Where’s the Justice? Susan, Charlie, and Braden’s Story

By: Gabriela Sundquist

Read Time: 14 minutes

Content Warning:

Domestic violence, harm to a child, and mention of child pornography. Reader discretion is advised.

December 7th, 2009

Josh Powell and Susan Cox Powell were living in Salt Lake City, Utah in December of 2009. They both worked full-time jobs and sent their boys, Charlie (4) and Braden (2), to daycare. But on the brisk Monday morning of December 7, 2009, none of the Powell family showed up where they were supposed to be. Susan’s coworkers at Wells Fargo were instantly worried. (Crazily enough, Susan Cox Powell actually worked at the same Wells Fargo that Lori Soares Hacking worked. Some of their coworkers knew both women. Read her story here.) Then when the boys were reported as not showing up either, the Powell and Cox families went into action.

Jennifer, Josh’s sister, called Kiirsi Branham Hellewell, Susan’s best friend, and asked when was the last time that she had seen Susan. Jennifer then called her mother, Terrica and went to the Powell house to look for any clue. They called the cops and they were able to break in.

When they finally got in, the place was quiet. It seemed they had simply vanished. Susan’s purse, wallet, and ID were all still at the house. The only sign of life was two box fans blowing at a wet spot on the couch. Everyone was even more mystified than before they had broken in.

Later that evening around 5 pm, Josh and the boys came home, but Susan was still nowhere to be found. The three of them were immediately taken in for questioning in hopes of finding out what happened.

Josh told police that he took the boys and left Susan sleeping at home shortly after midnight to go camping at Simpson Spring in Western Utah. They questioned why he didn’t call into work and Josh claimed he thought it was Sunday. They also questioned why Josh would take Charlie and Braden camping after midnight in Western Utah in December with a raging blizzard outside.

Charlie and Braden hugging on Josh.

Police interviewed Charlie about the camping trip and his account differed from his dad’s. Charlie stated that his mother came with them, but she didn’t return.

December 9, 2009

On the 9th, the police searched the Powell home for further evidence as to where Susan had gone. They found traces of Susan’s blood on the floor, life insurance policies for Susan for 1.5 million dollars, and a chilling handwritten letter pointing blame at Josh if she ever got hurt. She wrote that Josh had, “threatened to destroy her if they get divorced”.

December 10, 2009

The West Valley Police, already suspicious of Josh, continued to try to corroborate Josh’s story. They searched the family car and found Susan’s cell phone. On December 10th, 2009 the police also went to check out the Simpson Springs campground that Josh had described them staying at, and found no trace of the Powell family ever staying there.

December 14, 2009

Police announced they were going to question Josh again, and he lawyered up. He became increasingly uncooperative. Shortly after, he took the boys to Puyallup, Washington to stay with his dad Steven during the holidays.

December 24, 2009 – Josh is officially named a person of interest. Cops tapped his phone and started a thorough investigation.
January 6, 2010 – Josh returned with his brother Michael to pack up his belongings and move permanently to Washington.

Following the Disappearance

It was later found that Josh’s actions immediately after Susan’s disappearance were incredibly shady. He liquidated her retirement accounts, canceled several of her standing doctor appointments, and withdrew his children from daycare. You would think that a loved one who didn’t have anything to do with their loved one’s disappearance would hold on to hope for a bit. Hope that they would turn up. But, Josh immediately went into worst-case scenario mode.

Weeks later, Charlie’s teacher reported that he claimed that his mother was dead. Similarly, months later, Susan’s parents (Chuck and Judy) reported that Brenden drew a picture of a van with three people in it and said that “Mommy was in the trunk”.

Josh and Susan’s Marriage

Still shot of Josh and Susan at reception .

Josh Powell and Susan Cox met in 2000 at their LDS Institute of Religion class and married in married in the Portland Oregon Temple in April 2001. Shortly after they married, they lived with Josh’s father Steve, but it didn’t last long. Steve had a creepy obsession with Susan that just grew while they were living together. He made her feel extremely uncomfortable and even went so far as to spy on her, taping her unknowingly in the bathroom. He eventually would follow her with a camcorder, steal her underwear from the laundry, and write love songs, posting them online under a pseudonym.

