Predicting A Coward's Way Out
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 10:17PM There seems to be a recurring theme when it comes to murder, especially when children are involved. In cases of filicide, when a parent unceremoniously ends the life of their own child — or children, questions are raised about why no one saw it coming. Certainly, we heard it over and over during the course of three years, from July 15, 2008 through the trial and sentencing of Casey Marie Anthony. Why didn’t George and Cindy see what kind of monster their daughter was? Why didn’t they stop her? Today, many in the public still blame them for Caylee’s death.
Then, there’s Alyssa Bustamante, who was sentenced to life in prison this week for brutally murdering her 9-year-old neighbor, Elizabeth Olten. Bustamante was only 15 at the time and her only motive was the thrill of watching someone die by her own hands; to see for herself the eyes of a young and vibrant life fade into a vacuous void. Bustamante not only saw death, she felt it. Night after night, she will wake up from recurring dreams caused by the hellish storm she created; ones that will drown her soul in flash floods of blood gushing from every corner of her mind. Why didn’t anyone see this coming? Surely, someone else is to blame, too, for being so naive.
It seems to be a daily ritual anymore; a rite of passage or something. Horror stories of missing and murdered children pop up in the news and each time we promise ourselves we’ve had enough, but is that really true? Hardly. We are very sensitive creatures, for sure, but sometimes we thrive on the pains of others. Not in a bad sense, mind you, but think about it. We hate accidents, yet whenever we approach one on the highway, we slow down to gawk. Oh my, we think to ourselves, I hope and pray they’re alright. And then we go home to watch it on the news.
What happened to Susan Powell and her sons was a travesty waiting to happen, but did anyone see it coming? Should it have been predicted years ago?
Michel de Nostredame was born 509 years ago. We know him by his Latin name, Nostradamus. The first edition of his most famous book The Prophecies was published in 1555, eleven years before his death, which he never did predict. Today, he has a strong and loyal following that credits him with predicting many worldwide events. Whether true or not remains a source of great consternation, but one thing is plain and simple. Every one of his quatrains is so tenuous, at best, they are rendered useless. In other words, and to be quite blunt about it, every single one of his “predictions” aren’t interpreted until after the fact. Hitler? Oh yes, ol’ Nostrie predicted him over 400-years-ago, but no one knew it until long after the head Nazi was dead. Osama bin Laden and the World Trade Center? Yup, that too.
So what’s my point? Even Nostradamus didn’t truly consider himself a seer; a prophet, and no one has yet to predict something before it happens. Not Nostradamus, nor anyone else for that matter. No one can predict the future any more than someone could ever predict a murder, not counting serial killers. Sure, there are predictions based on similar instances and scientific fact. Rick Rescorla predicted the attacks on the WTC, but he based it on evidence of past atrocities, such as the 1993 bombing. That it remained an easy target was as plain as the nose on his face.
In the case of Josh Powell, what do we know? So far, a rush of information has been gushing and, once again, we have a major problem discerning truth from fiction. But now, after the fact, I “predict” a heavy dose of psychiatric and psychological discussion and diagnoses, but I base it on prior evidence — cause and effect, or causality, in which an action or event produces a certain response. Because of this, then that, only it’s always based on ’after the fact,’ and sometimes the ‘that’ becomes a blame game. I also “predict” this will go on for years.
Josh Powell most likely murdered his wife in 2009. I say this because of what we already know about the night Susan Cox Powell disappeared. Josh took his young sons camping in the middle of a harsh winter night — unfit for most people, and certainly small children. Who gets up in the middle of the night, yanks his kids out of bed and says, “let’s go camping?” Conveniently, he forgot where he camped, too, but the most important part was that Susan was never seen again.
Authorities in Utah, where the Powell family lived at the time that Susan went missing, have investigated her disappearance as a murder case for at least the past six months now, but without a body, it’s a tough nut to crack. Publicly, they held out hope that she would be found alive, but did they believe it? Seriously? No. Josh moved his sons less than a month later from West Valley City, Utah, to Puyallup, Washington, south of Seattle. That made the case harder to work on because he wasn’t around to cooperate.
Does any other evidence exist? Aside from the late December night camping trip being so absurd, there was a damp spot found on the floor of their home. What was it? No one is saying.
On Monday, following the explosion that took the young boys’ lives, their grandfather, Charles Cox, spoke to the media. When the boys first arrived, they were emotionally distant, but recently they had opened up. He hoped that one day they would be able to remember what happened the night of the camping trip. The boys never did, but Cox then told the story of what Braden had said almost two years ago. Braden was the younger brother. During the summer after Susan went missing, he drew a picture of a van while at a day care center. Three people were in it. The four women in charge asked him what the drawing was.
“That’s us going camping,” he responded.
Who is in the car, one of them asked.
“That’s Daddy, that’s Charlie, that’s me.” Then, he added, “Well, Mommy’s in the trunk.”
If Mommy was in the trunk, why was she there?
He didn’t know, but then he said, “We stopped somewhere and Mommy and Daddy got out and Mommy didn’t come back.”
While this is certainly important, it means virtually nothing to law enforcement. Is the statement of a 3-year-old something that would hold up in court?
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Josh had a tumultuous relationship with his father, Steven. He moved into his father’s house when he left Utah, and they lived together until September of last year, when Steven was arrested and charged with 14 counts of voyeurism and 1 count of child pornography. Prosecutors said that, for at least ten years, he secretly spied on and shot videos of women, including his daughter-in-law, Susan, and two young neighbors as they bathed and used the toilet. Bail was set at $200,000, something he was not flush with, and he remains in jail, but Josh adamantly denied having any knowledge of the pornography. Unfortunately for him, because it was kept in the home they shared, he lost full custody of his sons that month to Charles and Judy Cox, the boys’ maternal grandparents — but there was more to the story than just Steven the Sicko.
Ironically, Josh moved his family to Utah to escape daddy dearest, yet in a September 2011 interview, Steven Powell claimed that he was in love with Susan, and that his son was fine with it. As a matter of fact, she was in love with him, too.
In truth, Susan couldn’t stand the guy. She despised him, she thought he was a creep and she told her friends he was weird and disgusting. It was her idea to move out of state.
Last Wednesday. February 1, Josh was back in court. He had left his father’s place and moved into a house down the street. Surely, this would mean he’d get his sons back, but remember, there’s more to this story. Before we go into those details, let’s take a quick look at what state law is regarding children and families. States bend over backwards to maintain the family core. According to the Washington state Family Law Handbook:
Generally, the government does not interfere in family matters, but there are laws that allow the government to step in to protect a child from harm within the family. Sometimes this will result in a legal action called a “dependency.” A dependency proceeding is usually, but not always, started by the state after an investigation by a Child Protective Services social worker. The goals of such legal actions are safety of children and reunification and preservation of families.
States seldom like to get involved, and in the case of Josh Powell, the state never intended to completely sever the relationship he had with his sons. Initially, the questions over Steven’s pornography and the safety of the children were the issues. Should the state case workers have insisted that Josh meet his sons on neutral ground? Yes, and initially they did.
