SUSAN POWELL - 28 yo (2009) - Stockton (SW of Salt Lake City) UT

Poster's Note: Susan Powell's case has always bugged me. The husband, Josh, is the penultimate example of creepy and should be nowhere near his kids.
This case began before we had an "Adult" section. It would appear that there are new developments.
Credit Crime Reporter from the Examiner - Cindy Adams

Stockton, Ut. - On Sunday, human remains were
discovered in Tooele County near Stockton, Utah. There is speculation
they may belong to missing woman, Susan Powell.Josh Powell, 34, the only person of interest in his wife’s
disappearance, alleges that the December 2009 night his wife vanished he
and his two young sons—ages 2 and 4—were on a camping trip in freezing
cold temperatures in the remote Tooele County desert area at around
midnight. He claims they slept in a minivan and that when they returned
home the next day, Susan, 28, was gone.

To see photos more photos of Susan, click here.

Only a month later, Powell packed up his children and moved from his Utah home to the Puyallup, Washington area.

To see photos regarding Susan's case, click here.

Attorney Doug Hogan, whose family owns a ranch in the area, found
the yet unidentified remains at about 5 p.m. while checking spring
runoff, Tooele County Sheriff’s Lt. Travis Sharmann told KSL.

Continue reading on Examiner.com: Speculation body found in Utah’s Tooele County is missing woman Susan Powell - National Crime | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/olympics-headlines-in-national/speculation-body-found-utah-s-tooele-county-is-missing-woman-susan-powell#ixzz1MZcEKuv3

(CNN) -- Human remains discovered in the Utah desert belong to
a young male and are not a missing 28-year-old mother, authorities
said, a grim discovery that fuels the mystery and opens a new case.
The fate of Susan Powell, who disappeared in 2009, is still unknown. The
remains discovered in Tooele County over the weekend belonged to a
young man, Sheriff's Detective Lt. Travis Scharmann said. Scharmann said
the state medical examiner is working to determine the cause, time
and other circumstances of his death.
In addition to Powell, authorities must now determine what happened to
the man whose remains were found in the same region on Sunday.
They were ''badly decomposed and scattered throughout a wide area,
possibly by wild animals,'' according to a news release from the
sheriff's office. An attorney found the bones in the area where
his family owns ranch property. Investigators
will likely dig for more body parts, Bill Manion, a medical examiner
for Burlington County, New Jersey, told HLN's Nancy Grace on Monday. "The
most important bones that they can find are the jaw and mandible, part
of the skull, because if we have the teeth, we can be very, very
accurate in identification,'' Manion said.
Meanwhile, the search for the missing woman continues. Josh
Powell says he last saw his wife on a cold December night in 2009 as he
and his two young sons left to go camping in the Tooele County desert
area. Powell's sister reported her as missing.
A month later, Powell and his children moved to the state of Washington.
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/05/18/utah.missing.woman/

Missing woman Susan Powell

Susan Powell’s father-in-law to post her journals online
Jul 15, 2011 07:32AM

The father-in-law of missing West
Valley City woman Susan Cox Powell said Thursday he plans to post
excerpts of her journals online.

Steve Powell claims the journals, which Susan
began at age 8 and continued to about six months after she married Josh
Powell, support his view she was capable of leaving her family to have
an affair. Steve Powell has theorized Susan ran away with Utah resident
Steven Koecher, who was last seen in Henderson, Nev., days after Susan’s
December 2009 disappearance.

Susan’s father, Chuck Cox, criticized the plan and said Steve Powell shouldn’t even be reading the journals.

“I don’t think he has any right to do it,” Cox said. “They’re the private writings of a teenage girl.”

Steve Powell last year posted a journal entry written by one of Susan’s friends on his website, www.susanpowell.org.

The Cox family has criticized the Powells for
their suggestions that a then 28-year-old Susan willingly left her two
young sons, and for not doing more to help find her. Her husband, Josh
Powell, has not spoken with West Valley City police detectives since the
early days of his wife’s disappearance. The Coxes have also criticized
Josh Powell as an abusive and controlling husband.

Josh and Steve Powell, meanwhile, have said
the Cox family has a history of mental illness and Susan’s parents were
emotionally abusive to her.

The Coxes have denied the claims about their
family and called the Koecher theory another effort to take the focus
away from Josh Powell as a suspect in his wife’s disappearance.