In 2003, Steve confessed his amorous feelings to Susan, who was completely shocked. She rejected him and packed up their stuff, demanding they move to Utah, far away from Steve.

Life in Utah

Once in Utah, things settled for a bit. Susan was a talented cosmetologist and worked at Wells Fargo Investments in West Valley as her day job. Josh had a Bachelor’s in Business, but never seemed to find the right fit. He bounced around from company to company. In 2004, the couple welcomed their first child, Charlie. In 2007, they welcomed Braden into their family.

While they may have looked like a happy and healthy young family, there were a few people who saw the real picture. Susan’s best friend, Kiirsi Hellewell knew something wasn’t right. She didn’t like the way that Josh treated Susan. Kiirsi begged Susan to get a divorce lawyer, but she was always terrified that Josh would take the boys and she would never see them again. Later, evidence would prove that Hellewell’s gut was right.

Tumultuous Marriage

Josh was very controlling. He banned Susan from buying anything without his explicit approval, which was ironic because he bought a lot of stupid stuff. So much so that he filed for bankruptcy declaring $200,000 in debt in 2007.

By 2008, Susan was a prisoner in her marriage and in her home. She wrote a secret note and hid it in the home, stating “I want it documented that there is extreme turmoil in our marriage. If I die, it may not be on accident, even if it looks like one.” She also wrote a will and left it in her desk at work, and she sent many emails to friends about their marital issues. She mentioned that she wished he would take medication and go to therapy.

Steve just added to the chaos by claiming that Susan had seduced and flirted with Steve when they lived in Washington. And Josh was weak and gullible enough to believe it.

Susan could see what was happening, and she prepared for the worst. She had journals and videos filled with her experiences. She knew she was in trouble, and she was brilliant to keep a record of the abuse. In these journals, she expressed that she felt they had a very stormy marriage. She also recorded video footage of damage done in the house and to their belongings by Josh when he was in a fit of rage.

Josh Hides Out in Washington

It’s now 2010 and Josh is back living with his dad. In this house in Puyallup, Washington Josh, Charlie, and Braden are living with Steve, Josh’s brothers (Michael and Jonathan), and Josh’s sister Alina. It is a full house.

Later in the year, the website SusanPowell.org was launched. This website defended Joshua and twisted the story. It focused on “Poor Josh, his name was ruined” putting the blame on Susan’s family, Josh’s estranged sister, Jennifer, and the LDS church. There were heinious posts claiming that Susan had probably left her family and run to Brazil with Steven Koecher (a journalist who disappeared the same week). These posts also claimed that she had severe mental illness, which also led to her running away.

As you could guess, it is widely believed that Josh and Steve wrote these posts and created this website.

Josh’s Life Before Susan

Steve and Terrica Powell had a very dysfunctional marriage. This was due to many things including Steve’s separation from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which was very important to Terrica. She filed for divorce in 1992 after she found that Steve refused to teach or enforce limits on certain behaviors. He even went so far as to share pornography with Josh and his brothers.

With such a clearly traumatic childhood, Josh went on to become a very angry teenager. He allegedly killed his sisters’ gerbils, threatened his mother with a butcher knife, and attempted to commit suicide at least once.

Catherine Terry Everett

In the late 1990’s Josh met Catherine Everett at church. They became very close very quickly and moved into an apartment together. Josh was very possessive and controlling over her. She recounts, “He would have restrictions and limitations on what I could and couldn’t do when it came to my family. If I was going to visit them, he had to come too. I couldn’t go by myself.”

Catherine decided enough was enough. She went to visit a friend in Utah without Josh and didn’t return. She left her stuff and broke up with him over the phone.

Steve Powell

Susan Powell and Steve Powell

As the police were investigating Josh, they soon realized he was a bad apple who had fallen from a sick tree. They learned of Steve’s obsession with Susan and quickly found the true depths of his sick ways. The computers that they seized from his house held about 4,500 private pictures of Susan that she didn’t know were being taken.

They also found thousands more pictures of women and young girls that he had taken without their knowledge from the windows in his house. In September 2010 Steve was arrested and charged with child pornography and voyeurism charges. Immediately, Susan’s father filed for custody and won temporary custody to get the boys out of the house.

