Autopsy Reveals Kids Murdered in Wash. Gas Explosion Were Chopped With a Hatchet
- Posted on February 7, 2012 at 7:58am by
Jonathon M. Seidl
- Print »
- Email »
GRAHAM, Wash. (The Blaze/AP) — Josh Powell painted himself as a tortured man, ridiculed without reason in the disappearance of his wife, steadfastly insisting he was innocent until the end.
Yet the investigation and autopsy reports released late Monday show the acts of a violent man who meticulously planned the double murder-suicide of himself and his two young sons, culminating Sunday in Powell setting his house ablaze and taking a hatchet to his children’s necks.
(Related: Hear the voicemail Powell left moments before he killed his boys)
As authorities work to determine exactly why Powell committed the murders, investigators said they‘re no closer to answering the question they’ve had for two years. But information is surfacing that the kids had started to reveal some key details about their mother’s disappearance.
In this undated photo provided by Chuck and Judy Cox, Chuck Cox sits with his grandsons, Charlie, left, and Braden, right, at the Coxes home in Pullayup, Wash. Charlie and Braden were killed along with their father, Josh Powell, on Sunday in what police said was an intentional fire set by Powell. Chuck Cox is the father of Powell's wife, Susan, who has been missing since 2009. (AP Photo/Courtesy Chuck and Judy Cox)
“We still haven’t identified or found where Susan Powell is,” said West Valley, Utah, Police Chief Buzz Nielsen, who is in charge of the investigation into the young mother’s disappearance.
For now, even with the longtime “person of interest” in the probe dead, police say the case remains open, though some mysteries may never be solved.
Powell’s horrific murder-suicide seemed to come out of nowhere. Just days before, in a motion seeking custody of his children filed with a Washington state court, Powell said he missed his wife, and would remain strong for the boys.
“A lesser person would fall under the intense scrutiny I am facing, but apparently my inherent resilience as a person makes it increasingly difficult for them to pursue their agendas,” Powell wrote. “I am standing tall for my sons, but it deeply hurts to face such ridicule and abuse.
“I know my own heart is free of any guilt regardless of what people claim,” he added.
Things changed dramatically when the judge ruled against him, ordering the children to remain with Susan Powell’s parents for now.
On Sunday, Powell’s boys came for a routine supervised visit. They ran ahead, the social worker falling behind. Powell then locked the door, used a hatchet on his kids, and lit the house on fire.
Ultimately, Powell and both boys died of smoke inhalation, Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office investigator Melissa Baker said Monday evening.
But they also suffered “chop injuries” that contributed to their deaths – 7-year-old Charles was struck on his neck and 5-year-old Braden had injuries to both his head and neck, Baker said.
Pierce County Sheriff’s Detective Ed Troyer said investigators found a hatchet that they believe was used on the boys.
“We recovered a hatchet – a small ax,” he said. “It was right there with” the bodies.
Authorities also said Powell had made thorough plans well ahead of the murders.
“This was definitely a deliberate, planned-out event,” Troyer said.
He said minutes before the fire, Powell sent emails to several people saying, “I’m sorry. Goodbye.” To others, including his cousins and pastor, he sent longer emails, with instructions on where to find his money and how to shut off his utilities. In at least one email, he wrote that he couldn’t live without his boys, Troyer said.
But, he added, “There‘s no indication about Susan in anything that we’ve found so far.”
Nielsen said detectives want to question Powell’s father, Steve Powell, about Susan’s disappearance. He described Steve Powell as another “person of interest” but noted the elder Powell is “not in our sights” in terms of any potentially imminent arrest.
Steve Powell has been in jail on voyeurism and child porn charges since last fall after authorities found explicit images on his computers during a search of his home in the case of his missing daughter-in-law.
After his arrest, the state turned the boys over to Susan Powell’s parents, Charles and Judy Cox.
Steve Powell claimed on national television last year to have had a flirtatious or even sexual relationship with Susan – something her family has adamantly denied.
Josh Powell claimed that the night his wife vanished in December 2009, he took the boys from their West Valley City home, about 10 miles outside Salt Lake City, on a midnight camping trip in freezing temperatures – a story her parents never believed. Authorities searched the area in the central Utah desert but came up empty.
Less than a month after the disappearance, Josh Powell moved the boys to his father’s home in Puyallup, south of Seattle.
Sunday’s tragedy left the Coxes devastated. They spoke to reporters Monday to give a glimpse of the lives the boys led.