When Josh went back to court Wednesday to argue over custody, the issue his in-laws had so adamantly fought over, he made a declaration that he was the best and safest person to raise his two sons, saying he had proven himself to be “a fit and loving father.” In documents filed with the court, he wrote that it was unfair for his sons to be removed from his care based on what his own father had done. During supervised visits, two times a week for three hours each, he demonstrated his love of the boys and his competence as a caregiver. When Child Protective Services completed their investigation on November 30, 2011, he was cleared of any negligent treatment and he should, therefore, be reunited with the boys. “No child wants to be taken from their parents and it is not reasonable to continue this process.”
The case worker in charge was a woman from a company contracted by the state to supervise visitations. Sherry Hill is a spokeswoman for the Children’s Administration at the Department of Social and Health Services in Washington. She said that state authorities work very closely with the courts to determine whether supervised visits should be allowed and held at either a parent’s home or a neutral site. In Josh’s case, the move away from his father’s house demonstrated that the safety of his children was of utmost importance, and there was no need to keep them from the new home. Everything looked good.
“If there had been any indication of suicidal thoughts, or anything that we would have thought there was an intent to harm the children, we would have taken immediate action,” Hill said. “If we had thought that, we would have done what we could. I don’t think there’s anything else we could have done.”
Remember, generally, the government hates to interfere in family matters, and with his compliance, Josh fully expected to regain custody of his children that Wednesday. He wasn’t. Why?
There was one peculiar issue over his own morality, so the judge ordered him to undergo a psycho-sexual testing and evaluation. What’s that, you may ask? Let’s just say it’s not something I would enjoy, but I will never be in a situation where it could possibly arise. If you are interested, you can read here. Or, from the Rosenberg & Associates website, a more palatable explanation:
A psycho-sexual assessment is an evaluation that focuses on an individuals sexual development, sexual history, paraphilic interests, sexual adjustment, risk level, and victimology. It also includes a full social history, familial history, employment/school history, case formulation, and specific treatment recommendations. The evaluation greatly assists attorneys and courts (prior to sentencing for adults), foster care and social service agencies that work with sexually reactive children or children who have been sexually abused, and others.
Paraphilia is a biomedical term that describes sexual arousal to objects, situations or individuals not generally associated with typical standards of stimulation. Need I say more?
Why the judge ordered this test is quite simple, very important and legally valid. It was based on something brought to the court’s attention: the results of the psychological evaluation Josh had last October. Keep in mind that Charlie and Judy Cox were given custody a month earlier. Upon completion of the evaluation, “the psychologist received information from police in West Valley City, Utah, about undisclosed materials found on his computer during a search in 2009. That material prompted the psychologist to recommend a psycho-sexual evaluation before Powell be given custody or expanded visitation rights.” (See: Could More Have Been Done To Save Charlie And Braden Powell? )
[Since the writing of this post, news surfaced that Josh was also ordered to take a polygraph test, and it meant he would have had to answer questions regarding the disappearance of his wife, including the matter of her death. Did he kill her?]
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Up until the day of the explosive fire, there seemed to be no cause for alarm. Although frustrated and depressed over his latest round in the courtroom, Josh seemed to be of sound mind — sound enough that no one in the courtroom had qualms about Charlie and Braden visiting their father at his home instead of a neutral location. The visits were, after all, supervised. He could not be alone with his sons.
Later, Charles Cox said he didn’t really think there was anything more the court could have done legally to protect the boys, but he wasn’t quite comfortable with only one supervisor. “We suspected that if [Josh] had the boys in his control, with him, and he felt the police were closing in, he was capable [of doing them harm.]” He didn’t think the lone female supervisor could have stopped him, and he was right.
Earlier that day, the boys told their family that they did not want to go to their father’s house because they wanted to stay and play with their cousins instead. They needed to go see their father, they were told. They would have plenty of time to play with them again.
When the boys arrived at the house, they ran up to the front door, ahead of the social worker. By the time she got to the entrance, Powell had let his sons in but pushed her out, locking the door behind him.
“He pushed her out. He blocked her out,” Pierce County sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer stated. “The whole thing was planned.”
Minutes before, Powell sent an e-mail to his attorney, Jeff Bassett. It was three words. “I’m sorry, goodbye.”
The rest we know. Two days after his court hearing, Josh Powell set in motion his final plan. The children’s toys were donated. He took $7,000 out of his bank account to settle his bills. No one saw it coming. No one at the bank, no one at Goodwill, and no one in his own family. Last August, he told ABC news that he would always protect his boys. “The people who know me know that I’m a good dad,” Powell told Good Morning America. “I work hard. I put my sons first. I was a good husband. I took care of my family.”
He took care of his family, alright.
There will be lots of investigations, from the top on down in Washington state. Despite Josh Powell’s death, Utah police will press on until they find the truth about Susan. Justice has come for Josh. He will never be reunited with the boys he so loved and fought for. Hell has no place for children.
§
To randomly place blame on this person or that agency is wrong. No one got up that morning and asked themselves if this was the day Charlie and Braden would die at their father’s hands. No one expected it in court last week. Except Josh. When agency after agency, including the court and judge, finish blaming each other, we may find out why things fell so out of place; somehow lost in the system. But remember one thing; while we complain about too much government interference, all it takes is something like this to do a complete about face. Then, there isn’t enough. Why is that?
Nostradamus never predicted this tragedy. He never predicted the end of the world, either. Nor did the Mayans and their calendar. As for murder, predicting it is as, well, predictable as pulling petals from a dandelion. I kill you, I kill you not. You decide what is real and what is an illusion, but in the end, I predict we will all be wrong, and that’s my predilection. You can’t guess a coward’s way out.
Amanda | tagged Child Protective Services, Department of Social and Health Services, Ed Troyer, Filicide, Jeff Bassett, Nostradamus, Psycho-Sexual, Puyallup, Rick Rescorla, Sherry Hill, Utah, Washington State | in Alyssa Bustamante, Braden Powell, Casey Anthony, Caylee Anthony, Charles Cox, Charlie Powell, Cindy Anthony, Dave Knechel, David B. Knechel, David Knechel, Elizabeth Olten, Josh Powell, Judy Cox, Marinade Dave, Marinade Dave Knechel, Susan Powell, marinadedave | Share Article | 1 Reference 
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Reader Comments (50)
It's tragic.
It's very, very tragic indeed.
Well said, Dave. People will always try to place blame..I believe that while several things could have been done better, some would have resulted in even greater loss of life and heartache (what if EMS, police, and fire HAD been at the scene when JP blew up the house?). The courts, the judge..all did what they could within the law and reason. The caseworker had no idea what was coming, and the 911 operator is not a mind reader.
JP was hell bent on the actions he took..no one else could have possibly seen this coming. Not this way. People seek to make sense of the nonsensical. Only one person is truly to blame.
Thanks, dadgum. While some will continue playing the blame game, ultimately, Josh was the culprit. He was a stone cold killer; a wolf in sheep's clothing because he always came across as soft spoken and a loving father. Yes, you're right about more people dying had they shown up to help. It would have been too late no matter what, but I think the 911 dispatcher blew it. When the case worker gave the address, why did he need to know the color of her car and tag number? The address should have been enough, but he continued to play an authoritative game with her.
Had Josh met his sons on neutral ground, he would have strapped on a bomb and blown up everyone around him. He was a creepy, crazy man on a mission.
