Say Police concluded Josh played a role in Susan’s death and that Michael helped dispose of her body.
The case remains an open cold case on the department’s website, and tips are still being accepted.21West Valley City. Missing Person – Susan Powell Susan’s body has never been found. In early 2022, a privately funded search of an abandoned Utah mine recovered bones and clothing, but testing showed the bones were not human.22King 5. Bones Found in Utah Mine Not Susan Powell
In December 2024, researchers working with the podcast Cold reported new findings about a chunk of melted metal recovered from Josh Powell’s minivan days after Susan vanished. Through heat experiments on various tools, they concluded the object was likely a Ridgid-brand impact driver that Josh had destroyed with an oxyacetylene torch purchased shortly before the disappearance. Forensic examination of Josh’s laptop had previously turned up welding-related searches and an encrypted document titled “Welding Instructions.txt” created on December 2, 2009.23KSL TV. New Experiment Aims to Identify Mystery Metal Evidence in Susan Powell Cold Case What the destroyed tool had to do with Susan’s disappearance remains unclear. Its deliberate destruction fits the broader pattern of evidence tampering investigators documented across the case.