March 12, 2025

Part 2 | Obsessed: The Susan Powell Case

Part 2 | Obsessed: The Susan Powell Case

In this episode of Unspeakable: A True Crime Podcast by Kelly Jennings concludes the story of the 2009 disappearance of Susan Powell, examining her troubled marriage to Josh, his controlling behavior, and Susan's documented fears, setting the stage...

Apple Podcasts podcast player badge
Spotify podcast player badge
Castro podcast player badge
RSS Feed podcast player badge
Apple Podcasts podcast player iconSpotify podcast player iconCastro podcast player iconRSS Feed podcast player icon

In this episode of Unspeakable: A True Crime Podcast by Kelly Jennings concludes the story of the 2009 disappearance of Susan Powell, examining her troubled marriage to Josh, his controlling behavior, and Susan's documented fears, setting the stage for a deeper investigation into her case.


Timestamps
05:20 Stephen Powell's Obsession
08:38 Voyeurism and Its Consequences
13:24 Family Dynamics and Control
15:05 The Divorced Parents' History
18:50 The Search Warrant Execution
24:27 The Arrest of Stephen Powell
26:32 Custody Battle Over the Boys
29:08 Children's Perspectives
42:23 Visitation Day
51:42 A Dangerous Situation
54:54 The House Explosion
58:38 The Aftermath of Tragedy
1:04:33 The Unraveling of Josh's Actions

Video, Sound and Editing for Unspeakable: A True Crime Podcast by Kelly Jennings is provided by the podcast experts at Envision Podcast Studios in Denham Springs, LA.

Executive Producer: Jim Chapman

Listener Deals from Sponsors:
DeleteMe:
DeleteMe™ employs human agents to handle significant sites where automation won’t cut it. Remove Personal Info from Search! Text UNSPEAKABLE to 64000 right now to save 20% off your subscription to DeleteMe and protect your identity online!

WEBVTT

1
00:00:06.120 --> 00:00:09.119
Welcome to Unspeakable, a true crime podcast where I tell

2
00:00:09.160 --> 00:00:12.480
stories of real crimes with real victims whose cases are

3
00:00:12.519 --> 00:00:15.119
so shocking that many are left wondering how is this

4
00:00:15.199 --> 00:00:24.920
even real? I use my experiences in law enforcement corrections,

5
00:00:25.239 --> 00:00:28.039
and combined with my years as a criminal justice educator,

6
00:00:28.160 --> 00:00:31.719
dig deep into complex cases of evil acts, some so

7
00:00:31.920 --> 00:00:52.679
evil many feel they are unspeakable. Warning. Unspeakable as intended

8
00:00:52.719 --> 00:00:55.719
for mature audiences. If you are easily offended, then I'm

9
00:00:55.719 --> 00:00:59.000
not your girl. Listening discretion is advised. Hey, y'all, it's

10
00:00:59.079 --> 00:01:01.560
kJ here, back for no other episode of Unspeakable. How's

11
00:01:01.600 --> 00:01:03.920
it going in your neck of the woods. I am

12
00:01:03.960 --> 00:01:07.879
having a fantastic week. I have knocked some things off

13
00:01:07.920 --> 00:01:10.200
of my my bucket list that I'm gonna be releasing

14
00:01:10.239 --> 00:01:12.760
to y'all soon, and I'm just tickled pink about everything

15
00:01:12.760 --> 00:01:15.000
that's gone down of the last few days in my life.

16
00:01:15.040 --> 00:01:17.439
I hope that you have met some goals yourself, because

17
00:01:17.439 --> 00:01:20.040
it's just the best feeling, you know, whenever you're meeting

18
00:01:20.120 --> 00:01:22.439
dreams and goals and all of that. Let me do

19
00:01:22.519 --> 00:01:25.560
some shout outs for you though right now. This one's

20
00:01:25.599 --> 00:01:28.840
pretty cool. This is gonna be from Miss Vicki Armitage.

21
00:01:28.920 --> 00:01:30.840
I know you wanted your shout out, girl, and I'm

22
00:01:30.879 --> 00:01:35.959
giving it to you. She is from EMU Planes, South Wales, Australia,

23
00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:39.200
across the world from me and listening to this podcast,

24
00:01:39.239 --> 00:01:41.840
and I'm just I'm just so tickled pink by that

25
00:01:42.280 --> 00:01:45.439
I've never been to Australia. Well, I was at the

26
00:01:45.519 --> 00:01:49.239
thunder Down Unda in Vegas one time, the Male Strip Show,

27
00:01:49.719 --> 00:01:53.079
but I don't know if that counts. I hope you're

28
00:01:53.079 --> 00:01:54.680
doing well on Miss VICKI. I hope that you're having

29
00:01:54.680 --> 00:01:56.920
a wonderful week. I know you told me also that

30
00:01:56.959 --> 00:01:59.480
I believe one of your sons had his birthday this week,

31
00:01:59.519 --> 00:02:01.680
so you tell I said, happy birthday. And I hope

32
00:02:01.680 --> 00:02:04.120
that things are going great for y'all in your neck

33
00:02:04.159 --> 00:02:07.799
of the woods. I've also got Beth Whittaker from and

34
00:02:07.840 --> 00:02:09.800
I hope it don't jack this up. Beth Whittaker from

35
00:02:09.919 --> 00:02:13.000
New braun Fules, Texas. I hope I said that right.

36
00:02:13.280 --> 00:02:15.199
How are you doing over there in Texas, Beth, I

37
00:02:15.240 --> 00:02:17.520
hope things are going great for you. I'm a fan

38
00:02:17.560 --> 00:02:19.520
of Texas. I have a whole lot of listeners there

39
00:02:19.599 --> 00:02:21.879
and so y'all are my people, and I love having you.

40
00:02:22.080 --> 00:02:25.080
Another text that I have from San Antonio, Texas, Catherine

41
00:02:25.199 --> 00:02:28.080
van Horn. That's a good name, that's a solid name.

42
00:02:28.120 --> 00:02:31.039
My name is Katherine van Horn. I hope you use that.

43
00:02:31.759 --> 00:02:33.520
Put your chest with it when you say a girl.

44
00:02:34.199 --> 00:02:35.639
I love it. I hope you're doing well. Thank you

45
00:02:35.680 --> 00:02:37.919
so much for joining my Patreon. And then, last but

46
00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:41.159
not least, today, I've got miss Leslie Kolb from Derritter,

47
00:02:41.240 --> 00:02:44.039
Louisiana right here in my neck of the woods. That's awesome.

48
00:02:44.360 --> 00:02:46.479
All right, So we're gonna start part two, and yes,

49
00:02:46.520 --> 00:02:50.479
I will finish this story today. But told it took

50
00:02:50.479 --> 00:02:53.479
me a full two episodes to get this done. So

51
00:02:53.919 --> 00:02:55.879
let's go back to Washington where we were with the

52
00:02:56.080 --> 00:02:59.680
Joshua Powell Susan Powell fiasco that's going on. I left

53
00:02:59.719 --> 00:03:03.960
off last episode with the cringe worthy song that Stephen

54
00:03:04.039 --> 00:03:06.400
Powell wrote for his missing daughter in law Susan. And

55
00:03:06.479 --> 00:03:08.560
by the way, if you're a new listener, don't start

56
00:03:08.560 --> 00:03:10.919
on this episode. Go back one before you listen to

57
00:03:10.919 --> 00:03:12.520
this one, because this is going to be a continuation

58
00:03:12.599 --> 00:03:15.560
of the last one that I did. But Stephen Powell's

59
00:03:15.560 --> 00:03:18.879
obsession with Susan was off the charts, and it was

60
00:03:18.919 --> 00:03:23.960
something that definitely was problematic. There was something very wrong

61
00:03:23.960 --> 00:03:28.400
with the situation at hand, and everyone agreed, including Stephen's

62
00:03:28.479 --> 00:03:32.599
own daughter. She was stunned by the things that her

63
00:03:32.599 --> 00:03:37.039
father told the media about he and Susan's supposed affair

64
00:03:37.159 --> 00:03:40.759
that they were supposedly having. It was absolutely insane, and

65
00:03:41.439 --> 00:03:44.520
his own daughter thought, what are you doing? What are

66
00:03:44.560 --> 00:03:48.479
you doing? Stephen Powell clearly had been fantasizing about Susan

67
00:03:48.520 --> 00:03:52.400
for a long time. And the thing is, while he

68
00:03:52.520 --> 00:03:55.080
was saying all of this in the media and Susan,

69
00:03:55.280 --> 00:03:57.319
we don't know where she is, and she's not here

70
00:03:57.360 --> 00:04:01.000
to defend whether that's true or not. The thing is,

71
00:04:01.479 --> 00:04:06.039
in her past, she had been crystal clear. Susan was

72
00:04:06.319 --> 00:04:11.000
very clear with everyone that she felt completely creeped out

73
00:04:11.400 --> 00:04:14.520
by her father in law. At one point, early on

74
00:04:14.719 --> 00:04:18.600
in her marriage to Josh, they had moved in briefly

75
00:04:18.639 --> 00:04:22.920
with Stephen, and that would prove a very tense situation,

76
00:04:23.120 --> 00:04:28.759
very uncomfortable situation for Susan. So Susan was constantly dealing

77
00:04:28.800 --> 00:04:35.600
with unwanted advances and these these off color comments from Stephen,

78
00:04:36.079 --> 00:04:39.759
and at first she attempted to remain kind and cordial

79
00:04:40.240 --> 00:04:44.199
in that it was extremely uncomfortable, but Steven wasn't really

80
00:04:44.240 --> 00:04:47.199
taking the hint that she was not She was not interested.

81
00:04:47.680 --> 00:04:50.680
It got so bad at one point that she even

82
00:04:50.759 --> 00:04:56.000
confronted Stephen in a vehicle about his behavior. It's just

83
00:04:56.079 --> 00:04:58.720
kind of like Susan was on an island by herself,

84
00:04:58.720 --> 00:05:01.040
trying to mitigate a number of issues in her life,

85
00:05:01.040 --> 00:05:05.040
and she felt so alone, a distant husband who she

86
00:05:05.279 --> 00:05:08.800
wanted to leave because he was a total weirdo, as

87
00:05:08.800 --> 00:05:11.079
well as a father in law who was sexually forward

88
00:05:11.160 --> 00:05:14.079
with her. It's just the level of stress that this

89
00:05:14.160 --> 00:05:16.600
had to bring to this poor woman. I can't comprehend,

90
00:05:17.120 --> 00:05:20.160
and just as an outsider looking in, it stresses me

91
00:05:20.240 --> 00:05:22.360
out to Helen back. I mean, this is a lot

92
00:05:22.399 --> 00:05:26.439
to be dealing with. There was something else happening that

93
00:05:26.519 --> 00:05:31.680
Susan was unaware of, and something that was veiled in

94
00:05:31.680 --> 00:05:37.959
innocence but extremely devious in nature. Let me explain. Stephen

95
00:05:38.079 --> 00:05:45.199
Powell was always filming with his camera Christmas holidays, get

96
00:05:45.199 --> 00:05:48.279
togethers at the house, other outings when they would go,

97
00:05:48.279 --> 00:05:50.319
when they would do things together as a group. But

98
00:05:50.439 --> 00:05:53.879
what seemed like something that we all do to capture

99
00:05:53.959 --> 00:05:59.240
memories and to remember events. Was something far more perverse

100
00:05:59.720 --> 00:06:03.879
than Susan or anyone would realize. While one would assume

101
00:06:04.360 --> 00:06:06.839
that the filming he was doing was average because he

102
00:06:06.879 --> 00:06:08.920
was out in the open, he was in front of everyone,

103
00:06:09.040 --> 00:06:13.360
from behind the camera, it was anything, but it was

104
00:06:13.639 --> 00:06:18.040
what he was filming in secrecy that makes your stomach turn.

105
00:06:18.959 --> 00:06:21.800
He would be chatting and carrying on like normal when

106
00:06:21.839 --> 00:06:24.519
he's holding the camera In some of the videos, Susan's

107
00:06:24.560 --> 00:06:27.839
showing off her new leather jack jacket at Christmas, or

108
00:06:28.040 --> 00:06:30.839
she's on the phone, sitting on a stool talking to somebody,

109
00:06:31.120 --> 00:06:34.399
or you know, just normative things. But while he was

110
00:06:34.399 --> 00:06:37.000
sitting there talking normally and like this was just an

111
00:06:37.040 --> 00:06:41.439
everyday video that he was doing, his camera would zoom

112
00:06:41.519 --> 00:06:45.600
in on Susan's butt and on her thighs and in

113
00:06:45.680 --> 00:06:49.639
between her legs, and all of this was unbeknownst to

114
00:06:49.720 --> 00:06:53.879
Susan while it was happening. But y'all, it wasn't just

115
00:06:54.000 --> 00:06:59.079
that he would slink around the house and film her

116
00:06:59.680 --> 00:07:03.759
through cracked doors. She would think that she had this

117
00:07:03.879 --> 00:07:07.639
reasonable expectation of privacy in her room, but he would

118
00:07:07.680 --> 00:07:10.519
be filming her zooming in through the crack in the

119
00:07:10.560 --> 00:07:14.079
door on things like her feet while she's laying on

120
00:07:14.120 --> 00:07:19.279
the bed. It has such a creep factor that it's

121
00:07:20.560 --> 00:07:23.959
it just makes you feel sick. So what Stephen is

122
00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:27.920
doing as far as filming, that's gonna be called voyeurism.

123
00:07:28.279 --> 00:07:32.759
Statutes will vary state to state in specifics, but all

124
00:07:33.160 --> 00:07:36.680
filming is gonna have to be within some sort of reason.

125
00:07:36.800 --> 00:07:40.319
But when you're filming someone for lud or lascivious purposes,

126
00:07:40.639 --> 00:07:43.680
that's a no go across the board, every state agrees

127
00:07:43.720 --> 00:07:47.680
with that. So basically, if you're filming for perverted reasons,

128
00:07:48.160 --> 00:07:52.519
it's unacceptable filming being on film. Just so you understand this,

129
00:07:52.639 --> 00:07:56.120
being on Filming in public is okay because there's no

130
00:07:56.319 --> 00:08:00.279
expectation of absolute privacy in public places. You know, if

131
00:08:00.279 --> 00:08:02.519
you're at Disney World with your family, or you're at

132
00:08:02.519 --> 00:08:05.000
the park, or you know, even if you're shopping at Walmart,

133
00:08:05.279 --> 00:08:07.639
there's a there's a chance you'll be on someone's film.