Steve Powell said he emailed the FBI and U.S.
Marshals about a month ago with information he wanted them to know, but
on Thursday he declined to offer details. He said Josh Powell still has
no plans to speak with West Valley City police because he is unhappy
with how they treated him in the early days of the investigation.

“They burnt their bridge,” Steve Powell said.

West Valley City police Sgt. Mike Powell, no
relation to the Powell family, on Wednesday declined to comment on
whether investigators had reviewed the journals. The case, he said, is
still “an active investigation.”
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/cougars/52190879-78/powell-susan-steve-josh.html.csp

A new lead in the nearly two-year-old case of missing Utah mom Susan Powell
has investigators scrambling to Nevada, where they say they have a
fresh lead that might help solve the mysterious missing person's case.

"We have received some information, a tip, that we're going to be
following up on, and it's information regarding Susan Powell," said
Utah's West Valley City Police Sgt. Michael Powell, who is not related
to the missing woman.

"We will be in Ely, Nev., tomorrow with a team of detectives," he said.

Sgt. Powell declined to say whether they believe the missing mother might be dead or alive, or comment on the nature of the tip.

Probe Into Susan Powell Disappearance Heads to Ely, Nev.

The Nevada town where investigators will soon be searching is nearly 250
miles southwest of where Susan Powell, then 28, was last seen on Dec.
6, 2009, at the West Valley City, Utah, home she shared with her husband Josh Powell and their two young sons, who were 2 and 4 at the time.

She was reported missing the next day.

Josh Powell, 34, is the only named person of interest in the case and
has maintained that his wife left on her own. He has told authorities
that he had been camping -- in the middle of a blizzard -- with the
couple's sons the night his wife vanished.

In a November 2010 interview with the Salt Lake City Tribune, Josh
Powell described his wife as being "extremely unstable" and said he
feels her mental illness led to her disappearance.

Josh Powell has taken his kids to live with his father, Steven Powell, in Washington state since the disappearance.

A message left for Josh Powell's attorney, prominent criminal defense lawyer Scott Williams, was not immediately returned.

Steven Powell also spoke to the Tribune, saying that the curious wet
spot found by police on the carpet in his son and daughter-in-laws home
after her disappearance was from a clean-up that Susan Powell had done
on a red stain that he said was "probably juice or something."

In an e-mail to ABC News last year, Steven Powell also attributed Susan Powell's disappearance to mental illness.




New Lead in Susan Powell Disappearance


"Clearly we think Susan decided to leave," Steven Powell wrote. "Susan
had an occasional tendency to lose control ... much like her mother."

Susan's friends have previously denied this, saying that the couple would frequently argue and threaten each other with leaving.

"They would get in fights and talk about divorce and she would say: 'I'm
going to take the kids,'" Susan Powell's close friend Kiirsi Hellewell
said. "And he would say, 'No, over my dead body.'"


Susan's family, and even Josh's own sister Jennifer Graves, have said
they feel that he and Steven Powell are covering up something regarding Susan Powell's disappearance.
"Has he kidnapped her, holding her somewhere? Has he killed her?" Graves asked in September. "Who knows?"

"The whole story is just ridiculous, they've made it up, they just want
to make themselves look better, or less guilty I think I should say,"
Graves said.



http://abcnews.go.com/US/break-missing-mom-susan-powell-case/story?id=14333638

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44200283/ns/today-today_news/t/utah-police-launch-nevada-search-missing-mom/#.Tk5nTmH854I

SALT LAKE CITY — New information has prompted authorities to launch a search Friday of the remote mountain desert around Ely, Nev., for a Utah woman who disappeared when her husband went camping with their boys, police said

searching today....

Notes from presser:

He wants the press to go to the search sites . . . huh?

Can't discuss specifics.
Search sites are outside of town.
5 officers at this point.
Want to involve media in the process.
Investigation still very active.
Time spent here depends on follow up.
Looking for specific things - can't mention.

(Timed out. Reloading.)

Officer changing into other clothing for search.
First time here for follow up on this information.
Detectives made pre-emptive drive.
Can't mention information. but it has led them to this area to follow up.
They are there to continue on with active investigation.
Will make way out to search in 10 - 15 minutes.