Dave: Thank you for your well researched write-up on the Powell case. You are absolutely correct, of course, when you write that no one can guess a coward's way out.
This case is so painfully sad that I'm still gasping for breath.
Apparently the social-worker has learned a painful lesson, albiet much too late to help Susan's sons.
In the interview linked below, she states that Josh Powell didn't look like a monster; nor did he look like someone who was going to kill his children. Later on she says he was evil.
Surely she now realizes that 'monsters', 'murderers', and 'evil' can all look like any human being on any given day.
Josh Powell Told Sons He Had 'Surprise' For Them, Social Worker
Notice the title of the above article--he had a surprise for them alright. Whether it was the hatchet or the gasoline, we will never know to which he was referring. ໖_໖
BTW: The Parisian look is great.
Well hello there, nan11, great to see you!
The information I collected was what we knew at the time. Obviously, some of the facts will change, but I did my best.
I always suspected that Josh was a murderer, but I never would have guessed that he would kill his own innocent and loving children. Only a maonster would do that. He was a real chameleon. So was Ted Bundy because he could could come across as a very nice guy. Both were serial killers, only Powell took away the ones he should have protected the most.
That poor social worker. She will live with guilt for the rest of her life. I guess it would be foolish to think the Internet trolls will leave her alone. They won't because they can't. Someone will start a CWAB blog - Case Workers Ain't Beautiful, and the cockroaches will crawl out of the woodwork.
Thanks for the link. I feel compassion for that poor woman. A lot of people involved in the case are hurting right now, and the pain will last forever.
I'm glad you like the Parisan look. I may go somewhere else soon.
Bravo Dave! Beautifully written and oh so true. I look forward to reading your articles as you never disappoint.
Thank you, terri. A lot of work went into this piece. I'm certainly happy I never disappoint you. This was not an easy thing to write, either, because in this case, the truth really hurts.
Great write up, Dave! One never knows what another person will do when they are pushed to the brink. When he said he would never harm his boys that was when he still had custody of them. Things changed and he got desperate. I feel for those boys and for the Cox family. They have had to endure so much.
Thank you, Mary Jo. No, no one knows what another person is capable of. We aren't conditioned to question parents killing their own children. We are never prepared for something like this because we just can't fathom filicide like this. Just like Casey, Josh fooled everyone. What a horrible soul that lurked inside his flesh and bones.
Right on, Dave !
Furthermore, people who commit suicide are "sneaky" ...they have a double-speak so that right up to the end, the family is clueless of how precarious the situation is.
How many "survivors" of loved ones who have committed suicide spend years - if not the rest of their lives - asking the forever unanswerable question of "what did I do to send them over the edge." Or "what could I have done to stop them!"
But in the case of Josh Powell - he turned his anger not only inwards (his suicide) - but outwards (killing his children).
In the inevitable "post-mortem" of this ghastly tragedy, more will undoubtedly come out about the sickness in Josh's family.
That he did this before the pyscho-sexual exam clearly indicates that he knew that he would lose custody of the children ...and with that, he would lose control of them and the secret of what he did to Susan. When love becomes totally dependent on absolute control ...it truly ceases to be love. Josh had no idea of what love was ...and he destroyed Susan and the two children that he and she made because he could not let the truth be known.
Hi, Jnpgh - Yes, I would have to say that suicides are carried out by sneaky, cowardly people in many cases. Of course, someone dying of a debilitating disease could be rationalized, but for the most part, you're right.
What went wrong, what could I have done and lots of other guilt factors play into the close friends and family of those who kill themselves. Could I have helped? Was it my fault? Josh Powell wasn't a dummy, so he knew the devastation he would bring on to everyone. That's what makes it so selfish - not to mention the innocent boys he took with him. What a scoundrel. His face will forever be identified with the rest of the murderous cads who've graced our earth. He fooled everyone, didn't he?
One thing I neglected to mention was the lie detector test he had to take with the pycho-sexual examination. He would have failed both miserably and he knew that. Most people backed into a corner will come out fighting, but not him. He was a rotten, low-life, yellow-bellied coward. I agee, he was a control freak and the off-on switch was breaking. Too bad his fuse didn't blow when he was alone in that house, but then again, he was never much of a real man to begin with. He ran instead of owning up.
Thank you, Jnpgh. I hope this doesn't happen again, but it will. Josh was but one card in a deck filled with low cards.
Obviously Josh couldn't bear the thought that he would be imprisoned, wait the death penalty, if it applies to the state Susan was killed in. Suicide for him was his quick way out. I suppose he would have liked us all to believe he loved his sons, that is why he took their lives. If he thought he was taking them with him, no way! They are with their mother, I choose to envision, in her arms, the three of them in glory.
So very well compiled and written and in such a short time, you are an exceptional writer, being so very thorough, you draw us a picture with words leaving lasting impressions.
I'm sure the curtain was coming down on him, New Puppy, and a long prison sentence would have been forthcoming. Utah is a death penalty state, but there was nothing that indicated it would be an option. By now,my guess is that Susan's remains would be like Caylee's, in the sense that they would be so degraded, a cause of death would be difficult to ascertain.
My guess is that his mind was so screwed up, he probably thought that by killing himself, God would forgive him, as if a trade out. Why he chose to take his sons with him is beyond me. There's no doubt in my mind now that wherever he is, he's not with his children, nor his wife. He's on Hell Street, dedicated to people just like him.
Thank you very much! I'm very, very glad you find my writing to be exceptional. I am humbled.
I see Casey is mentioned in this post. In regards to the psycho-sexual assessment, was she ever given one. If not, why not, since it is believed it could reveal so much.
Casey never took a psycho-sexual test because nothing do a sexual nature - deviant, anyway - ever showed up on any evaluations or on any computers. Josh, on the other hand...
I have read that Josh's mother has stated there was a past incident where she felt threatened and feared what he would do because he wielded a knife at her because she asked him to do the dishes telling her "don't push it mom". I know boys can be playful. What would his age probably have been in the 90's when this happened. In some of the pictures I have seen he appears to have some look of a disturbed personality. However, I don't take good pictures either, sooooo I should drop that one.
There were two shows on TV last night. One was on ABC (20/20) and the other was on NBC (Dateline). I watched Dateline and that was mentioned. Josh also crushed his sister's hamster against the cage, killing it. He was one sick dude. So was (and still is) his father. He was definitely an enabler. The social worker said he was probably 39-years-old. That would probably put him around 19 when he pulled the knife on his mother. No wonder his mother left. With Steve and Josh, that was a very sick combination. I wouldn't put it past his father to encourage him to kill Susan. I don't think we'll ever know the truth, though.
I wonder if he made one last trip to the jail to see his father. If not, I guess he had no respect for the guy after all.
I do have to respectfully disagree with the overall thesis here. Once the judge had ordered the psycho-sexual testing (bad enough for a healthy person to undergo), with it's accompanying POLYGRAPH, and given the fact he was THE suspect in his wife's death, that should have put an end to any home visits I absolutely firmly believe. Just because the previous visits (neutral ground in an office setting) had been inconvenient to the staff because of his notoriety, that "reason" hardly has merit when these two boys were, in fact, witnesses in a likely murder case. As such, they should have been accorded completely different treatment.