Steve was convicted and served 7 years, and died naturally a year after his release.

The Tragic End to a Tragic Story

September 28, 2011

Mayor Mike Windor stated in a press release on September 28, 2011, “We feel that we are getting to that tipping point where we have more hot evidence than we have had in the past two years.” The case was moving forward, and the police felt that they were close.

Late in 2011, Josh went through court-ordered evaluations to see if he was mentally and emotionally stable enough to have custody of the boys. It was found that he had adequate parenting skills and no criminal record of domestic violence. It was also noted that he was overbearing with his sons, failed to admit normal faults, was defensive, paranoid, and showed clear narcissistic traits. Because of this, the court decided that he could have supervised visits with his children several times a week.

February 5, 2012

Elizabeth Griffin took Charlie and Braden to Josh’s house for their scheduled supervised visit. The boys ran up to the door, excited to see their dad. She walked up to the door behind them. Josh threw the door open, grabbed the boys quickly pulling them inside, and slammed the door shut in Elizabeth’s face. She saw Josh for just a moment before he shut the door, and reported, “He looked kind of sheepish.”

As the door shut she heard him say, “Charlie, I’ve got a big surprise for you.” She states that she then heard Braden cry out. Elizabeth started banging on the door and repeatedly ringing the doorbell. She shouted, “Josh, let me in.”

She flew into action and called 911 as she smelled gas from the house. Something was terribly wrong. Unfortunately, the person on the other line wasn’t quite as ready to jump into action. She asked how long they would be, to which the operator responded “Don’t know ma’am, they have to respond to emergency life-threatening situations first.” She responded, “This could be life-threatening!”

She called 911 twice and was peppered with questions about the situation for about 10 minutes when she flew back from the house as it exploded.

The burnt house with images of Braden, Josh and Charlie.

Elizabeth’s gut feeling had been right. She knew her boys were not safe, and she tried to help them. She was heartbroken, as she had come to really love these kids. She said they were “smart and talented”. She loved them as her own.

The Boys Join Their Mom

Josh had committed murder-suicide. When the boys had been pulled inside the house Josh started beating them with a hatchet, which was later found by Josh’s person. Then as they lay there bleeding and needing help, he poured gasoline around them and the house and lit it on fire. The boy’s autopsy showed that they died from carbon monoxide poisoning and found significant “chopping injuries” on their heads and necks.

Josh was a truly messed up human being who took the lives of 2, most likely 3, people who he was supposed to love and care for. He grew up in a tumultuous household with a disgusting father, and he then carried out terrible crimes.

The Aftermath

This story is a hard one, as it doesn’t seem to have a lot of justice. Innocent children died, an innocent woman disappeared, and the bad guys didn’t seem to have to pay.

These are some of the major things that happened after February 5, 2012, when Charlie and Braden were taken from this earth, some of them beautiful and some of them tragic. Deaths like these most always cause ripple effects as the people around try to grapple and process with the loss.

Josh’s brother Michael committed suicide on February 11, 2013. The police were suspecting him of helping hide Susan’s body, and had questioned him several times, trying to get answers to help find Susan.
Josh’s sister Jennifer co-wrote a memoir with Emily Clawson about the Powell family called “A Light in Dark Places” in June 2013. She wrote it “to help other people recognize abuse in either their own relationships or relationships around them because it’s not always completely apparent.”
Susan’s family sued Washington’s Department of Social and Health Services and its social workers claiming “they put Josh’s parental rights over the boys’ safety and facilitated their deaths.” The courts ruled that “the social workers were innocent, but the DSHS was negligent and awarded 98 million to the Estates of Charlie and Braden.”
Susan’s family also pressured Washington and Utah lawmakers to pass a bill that would either restrict or deny visitation rights to parents or guardians who are being investigated for murder.
Kiirsi Hellewell was quoted as saying, “One of the things that has come out of Susan’s disappearance and this terrible tragedy with her boys is, I can’t even tell you how many women have messaged me to tell me, ‘Because of your friend Susan, myself and my children are safe today.’ This is something that really does give me some comfort.”

If you are aware of domestic violence and abuse in your own relationship or someone you love, please call the hotline. Help is available. You deserve more.