Josh Powell – Innocent Until Proven Guilty
Josh Powell stood solemnly in a downpour, under an umbrella. He was with his supporters and his four-year-old son, Charlie, at the candlelight vigil for Susan Powell, his missing wife.
He had left Salt Lake City, Utah, Friday or early Saturday and drove 900 miles to the town where he grew up, Puyallup, Washington. He never spoke with Susan’s parents, Chuck and Judy Cox at the vigil.
Josh has been fired from his job as a computer programmer for a trucking and warehousing company, according to a friend, John Hellewell. Joshua will not be able to make his house payments now and will lose the house. (The Salt Lake Tribune)
Josh and his sons are staying with his father, Steven Powell, in a gated community called Country Hollow in South Hill, which is just outside of Puyallup, Washington. John Hellewell said, “He just told me he needed to get away from the press and publicity and keep his kids away from it.”
Steven Powell
Steven Powell told the Salt Lake Tribune, “The whole thing has just turned into a vilification of Josh and it will turn into a vilification of me, my ex-wife and other kids.” Now the media is hounding the father, and it doesn’t look like they’ll let up on Josh either.
Petersen says, “By the end of the year, he needed to be going to church full time, and by their anniversary he needed to have his temple recommend.” Susan took these goals very seriously, according to Tim Petersen.
“If he wasn’t there, that she was going to divorce him and take the house and the kids.” (Friends say Susan Powell was preparing for possible divorce – ABC4 – Christiana Brady -12/22/2009)
The anonymous friends have alleged that Susan has said through emails that she feared her husband might try to kidnap their sons and break her financially. Susan had already taken action to shelter herself from Joshua.
Susan Powell
She had set up a separate bank account, made arrangements to live elsewhere, and had prepared an informal will. Susan was careful to let many friends know of her plans.
It’s like she already knew what was coming. (Susan Powell mulled divorce, plan to escape husband, friends say – The Salt Lake Tribune – by Brooke Adams and Melinda Rogers-12/22/2009)
Sadly, in 2010, there were opportunities lost for all time in the Susan Powell case
Two years later, Nancy Grace and Susan Powell.
Conflicting Accounts
There have been conflicting accounts about the nature of the Powell’s marriage. This conundrum emerged on Jane Velez-Mitchell’s show Issues last night. Jane interviewed Jovanna Owings for a second time, and Jovanna said things were going smoothly. Jovanna had shared a dinner of pancakes (cooked by Josh) on the crucial night of December 6th. She says they had pleasant conversation and that Josh was compassionate towards Susan.
In contrast, Rachel Marini, a close friend of Susan, has painted a very different portrait. Rachel told MSNBC that things began to deteriorate when the Powells moved from Washington to Utah. The Powells were having massive financial problems, racking up $200,000 in debt from credit cards, student loans and furniture purchases.
Marini told Ann Curry that: “Josh was very controlling. He controlled everything in their marriage, from the money that Susan spent to what groceries she could buy to what she could eat. There was a lot of fighting and belittling on his part. It just reduced her to a very unhappy and different person than she was when he first met her.”
A Rented Car – A Curiosity Or Natural?
Another curiosity that has come to light is that Josh Powell rented a car two days after his wife came up missing. It was just for a 24 hour period. The West Valley police have confiscated his minivan to inspect it. Not too odd really, that he rents a car.
Yet Josh put several hundred miles on the rented car. Investigators have no clue where he went. West Valley police Capt. Tom McLachlan has indicated also that no GPS tracking was on the rented vehicle. I would think that he had to have gone out of town in order to put that many miles on the car. Maybe Josh was re-hiding the body, as many commentators have suggested?
Why Wasn’t He Tailed?
Another common comment is why didn’t the police tail Josh Powell after his wife went missing. I’m sure he was watching in his rear view mirror the whole time he was gone, looking to see whether the cops were following him. He gets away with it! Josh Powell wasn’t even “a person of interest” yet.
Things are heating up, but at a tortoise’s pace. The authorities will need to carefully make their case, if they hope to get their man. It will have to be a web of circumstantial evidence. Remember, they do not have a body. Yet it is conceivable that charges of homicide can be made without a body. This was done in the case of Mark Hacking, who killed his wife Lori.
I believe that Josh Powell will harden up, under the tutelage of his father, Steven Powell. I don’t think he’ll break down. He’s a sociopath. I could tell that from the ‘navy blue cap’ interview. He says in that brief interview (on December 10th-a correction) that “she’s somewhere.” Like I know where she is, and you won’t ever know, stupid!
Excruciating Details
Every excruciating detail of this case will be played out on a public platform. That platform is the internet. This is ‘Real’ Reality TV. Everything else pails in comparison. Josh Powell, you just can’t get away from the media. For how long? That’s for the remainder of your living days!