He'd been coasting on his wimpy, hangdog demeanor for ages but the known facts (which LE had right in front of them!) indicated a really potentially dangerous person, who was in cahoots with a REALLY potentially dangerous person, his utterly delusional Dad. I understand that cross-jurisdictional investigations make all manner of things more difficult- that Utah had knowledge that WA did not, and vice-versa (and now we find out about the murdered hamster? The knife threat on his Mom? DANG!) but when the POI is being forced to submit to a poly he can't weasel out of, the worst-case scenario should be on all authorities' minds.
An innocent person, under these circumstances, would already have done the d@mn poly for one thing, three years ago now. Right there, Red Flag (forget the defense attorney umbrage- LE tends to give these things credence). Given that he now would have to do it to have a chance at custody with the kids, he (IF innocent) should have turned immediately to his lawyer and had him request one as soon as possible. Can we step this up, get it done way before July, should have been his big concern. Please, please, please, let me do the poly, I'll jump through ANY hoop would be the appropriate cry of any innocent parent. Since that was not his response the previous arrangements regarding visitation should have gone back into effect.
And any ding-a-ling can buy a couple of gas cans, putting together an actual bomb would very possibly have been beyond his capabilities- this was a devious fellow but not a smart one. It will be interesting to see what WA was doing with regards to surveillance, gps, etc. If they still hadn't had warrants on this schmuck, well.... I want to know how long they've known about the storage unit myself.
Yeah, I do think this whole fiasco could have been prevented. Maybe something else would've happened, some other scenario played out, but as things stand THIS is the WORST thing imaginable.
While I agree with you in many respects, Karen, I was pretty much basing this article on whether anyone could have predicted this tragedy. Prediction being the overall thesis.
At the same time, I tried to rationalize the events leading up to what Josh did to his sons. It was murder any way you look at it and you're description of him is the best I've heard about him: his wimpy, hangdog demeanor.
What's particularly interesting to me is what Charles Cox said after the fire - that there was nothing more that could have been done, which, in effect, exonerated the judge and state. Personally, I think you're right about visitation on neutral ground, but I don't know how the law reads. Could the judge have legally taken into consideration the fact that Josh was a suspect in the murder of his wife? Suspect is a very weak word compared to an actual charge of 1st-degree murder, or 2nd for that matter. Also, consider the reports from the social worker which showed him as a loving father. My guess is that the judge took pity on him because of his alligator tears and begging for his children back. Instead of returning them to his custody, she decided to compromise, and that meant visits at home.
As for the polygraph, he left Utah in less than a month. Had the police (there) asked him to take one prior to moving? I don't know, but lots of people refuse the test based on advice from their attorney. I just don't know, but once again, you are 100% right. Had he refused it this time, which he couldn't, then visits with his son should have been on neutral ground or none at all. Hell, they should have been at a neutral lacation anyway. Even I saw how mentally unstable he was. Could it have been prevented? It's hard to say. His family and the entire Cox family said he would have done it no matter what. If not at the house, then somewhere else, and that most likely meant taking the social worker along with his sons.
Even if the police find evidence in the storage shed beyond blood, nothing will point to where he ridded himself of Susan. The whole thing is a complete nightmare, but no one predicted this sort of outcome. That was my point. Who in their right mind would do such a thing? Josh Powell. He had everyone fooled, but you're right again. He was exceptionally devious, but not very smart.
Took me a few times here to read but nice post. So sad for Susan's parents. They did all they could to protect the boys and it wasn't enough.
Thanks, Patti. I did a lot of studying before writing this one, although I pretty much do that for every article I write. I really feel for the Cox family. I watched Dateline on NBC last night, and one of Josh's sisters was very close to Susan. She pretty much disowned her father, Steve, so even in the Powell family, there were factions fighting against each other. She had no love for her brother, either, especially after this. While people closest to Josh knew he was more than a bit off, I don't think anyone figured he'd turn his house into an IED. Meeting at a neutral location would have made it more difficult, but I believe that, no matter what, he would have gotten the job done, even if it meant taking a lot of innocent people with him. Obviously, he didn't care who he killed if he was capable of snuffing out his own wife and children. What a creep. I hate to say it, but I'm glad he's dead. Too bad he didn't go alone.
Dave, another exceptional article. I long for the day that this subject fades away. I know I am asking the impossible. Unfortunately there are too many cowards out there with the mindset of people like the Powell men. A person who truly LOVES someone cannot take a hatchet to them. The boys were relaxing with grandparents, after realizing they were not " mean " as Josh had told them. With the polygraph, and knowing the boys might remember things about their mother, Josh knew it was up. He killed the boys to keep them from the Cox's. Josh's dad was just as involved in Susan's death as he was. What kind of man lets his father talk about sexual things concerning his wife. I hope steve spends the rest of his life behind bars. in hindsight if Susan had taken the boys and left him. he would have found a way to get rid of her. Too bad we can't see his wimpy face in his lake of fire.. Just tragic and so so sad...
Hi Margaret... Thank you, I'm glad you feel this was an exceptional article. Trust me when I tell you it's important to me because there will always be people who think otherwise.
This Josh Powell character was more of a menace than anyone could have possibly imagined. Some people have said that he took the axe to his sons so they wouldn't suffer from smoke inhalation. Huh? They were violently attacked as soon as the door slammed behind them, and since when did a solid axe whacking not hurt? There's no way he did it out of love. He took his pain and suffering out on those boys, plain and simple. Oh, what a martyr he was, at least to the only person he ever cared for - himself.
I am convinced, just like you, that he murdered the boys to keep them away from the Cox family. Oh, how he hated Chuck and Judy for what they had done. Steve and Josh had to be two of the weirdest people on earth. Both talked about Susan's promiscuity because she was not around to defend herself. I hope the sins of the father are enough to keep him locked away for the rest of his life, and I hope his neighbors sue his pants off for shooting videos of underage females in their most private moments.
On one hand, I'm happy Josh is dead, but on the other, taking his own flesh and blood, Susan included, saddens all of us, for sure. This was the work of a monster. I hope that he suffered the most at the end. He was worthless the day he was born and he was a worthless coward the day he died. I wish we could see into the minds of people like him, but we can't. It's a real shame he didn't take his slimy father, Steve, with him. If there was ever a poster boy for sick daddies, it is definitely him. Well, Josh, too, but he's dead. Of course, Steve will never think that way about himself. According to him, he's the best father the world has ever seen.