Another day, another desert. They have searched and searched. How many more places within the target zone (distance v. timing) can they go to that they not have already been? They will not find anything out there. She never left the house, so to speak. Why do think this asshat was so quick to vamoose? Just an armchair detective guess; but I'd start digging up the foundation....pull those floors up! This is how the kids could honestly say, "No. Mommy didn't go with us. She stayed at home."

Police invite media to Susan Powell search in Nevada

Updated: 10:27 am | Published: 10:14 a

ELY, Nev. (ABC 4 News) - West Valley City Police spokesman Sgt. Mike Powell announced that investigators would be searching in the wilderness near Ely, Nevada for evidence related to the disappearance of Susan Powell.

Sgt. Powell also invited members of the media to tag along during the search.

Powell refused to elaborate on the source, nature, or any specifics on the new information that led investigators to Ely.

Stay tuned to ABC 4 News and ABC4.com for more on this story.

http://www.abc4.com/content/news/top_stories/story/Police-invite-media-to-Susan-Powell-search-in/KSM6hDHzCkGVE6ltq0gs-w.cspx

By melinda rogers and christopher smart

The Salt Lake Tribune
First published 3 hours ago
Updated 1 minute ago

Ely, Nevada — Officials on Friday morning invited members of the media to accompany officers as they conduct a search for missing Utah mother Susan Cox Powell.

West Valley City Police Sgt. Mike Powell said during a 10 a.m. news conference that five detectives from his department and a total of 40 investigators will assist in a search of "several areas" outside of town.

"This is the first time we have been here to follow up on information that has lead us out here," said Mike Powell, no relation to Susan Powell. "Detectives have made a preemptive drive out here to see what it was that we may be looking at in the event that we did come out here."

Mike Powell said police felt it was "important...to involve the media in the process."

"We will be able to allow the media to follow detectives as they are out conducting their follow up," Mike Powell said. "Part of that follow up is going to include searches and those detectives are actively conducting those searches at this point."

West Valley City police on Thursday issued a statement saying investigators would conduct the search after investigators developed what Mike Powell called "credible" and "important" new information related to Susan Powell’s December 2009 disappearance.
snipped
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/52413989-78/powell-susan-police-mike.html.csp

Police give few details regarding search in Susan Powell case

ELY, Nevada — Police released scant details about why they have set up camp in remote Ely, Nev., in connection with the case of missing West Valley mother Susan Cox Powell.

"The specifics I'm not able to discuss in any detail at all," West Valley Police Sgt. Mike Powell said at a news conference that prompted more questions than provided answers.

Mike Powell attributed the lack of additional information to a court-ordered "secrecy order" and invited members of the media to join him and four police detectives on several searches in areas outside of town. He said the White Pines County Sheriff's Office and members of the Bureau of Land Management would be there to assist as well.

Well over a dozen reporters and photographers were accompanying the searchers late Friday morning. The first search was taking place five miles west of Ely along Highway 50 in a gravel pit below Squaw Peak.

The search appears to be focused on mine shafts.

BLM spokesman Chric Hanefeld warned that there are many mine shafts in the area, both documented and undocumented. He also warned of rattlesnakes and live wires in the area.

Four detectives carrying ropes, riding ATVs, wearing helmets with big lights and climbing gear left an abandoned mine shaft about 11 a.m. They immediately began searching a second abandoned mine shaft farther up the road.

The initial searches were occurring east of an active copper mine, Robinson Mine, near Lane, Nev.

Mike Powell indicated detectives are looking for something specific, but would not specify.

"This is the first time we've been here to follow up on information that led us out here," the sergeant said, yet also said officers had earlier taken a "pre-emptive drive" to Ely.

He said detectives "felt strongly that we needed to follow" up on information that led them to the area.

News stations from Salt Lake City began parking satellite trucks in front of the Ely Public Safety Building Thursday afternoon. West Valley police, however, weren't seen in the city until just before the press conference began. Ely officials referred all questions regarding the search to West Valley.

Around town, many people said they had heard of the Susan Cox Powell case, but they were all surprised to learn of a possible link to the case in Ely. The Ely Times wrote a small article on the front page talking about West Valley police coming to Nevada.

read more>
http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=16872231

Friends, family and others react to search for Susan Powell

By Shara Park
August 19th, 2011 @ 3:52pm

SALT LAKE CITY -- Family and friends of Susan Powell were anxiously waiting for the "significant" information police had said they would present in Ely, so when it didn't happen - it left many feeling frustrated.