134
00:08:08.199 --> 00:08:11.199
But we don't need your consent to do that filming.

135
00:08:11.920 --> 00:08:15.560
But if someone is filming up your skirt or down

136
00:08:15.600 --> 00:08:18.199
your shirt, or through the cracks in a in a

137
00:08:18.360 --> 00:08:22.560
restroom stall, something of that nature that that is an

138
00:08:22.600 --> 00:08:25.920
absolute no go. And I think we all understand that

139
00:08:26.240 --> 00:08:29.680
why that would be. So you add Steve's voyeuristic tendencies

140
00:08:29.720 --> 00:08:32.759
towards Susan with the songs that he would write her

141
00:08:32.879 --> 00:08:35.480
that were creepy as hell, and you have yourself a

142
00:08:35.840 --> 00:08:42.080
really big brewing problem. Steve would post these songs online

143
00:08:42.120 --> 00:08:46.639
on this self made website under his I guess entertainment

144
00:08:46.759 --> 00:08:52.600
pseudonym that he created. You're gonna love this Steve Chantrey. Hm, wow,

145
00:08:52.759 --> 00:08:56.480
doesn't that just grab your attention? Whatever? But he had

146
00:08:56.480 --> 00:08:59.960
that fake name of Steve Chantrey, and he had this website, which,

147
00:09:00.080 --> 00:09:04.399
by the way, is totally self indulgent. It's maroon and

148
00:09:04.519 --> 00:09:08.840
white with the title the Music of Steve Chantrey, and

149
00:09:09.200 --> 00:09:12.960
uh yeah, I can't his photo on the top of

150
00:09:13.039 --> 00:09:15.679
him of it is him sitting like on a large

151
00:09:15.799 --> 00:09:19.519
rock and it's got the Seattle skyline at night behind him,

152
00:09:19.600 --> 00:09:22.080
and it's like his attempt at looking sexy. It just

153
00:09:22.240 --> 00:09:26.200
misses the mark. And his vocals have so much to

154
00:09:26.240 --> 00:09:29.240
be desired. So in my searching of him and my research,

155
00:09:29.360 --> 00:09:32.360
I did find some online posts of his music, and

156
00:09:32.559 --> 00:09:37.320
this song I found interesting. The opening lyrics are odd.

157
00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:40.200
Give it a listen and let's see what you think.

158
00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:45.840
I said I love Is that a cry?

159
00:09:46.480 --> 00:09:49.759
And look if I said to you one long time.

160
00:09:49.960 --> 00:09:57.879
I love, so put me into jail. I said I love.

161
00:09:59.279 --> 00:10:02.480
I couldn't health lift and we're mistaking.

162
00:10:02.639 --> 00:10:04.480
If you thought I shelf did?

163
00:10:10.120 --> 00:10:13.799
I said, I love you, so put me in jail?

164
00:10:14.159 --> 00:10:20.159
What the hell is that about? Remember, Susan is missing, gone,

165
00:10:20.200 --> 00:10:24.039
and all this weird shit just keeps getting weirder and weirder.

166
00:10:25.000 --> 00:10:30.639
That music, y'all. Oh well, maybe it was unintentionally prophetic

167
00:10:31.399 --> 00:10:34.320
in some way, because when the police decided to look

168
00:10:34.360 --> 00:10:37.399
further into Steven via a search warrant of course, of

169
00:10:37.440 --> 00:10:42.240
the home, they were shook with the by the inappropriate

170
00:10:42.279 --> 00:10:46.720
filming of Susan that they found tons of videos of her.

171
00:10:47.559 --> 00:10:51.759
He would slide mirrors underdoors to try and see Susan

172
00:10:52.200 --> 00:10:56.279
in the bathroom, y'all. He would steal her clothing and

173
00:10:56.320 --> 00:11:00.879
then make videos of him with it, narrating his feelings

174
00:11:01.279 --> 00:11:05.120
on these voyeuristic videos. Listen to this portion of one

175
00:11:05.159 --> 00:11:08.360
such video. As he's filming Susan's clothing, He's got it

176
00:11:08.440 --> 00:11:12.240
laid out on a bed. Listen to this, I love.

177
00:11:12.080 --> 00:11:17.039
Putting her underwear against my face, just smelling her scent.

178
00:11:17.799 --> 00:11:21.360
This makes my skin crawl. It's gotta be making yours.

179
00:11:21.360 --> 00:11:23.440
And I didn't even have to live it, y'all. We're

180
00:11:23.519 --> 00:11:26.000
just learning about it. We didn't have to live it.

181
00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:30.960
It's just disgusting in every way. Another video, which I'll

182
00:11:30.960 --> 00:11:36.200
tell you, was mainly audio, but this was whenever Steven

183
00:11:36.279 --> 00:11:39.080
had gotten in the car with his cell phone. He

184
00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:42.759
recorded it. He hit record, and he hid the cell

185
00:11:42.759 --> 00:11:45.519
phone in the car and he recorded one of his

186
00:11:45.639 --> 00:11:51.080
own unwanted advancements he made towards Susan. Listen to the

187
00:11:51.120 --> 00:11:53.879
audio of Susan's response, because I'm gonna play it for you.

188
00:11:53.879 --> 00:11:55.799
You get to hear it in her own words. She

189
00:11:56.000 --> 00:12:00.440
is so uncomfortable, but she speaks up. It's not her.

190
00:12:00.759 --> 00:12:03.720
I feel we fall in love with you, you know.

191
00:12:03.720 --> 00:12:06.440
I'm sure the last year and a half year, I think,

192
00:12:06.519 --> 00:12:09.559
let's think you can take it then. Just for example,

193
00:12:09.679 --> 00:12:11.799
when we were sitting on the couch and just felt

194
00:12:11.840 --> 00:12:16.879
like you were very you know, I mean I was

195
00:12:16.960 --> 00:12:19.840
extremely aroused, and I think you were somewhat aroused.

196
00:12:19.919 --> 00:12:22.679
At least. I thought, I don't.

197
00:12:22.480 --> 00:12:25.200
Know where we're going in this kind of meaning to

198
00:12:25.279 --> 00:12:26.200
talk to you about this.

199
00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:31.879
As I realized the last time I.

200
00:12:30.960 --> 00:12:33.360
Came over and that my own father doesn't kiss me,

201
00:12:33.600 --> 00:12:35.480
and you you kissed me.

202
00:12:35.559 --> 00:12:36.559
And I didn't like that.

203
00:12:37.480 --> 00:12:38.000
Whoa y'all.

204
00:12:38.440 --> 00:12:41.679
I felt her when she said, my own dad doesn't

205
00:12:41.759 --> 00:12:44.919
kiss me like that, like straight up saying you are

206
00:12:44.919 --> 00:12:48.759
out of line, sir. Something from since I was in

207
00:12:48.759 --> 00:12:51.120
my twenties, maybe my late teens, is if somebody got

208
00:12:51.120 --> 00:12:53.039
stupid with me or a guy did, I would say,

209
00:12:53.039 --> 00:12:54.679
my daddy doesn't talk to me like that, and you

210
00:12:54.759 --> 00:12:57.919
sure as hell aren't either. So I wow. When she

211
00:12:58.000 --> 00:12:59.919
said that I was a girl, you and me both,

212
00:13:00.080 --> 00:13:02.480
I mean, she said it, and I feel like she

213
00:13:02.519 --> 00:13:04.919
was pretty direct with him that she wasn't interested. But

214
00:13:05.000 --> 00:13:09.399
he had continued this this this behavior. So when Susan

215
00:13:09.440 --> 00:13:12.480
went to her husband, Josh with her concern and her

216
00:13:12.519 --> 00:13:17.240
distress over his dad, Josh brushed it off and he

217
00:13:17.320 --> 00:13:19.559
basically told her that, oh, my dad's just like that,

218
00:13:19.879 --> 00:13:22.480
and he didn't mean anything by it, and and just

219
00:13:22.679 --> 00:13:26.720
dismissed what she had to say. The man was saying

220
00:13:27.200 --> 00:13:31.200
he was aroused on the couch next to her. He

221
00:13:31.240 --> 00:13:36.039
claimed on national television that she would press her breasts

222
00:13:36.080 --> 00:13:39.200
against him on a cold day, and he enjoyed it.

223
00:13:40.039 --> 00:13:42.639
I'm so sorry, but that is not That's just how

224
00:13:42.720 --> 00:13:47.000
my dad is. All that does is just validate that

225
00:13:47.080 --> 00:13:49.799
Steve's been a per of his whole life. That's all that.

226
00:13:50.240 --> 00:13:52.240
If Josh is saying that's just how my dad is, okay,

227
00:13:52.279 --> 00:13:55.360
then your dad is a pervert, that's all You're all.

228
00:13:55.399 --> 00:13:58.639
You're telling me the man you married won't even listen

229
00:13:58.679 --> 00:14:01.440
to you when his own dad is making sexual advances

230
00:14:01.480 --> 00:14:07.200
on you. That is not a man. That is a coward. Josh, unbelievable.

231
00:14:08.240 --> 00:14:10.120
And look, I'm gonna tell you all this. I'm gonna

232
00:14:10.120 --> 00:14:11.679
back up for a second. I want to tell y'all

233
00:14:11.679 --> 00:14:13.639
a little bit more about Steven and Josh that I

234
00:14:13.759 --> 00:14:18.240
found while I was I was writing this. Josh's parents, okay,

235
00:14:18.320 --> 00:14:22.039
Stephen and Tarika, that was Josh's mom. Stephen and Tarka

236
00:14:22.279 --> 00:14:25.240
had gotten married, but they were divorced and the divorce

237
00:14:25.320 --> 00:14:28.320
that they went through was ugly. When Josh was a teenager.

238
00:14:28.320 --> 00:14:30.440
I believe he was about sixteen whenever this took place,

239
00:14:30.720 --> 00:14:33.639
and according to the divorce filings by Josh's mom, this

240
00:14:33.720 --> 00:14:38.320
was in nineteen ninety two. Her husband, Stephen, was openly

241
00:14:38.399 --> 00:14:44.080
sharing pornography with their teenage sons, and her other complaint

242
00:14:44.360 --> 00:14:47.759
was that he was teaching Josh and his other brothers

243
00:14:47.960 --> 00:14:51.279
that a woman is basically not to be respected. They

244
00:14:51.360 --> 00:14:55.320
do what the man tells them to do. Stephen, according

245
00:14:55.320 --> 00:14:59.240
to Tarika, she was She described him as very anti church,

246
00:14:59.360 --> 00:15:04.519
anti c anti authority, anti morality, and very radical. That's

247
00:15:04.519 --> 00:15:07.159
a direct quote. So it kind of gives you some

248
00:15:07.200 --> 00:15:10.120
insight to how this man thinks, and that he almost

249
00:15:10.159 --> 00:15:13.000
has this egotistical view that my way is the way

250
00:15:13.039 --> 00:15:15.000
and if you don't like it, you can step off.

251
00:15:16.320 --> 00:15:21.919
So Josh had taken on. It seemed this worldview that

252
00:15:22.080 --> 00:15:26.000
Steven held, even being condescending to his own mother, telling

253
00:15:26.039 --> 00:15:29.559
her at one point, you have to earn my respect. Mom,

254
00:15:29.679 --> 00:15:31.600
this is a teenage boy. Let me tell you where

255
00:15:31.639 --> 00:15:34.039
I come from. You're gonna get smacked across your mouth.

256
00:15:34.080 --> 00:15:36.840
You talk to your mama like that. That wouldn't fly

257
00:15:37.000 --> 00:15:40.960
a day where I'm from. But that boy had the

258
00:15:41.039 --> 00:15:43.759
audacity to tell his mama, you got to earn my respect.

259
00:15:43.879 --> 00:15:46.440
After that woman carried him for nine months, fed him,

260
00:15:46.519 --> 00:15:48.840
clothed him, and raised him up, and you're gonna turn

261
00:15:48.840 --> 00:15:53.159
around talk to that woman like that. M No way now.

262
00:15:53.240 --> 00:15:57.519
During that same divorce, Josh's sister, Jennifer, who is eighteen,

263
00:15:57.919 --> 00:16:01.360
you know, the one who who the wire for police,

264
00:16:01.480 --> 00:16:04.120
And because she was just very like, I don't know

265
00:16:04.120 --> 00:16:07.480
what's going on here, Josh, she even wrote the courts

266
00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:10.399
during this divorce, and she was writing them saying how

267
00:16:10.440 --> 00:16:13.039
disturbed she was after a conversation she had had with

268
00:16:13.159 --> 00:16:16.679
her dad. So what happened then was that they were

269
00:16:16.679 --> 00:16:20.399
reading this newspaper article or discussing it over the table,

270
00:16:20.600 --> 00:16:22.919
and it was about men who stalk and kill their

271
00:16:22.960 --> 00:16:28.759
former lovers. And Jennifer asked her dad if he would

272
00:16:28.759 --> 00:16:32.120
ever do that to her mom if she left him,

273
00:16:33.279 --> 00:16:35.679
And all her dad said to her was, I'd like

274
00:16:35.720 --> 00:16:39.399
to think I wouldn't take it that far. Who says

275
00:16:39.480 --> 00:16:43.879
that to their daughter about the idea of killing her mom.

276
00:16:44.960 --> 00:16:49.519
I mean, it's arrogance at its finest. Any good parent

277
00:16:49.559 --> 00:16:52.200
would say, oh my god, no, even if your mother

278
00:16:52.200 --> 00:16:53.840
and I can't get along, and even if we have

279
00:16:53.879 --> 00:16:56.399
to get divorced, your mom is a good mama. Anyone,

280
00:16:56.639 --> 00:16:59.279
even if they didn't like the mom, anyone that's a

281
00:16:59.279 --> 00:17:02.200
good parent would dismiss that thought, but all he could

282
00:17:02.240 --> 00:17:04.359
say was, I'd like to think I wouldn't take it

283
00:17:04.400 --> 00:17:08.880
that far. That has a hint of fear factor in it.