As others have stated, I tend to believe Josh killed Susan at home, and the comment made by the son, of their mother being in the trunk, would indicate her body was in the back of the van. I am still interested to know if they might have found any blood on the hatchet which could be Susan's. There is a chance that he also "hacked her neck" killing her. Was the "wet spot" found in their home, like a cleanup? Likely he meant to kill the boys with the hatchet hacking, in a same manner as he could have done Susan. For sure he took her (her body) somewhere because of the drawing, I see that part as a truth. All we have left is to try and work it out in our own heads. I do hope the father is convicted of enough to send him to prison for the rest of his life. He who is supposed to be one who illustrates protection for his family, is evil. According to what is reported and from his own mouth he is the seed of Satan, devious, conniving, sneaky liar, destroying any thread of decency within his reach. Perhaps I am wrong, but why in the name of God did Josh's mother not open up more about what was going on, I hope she has plenty to give up, so SP is charged heavily. Not trying to bring down too much criticism because she undoubtedly was living in fear, both of her husband and son. If Josh was already 19, when he scared his mother with a knife and had already acted out against an animal, not allowed his wife to buy foods. Someone should have acted out (reported, talked to someone) against the father and Josh long before Susan was missing. I haven't read so but did Josh have an attorney, does the father? If so, what do their attorneys have to say, today? I must stop rambling on, maybe it is because it is easy to type thoughts when no one will listen to us in person. Most people I know don't follow blogs, they only hear what comes from the media. I believe we become more attentive and engrossed in working with our speculations and expressing our disbelief and beliefs when involved with the comments of others and the writings of a host we respect and trust. I had another question but it has left my thought or my head has left my body. Later, maybe.
Well, New Puppy, don't ever think your comments are too long or drawn out. That's never the case on MY blog.
Josh did have an attorney who represented him in court last Wednesday, and he got one of those eerie e-mails that said "I'm sorry. Good bye." Steve the perve? I don't know if he's lawyered up or not, but my guess is no, because he's still sitting right where he belongs - in jail. Does he have help from the public defender's office? I don't know, but I doubt if any judge would reduce his bail now. You'd almost be inclined to think that Josh would have posted it as a last gesture of support for his father, but I think his $7,000 withdrawal pretty much cleared his account. And in my opinion, he's a real flight risk, so no bail bonding company would help him, either, and I think Lenny learned his lesson the last time he figured he'd get answers out of someone we all know. Heck, Steve sounds like a spitting image of Casey with the way he makes things up. Steve will probably say she's in love with him, too.
Unfortunately, with Josh and the boys gone, we may never know for sure about Mommy being in the trunk. What law enforcement has stated so far is that it wouldn't hold up in court because of the boy's age. Does Steve know anything? Since he lies about everything else, who would ever believe him? If anyone trained Josh to be a narcissist, it was him. Like father, like son.
When I was still living in NJ, two neighborhood boys broke into my house. My roommate had 5 finches. They were let out of the cage. I called the police and the two of them came running over because the station was about a block away. We captured 4 of them, but we guessed that the 5th one got away because the front door was ajar. My roommate's sons came to visit once a month and many of their toys were missing from a hutch in the living room. One of the cops did find the missing finch. It was on a window shelf in the kitchen, decapitated. He found the knife under the kitchen table. This was not the first time my place had been broken into, but each time, it had to do with the boy's toys, so when I was asked if I had any idea who it was, I mentioned those boys. It turned out to be a 7 and 10-year-old. They were playing with the stolen toys on their front porch. Sadly, it was the 7-year-old who killed the bird. It turned out they were the grandsons of the police chief, who was a great and well-respected man. The boys and their single mother quickly moved out of town and I never heard anything about them again. I would hope that the 7-year-old's mother sent him to a disciplinary school, but I remember they were pretty poor. Of course, I never heard his name mentioned again, but it wouldn't surprise me if he's stuffed away in a prison somewhere to this very day. He'd be around 40 now, the same general age as Josh. For sure, that child had a bad seed inside of him, but in Josh's case, his father shrugged the crushed hampster incident off as the antic of a typical teenage boy. Mom left, but Dad became his son's enabler and pushed him over the edge. As much as I believe we are responsible for what we do in adulthood, and that's still true, I wonder how much brainwashing Steve did. I wonder how Charlie and Braden would have grown up with Steve and Josh in their lives. It would have been a mess. I have no idea where Josh's mother is today, but I also wonder what may have happened had she continued to stick around. There are lots of places to hide bodies.
Well, like son, like father, right?
I assume Utah does not provide a Court appointed Child Advocate to be there strictly for the kids and provide the Judge with his/her opinion.
You know, Newbie, I just don't know, but I doubt Utah would have gotten involved. That's mainly because I don't know of any complaints to child services. When Susan was around, everything was great, and in less than a month after she disappeared, the boys were in Washington state. You never know, though.
Personally, I think Mr. Cox is a gentlemen who feels the weight of his peculiar position, is keenly sensitive to others' emotions, and doesn't want any more tragedy to attach to this situation. I caught the two programs last night- both the 20/20 and the Primetime (recording while at work) and no one decent would wish any of this on a fellow human being. The poor social worker- she really had me going.
It's not that bad things don't happen and bad people don't exist- but the rest of us are here to head them off at the pass, when and where possible. We don't fail when we fail (very often we succeed) but when we don't attempt and shrug our shoulders in response.
I agree. Mr. & Mrs. Cox have been exemplary, high-class and straightforward all the way. No one would have believed the garbage Steve and Josh spewed. Those children were happy again and they haven't been that way since their mother disappeared. Not only did Josh take their mother away, he made sure they would never live another day with their grandparents.
Before the boys were taken to see their father, I doubt that Charles saw it coming. Not that day. Nobody can make predictions. We can only assume that because of past issues, future issues could occur. If this, then that. Look, Josh killed his wife. Therefore, his children were at risk. That's true, but it was more felt by the Cox family than the court and state. Should the judge have ordered the visits be on neutral ground? Yes, but she didn't. I really do think that had Charles felt so strongly about it after Wednesday's court session, those boys would have remained in his care on Sunday until reassurances were made about their safety. He would have argued in court that day.
If anyone failed, then everyone failed, but I cannot place the blame on any one person outside of Josh. Murderers are good at fooling people, and in his case, he fooled them all over again by coming across as a martyr. Poor, poor Josh. Oh, how much he loved his sons. His eyes were always wet with tears. Pity. Pity. Pity. It must have worked.
Well, when Susan disappeared and JP took little children camping in such cold and the middle of the night...JP is the main suspect and just walks away with his kids??? I mean a father who would use his kids like that to cover the murder of their mother.....I know, I know....no law to stop it but gee wiz...
I know, Newbie, and you're right in principle. As weird as it was, and unhealthy for the young boys, was it against the law? Maybe, but the fact remains that he blew town in less than a month, before the state could have acted. Then, whatever they had been working on was useless. I'd like to know if Utah and Washington child service agencies communicated with each other. By that, I mean did Utah think they could have had any kind of case had they remained in the state?
I suppose thinking "Child Advocate" helps me deal with what has happened. A parent goes missing
or is murdered, why is there not a law that the children are represented by a Child Advocate until the Court is satisfied with where the kids are being placed. JP would not have been able to move out of Utah so quickly.
Like I say, my thoughts are back at the beginning with child advocate just to have some kind of answer. By tomorrow my thinking will probably be the Coxes should have taken off with the kids....who knows. I do have concerns for Michelle Parker's twins.
You know, Newbie, I wonder about the Utah authorities. Had Josh been named a suspect instead of a person of interest, could a (Utah) court have kept him from leaving the state? When you think about it, what's a person of interest? When they named him a suspect, he was long gone.
I think your idea of a REAL child advocate representing the child is a great one. But then again, parents can coax their kids into saying anything, like the mom who fell down the stairs instead of telling the truth - that Daddy hit her.
(I'm going to find out if there's a legal difference between POI and suspect. Thanks for the idea.)
