Missing
Susan Marie Powell
Susan, approximately 2009; Josh Powell; Steven Powell; Braden Powell; Charlie Powell
Date and time person was reported missing : 12/07/2009
Missing location (approx) :
West Valley City, Utah
Missing classification : Endangered Missing
Gender : Female
Ethnicity :
White
DOB : 10/16/1981 (39)
Age at the time of disappearance: 28 years old
Height / Weight : 5'4, 130 pounds
Description, clothing, jewerly and more : A long-sleeved black shirt and black dress pants.
Distinguishing characteristics, birthmarks, tattoos
: Caucasian female. Brown hair, blue eyes. Susan's maiden name is Cox and some Age at the time of disappearance: ncies refer to her as Susan Cox Powell.
Information on the case from local sources, may or may not be correct : A friend of Susan Powell visited her at her residence in the 6200 block of west Sarah Circle in West Valley City, Utah on the afternoon of Sunday, December 6, 2009. The friend, Susan, and Susan's husband of eight years, Josh, had lunch together. According to her friend, Susan was behaving normally at the time and only said she was tired and wanted to nap before dinner.
The next day, both Susan and Josh didn't show up for work or call their employers to say they would be absent, and they also failed to drop their children off at day care. Authorities issued a missing persons bulletin for Susan, Josh and their two sons, two-year-old Charlie and four-year-old Braden. Photos of Josh, Charlie and Braden are posted with this case summary.
Josh and the children returned home at 5:00 p.m., but Susan has never been heard from again. Josh said he had taken his sons camping in the desert at Simpson Springs, along the Pony Express Trail, late on Sunday night. He returned home to find Susan missing. He said he last saw Susan at their home at 12:30 a.m. on December 7, as he was setting out on the camping trip. Susan didn't go with them because she felt sick. Josh said he didn't go to work on Monday because he got confused about what day of the week it was.
Authorities quickly classified Susan's disappearance as suspicious and executed a search warrant on her home. Her family described her as a devoted mother who would not have abandoned her children, and she left her purse, keys and cellular phone behind at home.
Investigators stated on the day Susan was reported missing, they noticed a large wet spot in her home and fans blowing on it to dry it. They questioned Josh's story, stating they didn't know why he would have taken two toddlers camping in the cold weather. The temperatures during the time of the purported camping trip were well below freezing, with mixed rain and snow.
Police searched the site where Josh said he had set up camp, but they were unable to determine whether anyone had camped there recently. Braden did confirm that the trip had taken place, however.
A week after Susan's disappearance, Josh hired an attorney. Authorities named him as a person of interest in her case, and stated he hadn't cooperated with the investigation. The police briefly impounded the family's minivan and searched it. During the day that the van was in police custody, Josh rented a car to drive. Investigators later determined he'd driven it hundreds of miles before he returned it, but the car didn't have any stored GPS data to indicate where it had been driven.
A neighbor said Josh appeared at his home when it was time to return the rented car and get his van back from the police. The neighbor stated he was acting oddly, his hands were badly windburned and he kept putting lotion on them.
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