284
00:17:08.920 --> 00:17:12.559
To me, I just I don't like that at all.

285
00:17:12.799 --> 00:17:15.759
And there was an incident too where Josh, who was

286
00:17:15.759 --> 00:17:18.839
still a teenager, remember sixteen seventeen years old, she asked

287
00:17:18.920 --> 00:17:22.640
him to do the dishes, and he grabbed a butcher

288
00:17:22.720 --> 00:17:26.440
knife in that kitchen and jumped up on her and said,

289
00:17:26.759 --> 00:17:32.480
don't push it. Can you imagine the gall to do

290
00:17:32.559 --> 00:17:35.279
that to your mother as a teenage boy. So clearly

291
00:17:35.319 --> 00:17:38.039
respect for women was out the window, even for his

292
00:17:38.079 --> 00:17:41.720
own mother and his father, Steven had been a poor

293
00:17:41.759 --> 00:17:44.960
and loving weirdo for years. Based on everything that I read,

294
00:17:45.680 --> 00:17:47.920
so now that Josh was married with kids of his own,

295
00:17:48.319 --> 00:17:52.240
Josh was very controlling, and he also would do things

296
00:17:52.279 --> 00:17:55.240
to try to like, undo whatever his wife had asked

297
00:17:55.279 --> 00:17:58.720
of their sons. For example, Susan would try to put

298
00:17:58.720 --> 00:18:00.400
the boys to bed, or would go put the boys

299
00:18:00.440 --> 00:18:02.119
to bed, tuck them in, kiss some good night, turn

300
00:18:02.160 --> 00:18:04.160
off the lights and shut the door. And then after

301
00:18:04.240 --> 00:18:06.359
she had done that, which any mama listening to this

302
00:18:06.440 --> 00:18:08.119
knows that that is the hardest thing to do is

303
00:18:08.160 --> 00:18:10.240
to get all those kids down for bed, and once

304
00:18:10.279 --> 00:18:13.680
they're finally down, you're like, oh, thank goodness. But then

305
00:18:13.839 --> 00:18:17.960
Josh would turn around and go in their rooms, wake

306
00:18:18.000 --> 00:18:20.359
them up, get them up out of the bed, and

307
00:18:20.359 --> 00:18:22.640
then tell them things like, mommy's so mean making you

308
00:18:22.759 --> 00:18:26.759
go to bed, just completely trying to overthrow any authority

309
00:18:26.799 --> 00:18:30.720
as a mom that she was, you know, putting over

310
00:18:30.759 --> 00:18:32.640
her children that you need to go to bed, you

311
00:18:32.680 --> 00:18:37.400
need to get some rest. So Steven's husband and father

312
00:18:37.519 --> 00:18:44.240
behaviors seemed to have really been impressed upon Josh, and

313
00:18:44.279 --> 00:18:47.079
then Josh was repeating them. It just seems like a

314
00:18:47.079 --> 00:18:49.880
cycle here that I'm seeing. So back to the current

315
00:18:49.920 --> 00:18:53.119
situation at hand. Police executed that search warrant on Stephen

316
00:18:53.160 --> 00:18:55.920
and Josh's home, and even more would come to light

317
00:18:56.519 --> 00:19:00.559
that would make the most seasoned investigators, It would make

318
00:19:00.599 --> 00:19:06.480
their stomachs turn. Computers and other digital items were removed

319
00:19:06.480 --> 00:19:09.480
from the home, and those would eventually expose a lot

320
00:19:09.559 --> 00:19:14.240
about Steven's perverse daily habits that he had. But it

321
00:19:14.359 --> 00:19:18.720
was a filing cabinet and some journals that caught the

322
00:19:18.759 --> 00:19:22.000
immediate attention of the police. So these journals were written

323
00:19:22.039 --> 00:19:26.240
by Susan and Josh had brought them from the original

324
00:19:26.279 --> 00:19:29.119
marital home of Josh and Susan, and when he moved

325
00:19:29.160 --> 00:19:31.480
in with his dad, he brought these journals with him.

326
00:19:31.799 --> 00:19:35.400
There were seven of them. Susan was an avid journaler

327
00:19:35.680 --> 00:19:38.319
day to day, and her thoughts and feelings were right

328
00:19:38.440 --> 00:19:42.559
there in her own words, in her own handwriting the

329
00:19:42.680 --> 00:19:47.200
filing cabinets, and those writings, y'all, they obviously expressed her

330
00:19:47.640 --> 00:19:50.640
fear for her children, her fear for herself, how much

331
00:19:50.680 --> 00:19:53.079
she didn't care for her father in law, how Josh

332
00:19:53.160 --> 00:19:56.119
was being controlling and not making sense and just being

333
00:19:56.240 --> 00:20:00.759
very abusive to her. But those filing cabinets, and y'all

334
00:20:01.079 --> 00:20:06.880
clutch your pearls. I'm serious. Those filing cabinets were in

335
00:20:06.920 --> 00:20:10.039
the walking closet of Stephen's bedroom and they would hold

336
00:20:10.079 --> 00:20:15.680
a trove of evidence about his behaviors. Are you ready

337
00:20:15.680 --> 00:20:21.000
for this? Stephen would take used items of Susan's out

338
00:20:21.000 --> 00:20:25.799
of the trash and bag them in ziplocks. He would

339
00:20:25.920 --> 00:20:31.599
label them like some sort of disgusted, perverted museum and

340
00:20:31.720 --> 00:20:35.119
store it for him to go back through. Things like

341
00:20:35.240 --> 00:20:39.559
cotton balls with removed makeup on them, used wax strips.

342
00:20:41.119 --> 00:20:49.680
Y'all her used tampon applicators, extremely personal and let's be honest,

343
00:20:49.759 --> 00:20:54.680
unhygienic items to be keeping. I mean this is this

344
00:20:54.720 --> 00:20:59.359
is a man out of control. There was also those

345
00:20:59.440 --> 00:21:02.880
videos of Susan clearly being filmed without her knowledge and

346
00:21:03.000 --> 00:21:06.400
per the warrant. I actually have it quoted for you

347
00:21:06.519 --> 00:21:08.880
right here, the warrant and it says in some images

348
00:21:09.119 --> 00:21:12.440
Susan Powell was fully clothed, while other images she was

349
00:21:12.480 --> 00:21:15.480
only in her underwear. There was a detective there. Detective

350
00:21:15.519 --> 00:21:18.519
Maxwell described one image of Susan Powell in a bathroom

351
00:21:18.559 --> 00:21:22.119
doing her hair while dressed only in her underwear. Based

352
00:21:22.119 --> 00:21:25.279
off of the photographs, it appeared the photographer was taking

353
00:21:25.319 --> 00:21:29.200
this picture secretly through the slightly opened door without Susan

354
00:21:29.240 --> 00:21:33.039
Powell's knowledge. Another image was of Susan Powell while she

355
00:21:33.079 --> 00:21:35.759
was sitting at a table wearing a dress. Based on

356
00:21:35.839 --> 00:21:39.720
the image, the photographer photographed Susan Powell secretly while she

357
00:21:39.799 --> 00:21:42.680
was looking away from the camera, and the image shows

358
00:21:42.920 --> 00:21:47.279
Susan Powell's legs slightly open, exposing her underwear. They found

359
00:21:47.319 --> 00:21:51.799
several vhs and eight millimeter cassettes that were blank or

360
00:21:52.519 --> 00:21:59.039
had Susan Powell's name written on them. Just the you

361
00:21:59.079 --> 00:22:02.480
can't even sit down at this house. You can't get dressed,

362
00:22:02.480 --> 00:22:05.160
you can't close a door and put your hair up,

363
00:22:05.599 --> 00:22:09.079
take a bath, use the restroom without some man filming you.

364
00:22:09.880 --> 00:22:13.480
It's just Oh, if this isn't enough to get your

365
00:22:13.480 --> 00:22:18.319
blood boiling, the absolute invasion of someone's personal space, then

366
00:22:18.359 --> 00:22:21.480
while you're fuming for Susan, you might want to save

367
00:22:21.559 --> 00:22:27.400
some of that for Steven's juvenile next door neighbors. Yeah,

368
00:22:27.920 --> 00:22:32.640
two little girls, age seven and twelve, were unknowingly being

369
00:22:32.759 --> 00:22:37.720
victimized by Stephen Powell. The police seized a computer, one

370
00:22:37.759 --> 00:22:40.559
specific disc from Steven's bedroom, and when they were searching

371
00:22:40.559 --> 00:22:44.880
through its contents, they found that it contained tons of

372
00:22:44.960 --> 00:22:49.279
photos of the neighbor's little girls in their own bathroom.

373
00:22:49.559 --> 00:22:52.319
In some of those photographs they were bathing and other

374
00:22:52.359 --> 00:22:54.759
ones they were sitting on the toilet, using the restroom.

375
00:22:55.039 --> 00:22:59.799
So what did this predator film exactly? And this is uncomfortable,

376
00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:01.279
I know it is, but you need to know what

377
00:23:01.319 --> 00:23:04.519
these people are like. He was zooming in on these

378
00:23:04.519 --> 00:23:08.759
little girls genitalia and it says breasts, but their little

379
00:23:08.759 --> 00:23:11.960
girls where their breast areas would be covered and uncovered.

380
00:23:12.960 --> 00:23:16.440
So while this was happening, it makes you wonder, Okay,

381
00:23:16.480 --> 00:23:19.240
well where was he and how was he filming this? Well,

382
00:23:19.279 --> 00:23:22.079
that part's upsetting too. He was set up in his

383
00:23:22.160 --> 00:23:25.880
own bedroom and he had these specialized lenses that he

384
00:23:25.920 --> 00:23:30.240
would video and photograph them through his window into theirs,

385
00:23:30.799 --> 00:23:32.640
so he never even left the comfort of his home.

386
00:23:33.160 --> 00:23:36.079
And I saw snippets of some of these videos. Now

387
00:23:36.119 --> 00:23:38.359
I want to be clear, nothing of perversion. I wouldn't

388
00:23:38.359 --> 00:23:42.240
even watch that. Just a glance of them standing in

389
00:23:42.240 --> 00:23:44.880
the bathroom. They are fully clothed. It's just a snippet

390
00:23:44.880 --> 00:23:48.440
of one of the films, but it's unnerving at minimum

391
00:23:48.440 --> 00:23:53.680
to invade a child like that. In total, he had

392
00:23:53.720 --> 00:23:58.119
over two thousand images. And I'd also like to add

393
00:23:58.400 --> 00:24:01.000
that Steven couldn't leave himself out of all the fun either.

394
00:24:01.440 --> 00:24:04.519
So they also found that he had stored images of

395
00:24:04.640 --> 00:24:09.400
himself that are grotesquely sexual in nature, and they included

396
00:24:09.440 --> 00:24:12.960
pictures of himself naked, images of his genitals, and then

397
00:24:12.960 --> 00:24:18.359
he even took pictures of himself while masturbating, un just

398
00:24:18.759 --> 00:24:24.079
unspeakable behavior. So when all of this was uncovered, police

399
00:24:24.160 --> 00:24:27.440
immediately took action right then and there, and they arrested

400
00:24:27.480 --> 00:24:30.960
Stephen Powell. He was charged with fourteen counts of voyeurism

401
00:24:31.240 --> 00:24:33.839
and he got one count of second degree possession of

402
00:24:33.920 --> 00:24:37.319
depictions of a minor engaged in a sexually explicit conduct

403
00:24:37.359 --> 00:24:41.680
ie child pornography. So on September twenty second, now this

404
00:24:41.799 --> 00:24:45.359
is twenty eleven, when Stephen was arrested, Josh now became

405
00:24:45.400 --> 00:24:49.440
the remaining focus of the investigation, and as such, Susan's

406
00:24:49.480 --> 00:24:53.359
parents blessed their Heartshaw not only had lost their daughter

407
00:24:53.440 --> 00:24:56.400
to date because we don't know where she is, but

408
00:24:56.720 --> 00:24:59.759
they were now limited on the access to her children,

409
00:25:00.400 --> 00:25:03.160
and so, realizing the gravity of the situation that was unfolding,

410
00:25:03.440 --> 00:25:06.400
they wanted Charlie and Braden out of that household. This

411
00:25:06.480 --> 00:25:10.680
is too much. My daughter is missing, the man she

412
00:25:10.839 --> 00:25:15.000
married is acting a damn fool. His dad is a

413
00:25:15.039 --> 00:25:20.799
pervert that sexualizes children and adults. You know something is

414
00:25:20.839 --> 00:25:27.319
wrong here. Their safety was of absolute issue, and this

415
00:25:27.400 --> 00:25:31.279
led the Coxes to take the huge step of filing

416
00:25:31.319 --> 00:25:33.400
for custody of the boys. They felt that they had

417
00:25:33.400 --> 00:25:38.799
to to protect them. So Stephen was tried. Of course,

418
00:25:38.839 --> 00:25:40.359
he went to he went to court. He was tried,

419
00:25:40.400 --> 00:25:42.920
pled not guilty. You know, he didn't do it, not

420
00:25:42.920 --> 00:25:47.359
not mister Sean Trey. Oh my god. But Stephen was tried,

421
00:25:47.599 --> 00:25:50.920
he pled, not guilty, and he ultimately was convicted and

422
00:25:50.960 --> 00:25:54.319
he was sentenced to five years in prison. Doesn't seem

423
00:25:54.359 --> 00:25:58.039
long enough to me, just so you know. And in

424
00:25:58.079 --> 00:26:02.400
the meantime, Child the Family Services of Washington also felt

425
00:26:02.480 --> 00:26:05.799
that there was a bona fide imminent danger in leaving

426
00:26:05.799 --> 00:26:09.200
the boys with Josh, so they took custody of the children,

427
00:26:09.680 --> 00:26:12.759
but agreed with family placement of the boys and awarded

428
00:26:12.839 --> 00:26:17.400
foster custody to the Coxes. So they got the children,

429
00:26:17.440 --> 00:26:21.279
which hell Loujah. Now, Josh wasn't willing to let them

430
00:26:21.319 --> 00:26:24.759
go without a fight, though, and the line at this

431
00:26:24.880 --> 00:26:27.880
point was clearly drawn in the sand between he and

432
00:26:27.920 --> 00:26:30.559
the Coxes. There was no love lost. And this starts

433
00:26:30.599 --> 00:26:33.440
really ramping up because of the children. And I don't

434
00:26:33.480 --> 00:26:37.480
feel like Josh wanted the boys for genuine reasons. I

435
00:26:37.480 --> 00:26:39.240
don't feel like this was a dad who wanted his

436
00:26:39.319 --> 00:26:41.319
sons in his life so he could raise up strong boys.