Jennifer Graves, sister of Josh Powell, says it was like being on an emotional roller coaster while watching the press conference. She says she was waiting for the big announcement that perhaps Susan had been found or that there was a huge break in the case -- but then there was nothing.

"I was expecting more. I was definitely expecting more," she said.

A second media briefing is scheduled for 8 p.m. (MST).

Graves says police have not told her anything about what is happening with the search in Ely. She actually found out about it from a reporter. She says her family has no connection to Ely, and Susan never mentioned it.
"It's been very hard to go through this process and I miss her. Seeing all the footage just brings it all back fresh, makes me miss her all over again." -- Jennifer Graves

Watching the press brought back all the emotions from the past two years for Graves.

"It's been very hard to go through this process and I miss her. Seeing all the footage just brings it all back fresh, makes me miss her all over again," she said. "I was just sitting there crying while I was watching it."

Why police have approached the search so enigmatically is anybody's guess. According to Dave Lundberg, director of UtahDetective.com, police could have leads that turned out to be nothing, and had to save face at the media gathering. It is also possible that they are simply using the media to smoke out a suspect.

Susan's father, Chuck Cox, told KING-TV in Seattle Friday that he was "confused" by the police press conference.

"If you don't have anything, then you don't have anything," he said. "That's what's confusing. Maybe they do have something but why is it being revealed in this way? It's just kind of an odd thing."

He said he was happy to see that police are still working on the case and are dedicated to finding his daughter, but was disappointed by the information that was revealed.

"I was hoping to hear something, so I could say: 'This is what's going on' or have something we could react to," he said. "What it was, was not helpful to anybody at the moment."

Judy Cox, the missing woman's mother, said she went through a variety of emotions awaiting the news and hopes to hear more soon.

"We need closure," she said. "We need to find out the truth and I just really appreciate the police for not letting it become a cold case."

Graves says she is disappointed with today's press conference, and expected more from police, considering the fact that they bought all the media out to Ely.

Looking at a silver lining, she says at least today's press conference has once again brought the spotlight back to the case.

"It will bring a flood of new leads so that I guess we can be grateful for that," she said

Graves is hopeful that during the searches, police will find something that will provide a break in the case, or even closure to her family. But right now, she's waiting along with everyone else to see what happens.

Story written by Shara Park with contributions from Peter Samore and the ksl.com news team.

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=16877030

Father-in-law, father of missing Susan Powell argue Saturday in Puyallup, Wash.

By Nate Carlisle, The Salt Lake Tribune

First published 53 minutes ago
Updated 12 minutes ago

Puyallup, Wash. — The father and father-in-law of Susan Powell met face-to-face in front of reporters and cameras for the first time Saturday with each accusing the other of telling lies and not helping to find the missing woman.

Her father, Chuck Cox, and her father-in-law, Steve Powell, raised their voices but otherwise kept their tempers in check. They stood three feet from each other at a busy intersection outside a Fred Meyer store. Members of the Cox family and supporters were waving a banner and signs with Susan Powell’s photo at the spot.

"We were going to get a picture of Chuck Cox," Steve Powell said, turning to reporters. "We believe he’s in violation of a restraining order because Josh shops at this store."

"You own the neighborhood?" Cox asked.

Josh Powell is Susan Powell’s husband and the only one who West Valley City police have named as a person of interest in her December 2009 disappearance. Josh Powell has taken out a temporary restraining order against Cox. A court hearing Tuesday in Tacoma, Wash., is scheduled to consider whether the order should be permanent.

"We wanted to see if [Cox] was here because we wanted to be able to say something at the hearing Tuesday," Steve Powell added.

Powell’s father-in-law had arrived at about 11:15 a.m. local time. He approached Cox and asked why the Coxes picked the intersection.

"How is you coming here helping to find Susan?" Cox asked Steve Powell at one point.

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/52424180-78/powell-cox-josh-susan.html.csp

Poster's Note" A repost of my comments which may have been lost in the flurry of "non-news"

Another day, another desert. They have searched and searched. How many
more places within the target zone (distance v. timing) can they go to
that they not have already been? They will not find anything out there.
She never left the house, so to speak. Why do think this asshat was so
quick to vamoose? Just an armchair detective guess; but I'd start
digging up the foundation....pull those floors up! This is how the kids
could honestly say, "No. Mommy didn't go with us. She stayed at home."