They said the boys played happily and didn’t want to visit their father when the time came for their weekly Sunday visit. But Judy Cox said she talked them into going – and she now regrets it.
Charles Cox said he didn’t necessarily think there was any more the court could have done legally to protect his grandchildren. However, he said he didn’t like that there was only one supervisor during their visits with their father.
“We suspected that if he had the boys in his control, with him, and he felt the police were closing in, he was capable (of hurting them),” Cox said. “We didn’t like that there was only one supervisor. Frankly, she couldn’t have stopped him if he wanted to do something.”
The boys were emotionally distant when they first arrived at their grandparents’ home, Charles Cox said, but recently they had become warmer. And that gave the grandparents hope that maybe someday they would be able to relate what happened to their mother.
“They were like little robots. If you asked them about mommy, they would run away,” he said. But “in the last week, I could not sit down without them climbing up on my lap.”
Charles Cox said that the summer after his daughter disappeared, Braden drew a picture at day care of a van with three people in it, and told caregivers who asked him about it that it was a picture of his family going camping: “Mommy’s in the trunk,” the boy reportedly said.
But the boys had not recently made more comments to that effect, Charles Cox said, contradicting earlier remarks by his lawyer, Steve Downing, who told The Associated Press that the older child had recently mentioned their mother being in the trunk.
Nielsen said Utah authorities would continue with their investigation, and hoped to make an arrest in the Susan Powell case this year.
“On a criminal case of this nature, you’ve got one shot. You’ve got to make sure everything is done right,” Nielsen said. “Our case is not closed.”
—
Brian Skoloff reported from Salt Lake City, Utah. Reporter Gene Johnson contributed from Seattle.
Popular Stories
MSNBC Host Snaps in Heated Segment: ‘What in the World Is Riskier Than Being a Poor Person in America?’ 690 Comments
Does Misstated Marathon Claim Prove Paul Ryan Is Dishonest? (POLL) 659 Comments
‘Jumah at the DNC’ Speaker: ‘Muslims Visited America Prior to Columbus’ & ‘It Was a Muslim’ Who Guided Him to the ‘New World’ 524 Comments
Obama: RNC Like Watching ‘Black-and-White TV’ Because Romney ‘Did Not Offer a Single New Idea’ 361 Comments
Roseanne Barr: Most Billionaires ‘Violent Pedophiles’ & ‘Heartless’ Cocaine Addicts 322 Comments
Faith
This Is the Creationists‘ Response to Scientist Bill Nye’s Viral Pro-Evolution Video Claiming They Harm Children 208 Comments- Pakistani Muslim Cleric Accused of Framing Disabled Christian Girl in Koran-Burning Case Read More
- ‘Made Up Religion’: TV Historian Enrages Muslims, Receives Threats After Producing UK Documentary Questioning Islam’s Beginnings 223 Comments
Meet the Controversial German Imam Accused of Brutally Beating His Wife & Pushing Sharia Law Read More
‘Self-Proclaimed Messiah’ & Unification Church Leader the Rev. Sun Myung Moon Has Died — Here’s His Life Story Read More
Business
President Obama Issues Another Major Executive Order Read More- Germany’s Upcoming Court Ruling Will be Huge for the EU Read More
Ford Looks to Beat Toyota for Best-Selling Car in 2012 With This Model 147 Comments
Bernanke & QE3: Here’s What You Need to Know Read More- ‘Extortion’: Why Did the Labor Department ‘Drop the Hammer’ on Oregon Farmers? 300 Comments
Technology
- This Is the Creationists‘ Response to Scientist Bill Nye’s Viral Pro-Evolution Video Claiming They Harm Children 208 Comments
‘TaserDrone’: Hackers Weaponize Quadcopter With Actual ‘Shocking’ Technology Read More
Ever Heard of the Wild ‘Burning Man’ Festival in the Middle of the Nev. Desert? Here’s Your Primer Read More
Stanford Develops Technology ‘Better Than Steroids’ for Athlete Recovery Read More
Have You Pretended to Know What ‘the Cloud’ Is? You’re Not Alone Read More
Submitting your tip... please wait!
Comments (65)
proudamerican1990
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 12:58pmSir. I am very sorry about the loss of your wife…
But you are a sick individual for what you did. They are CHILDREN…
They trusted you…
This is beyond tragic. Tragic would be if the explosion was an accident…
But this is, there is really no word to describe it…
Report Post »mrnoparty
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 11:39amThis man says he was tortured. Well here is hoping that the fires of hell where he burns today show him the true meaning of torture.