437
00:26:41.319 --> 00:26:43.759
I didn't get that feeling at all about this. I

438
00:26:43.759 --> 00:26:45.759
think that he wanted them in his control at all

439
00:26:45.839 --> 00:26:49.279
times so that they couldn't have the opportunity to talk

440
00:26:49.640 --> 00:26:52.519
or possibly reveal anything that they may know or remember

441
00:26:52.599 --> 00:26:56.119
about when their mother went missing. This was a self

442
00:26:56.160 --> 00:26:59.920
preservation situation for Josh. I don't think it was spawn

443
00:27:00.039 --> 00:27:02.960
out of love. Case in point, one of the boys

444
00:27:03.039 --> 00:27:05.200
drew a picture of the family in their minivan, little

445
00:27:05.200 --> 00:27:07.839
stick people and all of that, and when talking about

446
00:27:07.880 --> 00:27:10.960
the picture, he told his grandpa that his mom was

447
00:27:11.000 --> 00:27:14.759
in the trunk. Now, what little kid's gonna make that up?

448
00:27:15.559 --> 00:27:17.640
That their mother was in the trunk. That's just not natural.

449
00:27:18.319 --> 00:27:20.839
Additional question of the children was done too, and this

450
00:27:21.039 --> 00:27:24.279
time there was a big difference as far as Charlie's

451
00:27:24.279 --> 00:27:26.559
willingness to talk. And this is one of those forensic

452
00:27:26.599 --> 00:27:29.960
interviews I told you about. During these interviews, he referred

453
00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:34.000
to his mama as Susan, which he never did before.

454
00:27:34.319 --> 00:27:36.400
And it sounds a whole lot like what an adult

455
00:27:36.880 --> 00:27:39.240
would refer to her as, right, the father in law

456
00:27:39.240 --> 00:27:41.960
would have said Susan, or maybe their dad called her susan,

457
00:27:41.960 --> 00:27:44.640
but they called her mommy. But now they're referring to

458
00:27:44.680 --> 00:27:48.759
her as Susan. And Charlie was very reserved in what

459
00:27:48.920 --> 00:27:52.240
he was willing to say. And when you listen, it's

460
00:27:52.359 --> 00:27:57.240
obvious Charlie had clearly been coached by someone he had

461
00:27:57.279 --> 00:27:59.680
already And I think about this, little fella. He had

462
00:27:59.680 --> 00:28:02.480
already lost one parent. His mom was gone, and I'm

463
00:28:02.519 --> 00:28:04.359
sure that was unnerving that your mom just would up

464
00:28:04.400 --> 00:28:10.200
and disappear. And now presumably his one remaining parent was

465
00:28:10.319 --> 00:28:13.160
confusing him on what he could or could not say,

466
00:28:13.559 --> 00:28:17.480
and that loyalty to that remaining parent. As a little fella,

467
00:28:17.559 --> 00:28:19.039
it would make sense to me that, oh, if my

468
00:28:19.119 --> 00:28:20.960
dad says not to say this, then maybe I shouldn't

469
00:28:20.960 --> 00:28:22.599
say it. Or if my dad says this or that,

470
00:28:22.640 --> 00:28:26.160
maybe I should copy that. But I got a portion

471
00:28:26.240 --> 00:28:28.759
of that interview of Charlie, one of Charlie's interviews, and

472
00:28:28.759 --> 00:28:30.680
I'm gonna play it for you. I want to set

473
00:28:30.720 --> 00:28:33.119
you up real quick, though. Charlie is eating French fries

474
00:28:33.119 --> 00:28:35.680
and he's crunching on the little paper bag from the restaurant,

475
00:28:35.839 --> 00:28:38.559
So you're gonna hear this crunching noise while he's talking.

476
00:28:38.599 --> 00:28:39.440
But that's what it is.

477
00:28:39.960 --> 00:28:42.519
Do you remember you went you went camping?

478
00:28:44.759 --> 00:28:48.279
Yeah, as we capt it got over again?

479
00:28:48.799 --> 00:28:50.000
No, how come?

480
00:28:51.000 --> 00:28:53.519
Okay, safe, do not call it, Florence.

481
00:28:54.079 --> 00:28:58.480
Why why isn't camping good for you?

482
00:29:00.200 --> 00:29:00.519
Thing?

483
00:29:00.519 --> 00:29:01.440
It's good for me?

484
00:29:02.000 --> 00:29:02.319
Best?

485
00:29:03.160 --> 00:29:03.440
Wait?

486
00:29:03.599 --> 00:29:09.039
Yeah, I have to sign my camping stuff to go camping.

487
00:29:09.319 --> 00:29:18.039
You have to find your camping stuff to go camping again. Yeah, yeah, Charlie,

488
00:29:18.039 --> 00:29:23.279
has anybody talked to you about your mom? Mmmmmm No,

489
00:29:24.519 --> 00:29:26.279
I'm not know where she is.

490
00:29:27.119 --> 00:29:28.640
She's got lost.

491
00:29:28.960 --> 00:29:33.920
Somewhere, she got lost somewhere. Tell me about your mom

492
00:29:33.960 --> 00:29:35.240
getting lost.

493
00:29:37.200 --> 00:29:41.839
I'm not know where she got lost. I didn't get

494
00:29:41.839 --> 00:29:43.640
start where she lost.

495
00:29:43.720 --> 00:29:46.279
You didn't see where she got lost? Where was the

496
00:29:46.359 --> 00:29:48.960
last place you did see her?

497
00:29:50.559 --> 00:29:51.400
John knows?

498
00:29:52.480 --> 00:29:53.119
John does?

499
00:29:54.359 --> 00:29:57.759
Yeah, that's let's see. That's he going up.

500
00:29:58.400 --> 00:30:06.440
Clos he's he lives with your family, and he knows

501
00:30:06.480 --> 00:30:17.400
what and he went where sun he did? And where

502
00:30:17.480 --> 00:30:19.079
do you know where Susan went?

503
00:30:20.559 --> 00:30:20.599
No?

504
00:30:20.839 --> 00:30:26.839
Like John, guys, we we can't talk of oustujaik campaign.

505
00:30:27.599 --> 00:30:32.200
I I always keep things as secret.

506
00:30:32.640 --> 00:30:35.000
Look, talking to children, we all know this, if you've

507
00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:38.640
been around them, they can get things, you know, mixed

508
00:30:38.720 --> 00:30:42.160
up because they're little, and they they take reality and

509
00:30:42.200 --> 00:30:46.000
they take what they remember, and sometimes they'll intertwine those things.

510
00:30:46.000 --> 00:30:50.000
But obviously, little Charlie here is combining his own thoughts

511
00:30:50.440 --> 00:30:53.720
with information someone else has provided him, and hearing his

512
00:30:53.759 --> 00:30:57.440
little voice talk about his mommy and then referring to

513
00:30:57.519 --> 00:31:02.200
her as Susan at some point that was painful for

514
00:31:02.319 --> 00:31:09.240
me as a mama, because you know, when you're somebody's

515
00:31:09.279 --> 00:31:12.799
mommy and you love them with your entire heart and soul,

516
00:31:13.039 --> 00:31:16.039
and then you're reduced to your first name. And I

517
00:31:16.039 --> 00:31:18.319
say reduced because mommy is a title that is so

518
00:31:18.400 --> 00:31:22.559
special to a mom and then to be called Susan,

519
00:31:23.519 --> 00:31:27.000
that really hurt my heart for Susan and the way

520
00:31:27.039 --> 00:31:29.000
I interpreted this, And look, it's a free world. You

521
00:31:29.240 --> 00:31:30.640
can interpret it how you want, and I'm going to

522
00:31:30.680 --> 00:31:33.359
just give you my opinion. But hearing his little voice

523
00:31:33.400 --> 00:31:37.160
talk about his mommy and then switching and then referring

524
00:31:37.160 --> 00:31:40.400
to her as Susan, I think when he's saying mommy,

525
00:31:40.480 --> 00:31:42.839
that's his own thoughts, and I think when he's saying Susan,

526
00:31:42.960 --> 00:31:46.759
it's from the coaching that he got from an adult.

527
00:31:47.880 --> 00:31:49.680
I could be wrong, that's just how I feel it is.

528
00:31:50.680 --> 00:31:54.000
But he mentioned an uncle. John knows where Susan is

529
00:31:54.000 --> 00:31:56.720
in that audio, and the only John I wanted to

530
00:31:56.759 --> 00:31:58.759
address because I knew someone would probably ask me. The

531
00:31:58.799 --> 00:32:02.440
only John that I'm aware of is Josh's younger brother, John,

532
00:32:02.920 --> 00:32:07.440
and he was never considered a suspect in Susan's disappearance whatsoever.

533
00:32:07.880 --> 00:32:10.119
So I'm going to address that again later towards the

534
00:32:10.240 --> 00:32:12.440
end of this episode, but just keep that in mind

535
00:32:12.480 --> 00:32:14.720
if you were wondering who John was. That was Josh's brother.

536
00:32:15.640 --> 00:32:18.839
So it was September twenty eighth, twenty eleven, and the

537
00:32:18.920 --> 00:32:20.920
Powell boys were moved into the home of Chuck and

538
00:32:21.000 --> 00:32:24.839
Judy Cox, but Josh wasn't completely removed from the boys' lives.

539
00:32:25.279 --> 00:32:29.960
Josh would be allowed supervised visits, much to his irritation

540
00:32:30.440 --> 00:32:33.799
because he didn't want people watching him interact with his children.

541
00:32:35.240 --> 00:32:38.359
So when they all returned before the court in February

542
00:32:38.440 --> 00:32:41.519
of twenty twelve, the presiding judge ruled that the boys

543
00:32:41.519 --> 00:32:45.160
would remain in the custody of Susan's parents, but Josh

544
00:32:45.160 --> 00:32:48.839
would be given the opportunity to get them back. The

545
00:32:48.920 --> 00:32:53.039
requirement though for him to do this, would be that

546
00:32:53.119 --> 00:32:57.319
he would have to undergo a psycho sexual evaluation, and

547
00:32:57.359 --> 00:33:00.680
these evaluations are done to determine if the person being

548
00:33:00.720 --> 00:33:04.920
tested is at risk for a offending in a sexual way,

549
00:33:05.599 --> 00:33:08.440
and b if that is thought that it could be

550
00:33:08.440 --> 00:33:12.240
an issue, then what therapies might that person require in

551
00:33:12.319 --> 00:33:15.720
order to correct these behaviors. So I want to give

552
00:33:15.720 --> 00:33:17.640
you a little more insight to this so you'll understand

553
00:33:17.680 --> 00:33:21.519
exactly what would have happened there. A psychologist, first of all,

554
00:33:21.559 --> 00:33:23.920
would take down information on the person that they were testing,

555
00:33:23.960 --> 00:33:26.079
and this is gonna be thing like things like personal

556
00:33:26.119 --> 00:33:31.039
and family background, education and employment history, substance abuse history,

557
00:33:31.599 --> 00:33:36.000
sexual history and interests, and things like that, if they've

558
00:33:36.000 --> 00:33:39.039
ever been treated for any type of sexual issue whatever.

559
00:33:39.799 --> 00:33:43.759
Then it moves into the psychological testing, which includes not

560
00:33:43.799 --> 00:33:47.799
only evaluating their mental status, but they're also going to

561
00:33:47.799 --> 00:33:52.319
look at things like their personality traits, their propensity towards

562
00:33:52.400 --> 00:33:59.480
criminal behavior. But one unsettling test that is also completed

563
00:34:00.119 --> 00:34:05.480
is a specialized test to identify deviant sexual interests in

564
00:34:05.599 --> 00:34:08.679
conjunction with patterns of arousal. Now, I'm gonna warn you

565
00:34:08.719 --> 00:34:12.599
real quick this is very uncomfortable for the average person.

566
00:34:13.119 --> 00:34:15.719
But if you're curious about what they do, I've got

567
00:34:15.719 --> 00:34:17.480
the information for you and I'm going to share it.

568
00:34:17.639 --> 00:34:19.760
If this isn't for you, you can fast forward for

569
00:34:19.800 --> 00:34:21.679
the next thirty seconds or so, and you don't have

570
00:34:21.760 --> 00:34:25.239
to hear this part. So what's done here to determine

571
00:34:25.280 --> 00:34:29.239
the sexual deviant interest and the pattern of arousal is

572
00:34:29.760 --> 00:34:33.400
the person is seated in a room and they play

573
00:34:33.440 --> 00:34:39.280
a combination of audio along with visual images. Now, the audio,

574
00:34:39.360 --> 00:34:42.360
I want to tell you, is very provocative and it's

575
00:34:42.480 --> 00:34:49.119
very sexually deviant. Just the audio portion. The images that

576
00:34:49.199 --> 00:34:51.920
are shown are not and I want to be clear

577
00:34:51.920 --> 00:34:55.960
on this, they are not child pornography. There are normal

578
00:34:56.119 --> 00:35:03.719
child photos that a sexually deviant person might be aroused by. So,

579
00:35:03.840 --> 00:35:06.639
for example, there may be a child, a toddler, laying

580
00:35:06.639 --> 00:35:09.559
on their back on the ground drinking a bottle of milk,

581
00:35:09.639 --> 00:35:13.119
a very normative photograph. Anyone else who looked at it

582
00:35:13.119 --> 00:35:15.599
would say, oh, look a baby drinking milk. But the

583
00:35:15.800 --> 00:35:20.880
audio while they're viewing that picture will say things like,

584
00:35:21.079 --> 00:35:23.440
oh wow, she really knows how to suck on her bottle,

585
00:35:24.119 --> 00:35:28.199
keep going, keep going. Just very uncomfortable for the average Joe.

