On December 6, 2009, Susan Marie Powell, a 28‑year‑old mother of two from West Valley City, Utah, disappeared from her home under suspicious circumstances. Her husband, Joshua Powell, was identified by police as a person of interest but was never charged. In February 2012, after a court awarded temporary custody of the couple's two sons to her parents, Joshua killed the children and himself in a deliberate house explosion during a supervised visit.
The investigation uncovered blood evidence in the Powell home, financial actions taken by Joshua after Susan's disappearance, and statements from the children indicating that Susan had accompanied the family on the night Joshua claimed to have taken them on a late‑night camping trip. Police later focused on Joshua's father, Steven Powell, after finding voyeuristic recordings of Susan, young girls, and other women; Steven was arrested in 2011 on voyeurism and child pornography charges. Investigators also focused on Joshua's brother Michael, who abandoned a car at a wrecking yard in Oregon shortly after Susan vanished.
In 2013, Michael died by suicide. That same year, West Valley City police closed their active investigation, stating their belief that Joshua had murdered Susan and that Michael helped him conceal her body. Despite searches, legal proceedings, and renewed efforts to locate remains, Susan has never been found, and attempts to have her legally declared dead have continued.
Background
Susan Cox met Joshua Powell through their LDS Church Institute of Religion course, and the two reconnected at a dinner gathering in his Tacoma apartment in November 2000. They began a relationship soon afterward and married in the Portland Oregon Temple in April 2001. After their wedding, Susan and Joshua briefly lived with Joshua's father, Steven Powell, in South Hill, Washington. During this period, Steven developed an inappropriate fixation on Susan, secretly filming her, spying on her with a mirror while she used the bathroom, stealing her underwear, reading her journals, and posting love songs about her online under a pseudonym. In 2003, he confessed his feelings to her; the exchange was unintentionally recorded on his camcorder microphone. Susan rejected him, and she and Joshua moved out of state soon afterward, partly to distance themselves from Steven.
The couple later settled in West Valley City, Utah, where Susan worked for Wells Fargo Investments and raised their two sons, Charles (born 2005) and Braden (born 2007). Although she maintained a stable outward life, Susan privately documented increasing strain within the marriage. Her journals and emails described tension over Joshua's refusal to attend church with the family and his continued contact with Steven despite his behavior toward her. Friends also noted what they described as Joshua's controlling behavior and his heavy spending. In 2007, Joshua filed for bankruptcy, reporting more than $200,000 in debt.
By 2008, Susan recorded video of property damage she attributed to Joshua and wrote a private will stating that her marriage was in "extreme turmoil." She added that if she were to die, "it may not be an accident, even if it looks like one."
Disappearance
On the morning of December 6, 2009, Susan, Charles, and Braden attended church. A neighbor visited the family at their home that afternoon and left at about 5:00 p.m. This was the last time Susan was seen by anyone outside the Powell household. Relatives reported the entire family missing on December 7 after the children were not dropped off at daycare. Joshua's mother, Terrica, and his estranged sister, Jennifer, went to the Powell residence but were unable to reach either Joshua or Susan. Police entered the home out of concern for possible carbon monoxide poisoning. No one was inside, but officers noted two box fans blowing on a wet spot on the couch. Susan did not report to work that day, and her purse, wallet, and identification were found inside the house. Her cell phone was later located in the family's only vehicle, a Chrysler Town & Country minivan that Joshua had been using.
Later that afternoon, at about 5:00 p.m., Joshua returned home with the two boys and was taken to the police station for questioning. He told investigators that he had left Susan sleeping at home shortly after midnight on December 7 and had taken his sons on a camping trip to the Pony Express Trail in western Utah. Police searched the area on December 10 but found no evidence of the campsite Joshua described. Investigators also noted that he had taken the boys out after midnight in blizzard conditions, despite their scheduled daycare attendance only hours later. Joshua had not informed his employer that he would miss work and told police he believed it was Sunday rather than Monday.
After a second round of questioning on the evening of December 8, Joshua rented a car at Salt Lake City International Airport. His whereabouts after leaving the airport were not accounted for. Approximately 18 hours later, at about 4:00 p.m. on December 9, he called his mother from a new phone while driving south toward Salt Lake City on Interstate 84 near Tremonton. He later told his sister that he had been driving around the area, getting on and off freeways at random. Police later determined that Joshua had placed 807 miles on the rental car during the period it was in his possession.
Investigation
During a search of the Powell residence on December 9, investigators found traces of Susan's blood on the floor, life insurance policies on her totaling US$1.5 million, and a handwritten letter in which she expressed fear for her life. DNA test results released in 2013 identified one blood sample as Susan's, while another sample was attributed to an "unknown male contributor".
In August 2012, West Valley City police released documents indicating that Joshua took several actions considered suspicious after Susan's disappearance. He liquidated her retirement accounts, canceled her regularly scheduled chiropractic appointments, and withdrew the children from daycare. Investigators also learned that he had previously spoken to coworkers about how to hide a body in an abandoned mineshaft in the western Utah desert.
Police interviewed the Powells' older son, Charles, who confirmed that the camping trip described by Joshua had taken place. However, unlike his father, he stated that Susan had gone with them and did not return. Weeks after her disappearance, a teacher reported that Charles had said his mother was dead. Susan's parents, Chuck and Judy Cox, also stated that several months later, while at daycare, Braden drew a picture of a van with three people in it and told staff, "Mommy was in the trunk."