Report Post »One Man Progressive Wrecking Crew
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 11:27amThe evil lurking amongst us at this juncture in time knows absolutely NO BOUNDS, it’s like that slime underneath NYC in ghostbusters. It’s everywhere you turn.
Report Post »TheCalvinistPastor
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 11:26amYou know whats even more sick. Many liberals are reading this and will admit to the sickening nature of this crime, yet on the other hand will actively promote the butchering, and blending up of children all across america via Planned Parenthood.
Report Post »thegrassroots
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 1:27pmStatistics Show:
55+ million babies butchered since roe v wade, 1973.
This amounts to one [1] baby murdered every 30 seconds in the USA.
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 11:03amSome times… a thing is just what it is… and you do not need Proof — and, this where a Governmental System fails!
Report Post »perry1980
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 9:56amSick man and he deserves a special place in H3LL !
Report Post »gofigureinternational
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 10:11amAgreed! God Bless the mother and children. Now on to the important things like placing a 3 day waiting period on Gas and Axes! Oh, you will not see this type of hypocrisy pointed in the lame stream media. However, if this were a gun crime, it would lead the headlines for weeks. There was a crime 15 years ago or so that a family of 7 were killed with a claw hammer! If someone wants to commit a crime or a murder, the weapon of choice is of little interest. It is just sick this piece of human debris took his children (and likely wife) with him. Evil has existed since the beginning of time and continues to march on and seems at times to be gaining momentum.
Report Post »Sirfoldallot
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 10:55amSad, he was born with a bad gene, 1 of Satans angels.
Report Post »Jinglebob
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 11:03amIf people ever needed proof of the Devil and true evil, this is it. What kind of home did this man come from?
Report Post »JackSprat
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 9:40am“Pure Evil”, Lucifer is proud as he ever has been!
Report Post »zoro51
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 9:32amwhat a WASTE at least the boys r in heaven n the dad in HELL. a mothers loss… and a SELFISH TROLL divorce isnt easy n it does leave scars BUT time can heal it may take longer than most think while others its over n done w/ others it lingers on.. KIDS are always in the middle LOVE THEM dont CHOP THEM UP. LOVE THEM.. how sad his SONS were to carry on his name now gone.. n his name shall ever more stink after him,…….
Report Post »LindaStallcup
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 9:19amOh dear God! This is an act of pure evil. This is beyond heart wrenching. May their precious little souls be at peace with God.
Report Post »Tickdog
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 9:14amwow. i cant imagine chopping your own kids with a freaking hatchet.. what a sicko!
Report Post »Mateytwo Barreett
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 9:46amyou gotta admit- ot makes great press. Whats the old saying- If it bleeds it leads!
Report Post »jaxson
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 1:07pmi cant fathom it either, makes me think if he would do such a horrific act to his kids that took only a few minutes, i shudder to think what he did to his wife, no wonder they cant find her body…
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 9:02amI’ve heard and read about this story everywhere. The only place you see the story about the occupy kid who strangled his liberal parents in CA, is here or GBTV. I wonder why. Aren’t they both equally tragic?
Report Post »SpankDaMonkey
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 9:19am.
Report Post »One was a shame, & the other helped the gene pool?……..
Mateytwo Barreett
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 9:31amFYI. Perpetrator MUST be caucasian adult male.
Report Post »Victim MUST be infant of child
Airttime advantage MUST be given to instances of murder, spectacular finishes (explosions and fire always bring the authorities-)
Creme de la creme a two year police investigtion, intervention by childrens protection services, and a recent denial of parental custody. Who didn’t see it coming- everybody is SHOCKED!
paperpushermj
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 10:13am@Gonzo
Report Post »No they are not Equal. Both are Tragic but not Equal, for the murder of Young Children is Understood as specially horrific. The Parent, the protector of the Children has a Special Duty to the Family and to the greater society to protect Children from the very Monster their Father Turned out to be. Unfortunately in this case the Fox was Guarding the henhouse You do understand the difference don’t you?
TheLeftMadeMeRight
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 6:17pm“One was a shame, & the other helped the gene pool?……..”
the kid from ows WAS ADOPTED, THAT WAS THE WHOLE POINT…fn gene pool, look in the mirror….
Report Post »Dismayed Veteran
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 8:51amWhat is there to say about a horror like this? They rest in the hands of the Lord now.
Pace et requium est.