586
00:35:28.239 --> 00:35:30.199
I'm uncomfortable telling it to you, but that's what it is.

587
00:35:31.000 --> 00:35:34.039
There's a third component component to this test as well,

588
00:35:34.239 --> 00:35:37.519
and that's going to be that arousal measurement portion. And

589
00:35:37.559 --> 00:35:39.440
this is done via something that's done as a penal

590
00:35:39.559 --> 00:35:44.199
put the ismograph, and it's a ring shaped gauge that

591
00:35:44.360 --> 00:35:47.360
is placed over the shaft of the man's penis, and

592
00:35:47.559 --> 00:35:50.360
if he becomes aroused, even if he tries to fight it,

593
00:35:50.440 --> 00:35:55.800
even if it's the most minimal arousal response possible, the

594
00:35:55.840 --> 00:35:59.000
gauge is so sensitive that it will detect the growth

595
00:35:59.480 --> 00:36:02.920
or the the blood input into that part of the body.

596
00:36:03.159 --> 00:36:05.239
And it works a whole lot like a light detector test,

597
00:36:05.280 --> 00:36:09.320
because the subject would have these monitors around their chest

598
00:36:09.519 --> 00:36:12.199
and they would also have these little monitors on their fingers,

599
00:36:12.199 --> 00:36:15.159
and that's gonna measure things like their breathing rates and

600
00:36:15.199 --> 00:36:17.559
their sweat because obviously, if there was a rousal, this

601
00:36:17.599 --> 00:36:20.119
would cause blood flow to increase as that heart is

602
00:36:20.159 --> 00:36:23.559
beating faster, and then the body produces more sweat. The

603
00:36:23.639 --> 00:36:27.440
thing is this, if Josh was a pervert, this test

604
00:36:27.559 --> 00:36:30.599
was gonna prove it. And Josh was not jumping to

605
00:36:30.639 --> 00:36:33.519
take that test. His response to the court was that

606
00:36:33.639 --> 00:36:35.639
he felt that he had proved himself a fit and

607
00:36:35.760 --> 00:36:38.920
loving father. He was providing a stable home for the boys,

608
00:36:39.239 --> 00:36:40.920
even in the face and this is a quote of

609
00:36:41.000 --> 00:36:44.079
great adversity and that he needed his young sons to

610
00:36:44.079 --> 00:36:49.119
come home. The reality is, though some stuff had been

611
00:36:49.159 --> 00:36:52.719
found in the home that not many people mention. But

612
00:36:52.760 --> 00:36:55.079
I'm your girl here and I'm gonna give it all

613
00:36:55.119 --> 00:36:59.280
to you, because everything matters in this case. Josh's dad

614
00:36:59.760 --> 00:37:02.840
wasn't the only one that had perverse material in the home.

615
00:37:02.960 --> 00:37:05.039
I know you're probably not shocked, but I'm here to

616
00:37:05.159 --> 00:37:10.199
verify it for you. Josh did too, and his fetish

617
00:37:11.280 --> 00:37:17.360
was incestuous sex between parents and their children. The courts

618
00:37:17.440 --> 00:37:21.159
were spot on in this testing that they wanted done

619
00:37:21.199 --> 00:37:24.840
on him. The images that were found were sexual images

620
00:37:25.360 --> 00:37:30.440
of popular kids cartoons, things like the Rugrats, SpongeBob, SquarePants,

621
00:37:30.519 --> 00:37:35.920
Dennis the Menace, and it's just unconscionable what that material

622
00:37:36.239 --> 00:37:42.360
showed on his computer. There was another fifteen images, y'all

623
00:37:42.559 --> 00:37:45.840
that showed three D depictions of sex involving parents and

624
00:37:45.880 --> 00:37:52.360
their own children. It's unbelievable the perversion that these children

625
00:37:52.400 --> 00:37:55.159
were in a home with. So Josh had hired an

626
00:37:55.199 --> 00:37:57.800
attorney and he was in communication with him over the

627
00:37:57.880 --> 00:38:01.760
unfolding custody situation. Her His name was Jeffrey Bassett and

628
00:38:01.840 --> 00:38:03.880
they both they would they would go back and forth

629
00:38:04.159 --> 00:38:07.559
not only by phone but by email correspondence, and Josh

630
00:38:07.760 --> 00:38:10.360
just was not getting his way in the courtroom as

631
00:38:10.360 --> 00:38:13.760
he shouldn't have. But he thought with this representation he

632
00:38:13.800 --> 00:38:15.840
had that he was just going to get his kids back.

633
00:38:16.599 --> 00:38:20.239
So the defense opted in court in regards to all

634
00:38:20.239 --> 00:38:23.840
these images that were found to say, oh, those weren't Josh's.

635
00:38:24.159 --> 00:38:25.800
But this is the part that kind of irks me.

636
00:38:26.960 --> 00:38:30.320
But even if they were Josh's, his defense was that

637
00:38:30.360 --> 00:38:36.119
there's nothing illegal about cartoons having sex and drawings. It's

638
00:38:36.320 --> 00:38:38.920
just a drawing. And I'm not going to go off

639
00:38:38.960 --> 00:38:40.760
on a tangent here, but I want to point something

640
00:38:40.800 --> 00:38:43.079
out to everybody, and what I'm gonna point out to

641
00:38:43.119 --> 00:38:45.239
you is the world of AI that we are living

642
00:38:45.280 --> 00:38:47.239
in right now, because this is going to get scary.

643
00:38:47.280 --> 00:38:50.079
Y'all can mark my words on this. If you don't

644
00:38:50.079 --> 00:38:54.360
think evil, it's this will never cross your mind. But

645
00:38:54.599 --> 00:38:56.920
we are going to be in a new age of deviance.

646
00:38:57.239 --> 00:39:02.440
Hear me out. People can create AI images and they're fake, y'all.

647
00:39:02.480 --> 00:39:06.800
They're totally fake, but they look very real and they're

648
00:39:06.840 --> 00:39:12.239
making child porn images. Think about it. Think about that

649
00:39:12.679 --> 00:39:16.119
someone can take your face, your child's face, and make

650
00:39:16.159 --> 00:39:18.800
an AI simulation with them on it. It looks real

651
00:39:18.840 --> 00:39:21.639
as all get out. How are you gonna feel about that?

652
00:39:22.199 --> 00:39:24.360
So don't come at me with this shit about it's

653
00:39:24.360 --> 00:39:27.880
not real. So it doesn't matter. I don't care, not

654
00:39:28.000 --> 00:39:31.039
when it comes to children, it's off limits. But y'all

655
00:39:31.079 --> 00:39:34.360
better consider that. You better consider it because it's gonna happen.

656
00:39:34.559 --> 00:39:38.320
This defense, to me was sick. I don't care who

657
00:39:38.360 --> 00:39:42.320
it is in the drawing, but incestuous material depicting in

658
00:39:42.400 --> 00:39:45.880
any manner with a child or anyone for that matter,

659
00:39:46.280 --> 00:39:48.760
it's not art. That would be your only other thing

660
00:39:48.800 --> 00:39:51.719
to say, Oh it's art. No, absolutely not. It's sick

661
00:39:51.880 --> 00:39:55.840
and it's perverse, and it's unacceptable in our society. So

662
00:39:56.000 --> 00:39:58.719
Josh wanted to have the kids visit with him at

663
00:39:58.760 --> 00:40:01.280
his own house, but again there was that great deal

664
00:40:01.320 --> 00:40:04.000
of pushback from the Coxes. They were adamant, this is

665
00:40:04.000 --> 00:40:06.039
not a good idea, and I know we all agree

666
00:40:06.079 --> 00:40:09.559
with them. They were very vocal. Susan's parents were very

667
00:40:09.679 --> 00:40:12.760
vocal with anyone and everyone involved in this case that

668
00:40:12.840 --> 00:40:15.079
they felt like Josh was more than capable at this

669
00:40:15.199 --> 00:40:18.639
point of hurting or even possibly killing the children. And

670
00:40:18.679 --> 00:40:21.519
I mean, shit, we haven't even found Susan, y'all. We

671
00:40:21.599 --> 00:40:26.199
got Grandpa in prison, we got Dad looking at incestuous

672
00:40:26.199 --> 00:40:31.159
material porn, and we don't even know where Susan is.

673
00:40:32.000 --> 00:40:35.719
This is huge. I think the Coxes were on point here.

674
00:40:35.920 --> 00:40:38.639
Their main concern was this, and they expressed it very clearly.

675
00:40:38.960 --> 00:40:43.320
If Josh feels cornered and it's starting to feel like

676
00:40:43.440 --> 00:40:45.559
he may lose these children or that y'all might arrest

677
00:40:45.599 --> 00:40:49.639
him at some point, he might hurt our grandchildren, He's

678
00:40:49.679 --> 00:40:54.239
like a caged animal. So originally the plan was that

679
00:40:54.280 --> 00:40:57.559
they were going to do supervised visitations at a secure facility,

680
00:40:57.599 --> 00:41:00.639
like a third party secure facility, not the home of

681
00:41:00.760 --> 00:41:05.159
Josh and Stephen Powell. So Josh took that to be okay, Well,

682
00:41:05.159 --> 00:41:07.400
if I go get a different house away from my dad,

683
00:41:07.679 --> 00:41:10.079
then that should change things. So he went and rented

684
00:41:10.119 --> 00:41:12.079
his own home and then made a plea before the

685
00:41:12.079 --> 00:41:15.280
courts that this wasn't his father's home so he shouldn't

686
00:41:15.280 --> 00:41:19.039
be held under the same restrictions. The Coxes at this

687
00:41:19.159 --> 00:41:22.400
point are like whoa no no, no, no, no no.

688
00:41:23.119 --> 00:41:26.719
And while all of their concerns were noted. The decision

689
00:41:26.800 --> 00:41:30.119
was eventually made that the children would get to go

690
00:41:30.199 --> 00:41:34.360
visit Josh at his new home, but a Child Protective

691
00:41:34.400 --> 00:41:38.280
Services worker would remain with the children and supervise every

692
00:41:38.719 --> 00:41:43.360
visit while it happened. That social worker that was assigned

693
00:41:43.360 --> 00:41:47.519
to the supervision was named Elizabeth Griffin Hall. So on

694
00:41:47.559 --> 00:41:51.039
the morning of February fifth, twenty twelve, the Coxes had

695
00:41:51.039 --> 00:41:54.000
the boys, as was the custody agreement, but it was

696
00:41:54.039 --> 00:41:57.480
a visitation day with their dad, Josh. So they got

697
00:41:57.480 --> 00:42:00.199
the boys ready. They were getting them all packed up up,

698
00:42:00.840 --> 00:42:04.079
and the boys were telling the Coxes, we don't want

699
00:42:04.079 --> 00:42:07.480
to go. We just want to stay here. And normally, okay,

700
00:42:07.480 --> 00:42:09.320
if kids didn't want to go visit, you would just

701
00:42:09.320 --> 00:42:11.920
say okay, but this was a court order. They didn't

702
00:42:12.000 --> 00:42:14.440
have an option. The boys had to go. The Coxes

703
00:42:14.480 --> 00:42:19.440
had to turn the boys over to Elizabeth. So the grandparents,

704
00:42:19.480 --> 00:42:22.079
while getting them dressed, promised them, you're gonna come back

705
00:42:22.079 --> 00:42:24.639
home to us. It's gonna be okay. The visit's just

706
00:42:24.679 --> 00:42:26.599
gonna be a little while, and then when you get

707
00:42:26.639 --> 00:42:29.599
back home, everything's gonna be good and dandy. Don't worry

708
00:42:29.599 --> 00:42:33.079
about a thing, because they're good people, y'all. And I

709
00:42:33.079 --> 00:42:36.360
imagine the Coxes probably said something like, your daddy loves

710
00:42:36.400 --> 00:42:38.960
you and he wants to see you, knowing full well

711
00:42:39.239 --> 00:42:43.119
that he probably killed their daughter. But they're good people

712
00:42:43.400 --> 00:42:45.480
and they're not going to traumatize those children like that.

713
00:42:46.199 --> 00:42:48.960
So they hugged the boys and they handed them off

714
00:42:49.119 --> 00:42:53.039
to Elizabeth. So they got in the car and Elizabeth

715
00:42:53.119 --> 00:42:56.320
drove them to the new home of Josh Powell. The

716
00:42:56.360 --> 00:42:59.159
boys popped open the doors and they unloaded from the car,

717
00:42:59.199 --> 00:43:01.320
and she was right there with them, one step behind them.

718
00:43:01.360 --> 00:43:03.719
As they were approaching the front door, the boys are

719
00:43:03.719 --> 00:43:07.119
giggling and playing about and just being little boys. So

720
00:43:07.199 --> 00:43:09.440
Josh came to the door after they knocked. He opened

721
00:43:09.440 --> 00:43:11.599
the door smiling, and he told Charlie, Charlie, I have

722
00:43:11.639 --> 00:43:14.679
a surprise for you. And so the boys both darted

723
00:43:14.719 --> 00:43:18.800
into the house, excited for their surprise, and right as

724
00:43:18.800 --> 00:43:23.400
Elizabeth went to step inside following them, Josh slammed the

725
00:43:23.400 --> 00:43:26.719
door in her face and put the dead bolt on.

726
00:43:28.079 --> 00:43:32.400
So stunned, she knocked on the door and she yelled Josh.

727
00:43:32.719 --> 00:43:37.800
Josh opened the door. Boys, boys opened the door. She knocked,

728
00:43:38.280 --> 00:43:42.079
and she knocked, but the door was never opened, and

729
00:43:42.159 --> 00:43:44.920
at that point she could hear the boys crying, but

730
00:43:45.039 --> 00:43:49.159
she couldn't get inside. As all of this was going on,

731
00:43:49.320 --> 00:43:53.320
she realized that she was smelling a very strong smell

732
00:43:53.719 --> 00:43:56.880
of gasoline coming from the door. And you know, it

733
00:43:56.880 --> 00:43:59.679
takes time for her brain to comprehend everything that's going on.