WHITNEY HOUSTON DEAD AT 48
What a terrible shame.
Yes, a shame, Whitney Houston, a tremendous voice. she has been known to say she couldn't keep up, and wanted out. Bobby Brown was and is a creep, who used her, fed her drugs, then said he couldn't help her. Apparently she was at a place she couldn't help herself. Some who have it all in money and fame have nothing so valuable that they see their own life a worth, even though Whitney had a daughter. Great talent and sensitivities sometimes come hand in hand with a weakness in fighting off that which would bring them harm. In the entertainment business drugs are "served" as a food for tomorrow.
She sure was a super talent. Bobby Brown sure did bring her down. I wonder what he's thinking now. I always liked Whitney. I really enjoyed her music and I liked her acting, especially in "The Preacher's Wife". Quite pretty, too. God rest her soul. There are no drugs to haunt her where she is now.
Josh Powell's extreme dysfunction was well documented and known to his family. When Susan first went missing, the only person who spoke out about it was one of Josh's sisters, who was estranged from the entire Powell family. The silence from the rest of Josh's family was deafening.
Steven Powell has managed to keep some sort of creepy control over these people. He raised his children in a porn saturated environment, and it does not take much imagination to believe incest was involved as well.
This was one sick family.
Why hello there, InTheGarden, what a delight!
Josh Powell was extremely dysfunctional, I'd say, so I agree with you wholeheartedly. I saw his sister on NBC Dateline last night and she's totally removed from the Powell family, but what about her mother? She's been invisible, including when Susan disappeared. Did she have to sever all ties in order to remain sane? And alive? Does she keep in touch with any family members? I haven't heard much about her.
Steven Powell was the Frankenstein that created the monster, but Josh took it up a few notches. Incest coming from any of them wouldn't surprise me. It's too bad his mother didn't come to court to explain just what a monster he was.
Thanks for commenting. You are quite welcome here.
I heard her live in Boston, ages ago. The office I worked at had windows directly overlooking a stage they set up in the Commons, on Tremont side. We opened all the windows wide (summertime). She was almost supernaturally talented, on top of her game, every song more superlative than the last. Even from the distance she was so beautiful. Oh, how I hate drugs tonight. How I wish she had gotten to the tables and stayed seated for a while....
I never saw her perform live, so you were lucky to have done that. Yup, she had it all - talent, beauty and personality, not to mention an incredible presence. Supposedly, there was a new album coming out soon and she was slated to be the first concert in the park on GMA. Such a terrible shame.
Whitney Houston, what a shame such a great talent. I thought she was getting her life back in the right place. Sympathy for her daughter.....................Dave, I have had something on my mind since the other monster killed little Caylee.. This is probably not the place but it has really bothered me . I have looked up laws but can't find my answer. Baez was chastised by Judge Perry for not notifying the court when he knew they had caca serving probation at the wrong time. Judge Perry called him an officer of the court and that meant he was obligated to correct it. My question is that if Baez knew from caca where Caylees body was, shouldn't he be obligated to tell . Her little body stayed in the swamp decomposing for almost six more months. Surely there is a law somewhere to make that illegal. If I found a body on my place here and I knew someone was missing, but I just walked away and never said a word. Wouldn't that too be a crime? Thanks Dave maybe it will go away now.
Yes, Margaret, it sure is a shame about Whitney. I thought she was, too.
I always say if you have a question about anything or a comment to make, you can do it on any post because most readers are familiar with my blog and are aware that we cover a lot of stories. There's no rigid rule, in other words. Baez was chastised by Judge Perry, and Perry could do something about it, but I doubt he will now because he probably would have already.
In the state of Florida, you don't have to report a body if you find one. I guess if you find one and don't call 911, how would anyone know you found anything? Kind of like the tree falling in the woods and no one hearing it. Most people would because they are law abiding. Look what happened to Kronk, though. He was ground up like hamburger. As for Baez, no, he didn't have to report it. Even if he knew, he could deny it and claim his client never told him where Caylee was. Who could prove him wrong? There's that attorney/client privilege, too. Think about it for a moment. Dominic Casey's sworn statement said that Baez told him on two occasions, August 4 and August 26, not to call law enforcement or anyone else if he found her body. What that tells me is he didn't know where the body was or he wouldn't have needed to say that. My edumicated guess is that Kronk was the first person to see the bones because he reported it in August. That explains why Baez had to blame someone else for placing the body in the woods. Had he known all along where it was would have strongly implicated ca ca. Who else would have told him, George? LOL! But to answer your question, no, Baez would not have had to report where Caylee was dumped, had his client told him. No law would force him to.
I think she was supposed to be doing a song with a group at the Grammy show tomorrow night. That's what she was in town for.
Oh my, I wasn't aware of that. I imagine a lot of tributes will come in tomorrow night. She had such incredible talent.
Whitney Houston's daughter was taken to hospital this morning.
Source
I can understand that. She loved her mother a whole bunch, for sure.
If anyone is to blame, it is the entire Powell family, including the sister who was estranged and the Mother who was divorced years ago. I have followed this case with interest since December 2009 and have heard nothing about the situation where Josh threatened his mother with a knife, attempted suicide, and killed a pet. These family members are (were) so silent about their own dysfunction. It's like they had to remain silent to save face for themselves, and gave no thought to those two boys and Susan. I keep wondering why Josh's mother was not more vocal about the dangers to her daughter-in-law and grand sons.
Cathy, Josh's mother must have a short memory. I read where she had written a letter to the judge in the custody hearing about how much Josh loved his boys and what a good father he was. Maybe she was forced to, I don't know.
Yeah, there's definitely something hokey going on with that family. Unless Utah officials learned of it back then and never passed it on to Washington officials.
Hi Dave!
Hope you're doing well.
Just wanted to comment on Margarets' question and possibly your answer about JP catching Smarmy Baez in his own lies. It was my understanding that JP DID make a bar complaint? Here's what I found; but I don't know if any actions were taken against Baez. (IMO; I think he should be at least, suspended!)
Jose Baez Bar complaints explained
Hi Sarah - I'm fine as frog fuzz, thank you. A woman I worked with many years ago used to say that.
It kind of, sort of look like Perry had done that, but it didn't necessarily have to be him. Anyone could have filed in, meaning attorneys or judges. but it's a safe bet it was him, for one at least.
Just to show you how my interest in the case has dropped considerably, I was unaware that anything had gone to a grievance committee, so thank you for the link and the correction - and for the concern about my health. Who knows, this might just lead to something.
Thank you Sarah. It just angers me to no end that they kept quiet and let that babies little body lay out in the woodsand be chewed on by animals. She could have been found almost six months earlier. I'm not out for vengence but it just does not seem right.I have been Sorely dissapointed in what I learned during this trial about justice. The main thing I learned is that the defence can lie, lie,lie and they aren't breaking laws. Something is just not right. I will check out sight.
