Josh Powell Kills Himself And His Two Children
Tell me again why authorities were even letting Josh Powell see his kids. I think every person ever said this was a bad idea. Moments after a case worker delivered his sons to Josh Powell for a supervised visit, Josh Powell pushed the case worker out the door and then blew up his own home, killing himself and his two sons age 7 and 5. Josh has been a person of interest in the disappearance of his wife since 2009 but authorities never charged him with anything. His father, also a suspect in my mind was barred from seeing the kids and Josh lost custody after Josh's father was charged with possessing child pornography a few months ago.
Moments before the explosion, Josh had sent an e-mail to his attorney saying, "I'm sorry. Goodbye."
I don't even have words to describe how truly tragic this is and how utterly horrible this man was and his father is.
Why did the social worker let the kids in the house when she smelled gas?
ReplyDeleteAnother situation where no one had the guts to not allow this man to see his kids in a non-public place. Common sense over-ruled, yet again.
ReplyDeleteRIP little ones. My heart breaks for you.
She probably didn't smell gas. He planned this out way too carefully. He got her out of the way because she had nothing to do with his plan. He was sick in the head, but the man wasn't "crazy" or stupid. RIP little ones. I'll be hugging my son a litte tighter tonight.
ReplyDeleteNow no one will ever know what happened to his wife.
ReplyDeleteLet's not blame the social worker. Their jobs are difficult enough. Poor woman is going to have nightmares for a long time, and it's NOT her fault.
Poor, poor little boys. Really makes me hope there's a heaven.
Too sad.
ReplyDeleteWhat a sick Bastard, If you want to kill yourself I have no problem with that...but to murder your children I'm sure there's a special place in hell for you.
ReplyDelete@DP - the kids ran out of the car ahead of the social worker. When she caught up with them, Powell locked her out of the house. It was supposed to be a supervised visit.
ReplyDeleteThis is beyond horrifying. I guess the kids were starting to talk about what happened with their mom.
This is a psychopath. He's not crazy or stupid. Society needs to get a handle on this before society is destroyed. There are many Bernie Madoff wanna-bes and many wanna-bes just like this guy.
ReplyDeleteMs Cool is right - the kids were starting to vocalize, and even said Mommy was in the trunk. And yes, this piece of shit hustled the kids into the house and locked the social worker out. I am so sad for those poor kids.
ReplyDeleteThis is horrible. I can not even imagine how the grandparents are coping right now. To lose your daughter and now grandchildren to this monster. Yes, I totally believe he killed her.
ReplyDeleteThe man was a monster; I hope he rots in hell. In regards to his sicko father, I hope he gets what is coming to him.
ReplyDeleteWhat a mess.
ReplyDeleteHe totally killed her!!
ReplyDeletewhat a coward.
a very similar story happened years ago in South Carolina, the mom killed the kids. Great book about it call "Bitter Blood" by Jerry Bledsoe.
I don't understand. When my now adopted daughter was with us as a foster child, birth mom had supervised visits. They took place in public locations or at the agencies offices. These visits never took place in her home. Oh...and her birth mom, while accused of selling drugs, etc...wasn't suspected of ever harming her children physically, or anyone else for that matter. Typically, there were 2 case workers on hand at all times to insure peace, as she would often say innappropriate things to my daughter and her other children.
ReplyDeleteWhen you have a high profile case like this, where you think the children may be in grave danger, why is a woman allowed to deliver 2children unescorted to this man's home, who is highly suspected of killing their mother?
And the flimsly response of DCFS of "we need to learn from this" disgusts me. For 2 years, they new this man was dangerous, yet they ALLOWED this to happen!!!
This was totally preventable. And now the Cox family must deal with this unbelievable sorrow and loss. And this poor woman must deal with this her whole life, even though she was just doing her job as she was told to do.
Josh Powell was also a person on interest in the disappearance of either his own mother or his mother-in-law. So five lives gone thanks to one horrible person. Utterly sickening.
ReplyDeleteWHAT IN THE HELL WORLD ARE WE LIVING IN
ReplyDeleteI'm a social worker who does the exact same thing this lady does and my heart is breaking right now. Even in the worst cases, the courts want to maintain the family bond and parents have a right to see their children. These cases are closed to the public and the records are sealed. I will say that in my state, mulit-disciplinary teams meet once every 1-3 months on these cases to discuss things like supervised visits. Nothing is ever decided by just one person, especially since the children have their own attorney. All I can think is that the MDT thought the home environment was safe and stable enough for visits to occur there.
ReplyDeleteActually I'm surprised he didn't take the social worker out too. She was no one to him....just collateral damage.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Court TV the boys told the maternal Grandparents over Christmas that "mommy is in the mines". I hope they recover her body it will be a small comfort to those poor Grandparents losing their daughter and grandsons. Tragic.
ReplyDeleteRot in Hell Josh.
Reese do you have a link re Josh being a POI in mom's disappearance. Can't be his MIL as that'd be Ssan's mom right?!
ReplyDeleteHis own father claimed that his missing daughter-in-law had flirted with him. Josh Powell sounds like a chip off the old sociopathological block.