734
00:44:00.079 --> 00:44:01.960
So she stepped back a few steps from the door,

735
00:44:02.039 --> 00:44:05.559
trying to understand what is going on, what could be happening,

736
00:44:06.280 --> 00:44:07.880
And then she says, oh my god, this is bad.

737
00:44:08.119 --> 00:44:10.400
This is really bad, and she runs and she grabs

738
00:44:10.440 --> 00:44:12.639
her cell phone and she dials nine to one one.

739
00:44:13.400 --> 00:44:16.519
I'm gonna play you the full nine to one one call,

740
00:44:16.519 --> 00:44:18.599
and I'm playing it for a reason. I could have

741
00:44:18.679 --> 00:44:22.159
cut out the parts where the listener might feel like,

742
00:44:22.320 --> 00:44:25.039
you know, there's non essential information going back and forth,

743
00:44:25.079 --> 00:44:28.440
but I want you to hear it in its entirety. Okay,

744
00:44:28.480 --> 00:44:31.480
there's a reason. There's gonna be a beep too inside

745
00:44:31.480 --> 00:44:34.440
this audio. Just be prepared when the worker gives her

746
00:44:35.159 --> 00:44:37.679
when Elizabeth gives her phone number, so that long beep

747
00:44:37.760 --> 00:44:40.000
is in here on purpose, it's blocking out the number.

748
00:44:40.159 --> 00:44:43.639
Keep in mind the entire time that this call is happening.

749
00:44:44.199 --> 00:44:47.000
She is locked out of the house and Josh has

750
00:44:47.039 --> 00:44:48.760
the kids with no supervision.

751
00:44:49.199 --> 00:44:51.719
Okay, hey, I'm on a hip.

752
00:44:53.639 --> 00:44:57.440
To get it and something really happened to keep going

753
00:44:57.519 --> 00:45:00.360
into the house and the parent good bye luck okay,

754
00:45:00.360 --> 00:45:02.719
And the same as Josh Powell will not let me

755
00:45:02.760 --> 00:45:03.760
in the door.

756
00:45:05.280 --> 00:45:06.000
What should I do?

757
00:45:06.239 --> 00:45:06.320
What?

758
00:45:07.920 --> 00:45:11.880
It's eight one one nine and I think it's eighty nine.

759
00:45:13.119 --> 00:45:14.519
I don't know what the address is.

760
00:45:15.079 --> 00:45:18.880
It's important for me to know, so I can't just

761
00:45:19.360 --> 00:45:20.639
let me get in my car and see if I

762
00:45:20.639 --> 00:45:24.320
can if I can find it. I'm this and nothing

763
00:45:24.480 --> 00:45:29.559
like this has ever happened before, uh these.

764
00:45:29.480 --> 00:45:33.079
Visitations, So I'm really shocked.

765
00:45:33.559 --> 00:45:34.400
And I could hear.

766
00:45:34.199 --> 00:45:37.039
One of the kids crying that he still wouldn't let

767
00:45:37.039 --> 00:45:37.280
me in.

768
00:45:37.760 --> 00:45:46.800
Okay, it is uh one, oh.

769
00:45:45.480 --> 00:45:49.800
To Seneta, I have it here, it can't find me

770
00:45:49.840 --> 00:45:51.239
by GPS.

771
00:45:51.360 --> 00:46:02.639
Nope, okay, okay it is.

772
00:46:05.119 --> 00:46:14.559
I still can't find it, but I think I need

773
00:46:14.679 --> 00:46:15.400
help right away.

774
00:46:15.480 --> 00:46:19.360
He's on a very short lease CFAES and.

775
00:46:19.440 --> 00:46:22.679
PSS then involved. And this is the craziest thing. He

776
00:46:22.719 --> 00:46:24.440
looked dry up me and closed the door.

777
00:46:26.079 --> 00:46:28.039
Are you there, yes, ma'am. I'm just waiting to know

778
00:46:28.039 --> 00:46:28.519
where you are.

779
00:46:28.639 --> 00:46:33.039
Okay, it's eight one one nine street or eat pure

780
00:46:33.039 --> 00:46:37.239
hour nine eight three seven five. And I'd like to

781
00:46:37.280 --> 00:46:40.519
pull out of the driveway because they smell gasoline.

782
00:46:39.880 --> 00:46:40.800
And he won't let me in.

783
00:46:42.360 --> 00:46:43.960
Do you want to pull out of the driveway because

784
00:46:43.960 --> 00:46:45.360
you smell gasoline? But he won't.

785
00:46:46.599 --> 00:46:47.400
He won't let me in.

786
00:46:48.239 --> 00:46:50.039
He won't let you out of the driveway.

787
00:46:50.239 --> 00:46:53.599
You won't let me in the house. It's in the house,

788
00:46:53.639 --> 00:46:56.039
and he won't let me in. It's a supervised is it?

789
00:46:56.320 --> 00:46:58.280
I understand house? Is it?

790
00:46:59.119 --> 00:46:59.920
Josh Howe?

791
00:47:00.320 --> 00:47:03.599
Okay, so you don't live there, right? No, I don't know.

792
00:47:03.760 --> 00:47:07.679
I'm contracted to the state to provide supervised visitation.

793
00:47:07.559 --> 00:47:08.599
I say, okay.

794
00:47:09.239 --> 00:47:11.480
And and who is there to exercise their visitor?

795
00:47:12.840 --> 00:47:16.639
I am uh And the visiting with Josh Powell and

796
00:47:17.159 --> 00:47:19.559
against the husband that I supervised.

797
00:47:20.360 --> 00:47:22.360
So you supervised and you're doing the business?

798
00:47:23.280 --> 00:47:26.960
Yeah, I supervised s I supervised myself.

799
00:47:26.960 --> 00:47:31.119
I'm the supervisor. Here. Wait a minute, the supervise visit.

800
00:47:31.360 --> 00:47:35.280
You can't supervise yourself if you supervise myself. I'm the

801
00:47:35.360 --> 00:47:37.320
supervisor to the supervised visit.

802
00:47:38.599 --> 00:47:40.440
Okay, Well, aren't you the one making aren't you the

803
00:47:40.480 --> 00:47:43.519
one making the visit, your supervisor.

804
00:47:44.280 --> 00:47:47.679
Yes, I'm the one that supervises. I picked up the kids.

805
00:47:47.679 --> 00:47:49.519
That's their grandparents.

806
00:47:51.360 --> 00:47:56.360
And then who visits with the children, Josh Powell. Okay,

807
00:47:56.360 --> 00:47:58.760
so you're supposed to be there to supervise Josh Powell's

808
00:47:58.840 --> 00:47:59.760
visit with the children.

809
00:48:00.079 --> 00:48:01.039
Ye, that's crap.

810
00:48:02.840 --> 00:48:06.239
And and here's the husband of missing Susan Powell.

811
00:48:07.079 --> 00:48:09.599
How did you know this is the high profile case?

812
00:48:09.719 --> 00:48:12.199
How did he how did he get that to the

813
00:48:12.320 --> 00:48:13.960
children before you talking?

814
00:48:15.039 --> 00:48:17.920
I was one step and back of them.

815
00:48:17.920 --> 00:48:20.039
Okay, I walked you out.

816
00:48:20.920 --> 00:48:24.440
Yeah, he keeck the door right in my tape. Your

817
00:48:24.519 --> 00:48:28.119
last name, my name is Elizabeth Cripple Hall.

818
00:48:33.480 --> 00:48:34.800
Rit Hall is hypenated.

819
00:48:35.760 --> 00:48:35.960
Yeah.

820
00:48:38.599 --> 00:48:49.880
And what's your phone number, Elizabeth? And what do you

821
00:48:49.880 --> 00:48:51.880
can hear you with bust?

822
00:48:51.920 --> 00:48:58.280
You carry's first network?

823
00:48:59.760 --> 00:49:03.320
And the kids has been in there approx By now approximately?

824
00:49:08.119 --> 00:49:11.679
And he knows that it's a supervised visit to Brandon

825
00:49:12.159 --> 00:49:14.639
is five and Charlie is seven.

826
00:49:26.840 --> 00:49:29.480
Is the dead last na Powell?

827
00:49:29.559 --> 00:49:30.960
P O W E L.

828
00:49:31.199 --> 00:49:35.719
L who well two ELSA Powel.

829
00:49:36.559 --> 00:49:44.599
Yes, his first name is Josh black white.

830
00:49:42.639 --> 00:49:49.639
And he's white. I don't know. He's about thirty nine

831
00:49:50.039 --> 00:49:50.679
for pall.

832
00:49:52.320 --> 00:49:55.199
Five ten, one hundred and fifty pounds.

833
00:49:56.599 --> 00:50:01.679
Their color brown? Did you notice when he was wearing?

834
00:50:02.639 --> 00:50:04.719
No, I didn't notice when he was wearing.

835
00:50:06.039 --> 00:50:07.960
Did you loan or anybody?

836
00:50:08.039 --> 00:50:09.639
I don't know. If I couldn't get in the.

837
00:50:09.559 --> 00:50:15.360
House, why.

838
00:50:24.159 --> 00:50:25.639
Are you in a vehicle? Now we're on point.

839
00:50:26.239 --> 00:50:30.079
I'm in a vehicle. I'm gonna pres and I'm kickousand

840
00:50:30.079 --> 00:50:30.559
and ten three.

841
00:50:31.400 --> 00:50:33.639
Will tell the doors? What did he want?

842
00:50:33.760 --> 00:50:36.280
He was and opened the door. I rang the doorbell

843
00:50:36.320 --> 00:50:39.079
and everything which I take him to. Let me end.

844
00:50:39.880 --> 00:50:42.480
Please listen to my questions. What color is the twitter

845
00:50:42.559 --> 00:50:44.000
prius pray?

846
00:50:44.199 --> 00:50:44.960
That pray?

847
00:50:45.159 --> 00:50:46.119
And the license number?

848
00:50:47.760 --> 00:50:48.159
I don't know.

849
00:50:48.239 --> 00:50:49.079
I can watch.

850
00:50:57.880 --> 00:50:59.800
Seven five zero of the m h.

851
00:51:00.280 --> 00:51:05.199
Vibra Marry Henry. Yeah, all right, we'll have company of.

852
00:51:05.159 --> 00:51:08.159
A p there. Okay, how long will it be?

853
00:51:08.239 --> 00:51:10.000
I don't know. Man. They have to respond to emergant

854
00:51:10.039 --> 00:51:13.880
fy like Brittany situation by the first available deputy.

855
00:51:15.119 --> 00:51:19.760
Threatening her on Wednesday and he kicked.

856
00:51:19.639 --> 00:51:24.079
Back and they're alive.

857
00:51:24.480 --> 00:51:26.639
Okay, i'd be written the lie to the children previously.

858
00:51:27.760 --> 00:51:28.760
I have no idea.

859
00:51:28.840 --> 00:51:31.320
All right, we'll have the first available deputy contact you.

860
00:51:32.880 --> 00:51:33.719
Thank you, hie.

861
00:51:39.280 --> 00:51:43.199
Now that call was almost ten minutes long. And what

862
00:51:43.239 --> 00:51:45.960
I'm about to tell you, we'll explain while I wanted

863
00:51:46.000 --> 00:51:48.960
why I wanted you to hear the full call. When

864
00:51:48.960 --> 00:51:52.440
the boys went inside, Josh slammed the door and he

865
00:51:52.559 --> 00:51:54.760
locked it, and he had told those boys I have

866
00:51:54.760 --> 00:51:58.000
a surprise for you, and got them all excited. But

867
00:51:58.079 --> 00:52:04.320
remember that's when Elizabeth started hearing that crying through the door. Well,

868
00:52:04.360 --> 00:52:07.840
now I know why she heard crying. It's because the

869
00:52:07.920 --> 00:52:12.320
surprise was for Josh Powell to pull out a hatchet

870
00:52:13.199 --> 00:52:16.239
that he was hiding, and he began to do something

871
00:52:16.559 --> 00:52:22.280
unimaginable to those little boys. He began chopping them alive

872
00:52:22.960 --> 00:52:27.519
with the hatchet. He swung it, chopping at their heads

873
00:52:28.079 --> 00:52:31.719
and at their little necks, and he chopped on them

874
00:52:32.320 --> 00:52:36.119
until the kids were both unconscious and unable to do anything,

875
00:52:37.239 --> 00:52:41.280
and then he carried them into the living room. The

876
00:52:41.400 --> 00:52:44.599
whole time that that was going on, the social worker

877
00:52:44.599 --> 00:52:47.639
Elizabeth was on the phone making that phone call with

878
00:52:47.760 --> 00:52:51.280
that condescending nine to one one operator who's acting as

879
00:52:51.320 --> 00:52:56.079
if she's overreacting, and as she's smelling the gasoline and

880
00:52:56.119 --> 00:52:58.960
looking for the address in her car. By the way, y'all,

881
00:52:59.199 --> 00:53:02.400
units should have been en route already Code three lights

882
00:53:02.400 --> 00:53:05.920
and sirens at this point, but they're not because he's

883
00:53:05.960 --> 00:53:10.639
condescending and he thinks that she's overreacting. And while that's

884
00:53:10.639 --> 00:53:13.519
going on, he has the time. He lays the boys

885
00:53:13.719 --> 00:53:16.199
wounded bodies on the carpet next to a bucket that

886
00:53:16.239 --> 00:53:19.440
he has seated there, and those little boys weren't dead.

887
00:53:20.199 --> 00:53:23.400
They were gravely injured, but they were both still alive.