Nostradamus was a very interesting charachter and his "predictions" are revered as concreted proof of his craft and ability to foretell the future. I enjoy watching the History Channel when they showcase his talents however most things foretold are not discovered until after the event. And no, i'm not trying to discredit Nostradamus's accomplishments :-)
Could "we" foretell he (Josh) was going to do this, the answer is definitely no but i would profer to suggest that we could see it coming. Mr. Powell was cabable of killing his wife and with little visible remorse. I never try to assume i can read peoples minds and or influence peoples ways of thinking but when you are the ONLY person of interest in the dissapearance of your wife should'nt that be enough to continue "supervised" visits? Until Dave brought it up I did not know his father was in jail for what was outlined. I knew that his father had a crush on his wife but that's all i knew.
If sitting in a court and this is a reason of why a custodial parent should not have custody of their children i would agree that Josh should not lay bear to the brunt of his fathers actions. Just because dad did those things does not equate to Josh following those footsteps (what's good for the goose is not always good for the gander). However, the testing that went on afterwords would bring me to some pause.
So, as it is stated; to me there are 3 strikes
1. his father being a voyeur, pedophile (or child pornographer)
2. Josh's phsychological test indicating his arrousal of inanimate objects.
3. Lastly...the fact that he is the ONLY person of interest in the dissapearance of his wife
Although i agree with Dave and his inference of too much government in peoples lives and the negativety that can obvisously be pointed out i would dissagree with it in Josh's possition. In my opinion he did not deserve visits with his children unsupervised and someone should've made a judgment call. Of course no one saw it coming. Josh was a "loving" father but some of the most diabolical murders were considered "loving".
My heart goes out to the case worker who was in charge of dropping off the children. She was instructed by the State to do so. She did what she thought neccessary in contacting LE upon smelling gas. She stood by until the house was engulfed in flames. Take a moment and put yourself in her shoes...
As Dave pointed out, nothing up to this fateful day were any alarms going off. Everyone makes donations to Goodwill. If able most people would pay off debts so Dave's right, what would give anyone a clue.
In my opinion there should be certain "checklists" in place to ensure stuff like this don't happen. Ron White (the comedian) eloquently stated that in Texas, if 3 or more credible people saw you "do it" then you are in front of the line, some states are trying to abolish the death penalty Texas is putting in an express lane (he said something like that). If three "things" exist that put doubt, better yets, casts doubt of your abilities to be "whatever", a dad in this instance, then goverment should be involved. Impose the "rule of 3"?
I do hope that i do not see a book in the near future titled "Inside the Mind of Josh Powell" which excuses Josh's actions laying everything he did to blame on his parents....
BMan~~Steven Powell was obsessed with Susan. The old pervert admitted on one of the media outlets that he was in love with her. He said that Susan flirted with him, sexually, and knew she enjoyed it. Steven also sent Susan porn after she and Josh moved to Utah to get away from him. Steven's wife left him because he was showing their very young children porn. He wrote and sang songs for Susan. Steven actually convinced Josh that it was okay for them to share Susan. The old fool wrecked Susan and Josh's marriage by brain washing Josh and advising him on what the roles of a woman in a marriage should be.
I blame Steven for what Josh eventually became. Steven holds the key to where Susan's remains are and how she was murdered. Will he try and cop a plea by talking? His trial comes up next month.
There should have been more communication between Utah and Washington's CPS. Had that been the case, supervised visits would have been held in a neutral place- maybe with someone standing guard with a tranquilizer gun. Josh ended up like a montrous animal.
*boys not boy
*sometimes not sometime
"I wouldn't hurt my boys" said by Josh Powell.....to me it is no different from someone saying "believe me, I don't lie". Those type statements trigger me. Why would you say something like that if you hadn't thought of lying or were not a person who could be trusted? Why would Josh Powell say he would never hurt his boys?
Newbie - I'm going to the dentist tomorrow for some serious work. If he tells me this isn't going to hurt one bit, I'm not going to believe him, either.
Seriously, though, I have no idea why he would say that, but he sure did know how to lie.
Snoopy!!! I deleted the wrong comment! I'm so sorry! Do you remember it?
I know it said that he would have killed the boys anyway.
I am going to put up a new post in response to BMan's comment, but it doesn't cover what you wrote, Snoopy.
Well, I think he said it because he had thought about hurting his sons and/or had it in his mind for the future. AND, if a dentist told me it wasn't going to hurt "at all", I would prepare myself for pain...lol.
Have fun tomorrow.
Gee, thanks Newbie.
I absolutely agree because of what he ended up doing to his sons. I probably wouldn't have guessed it had I been in the courtroom, but I wouldn't have wanted him to have his sons anyway. That's because of my perception of him based on what I learned from the media.
Dave ~~ I didn't want my comment deleted just a couple of typos fixed. BMan had mentioned that the case worker dropped the boys off at Josh's and I was trying to explain that the case worker had to supervise the visit. She was to sit with Josh and the boys for approx 4 hours and observe them sometimes taking notes. On the fateful day, Josh barred her from entering the house. This is when she called 911 as she knew trouble was brewing but unfortunately the first dispatcher did not realize the severity of the situation.
Anyhoo... that was the gist of the comment you deleted.
Snoopy, I made the corrections and when I went to delete the comment you left to fix the typos, I deleted the wrong one. I'm sorry.
Snoopy:
with the knowledge of what Steven did and what he is accused of is there anything about how Josh was towards his father? I do, kinda, agree that one parent has influence over their children but, IMO, not enough to encourage the death of someone. I am sure their are cases that follow this but probably not very often? In the end you have a choice. Did he condone his fathers actions? Just reading what Dave researched and or knew from reports i would gather that Steven has no clue where Susan is located....but, as Dave pointed out, for a while Josh was living at home so anything is possible...
The murder of Susan may be in spite of Steven...i dont believe she is burried though, i think Dave mentioned that too, as the ground would be to hard to dig...perhaps in a place where she is hidden like a storm sewer or something...Based on what the son indicated stating that mommy was in the trunk and then she wasnt may suggest that it was done quickly...maybe. My theory is that he was at a rest stop and just "popped" the manhole cover to where the sewage is pumped out for the out-houses-(when i camp i notice that, if i'm lucky (or unlucky) to see this occur seldom does the employee observe what is being pumped out and what is left...its simply replenished with new blue stuff)....just a theory though...
BMan~ ~ the boys also mentioned that Mommy was looking for crystals in the mine. I guess there are a lot of old mine shafts in the location where Josh supposedly went camping.
We all have our own perceptions on why Josh became such an emotional broken wreck. This is what makes us unique. In the first five years of a child's life, what is instilled in them by their caregivers stays with them for years to come. It is just like putting information on a harddrive and never being able to delete it. The mind is a complicated thing.
Many things that Josh said in interviews and, was after he moved back home to live with his perverted father, went to show the influence Steven had over him. He also brainwashed one other son (mentally challenged) son and his daughter, Alina. One daughter was lucky and left with her mother when the marriage was beyond repair. JMO
BMan ~~I wrote a post on Susan Powell back in Sept/11. I have studied and researched interviews with Susan's friends and family. I think that I probably watched every interview of Josh and Steven.
The case looked like it was going cold and there was little happening for a few months. Things once again heated up when Josh wanted full custody of the boys. He asked the court to place them in a foster home rather than let the Coxs have temporary custody. Well we all know what followed suit after the court wanted Josh to take a polygraph and sexual evaluations before he could even think of regaining custody of his boys. Josh moved out of this father's house and rented the place he eventually burned to the ground. Josh knew that he was being backed in a corner so he took himself out along with 2 very young witnesses who were beginning to recall the events of what happened to Susan.