Investigators announced plans to question Joshua again and subpoenaed all aired and unaired footage of him from local television stations. On December 14, Joshua retained an attorney, and police reported that he had become increasingly uncooperative. A few days later, he took his sons to Puyallup to stay with his father for the holidays. By December 24, he was considered a person of interest by investigators. On January 6, 2010, Joshua returned with his brother Michael to pack the family's belongings, indicating that he intended to move permanently to Puyallup.
Developments in 2010–2012
In Puyallup, Joshua lived with his two sons, his father Steven, his brothers Michael and John, and his sister Alina. He indicated that he planned to rent out his house in Utah. Reports stated that he returned to Puyallup after losing his job in West Valley City.
Soon afterward, the website SusanPowell.org was launched. Described as "the official website of Susan Powell," its anonymous posts portrayed Joshua as the target of a smear campaign by Susan's family, his estranged sister Jennifer, and the LDS Church. Additional entries speculated that Susan's disappearance was connected to that of Steven Koecher, a former journalist who vanished in Nevada the same week, and suggested that the two had run off to Brazil together. Joshua and Steven were widely believed to have written the posts. In late 2010, both men claimed that Susan had abandoned her family due to mental illness and had left with another man. Susan's family rejected these claims as "unsupported" by any evidence.
Investigators' scrutiny extended to Steven after learning from a family friend that he had been obsessed with Susan. A search of his home in 2010 uncovered 4,500 images of her taken without her knowledge, including close‑ups of specific body parts. Police also focused on Michael after discovering that he had sold his broken‑down Ford Taurus to a wrecking yard in Pendleton, Oregon, shortly after Susan's disappearance, and had later ordered satellite images of the lot. When police located the vehicle, a cadaver dog indicated that decomposing human remains had been present in the trunk. DNA testing was inconclusive.
On September 14, 2011, Utah authorities located a possible gravesite while searching Topaz Mountain, a desert area near Nephi, that Joshua had frequently visited as a campsite. The site showed signs of recent soil disturbance and shoveling, but after digging several feet, investigators found no remains. Federal anthropologists ruled out the possibility of an ancient burial ground. Police continued examining the area but did not explain why they had initially announced the discovery of remains when none were confirmed. Authorities stated they were following a scent detected by search dogs.
Relations between the Powell and Cox families grew increasingly strained. After police raided the Powell home in 2011, both Joshua and Steven spoke to major news outlets about journals Susan had allegedly written concerning her relationship with Steven. Steven claimed that he and Susan had been falling in love before her disappearance and cited the journals—written when Susan was a teenager—as evidence that she was mentally unstable and might have left with another man. A judge issued a permanent injunction preventing Joshua and Steven from publishing any material from Susan's journals and ordered them to return or destroy any copies already released.
On September 22, Steven was arrested on charges of voyeurism and child pornography after police found evidence that he had secretly recorded young girls and numerous women, including Susan. John Long, assistant attorney general for Washington State, stated that Joshua was a "subject" in the investigation. A friend of Steven said he was preoccupied with pornography and "was hung up on [Susan] sexually." The following day, Susan's father, Chuck Cox, filed for custody. A Washington court granted him temporary custody, ruling that Joshua would need to move out of Steven's residence to regain custody. Joshua rented a house in South Hill, though authorities later alleged that he had not actually moved in and had only attempted to make it appear that he had complied with the court's order.
In late September 2011, Jennifer stated publicly that she believed her brother Joshua was "responsible for his wife Susan Powell's disappearance." His other sister, Alina, had also been suspicious of him but later withdrew her concerns and said Joshua had been unfairly targeted by investigators. By this time, West Valley City had spent more than half a million dollars on the case. On September 28, Mayor Mike Winder said the expense was justified, stating, "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," and that the case was progressing.
Later in 2011, Joshua underwent a series of court‑ordered evaluations in Washington. Conducted by James Manley, the assessments found that Joshua had adequate parenting skills, a stable employment history, and no criminal record or documented history of domestic violence. However, Manley also noted concerns related to the ongoing criminal investigations, Joshua's reluctance to acknowledge personal shortcomings, his overbearing behavior with his sons, and his persistent defensiveness and paranoia, which were attributed to police and media scrutiny combined with underlying narcissistic traits. Manley initially recommended that Joshua receive supervised visitation with his sons several times a week.
West Valley City police later found approximately 400 images of simulated child pornography, bestiality, and incest on a computer seized from the Powell residence. In January 2012, a Utah judge authorized police to share the material with the Washington Attorney General's Office, the Pierce County Sheriff's Office, and the Washington court overseeing the child welfare case. At the time, Utah authorities told Washington officials that the images came from Joshua's computer. (A 2019 KSL investigation later reported that the images had been cached by a previous owner before Susan purchased the device.) Utah authorities accused Joshua of viewing the material. Although the images were not illegal due to their hand‑drawn or cartoon‑style format, Manley considered them a matter of "great concern" particularly given Joshua's earlier denial of possessing such content. He recommended a more extensive psychosexual evaluation and a polygraph test but did not suggest changes to the visitation schedule.