888
00:53:25.320 --> 00:53:29.039
Josh then poured five gallons of gasoline all over the

889
00:53:29.199 --> 00:53:32.119
entry of the home and saturated the room that he

890
00:53:32.320 --> 00:53:36.239
and those boys were in, and near the bucket there

891
00:53:36.280 --> 00:53:39.679
was a gas can full of an additional ten gallons

892
00:53:39.719 --> 00:53:43.679
of gasoline. The phone call to nine one one ended

893
00:53:44.199 --> 00:53:48.559
about this time, and then the social worker decided to

894
00:53:48.559 --> 00:53:50.559
move her car to the road because she was unsure

895
00:53:50.559 --> 00:53:54.880
of what was going on, but having called the very

896
00:53:55.000 --> 00:53:58.639
people you're trained to call in an emergency, she expected

897
00:53:58.679 --> 00:54:01.519
the police to pull up any minute, and she watched

898
00:54:01.519 --> 00:54:04.159
the house, and desperately she would look down the street

899
00:54:04.199 --> 00:54:06.440
looking for a police car, but she wouldn't see one,

900
00:54:06.840 --> 00:54:08.719
and she'd look back at the house, and she was waiting,

901
00:54:08.800 --> 00:54:11.719
listening for sirens, listening for somebody that was coming to

902
00:54:11.719 --> 00:54:14.360
help these little boys. She has no clue what's happening

903
00:54:14.360 --> 00:54:17.519
behind that door. I want to tell y'all, she looks

904
00:54:17.519 --> 00:54:19.840
to be in her late fifties and early sixties. She

905
00:54:19.920 --> 00:54:22.119
wasn't in a position to kick down a door, nor

906
00:54:22.239 --> 00:54:24.639
was she authorized to, by the way, So I do

907
00:54:24.760 --> 00:54:27.199
not want to villainize this woman. Please do not let

908
00:54:27.280 --> 00:54:29.639
that happen. She did all that she knew to do

909
00:54:29.719 --> 00:54:33.159
in the moment, but she stood there waiting in desperation

910
00:54:33.519 --> 00:54:37.519
for help that wasn't coming. And it was at this

911
00:54:37.719 --> 00:54:41.880
point that Joshua Powell sat down on top of that bucket,

912
00:54:43.320 --> 00:54:50.400
lit a match and dropped it. Boom. That whole house

913
00:54:50.639 --> 00:54:53.239
exploded into flames.

914
00:54:55.039 --> 00:54:56.599
Oh, maam, were you calling?

915
00:55:00.440 --> 00:55:01.880
Ma'am?

916
00:55:00.760 --> 00:55:01.000
You know?

917
00:55:01.880 --> 00:55:02.199
Okay?

918
00:55:02.239 --> 00:55:04.000
Do you know the exact address of the house?

919
00:55:04.079 --> 00:55:09.280
Are you is there? One one one eight nine Courtney

920
00:55:09.760 --> 00:55:10.119
two hour?

921
00:55:10.159 --> 00:55:10.960
Okay? Camline?

922
00:55:11.000 --> 00:55:12.199
Do you know if anyone's in the house.

923
00:55:13.400 --> 00:55:16.679
Yes, there was a man, Eric's children. I just dropped

924
00:55:16.719 --> 00:55:18.840
off the children and he wouldn't let me in the door.

925
00:55:19.199 --> 00:55:20.400
Candline for the party department.

926
00:55:20.400 --> 00:55:21.719
Okay, I'm gonna get them on the line.

927
00:55:21.760 --> 00:55:23.079
Do not hang up full.

928
00:55:22.960 --> 00:55:31.880
Time on the phone.

929
00:55:31.920 --> 00:55:32.719
There was now.

930
00:55:40.239 --> 00:55:44.159
That's quirement, right, fire, the supposed that mes a chanceling

931
00:55:44.239 --> 00:55:44.800
the lady who.

932
00:55:44.719 --> 00:55:46.679
Has an exact address of the house that is on

933
00:55:46.840 --> 00:55:50.079
fire there in the one eight equity's neighborhood.

934
00:55:51.440 --> 00:55:55.760
Yes, okay, I wouldn't gave amatic back to dress. I

935
00:55:55.880 --> 00:56:06.559
dropped it a sorry just a minute. I can't hear

936
00:56:06.599 --> 00:56:07.000
the fire.

937
00:56:07.400 --> 00:56:09.719
But they're not there yet. It's eight one out and.

938
00:56:09.800 --> 00:56:15.920
Nine there what we have an engine there and the

939
00:56:16.119 --> 00:56:18.320
people are saying, there's not somebody here. But I was

940
00:56:18.480 --> 00:56:20.199
just there and there is somebody here.

941
00:56:20.239 --> 00:56:22.239
There's two little boys in the house and there were

942
00:56:22.840 --> 00:56:25.119
there are five and seven, and there's an adult man

943
00:56:25.199 --> 00:56:27.599
and he has to provide visitation. And he bought the

944
00:56:27.679 --> 00:56:28.559
house and the kids.

945
00:56:29.360 --> 00:56:31.679
The kids and the husband and the father were in

946
00:56:31.800 --> 00:56:32.239
the house.

947
00:56:32.880 --> 00:56:33.119
Yeah.

948
00:56:33.599 --> 00:56:36.119
Yeah, he slammed the door, and I say it, so

949
00:56:36.280 --> 00:56:38.360
I kept knocking. I thought it was a mistake. I

950
00:56:38.480 --> 00:56:40.480
kept knocking and then I called nine one one.

951
00:56:42.440 --> 00:56:44.760
You saw him go back into the house from the plane.

952
00:56:44.920 --> 00:56:48.400
Right before the plane. He didn't ever leave the house.

953
00:56:48.440 --> 00:56:49.400
He just opened the door.

954
00:56:49.480 --> 00:56:51.639
The kids were kids were one stat.

955
00:56:51.719 --> 00:56:54.079
They had a meet, five and seven they were one step.

956
00:56:54.119 --> 00:56:55.599
They had a meet, and he slammed the door in

957
00:56:55.679 --> 00:57:03.440
my face, and you think he might have done as intentionally. Yeah, okay, Donny,

958
00:57:03.480 --> 00:57:05.880
go ahead, Thank you very much.

959
00:57:05.960 --> 00:57:06.400
Fire man.

960
00:57:06.440 --> 00:57:07.400
What is your name? Please?

961
00:57:08.239 --> 00:57:14.079
I'm Alizabeth Griffin Hall and I'm the supervised Okay, just a.

962
00:57:14.119 --> 00:57:17.159
Moment, ma'am. Okay, So you're lasting Driff and.

963
00:57:17.199 --> 00:57:20.400
What Griff and Hall? The R I F F I

964
00:57:20.639 --> 00:57:23.800
M hyphen hall A K L I and you're.

965
00:57:30.639 --> 00:57:31.599
Okay, where are you?

966
00:57:31.840 --> 00:57:32.519
Where are you at?

967
00:57:32.719 --> 00:57:33.960
Where are you at right now?

968
00:57:34.480 --> 00:57:37.719
I'm I'm the eight one, one twelve on the same court.

969
00:57:38.239 --> 00:57:38.480
Okay.

970
00:57:38.599 --> 00:57:40.480
So you're waiting down the street to eat one one

971
00:57:40.599 --> 00:57:43.159
two Nat?

972
00:57:45.199 --> 00:57:48.199
Yeah, okay, and in your car?

973
00:57:49.719 --> 00:57:52.119
I wasn't my god, I'm standing outside it right now.

974
00:57:52.360 --> 00:57:52.639
Okay.

975
00:57:53.039 --> 00:57:57.840
That's your your No, that's not my way. I was

976
00:57:57.920 --> 00:57:59.880
the supervis Codinato.

977
00:58:01.800 --> 00:58:03.320
Yeah what.

978
00:58:06.400 --> 00:58:07.360
Josh Howell.

979
00:58:21.360 --> 00:58:27.239
Josh Powell had blown up the house himself and his

980
00:58:27.440 --> 00:58:33.079
two little boys, killing all three of them. I don't

981
00:58:33.079 --> 00:58:36.320
even have the words for the way that these calls

982
00:58:36.360 --> 00:58:40.840
went down. And I'm sure you're sitting here going what

983
00:58:41.119 --> 00:58:47.400
in the world. But Josh executed his evil plan because

984
00:58:47.400 --> 00:58:50.960
he had time to do so, and the condescension in

985
00:58:51.079 --> 00:58:53.599
that dispatcher's voice on that first nine one one call.

986
00:58:53.840 --> 00:58:56.360
That was frustrating enough, but the number of times that

987
00:58:56.440 --> 00:58:59.800
she had to repeat herself over and over between the

988
00:58:59.840 --> 00:59:05.000
two the two calls is maddening. Fire and police would

989
00:59:05.079 --> 00:59:06.960
finally arrive at the scene, y'all, but it was just

990
00:59:07.039 --> 00:59:10.800
beyond too late. The children were dead. Exactly what the

991
00:59:10.960 --> 00:59:14.599
Coxes had voiced their concern about over and over and

992
00:59:14.840 --> 00:59:21.800
over again, it happened. They weren't exaggerating. There's poor people.

993
00:59:23.039 --> 00:59:26.039
This case has lived rent free in my head since

994
00:59:26.079 --> 00:59:29.199
it happened, and it's been a lot of years to

995
00:59:29.360 --> 00:59:33.079
lose your daughter tragically, believe to be at the hands

996
00:59:33.119 --> 00:59:35.679
of your own son in law, do everything you can

997
00:59:36.199 --> 00:59:40.320
to protect your grandbabies, the last living piece of your daughter,

998
00:59:41.079 --> 00:59:43.960
only to have to turn them over to the very

999
00:59:44.039 --> 00:59:47.519
man that you despise, where he then mortally wounds them

1000
00:59:47.639 --> 00:59:54.480
both and then blows them up. The Coxes are victims

1001
00:59:54.519 --> 00:59:56.480
in the biggest sense of the word at this point.

1002
00:59:56.760 --> 01:00:00.360
How could this have happened? They had promised those baby

1003
01:00:00.400 --> 01:00:03.639
boys that everything would be okay, and y'all, it wouldn't.

1004
01:00:04.280 --> 01:00:09.599
It wouldn't be okay. And while left to process what

1005
01:00:09.760 --> 01:00:15.559
had happened and why. Some further truths were unveiled. It

1006
01:00:15.679 --> 01:00:18.599
turns out that within five minutes of the home exploding,

1007
01:00:19.000 --> 01:00:22.960
Josh's sister with no knowledge of the explosion. She didn't

1008
01:00:22.960 --> 01:00:25.920
have any clue about that, but within five minutes of

1009
01:00:25.960 --> 01:00:28.800
when that explosion took place, she had called nine to

1010
01:00:28.800 --> 01:00:31.280
one one, But it had nothing to do with that explosion.

1011
01:00:31.639 --> 01:00:34.239
She called because her brother had sent her an email

1012
01:00:34.760 --> 01:00:38.320
that she described as disturbing and she feared what he

1013
01:00:38.440 --> 01:00:43.480
might have done. Josh's attorney had also received an email,

1014
01:00:43.679 --> 01:00:47.880
and it basically said this, I'm sorry, goodbye, and it

1015
01:00:48.000 --> 01:00:52.920
was timestamped just minutes before that house blew up the

1016
01:00:53.039 --> 01:00:58.039
weekend before the murders of his children. This was all

1017
01:00:58.239 --> 01:01:01.840
planned out, and it had been planned out. He had

1018
01:01:01.920 --> 01:01:04.920
taken all of his boy's toys to goodwill. He had

1019
01:01:04.960 --> 01:01:09.159
gotten rid of all of his children's stuff. Now, why

1020
01:01:10.400 --> 01:01:13.800
let's talk about it. The reason is simple. The boys

1021
01:01:14.159 --> 01:01:18.320
knew too much and they were talking. They were drawing

1022
01:01:18.440 --> 01:01:21.800
pictures and saying things in the way of complete innocence

1023
01:01:22.079 --> 01:01:24.599
that only a child would But that was too risky

1024
01:01:24.679 --> 01:01:28.679
for Josh. He knew that they would be his undoing.

1025
01:01:29.039 --> 01:01:32.559
And he also in that same instance, wanted to deprive

1026
01:01:32.639 --> 01:01:35.320
the Coxes of having the boys. It was a power move.

1027
01:01:36.400 --> 01:01:40.599
If he couldn't have them, then no one would. It's

1028
01:01:40.679 --> 01:01:44.400
that simple. And to this day, to this very day,

1029
01:01:44.639 --> 01:01:47.559
the day that I'm recording this right now, Susan Cox

1030
01:01:47.679 --> 01:01:54.559
Powell's body has never been found. We never found Susan's body.

1031
01:01:56.159 --> 01:01:59.159
The belief is that Josh, so I'm a sum it

1032
01:01:59.320 --> 01:02:02.960
up for you, he puts something in those pancakes that

1033
01:02:03.079 --> 01:02:06.880
he served Susan and her friend while they were crocheting

1034
01:02:07.599 --> 01:02:11.039
back in episode one. Remember I told you he made

1035
01:02:11.079 --> 01:02:15.719
everyone's plate separate, and he cooked every pancake separate. She

1036
01:02:15.920 --> 01:02:19.519
began feeling really sick shortly thereafter, and that's when her

1037
01:02:19.599 --> 01:02:23.119
friend left and Josh supposedly went sledding with the boys,

1038
01:02:23.920 --> 01:02:29.159
but he returned home where he murdered Susan. Whatever he

1039
01:02:29.320 --> 01:02:32.440
burned to smithereens that again I mentioned in the first episode.

1040
01:02:32.719 --> 01:02:35.159
I believe that was the murder weapon that he struck

1041
01:02:35.239 --> 01:02:37.760
her with. It's something metal, that's all that's known, and

1042
01:02:37.760 --> 01:02:40.039
they were never able to identify what it was. But

1043
01:02:40.199 --> 01:02:45.599
per a search warrant, they did find blood in Susan's

1044
01:02:45.880 --> 01:02:50.320
house and guess where it was. It was right next

1045
01:02:50.360 --> 01:02:53.800
to the sofa where I believe that she was laying

1046
01:02:53.880 --> 01:02:56.920
down to have a rest after she started feeling bad.

1047
01:02:58.760 --> 01:03:01.679
So it just it makes too much much sense. After

1048
01:03:01.800 --> 01:03:04.599
he killed her, he loaded her body into the trunk

1049
01:03:04.599 --> 01:03:06.519
of the van, and then he put the boys in

1050
01:03:07.360 --> 01:03:10.360
And in my mind I see her laying in the

1051
01:03:10.400 --> 01:03:14.480
back of the van and the boys seeing it, cause

1052
01:03:14.480 --> 01:03:15.960
you know, kids will jump up and look and all that.

