Josh Powell and his two sons have been confirmed dead in an explosion in Powell’s home near Tacoma, Washington earlier today. Josh Powell has been a person of interest in the disappearance of his wife, Susan Powell, in December of 2009.
The Pierce County Sheriff’s Office has confirmed that the explosion was intentionally set by Powell. They do not believe anyone else was in the house at the time.
CNN reports that a case worker had just dropped off Powell’s sons at the home for a supervised visit at around 12:45 p.m. Washington time. Powell was somehow able to get his sons in the house and block the case worker from entering. The case worker smelled gas and shortly after an explosion occurred.
The two sons were in the custody of their maternal grandparents and earlier this week Josh Powell had been told that the boys would remain in the custody of their grandparents. He was to get visitation but also was ordered to undergo a psycho-sexual evaluation and a polygraph.
Powell lost custody of his sons in September of 2011 after his father, Steve Powell, was arrested and charged with possessing child pornography. He has denied any wrongdoing in the disappearance of his wife however police say they were making progress in their case against him.
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20 Responses to Josh Powell Kills Himself and Two Sons In Explosion
Oh Wow, What a guy!
Susan’s parents have had so much grief and now this.
Why did he have to take the little boys with him ?
My gut always told me he was responsible for his wife’s disappearance.
I remember his father being arrested for the child porn but can’t remember if Steve was linked to it too, does anyone know ?
I never felt this story would end well but this is so sad!
My heart really goes out to these grandparents. Our system has failed them. First with their daughter’s death and now with their grandsons. I do understand that the evidence just was not there with the Susan’s death but I still feel like we failed these people big time.
I didn’t know Susan’s body was ever found, when and where was it found ?
Who takes toddlers out camping in the middle of the night in freezing weather ? Steve’s alibi stunk.
I agree, nothing but heartbreak for Susan’s parents.
Why the need to kill the children. Well, his family can deal with the coward now. How very sad. It may never be proven, but I alsways felt his Father helped him in everything to do with Susan’s missing. I think for supervised visitation, it should not be in the home. Kids sometimes get the feeling they are going to to able to stay there.
Deborah, where did you see that they had found Susan’s body?
Deb, Susan’s body has not been found. The system failed for the kids and grandparents. What heartbreak this all must be for them. Not only losing their daughter but also having to defend the daughters reputation since her disappearance. I don’t understand why the supervised visits the father had with the boys had to be in his house and not in a public place. Josh Powell’s story has never made logical sense since Susan went missing.
I didn’t see it anywhere Pam, I was responding to you #2. You were talking about Susan’s parents and her death. I assumed her body was found is all. Yes, I believe she’s dead too. So her body was never found, I didn’t think so.
I agree Sage, the visits should have been in a public place, never at his home. I bet that case worker was/is horrified.
So good to see you Sage, I miss you soooo much!!!
Ugh! Such tragedy
From the beginning, nothing about his story has added up. People have been arrested on less evidence, but I also admit that the case was complicated and law enforcement has to make some difficult calls when pursuing a case. I just never understood why he was allowed to keep the boys as long as he was and it seems it was only the paternal grandfather’s arrest that finally got the boys out of there.
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Like all of you, my heart broke when I saw the news today. Susan’s parents are in my thoughts and prayers. I hope Charles and Braden are reunited with their beautiful mother in heaven.
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I also hope there will be a thorough investigation to determine if anything could have been done differently.
Heartbreaking. I don’t care if people want to kill themselves, but to kill their own children! Can’t comprehend this. So tragic.
This is so sad:-(
I always feel like Holly in post #11 – kill yourself if you want, but to murder your children is an act of monstrous ego and cruelty. Poor grandparents. Of course, considering what he did to his poor wife, I guess it’s unrealistic to expect decency from him. Still, so awful. I try not to have hate in my heart, but at the moment I kind of hate him.
Such a sad sad situation. My heart goes out to Susan’s parents and family.
He obviously took their mother’s life and now to end the life of his children. I can’t help but think he split hell wide open.
Take your own pathetic life if you don’t want to face the music but to kill your own children. Evil, evil, evil.
A monster. That poor family. I hope the grandparents can find someway to carry on. I don’t know how, but I hope they can.
People magazine has a statement from the grandparents that they had repeatedly warned authorities that they feared Powell would kill himself and the boys.
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“”We stated our fear many times, that if he was feeling desperate, that he would possibly kill himself and the boys, that this kind of thing could happen,” Susan’s father Chuck tells PEOPLE. “If he felt there was no way out, that he wouldn’t let anyone else have them. They were possessions to him.”
The system indeed failed this family, Susan’s parents saw it coming and were vocal about it and it still happened.
This story breaks my heart. So sad.
As proven once again.. there is evil in this world. How horrible this is.