annieo
veteran
Reged: 07/07/10
Posts: 1408
Loc: Pacific Northwest
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GRAHAM, Wash. (AP) — Before setting his house ablaze and killing himself and his two young sons, Josh Powell left a voicemail for family members saying he couldn't live without the boys and didn't want to go on anymore.
ABC News obtained what it says was a voicemail Powell left for his family members. In the recording played Tuesday on "Good Morning America" Powell also said he was calling to say goodbye and apologize.
"I'm sorry to everyone I've hurt," he is heard saying. "Goodbye."
Powell, the husband of missing Utah woman Susan Powell, died along with his children Sunday in Washington. An autopsy showed the children also suffered hatchet wounds to their necks. He was a person of interest in his wife's 2009 disappearance.
As authorities work to determine exactly why Powell committed the murders at the Washington residence, investigators said they're no closer to answering the question they've had for two years.
"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.
The father of the 5- and 7-year-old boys 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.
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 [censored] 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.
---------------------------------
My childhood friend lives in Graham and said that they cannot believe this happened, that the grandfather was always a strange one but the dad seemed "normal"
We will never know the whole of the situation but we do know he murdered his children and he did not just blow them up he used a hatchet that contributed to their deaths.
By his own admission he said he is not a lesser person and is resilient and that the agenda of the investigation was difficult to continue due to his resilience. He did not snap he was in his right mind and murdered his children with malice and cruelty.
It appears to be that he couldn't live without his boys so if he couldn't no one else would live with them and that is beyond selfish and wrong - he murdered innocent children no way around that and he said he was resilient, he was working toward getting them back I guess he wanted them back NOW and couldn't wait....
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gr8Dad
Carpal \'Tunnel
Reged: 06/07/04
Posts: 30195
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"I do not believe in any way, shape, or form, was driven to commit this act."
Right, cause killing your kids is completely sane.
"even though you continue to blame other people for the acts he committed himself"
I did not BLAME them, I said they contributed to the situation. The act he committed was HIS, solely.
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Why give a "senior" discount, they have had plenty of time to raise the money...
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gr8Dad
Carpal \'Tunnel
Reged: 06/07/04
Posts: 30195
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"He is the ONLY suspect in the childrens' mother's MURDER."
First, he is a "person of interest" not a suspect, second, there is NO murder, as there is NO evidence she is dead, merely a missing person.
"She's not alive. After a certain period, and given fact (like she left her cell AND her purse behind, and oh yeah, her KIDS), there is a presumption that the person IS DEAD."
You mean like the 7 year old from the pacific tsunami that just turned up?
"And, APPARENTLY, the legal system WAS planning on some action relative to that, shortly which is something that the family court may have been aware of. I would assume they were."
Shame he lives in AMERICA and we are innocent until proven guilty.
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Why give a "senior" discount, they have had plenty of time to raise the money...
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Cassie23
Carpal \'Tunnel
Reged: 10/07/05
Posts: 14714
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My stomach was turning...he used hatchets, in part, to end their lives? If they died of smoke inhalation then in those last moments they were dealing with the pain from the wounds as well. Just horrific and just plain evil. I wonder if those boys were talking about their grandparents to him and his father became jealous and nervous of what they may reveal? My son often talks about his Grandpa, and he will just say, "I love Grandpa". Their father was sick, there are no excuses for what he did.
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gr8Dad
Carpal \'Tunnel
Reged: 06/07/04
Posts: 30195
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Now lets look at the inconsistencies and flip flops in the story:
"Before setting his house ablaze and killing himself and his two young sons, Josh Powell left a voicemail for family members saying he couldn't live without the boys and didn't want to go on anymore."
So he did this right before setting the blaze. But it was the voicemails and Emails that were used to "prove" that he PLANNED this. Sounds like a snap action to me. But lets read on:
"The father of the 5- and 7-year-old boys painted himself as a tortured man, ridiculed without reason in the disappearance of his wife, steadfastly insisting he was innocent until the end."
He didn't PAINT himself this way, he WAS being harrassed.
"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."
Okay, so NOW he meticulously planned it. Okay, got it. lets read on:
"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."
Oh, okay, so now it came out of nowhere. Okay, got it, snap action, got it. Lets read on:
"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."
Okay, so he sent the Emails out right before the fire, got it, snap reaction.
"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."
Okay, so the kids didn't WANT to go, she MADE them, got it, lets read on:
"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."
They ran ahead (yeah, sounds like kids that don't want to see their father). Well, there goes the idea that he Forced the supervisor out of the house.
Bottom line, you got 100 different source, everyone scrambling to have the LATEST news, and in doing so, it gets all jumbled up. So we REALLY do not know anything but that he killed himself and the kids (horrible act).
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Why give a "senior" discount, they have had plenty of time to raise the money...
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gr8Dad
Carpal \'Tunnel
Reged: 06/07/04
Posts: 30195
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" Just horrific and just plain evil."
Or, more likely, insane. Oh, wait, you said that here, "Their father was sick". But wait, then you said, "there are no excuses for what he did" INSANITY is an excuse.
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Why give a "senior" discount, they have had plenty of time to raise the money...
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ssmom79
Carpal \'Tunnel
Reged: 06/27/07
Posts: 7783
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"I do not believe in any way, shape, or form, was driven to commit this act."
Right, cause killing your kids is completely sane.
______________________________________
I'm sorry, I seem to be missing the net to make this leap. Sane? Who is discussing the sanity of this matter? I stated, clearly, I don't believe he was driven to do this by the media, something you've stated several times attributed to this heinous act.
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SRS
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 11/05/10
Posts: 2161
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He gave all of the kids toys away and transferred money from his accounts to someone elses. He bought enough cans of gas to set his home on fire. He hurt his kids with a hatchet. That is premeditated.
I would NEVER, EVER even think of killing my children. I chose to bring them into the world. I would do anything to ensure they have the best lives possible.
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ssmom79
Carpal \'Tunnel
Reged: 06/27/07
Posts: 7783
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I'd kill myself 100 times before I ever did that to my children.
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SRS
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 11/05/10
Posts: 2161
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Exactly and I'd do whatever the court deemed necessary to get them back. Stupid classes, psychological exams, whatever it took.
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