1053
01:03:16.000 --> 01:03:17.960
Try hiding Christmas presents and you'll know exactly what I'm

1054
01:03:17.960 --> 01:03:20.400
talking about in the back of your car. But they

1055
01:03:20.519 --> 01:03:23.119
saw her back there, and so Josh told him that

1056
01:03:23.199 --> 01:03:25.599
she was napping or something to that effect. Don't bother mama,

1057
01:03:25.679 --> 01:03:27.719
let her sleep. And then when he got out into

1058
01:03:27.719 --> 01:03:30.760
the wilderness, he set up camp. He let the boys

1059
01:03:30.840 --> 01:03:33.840
be busy with some ores, and he carried Susan's body

1060
01:03:33.920 --> 01:03:36.599
out and he dumped her down a mind shaft. He

1061
01:03:36.719 --> 01:03:40.880
then returned home, feigning knowing nothing about the fact that

1062
01:03:40.960 --> 01:03:44.920
Susan was missing. And then he was willing to let

1063
01:03:44.960 --> 01:03:47.880
his father run his mouth about his infatuation with his

1064
01:03:47.960 --> 01:03:51.079
wife because it took the heat off of him while

1065
01:03:51.119 --> 01:03:56.280
also satisfying some perverse need in Stephen Powell's mind my

1066
01:03:56.639 --> 01:04:00.599
personal opinion, allegedly and for entertainment purposes only of however,

1067
01:04:00.840 --> 01:04:04.800
this is not about entertainment. My personal opinion is I

1068
01:04:04.880 --> 01:04:07.679
think that Josh was abusing those boys, or he was

1069
01:04:07.840 --> 01:04:10.400
ramping up to do so. And I based this off

1070
01:04:10.440 --> 01:04:12.880
of those images of incest that he was so intrigued with.

1071
01:04:13.760 --> 01:04:19.440
That's incest implies your own. No one fantasizes. I mean,

1072
01:04:19.519 --> 01:04:21.840
I just don't see him fantasizing about someone else's incest.

1073
01:04:23.119 --> 01:04:25.280
So I really do think that those children were in

1074
01:04:25.320 --> 01:04:30.440
absolute danger with him. Susan Powell loved her boys and

1075
01:04:30.559 --> 01:04:33.440
she was scared of Josh. I think she knew something.

1076
01:04:33.960 --> 01:04:36.440
Maybe she couldn't put her finger on it exactly, but

1077
01:04:36.599 --> 01:04:39.639
she knew something was very, very wrong with Josh. She

1078
01:04:39.800 --> 01:04:42.599
wanted out, and she wanted her babies to go with her.

1079
01:04:42.920 --> 01:04:45.280
She was scared enough to make a video and write

1080
01:04:45.320 --> 01:04:47.559
a letter that if something happens to me, it wasn't

1081
01:04:47.599 --> 01:04:53.679
an accident. Susan knew that something was way wrong. Josh

1082
01:04:53.800 --> 01:04:57.079
realized that the evidence was mounting and that he would

1083
01:04:57.119 --> 01:05:01.039
not only be exposed as a murderer, so a pedophile,

1084
01:05:01.920 --> 01:05:04.880
and so he did what he had to do somehow

1085
01:05:05.039 --> 01:05:08.800
to preserve his own image while simultaneously trying to play

1086
01:05:09.079 --> 01:05:12.119
the victim in all of this. My wife is missing. No,

1087
01:05:12.280 --> 01:05:15.840
josh you killed her. The Coxes are harassing me, and

1088
01:05:15.960 --> 01:05:19.400
my kids know. They know you killed their daughter. They

1089
01:05:19.440 --> 01:05:21.760
can't prove it, but they know it. And now they

1090
01:05:21.800 --> 01:05:25.440
are justifiably worried about her children in your care. My

1091
01:05:25.599 --> 01:05:28.000
children have been taken away from me. No, you're a

1092
01:05:28.119 --> 01:05:33.079
pervert and they're trying to be protected. And I'm he

1093
01:05:33.199 --> 01:05:36.880
sends a thing an email, I'm sorry for everyone I hurt. No,

1094
01:05:37.039 --> 01:05:40.679
you're not. No, you are not. You're sorry. You've been exposed.

1095
01:05:41.480 --> 01:05:43.119
A matter of fact, to put this stoft with, You're sorry.

1096
01:05:45.079 --> 01:05:47.840
You never mentioned Susan in your emails, your missing wife,

1097
01:05:48.079 --> 01:05:50.559
You never mentioned your children that you just hacked up

1098
01:05:50.599 --> 01:05:56.079
and blew up and killed. You're not sorry at all.

1099
01:05:57.599 --> 01:06:03.119
You're not a victim. You're an e selfish, perverted snake.

1100
01:06:03.519 --> 01:06:08.599
Joshua Powell, that is what you are. And I figured

1101
01:06:08.639 --> 01:06:10.760
you'd want a little bit more info on some of

1102
01:06:10.800 --> 01:06:12.519
the people who played a role in this case and

1103
01:06:12.599 --> 01:06:15.039
what happened to them after the children were murdered. So

1104
01:06:15.079 --> 01:06:16.639
I'm gonna tie it up for you in a pretty

1105
01:06:16.639 --> 01:06:18.159
bowt real quick. What happened to all these people? I

1106
01:06:18.280 --> 01:06:21.320
want to start with Stephen Powell. He was eventually released

1107
01:06:21.320 --> 01:06:24.039
from prison after serving his time, and he died about

1108
01:06:24.039 --> 01:06:27.360
a year later after release at a Tacoma hospital as

1109
01:06:27.360 --> 01:06:34.760
a result of heart problems. Go figure, that's ironic. Josh's

1110
01:06:34.840 --> 01:06:39.440
brother Michael Powell, whom I have not even mentioned in

1111
01:06:39.559 --> 01:06:44.320
the episode, he was part of this case because the

1112
01:06:44.440 --> 01:06:49.360
police would later reveal that they believed that Michael Powell

1113
01:06:49.679 --> 01:06:55.840
helped his brother Josh dispose of Susan's body. Now, in

1114
01:06:55.920 --> 01:06:59.719
the child interviews, Charlie said, John knows, but I'm thinking

1115
01:06:59.719 --> 01:07:03.639
it was actually his uncle Michael that did, and maybe

1116
01:07:03.719 --> 01:07:08.079
he just construed the two. I say this also with

1117
01:07:08.239 --> 01:07:12.559
my chest, because what if I told you Michael committed

1118
01:07:12.639 --> 01:07:17.199
suicide about a year after Josh killed himself and the boys.

1119
01:07:19.679 --> 01:07:22.880
I don't think it's coincidence either that after Michael committed suicide,

1120
01:07:23.280 --> 01:07:26.599
the police officially closed the case in twenty thirteen because

1121
01:07:26.599 --> 01:07:28.480
they didn't have any more leads and they didn't have

1122
01:07:28.519 --> 01:07:33.440
any more suspects that were alive. The social worker Elizabeth

1123
01:07:33.800 --> 01:07:36.920
she was cleared of any wrongdoing and I agree with

1124
01:07:37.039 --> 01:07:40.480
this finding rules and regulations obviously would have to be

1125
01:07:40.599 --> 01:07:43.559
visited and updated, and we will learn from this as

1126
01:07:43.639 --> 01:07:47.880
far as everything how it played out. But in terms

1127
01:07:47.920 --> 01:07:50.800
of her being inept or negligent, they didn't find that

1128
01:07:50.880 --> 01:07:53.320
she was, and I don't either. I think it's unfortunate

1129
01:07:53.519 --> 01:07:56.320
that she wasn't able to do more, but I don't

1130
01:07:56.360 --> 01:08:01.519
find neglect was the issue here. That dispatcher the condescending

1131
01:08:01.719 --> 01:08:05.559
first call. That dispatcher's name was David Lovrak, and he

1132
01:08:05.800 --> 01:08:08.599
was reprimanded for the way he handled the call. The

1133
01:08:08.719 --> 01:08:11.639
main issues it took eight minutes for him to send

1134
01:08:11.679 --> 01:08:14.599
a police car, and it took an additional thirteen minutes

1135
01:08:14.840 --> 01:08:17.800
for that police car to even get to the Powell's home,

1136
01:08:18.000 --> 01:08:21.399
which if you look at the timeline, basically gave Josh

1137
01:08:21.560 --> 01:08:27.600
the time to commit the vile acts. That dispatcher was confused,

1138
01:08:27.680 --> 01:08:31.079
and at first he was thinking that Elizabeth was the

1139
01:08:31.439 --> 01:08:34.319
mother of the children, and so his assumption that she

1140
01:08:34.520 --> 01:08:39.319
was their mom just upset about a custodial dispute also

1141
01:08:39.520 --> 01:08:43.600
contributed with him missing those obvious red flags. He was

1142
01:08:43.640 --> 01:08:48.399
also told it was completely inappropriate to be contentious and

1143
01:08:48.520 --> 01:08:51.039
say you can't supervise yourself, which is one thing he

1144
01:08:51.159 --> 01:08:54.600
told Elizabeth in that call. And he was also professionally

1145
01:08:54.640 --> 01:08:57.840
criticized for responding to Elizabeth's question of how long will

1146
01:08:57.880 --> 01:08:59.920
it be with that answer of I don't know, ma'am.

1147
01:09:00.000 --> 01:09:03.760
And they have to respond to emergencies, life threatening situations first.

1148
01:09:04.960 --> 01:09:09.720
That didn't age well. So overall his performance was lacking,

1149
01:09:10.199 --> 01:09:13.159
but did not meet the muster of criminal and so

1150
01:09:13.359 --> 01:09:17.800
the discipline that he received was corrective, not punitive, but

1151
01:09:17.920 --> 01:09:21.560
he was checked on it. The Coxes also would file

1152
01:09:21.640 --> 01:09:24.359
a lawsuit against the State of Washington and Social Services

1153
01:09:24.600 --> 01:09:26.960
for the wrongful death of their grandchildren, and when it

1154
01:09:27.039 --> 01:09:29.520
was all said and done, they ultimately won a verdict

1155
01:09:29.560 --> 01:09:32.680
of ninety eight and a half million dollars. And I

1156
01:09:32.800 --> 01:09:35.960
was happy for them to finally be acknowledged that they

1157
01:09:36.000 --> 01:09:39.840
have been so wronged by I guess i'll say, quote

1158
01:09:39.920 --> 01:09:46.359
unquote the system in this case. But incredibly, in twenty twenty,

1159
01:09:47.239 --> 01:09:50.800
a Pierce County Superior Court judge named Stanley Rumball, he

1160
01:09:50.960 --> 01:09:54.720
reduced the wrongful death award by two thirds, dropping it

1161
01:09:54.840 --> 01:09:59.159
down to thirty two point eight million dollars. The reason

1162
01:10:00.000 --> 01:10:01.439
I know that's a lot of money, either way. But

1163
01:10:01.720 --> 01:10:04.720
the Coxes had plans to use these funds to help

1164
01:10:04.800 --> 01:10:10.199
other prevent other tragedies, and this was a blow to

1165
01:10:10.359 --> 01:10:14.039
that when in their minds that they could some good

1166
01:10:14.079 --> 01:10:15.960
could come out of this in some weird way for them.

1167
01:10:16.760 --> 01:10:18.600
But I am happy to report to you that the

1168
01:10:18.800 --> 01:10:22.479
Washington Court of Appeals recently agreed with the Coxes that

1169
01:10:22.920 --> 01:10:26.920
the original verdict was supported. The evidence did show exactly

1170
01:10:27.680 --> 01:10:32.439
what they said, and they reinstated the original award value

1171
01:10:32.760 --> 01:10:35.560
that they were supposed to get. Hopefully, with this they're

1172
01:10:35.600 --> 01:10:38.760
able to help others for a long time, and that

1173
01:10:39.000 --> 01:10:42.479
the loss of their beautiful daughter and their precious grandsons

1174
01:10:42.680 --> 01:10:46.680
wasn't in vain. Something good could come from this. Our

1175
01:10:46.760 --> 01:10:49.079
system is flawed, and y'all we all know this, but

1176
01:10:49.800 --> 01:10:55.359
the actions of Joshua Powell are all his fault. Our

1177
01:10:55.479 --> 01:10:58.600
reactions and our failure to respond effectively in this case

1178
01:10:59.119 --> 01:11:02.479
isn't lost on me. But ultimately Joshua Powell is to

1179
01:11:02.560 --> 01:11:06.439
blame for one hundred percent of what happened. So the

1180
01:11:06.520 --> 01:11:09.680
moral of the story here is anyone is capable of

1181
01:11:09.920 --> 01:11:15.800
anything on any day. Failing to believe the red flags

1182
01:11:16.159 --> 01:11:19.239
is never a good idea. And when we don't act swiftly,

1183
01:11:19.800 --> 01:11:26.199
innocent people will always pay the price. My prayers are

1184
01:11:26.279 --> 01:11:29.159
that Susan was there waiting on her knees with her

1185
01:11:29.319 --> 01:11:33.039
arms wide open as her two baby boys ran into

1186
01:11:33.119 --> 01:11:35.800
her arms at the gates of Heaven. I know that

1187
01:11:35.960 --> 01:11:39.279
that had to be a reunification that only God himself saw,

1188
01:11:40.199 --> 01:11:43.199
but I just feel it in my soul that that's

1189
01:11:43.239 --> 01:11:46.000
what she got her ultimate reward. She got to be

1190
01:11:46.079 --> 01:11:49.520
back with her babies again. And as for Josh and

1191
01:11:49.600 --> 01:11:52.880
his dad, I can only assume that Satan welcomed them

1192
01:11:53.079 --> 01:11:56.560
right in as well. And I'll just be frank Their

1193
01:11:56.600 --> 01:11:59.359
absence from this world doesn't bother me in the slightest

1194
01:12:00.239 --> 01:12:04.680
at all. And I'm not one to dance on graves,

1195
01:12:06.239 --> 01:12:08.600
but I'm not above tapping my feet a little