ReplyDeleteBitch Next Door: Sorry, I don't have a link. I heard it on the morning news. I'd heard it before several times; wish I could remember which woman. I'm sure it will come up in some story today.
ReplyDeleteDateline covered their story about 3 weeks ago. Terrible that it played out this way.
ReplyDeleteJosh's dad, who's currently in jail due to possession of underage porn, claimed he and Susan had a "thing" for each other. Yeah right in his own mind! Strangely Josh had no response (it was reported) to his dad's statement.....if the walls could talk. One sick family starting with the dad Steven Powell.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first read this story early this morning I had to stop and read it again. I could not believe he killed the boys too. Why? If you can't continue. Pop yourself and leave everyone else out of your decision.
ReplyDeleteI hope he's rotting in HELL
If he weren't a complete sociopath, he probably would have killed himself and left the kids out of it, but considering he obviously had no conscience, he took the children with him as a final middle finger to everyone he felt was interfering in him getting what he wanted.
ReplyDeleteOh, fuck. I came on CDAN to catch up on the Super Bowl gossip, and now I'm going to obsess about this piece of shit. God. I've followed this story from the beginning. Just totally sucks. I feel so bad for the children and the social worker and the grandparents. So sad....
ReplyDeleteHorrific. And now they'll never know where Susan's body is. . .
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ReplyDeleteI'm in Seattle where this has been on the news all AM and I've been crying all morning.
ReplyDeleteHere's what has been said on the various reports I've heard...
The DSHS worker brought the boys for a SUPERVISED visit (BET that judge feels great right now), but JP grabbed the children and locked the door. The DSHS worker started banging on windows and doors, smelled the gas and called 911 (my order of these events may be wrong). As she was on the phone with 911, the house became engulfed in flames and exploded VERY soon thereafter.
There are reports the boys were starting to remembre details about the night Susan disappeared and were making statements like "Mommy was in the trunk," and "Mommy disappeared." The Utah cops were planning to charge JP in connexion with the disappearance of Susan.
I think this was just a final sociopathic "fuck you" to Susan's poor family.
JP's father is currently being held in Pierce County, WA jail on multiple charges of child porn because he was looking at and photoing neighbourhood kids undressing and in the bath. He is also said to have had pics of Susan undressing and has said they were "in love" and "having an affair.". There are cuts of him (the dad) singing some REALLY disturbing "kid" songs around on the internets. He is currently under suicide watch (I DARE anyone to fine me a guard that's actually watching this POS...)
There have been MANY battles, both in the media and behind closed doors, betwe'en the Cox and Powell families, ESPECIALLY concerning the care of the children, and in the last couple of weeks, a judge gave custody of the boys to Susan's parents. Sadly, it was also stipulated that JP could have SUPERVISED visitation. I think they (the caseworker, JP, and the boys) had already had at least a couple of visits. The worker is said to be suffering severe trauma and I beg of e'eryone NOT to blame this person. They were following Judge's wishes and the law, and I really hope this person can find it in his(or her)self to find the peace I am sure they are seeking right now.
If you're in the Seattle-Tacoma area, there is a candlelight memorial for Susan and Her Boys tonight at a park in Tacoma; not sure which.
Hope this helps...
so so sad I am so horrified for those kids....
ReplyDeleteThis is beyond tragic. I can't fault the social worker, though. If the guy was as sick as everyone is saying he was, he planned this weeks or even months ahead of time and was slick enough not to get caught - just like with the murder. Poor kids had no chance.
ReplyDeleteI said a prayer for them today and hope they're in heaven with their Mom.
Those boys were this close to having a chance. If you want to die, kill yourself. But taking two precious innocent children with you? It's too much to believe...How can you raise your kids for 7 & 5 years and just blow them up too, for spite?
ReplyDeleteI know he's s sociopath or whatever, but i just can't fathom murdering your own kids.
Or any kids--but I hope ya'll know what I mean. He watched them grow, knew them as people. SMH.
I wish I could un-read this. Not that any of it ever makes sense but murder-suicides are mega baffling to me. What a terrible f*cking man.
ReplyDeleteLike Go-Go, I live and work in the Tacoma area, and this has had a huge impact. I worked in public libraries, and at many of the library branches have been used as meeting places for supervised visits with parents, children, and social workers. The Cox's (Susan's family) kept warning anyone and everyone about how sick this FCK was.
ReplyDeleteWhy the court couldn't have the supervised visits in an off-site location is beyond me. It's a lot harder to kill your kids in the middle of a library or some other public place.
I feel bad for the social worker, and hope the State DSHS reworks their rules on visiting questionable parents at the parents home. I've heard some real horror stories from Foster parents over the years, and the State of Washington is usually to willing to give the parents "one more chance", often at the cost of the child(s) life.
This reminds me of the documentary 'Dear Zachary.' So intense.
ReplyDeleteAbsolute horror.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, Dear Zachary is a stunning documentary.
You can't really fault the social worker, as he/she probably wasn't expecting to be pushed out the door.
ReplyDeleteI'm just amazed the police didn't have enough evidence years ago to charge this idiot or his father with the murder. So sad.