The house Josh Powell blew up with his kids inside as actually a fake home he rented to fool CPS investigators and only used it when seeing the kids. Police said he put up a few photos to make it look like it was where he lived, but he did not and neighbors even said they thought the house was abandoned. This story just keeps getting more bizarre. I feel like everyone in this case is at fault and I still do not even know how this guy was able to see his kids. There was just so much going against him and I know the whole innocent until proven guilty, but we are talking about the lives of two kids here who could have been kept safe if Josh had to go somewhere to see his kids and not just get to see them in a fake house designed to fool investigators.
he had the 'he's a middle class white guy and is therefore probably innocent' defense working for him. the cops/judge/prosecutor over identified with him. look at the sandusky case. that guy should not be able to see his grandchildren, but, he has the same defense working for him.
ReplyDeleteits outrageous and someone high up should get fired. the writing was on the wall with this. those poor children didn't just die from the explosion, they got hacked to death first. no excuses. those poor grandparents and parents of the wife/mother. what a tragedy.
ITA, Annabella.
ReplyDeleteHe's white. He wouldn't lose that trust until he was convicted. He was a loving father, on all levels of public view. His wife was missing, and the police seemed to be holding their cards to their chest. I doubt the children would have been safer in McDonalds. More children would have been at risk, really. He was going to do what he did. He is fully to blame for almost every thing wrong in this. I don't think the police fully understood his mental strength, when they put the screws to him and let him stew. He burned the sauce. He was bound to save his children from his shame. He isn't the first one to do that.
ReplyDeleteI said... I agree with you.
ReplyDeleteI don't think the cops ever experianced anything to prepare them for this sick NPD sociopath.
Hindsight is 20/20, even for CPS personnel. The fact that he was allowed supervised visitation in his "home" is the only thing that seems odd to me, because here, if supervised visitation is ordered, it is at a state-run visitation facility. But laws differ according to states, and that may be the law where they were.
ReplyDeleteThe social worker did what she could, and was trained enough and observant enough to realize there was something bad going on...but even had the 911 dispatcher not stalled her, it was still too late. He probably had the ax in his hand when he opened the door for the kids to come in.
It's just a sick, sorry situation, and nobody really to blame but the guy who did it.
I didn't want to place any blame especially on the poor, old CPS worker who let's face it, was a little flakey in her interview with Chris Cuomo, but come on a phoney house? Wouldn't a CPS worker have to closely inspect the house?
ReplyDeleteThis may sound callous...but how could he afford all this? Did he have a job? Renting a house to fool your social worker is not cheap.
ReplyDeleteSyko, I think he did visit the boys in a state-run facility, but because of his notoriety it was causing problems for the other families.
ReplyDeleteThe Dateline special made me so f*ing mad. The 911 operator. . .my God. I wanted to punch him. Ugh!
ReplyDeleteWhat does NPD stand for?
ReplyDeleteAnd honestly, I have a real issue with people like this getting to see their kids when clearly, time and time again they have been proved to be unfit, strange circumstances (kiddie porn, bleach spots on the carpet with fans on them at the house he shared with his wife the day the police came to investigate after she was reported missing)...
However, when someone with a burr under their saddle calls DPS to report an unsupported suspicion that their ex-spouse's new boyfriend is abusing the kids, they descend so fast and the kids are removed from the spouse, the boyfriend has to defend himself, suspicion abounds, etc. It's a screwed up system. Would be nice to see some accountability here.
This story just keeps getting weirder and weirder all the time. This guy was a total whackjob. He should have just killed himself.
ReplyDeleteThe cops, CPS, judges, all those folks need to have training in Anti Social Personality Disorder so they understand about narcissists, psychopaths, sociopaths. They just do not get it when these types of people present their fronts. More and more people are getting hurt as more and more of these types of people are breeding. They are all known for breeding without conscience and abandoning their kids. There are more of these people around than ever before. We all need to be alert and alert others so no more harm is done.
ReplyDeleteThis story is just horrible!!! I don't think he had the white middle class thing going for him as much as the fact that there is no body. But a fake house??? For real??? How did this possibly slip past anyone???
ReplyDeleteI've heard of parents doing this to fool CPS before. People are sick.
ReplyDeleteParkerNosey - I saw that Dateline Special, too. Dude was a creep all around and that 911 operator! Ugh, I actually feel kind of bad for him. He must have trouble sleeping.
ReplyDeleteIs anyone else wondering why, since Enty's a lawyer, that he doesn't at least offer up some legal opinion or explanation as to how he would have been allowed to see them? Or are all the readers who remember those days gone? Posts about stories like these are not written like they used to be.
ReplyDeleteNPD = Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
ReplyDeleteThere's no "innocent until proven guilty" when he's dead, at least in most of this country. Just call a spade a spade already.
ReplyDelete"Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition." Who could ever have thought he'd do something like this? CPS workers are overworked and underpaid, and keeping parents away from their kids is the solution of last resort.
ReplyDeleteJust heard on the local news that Powell's sister wants to have Josh buried near the boys. Luckily, the Pierce County Crimestoppers bought the plots on either side of the boys just so that he couldn't be right next to them.
ReplyDeleteSusan's family is planning a temporary restraining order to keep Josh out of the cemetery completely. The people at the cemetery have never had anything like this happen before, so they're not sure what to do.
We'll see what happens.
Because children are always better off having contact with their parents even the most evil ones. They were there for a short supervised visit. You cant make every person and every child suffer because one guy in a million does something unthinkable.
ReplyDeleteThis shit gives me the chills. Especially since it's so
ReplyDeleteClose to where I live. My best friend is a social worker in WA state and claims she would've kicked in the door nut in hindsight .. WTF would any of us done? It's tragic and shoulda coulda woulda.. I for one just choose to honor the innocents that lost their lives and hug my 7 year old a little longer each day.
If the cops found incest porn on this guy's computer, why was he allowed to see his kids? Also, isn't the grandfather involved too? I think this guy had a kiddie porn ring going and that's how he was able to pay for it all.
ReplyDeleteHenrietta,
ReplyDeleteThe porn on Josh's computer was found two years ago and it was sealed by the courts in Utah. It was sent to Washington state officials only a few days before the murders.
Plus, the porn in question was animated images of incest, and I guess isn't considered illegal.
Personally, I think Josh was molested by his father which explains their weird connection and the fact that he was living in his father's house while pretending to live in his own home.