Report Post »TheFonz
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 8:48amReading about this made me feel sick. If you want to off yourself, by all means do it, but don’t take innocents with you. The only consolation is knowing this guy is in hell and is now bum chums with Satan, while the boys are in heaven away from the evil.
Report Post »Krazy_Kreepy_Ketchup
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 8:47amThae gog/magog are rearing its ugly heads
Report Post »rose-ellen
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 8:37amsatan’s sin;pride!how dare they rridicule me for being a woman hater who murdered my wife and how dare they expose me as a pervert.This country unfortunately is awash with such honor killings.
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 9:08amYou approve then Rose?
Report Post »paperpushermj
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 11:15amWhat a Stretch you’r doing Rose to equate this Horror with an Honor Killing, pretty soon you’ll be claiming everyone is doing it. That is your purpose is’t it to blur the reality that Honor Killings come from Cultures with one foot still in the 7th Century, the other in the 20th. Besides this Father Murdered his two Sons which would never happen, for Your men carry the Pride of being a Man between their legs, it’s the Quality of your Females that is equated with your seed and therefore……Your Honor.
Report Post »RightPolitically
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 8:34amApparently, this father and husband was nothing less than a truly evil person. The guy obviously believed, as many killers do, that they and they alone have the right to decide who lives and who dies. The ultimate “power trip.” He probably killed the wife too.
Report Post »hungerymedstudent
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 8:33amBurn in hell nice and slow.
Report Post »AJAYW
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 8:29amThis is what happens when people don’t do their job in protecting children in their charge. The visit supervisor is responsiable for these childerns death as much as that no good animal that killed them.
Report Post »Fact She Did Not Protect Them.
RightPolitically
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 8:39amWait. Don’t blame the messenger so to speak. She was merely a pawn in a broken child protective system. Given the suspicions already logged against the guy, the murder of his wife, why didn’t the system completely put an end to the visitation? The poor woman who brought the boys there and witnessed the entire episode from outside the house is also a victim of that broken system. She did what the law required and therefore, dropped the boys off as she was ordered to do.
Report Post »deeberj
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 8:43amThe kids ran ahead. If they had not run ahead, and she walked to the door with them, the father would have pushed her aside and taken the kids in. Or taken them all in and blown her up too. She did not fail to protect the children.
It was a failure of the system. There should never have been a home visit; it should have been at another location. This situation is not the normal parent visitation and the case should have been treated differently.
Report Post »AJAYW
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 9:05amRightPolitically
Report Post »I have to respectfully disagree with you. As she was sent there to supervise the visit not watch to see what happened. I fell sorry for the kids but, don’t feel sorry for her at all. Plain and simple she didn’t do her job. Ten to one says thats shes off now with pay account of this. If she feels any pain she brought it on herself.
rose-ellen
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 10:10amThese child protective agencies are clueless and lack all common sense,insight and any understanding of people. They will take children away from parents for the most petty innane reason but where real abuse,neglect ,perversion and depravity [like a man who claims he went hiking with his kids on a freezing night when his wife went missing],they and the courts bend over backwards to make sure he spends time with the kids-even after child porn is discovered. They lack instincts and judgement as just watching him on t.v. i could see he’s a liar,a murderer,a woman hater and a perv.Unbelieable these child protection services.
Report Post »SamIamTwo
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 8:27amThere is no defense for this mad man. He has meet his maker and has been dealt the final judgement…and God is more fair than any human judge. 100% certain that the children are in heaven as they never reached the age of awareness.
Report Post »Guerrino_P
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 8:32amYou gotta love those Christian dads.
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 8:33amI have to agree with you there, for innocent children I imagine God has a special place for them; as for the father of them, I have to let God deal with the judgment on that, He will be more fair and accurate in what to do than I ever could as a fallen human.
Report Post »Blackhawk1
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 9:35amGuerrino_P
Something tells me he was about as much a Christian as Obama is. In other words he was no Christian because a God fearing man would never have done anything of this sort. He was more than likely an OWS sympathizer.
Report Post »Mateytwo Barreett
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 9:45am@Guerrino
Report Post »They are trying to resolve that problem as bast as they can!
SpankDaMonkey
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 8:21am.
Dear Satan,
We know that you have a Special Room in Hell for people like this. The Rest of Us would like to ask you if you could take a few minutes, and come up with something really Special for this one. Just take your time no hurry, I mean everyday you could re-grow & Roast the Skin off him for a few hundred years, while you make up your mind.