Hi Dave
Hope your well!
thanks for posting this I only first heard about it the other night from the Dateline show. First I have to say that I too think the judge should've temporarily stayed the supervised visits until after the tests were done because she had a to have known something wasn't "jelling" with his story about the grandparents. He had no proof that they said anything like that to the boys and I'd bet she knew he was under reasonable suspicion to have murdered his wife. She also must've also known about the dad too and the sickening lies both father and son accused his missing wife of. I can't help but wonder why in the heck didn't she take that last step to protect the children?
I know you said the government doesn't want to get involved but once they walk into that court room they're involved and they should've committed to it fully. Also, this was an unusual case with bizarre twists in it and it just doesn't seem like the courts did their job protecting those children - how many more innocents have to die before the government acts thoroughly and responsibly? I'm just sick about this and I can't help but harken back to Susan Smith.
I'm using SS.to make a point which is no one speaks up anyway... SS was known all over town for being "wierd" in an extremely desperate way. Her family knew about the child abuse she suffered and her history of lying and they also knew she was off her meds, but nobody said a word about getting those boys away from her. She should've been on supervised visits with them but didn't she have at least half-custody? anyway my point is that even if people know things are coming to a head they say nothing. And I think its because they have so many issues too. I mean they're a part of the reason that these monsters exist. They've all contributed in one way or another so they just look the other way to avoid accepting their own responsibility in being enablers.
Same thing with caca. One of many things I believe extremely telling in her background story was how she literally painted herself into this corner of lies, theft, bizarre lies and did I say really bad lies? burning every bridge she had. She stole from everyone she knew. Her family had to have figured out she didn't have a job. Again no one tried to take Caylee away from her. They're not to blame for Caylee's death, but they contributed to caca's selfish behavior by enabling her consistently over the years. And clearly caca's attitude was spiralling downward rapidly before she killed sweet little Caylee. She was getting more and more desperate for money, she knew the consequences for her lies and stealing was closing in on her. But like all self centered evil low lifes, casey figured if she couldn't get what she wanted then no one would get what they wanted....meaning Caylee. I used to think it was an accident but now I think there was pre-meditation in it.
Josh Powell had the same mentality. He was a coward and a murderer and wanted to raise his boys in the same environment he grew up in and if he couldn't then nobody would....I really wish they would take his father off suicide watch and let him just be the coward he is. Seriously who needs him? He's a waste of space and oxygen and I'd bet my life he helped his son cover up the murder.
Didn't Dateline say Powell wasn't really living in that house? what did that mean?
So so sad about Whitney I thought she had put that part of her life behind her. Its just such a sad ending to a great talent and far too soon.
I'm feeling pretty good, mystical pippin. Thank you very much.
It would have been nice if the judge had ordered visits to be in neutral locations, but I don't know how the law reads out there in Washington, nor do I know how much control the court had at that time. By saying that the government doesn't want to get involved, I didn't mean it in that sense. Of course, at the same time, I don't want the government to be poking into everything, but this time, I meant that state laws dictate that parents should have control over their children, and when problems arise, do whatever it takes to resolve them and put them back in their homes where, in most cases, they belong. Unfortunately, bureaucracy takes forever. Th wheels turn ever so slowly, and it's impossible to expedite every case because there are just too many of them. Sure, some are blatantly bad, but still, it Rome wasn't built in a day.
Interestingly, you mention the Susan Smith case. What was that Hillary Clinton proverb and book title? It Takes a Village? In this sense, it's true, but in today's society, lawsuits are rampant and most of the time, people just don't want to stick their noses into anything. Sure, they could file complaints with the proper authorities, but they don't come with any guarantee, especially if most of it is based on hearsay, meaning neighborhood gossip. Too many times, tragedies like this slip through the cracks, but if it's no one's fault, it's everyone's fault and that's a shame. Most people aren't wired to pull out all the stops unless it's right smack in front of their noses, so when Josh and the boys showed up, what could outsiders do? And just like the police dispatcher, how much does it take to set them off, to spring into action and stop the Susan Smiths and Josh Powells of the world? Where it begins is paramount to following any trail with a possible happy ending, and when you have multiple agencies involved, not to mention different states, where exactly is the place where someone should pick it up and sort through every piece of evidence?
I would like to think that we've all learned something from the 3 years we spent evaluating the Anthony case, yet in every instance, there are factions, to this very day, fighting among themselves. While law enforcement presented excellent evidence, the ball was dropped by – and we can argue until the cows come home over who and what dropped that ball – whoever and whatever your own brand of logic and raw emotion takes you. It's sad, but so were the murders of Lizzie Borden's parents, and that happened over 100 years ago. Even then, police and townspeople scratched their heads in frustration and anger, but in the end, the ball was dropped somewhere along the line.
Oh well. Yes, Josh was not living in that house. It was a ruse; a scam to get his son's back. Had Charles and Judy Cox won full custody of those two boys, it would be their residence that would have been blown to smithereens. Then, Susan would be with many more of her family and, just the same, Josh would be in Hell.
Hey, Thanks! I'm tired now.
btw - Love the new banner - The greatest story heifer told? lol USDA choice blog? too funny!
I wanted to add that I do agree with you Dave no one could've predicted this but at the same time they still could've been more protective of the children just to be on the safe side which clearly they didn't consider.
I think BMan made a mistake. in his post he said: "Josh's phsychological test indicating his arrousal of inanimate objects" is that right? I didn't think they had already done the tests before he killed his boys??
And sometimes I wonder how defending caca gave Jose Baez anything other than notoriety. I just can't see how anyone would be flocking to hire him other than dumb, penniless low life criminals who will never attrack the same kind of attention caca did. So where's the money in that??? The state won't pay nearly enough to cover their expenses and Jose is not going to spend any of his own money besides he came off to the public as a complete buffoon who just got lucky with a not quilty verdict I don't see how that would put him even at the top of a criminal's list of desirable attorneys.
No one could have predicted this, but I'm not one to point fingers. Things could have been done differently, but think about it. How much does Social Security share with the IRS? And even if they do, how many SNAFUS do you think there are? Millions of them. If anyone is to blame, it's only Josh, because if anyone else is, too, than everyone else is to blame. Everyone who ever picked up a piece of paper with Josh's name on it.
Bman did make a mistake. Josh blew himself up before the psychosexual test was administered. And the lie polygraph test. The walls were closing in on him fast. Too fast for the government to stop him.
Thanks for the compliment on the new banner. I enjoyed making it.
Hi Dave,
I love the new banner. Have you been reading the Cowsmapolitan magazine? LOL
Josh's son said mommy is in the trunk. I noticed that Josh drove a van. Maybe they also had a car but if not the trunk statement doesn't make sense. Does anyone know if they went camping in a car?
Frankie~~to my knowledge, Josh drove the van when they went camping. When LE seized Josh's van, he rented a car and put several hundred miles on it. The rental company did not keep a record of the GPS.
Thanks Snoopy,
That could be the car that Josh's son is talking about mommy being in the trunk. That has been bothering me. I never thought about him using a rental to move his wife's body after the van was seized.