Thank You & God Bless
The Rest of Us
Report Post »americanidiot
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 8:40amIm sure it makes you sleep better at night but that violent act doesn‘t mean he’s in hell. The truth is that there is no condemnation as long as you are a believer. Yes it is hard to deal with but born again christians are never judged. If we were able to earn our way in and out then there would never have been a reason for Jesus to die. This man is a terrible man and I believe he deserves to go to hell but it is not my job to judge so I will pray for him and his family instead.
Report Post »deeberj
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 8:45amAmericanidiot.
It is too late to pray for him. He is past help. He is in one place or the other. Our prayers cannot change that now. Pray for the grandparents and others left behind whose loved ones are murdered.
Report Post »SpankDaMonkey
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 8:53am.
Report Post »americanidiot
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 8:40am
Im sure it makes you sleep better at night
================================
Not really, there are still folks like you on the loose………..
americanidiot
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 10:46amActually it is never too late to pray for anyone. You don‘t pray to change God’s mind, you pray to show your faith in the lord and everything he has planned. You can thank God that there are people like me on the loose. If everyone believed that our God was what you seem to believe there would be no reason to believe. Its called GRACE! You should back that book back up, dust it off and read it again. Start with Romans……good for people in your mind set
Report Post »ThePostman
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 8:18amWe only know what police want us to know. The fury of the police investigation and the pressure made upon this man very well may have made an otherwise normal person snap. 2 years of never knowing when you are going to be arrested forever is emotionally too much to bear. Knowing your in-laws are going to infest your children with horrible images about you is unfathomable.
Very sad.
Report Post »SamIamTwo
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 8:29amYeah, right the police caused him to chop up his kids and set fire to the house…yeah he had no choice, eh?
Report Post »PimpleJuice
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 8:30amYou are one sick son of a bitch to post and stand with that monster.
Report Post »PimpleJuice
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 8:33amYou are one mis-guided sick idiot.
Report Post »Mateytwo Barreett
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 9:40am@Pimples and Sam
Report Post »Ever been under investigation, ever had a run in with CPS? Thought not!
Blackhawk1
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 9:41amThePostman
Maybe if he hadn‘t murdered his wife he wouldn’t have had to wonder what was going to happen to him. This guy was no normal human being because no normal human would chop up his own kids with a hatchet. I see you are not a very good judge of character. I suppose you are an OWS supporter?
Report Post »Rational Man
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 10:52amI thought you were an idiot trying to make some kind of defense for this sick sob in the first story that appeared on The Blaze the other day. Now I can’t even think of a name for you today after all the information you have. You sound worse than Ron Paul making excuses for Muslims flying airplanes into the Trade Center. If you can make excuses for this guy, then you are no better than he was.
Report Post »If I bury a hatchet in your head, can I get away with it because you stress me out?
How stupid……………………..
COFemale
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 11:00amPostman you are making speculation where none is warranted. When one of the children say “mommy is in the trunk”, I tend to believe a child. It is easy enough for a psychologist to determine if the statement was coached.
The fact that you are defending this guy, tells me you are a clueless Liberal living in your own little utopia world or you just want to say the most insane controversial thing to get noticed because you this world is all about YOU and you just don‘t feel important if you don’t get noticed.
Innocent people do not off themselves and their children. Innocent people seek to prove they had nothing to do with their wives disappearance. Innocent people do not mysteriously take their children camping at midnight out to a deserted area. Innocent people do not move to a new state. How much more proof do you need? I knew he was guilty from day one.
I pray that you never get chosen for jury duty; our luck you will release a pedophile, a murder, or a rapist because they are just so misunderstood and persecuted.
Report Post »DD313
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 8:17amWhere are the posters from the prior story who believed that this monster was innocent in the disappearance of his wife and that he was hounded by the authorities into killing himself and his kids?
Report Post »DD313
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 8:56amI guess I spoke a minute too soon!
Report Post »Rational Man
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 10:55amYea,…..That idiot is still here………And still a idiot!
Report Post »Red1492
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 11:13amI was going to say the same thing. You beat me to it.
Report Post »Nemo13
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 8:11amThis guy was not a man, he was a sick coward.
Report Post »robsfilms
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 8:08amUT Gas explosion as in Utah? This happened in Washington, get it together people.
Report Post »gramma b
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 8:04amThe headline is wrong. The explosion was in Washington, not Utah.
Report Post »Mateytwo Barreett
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 8:07amUtahs’s state abbrerviation is WA?
Report Post »gramma b
Posted on February 7, 2012 at 8:11amThey corrected it.
Report Post »