Josh Powell just blew up his house with his kids inside

[Color Me Badd Fan]

Yeah, until you think of one brother watching his other brother die that way. My cynicism has pretty much caused me to be beyond feeling any human emotion at this point of my life, but this story is just too much for even me.

The hatchet aspect has made it even worse for me. The initial story was the kids died in an explosion or it could have been carbon monoxide poisoning. But I'm getting just about the most unpleasant image possible in my mind now that they have revealed he used hatchets. It's the idea that this happened to children that I find the most upsetting.

[cougjunkie]

Just heard a reporter from KSL on the radio say that Charlie one of the boys recently drew a picture at school of his family camping and the van his dad rented. He told the teacher it was the last time they did anything together and that mom was asleep in the trunk. He also said Dad took mom out of the trunk and they went to talk but only Dad came back.

Washington state police just named Steven Powell (Joshs father) a person of interest in the Susan Powell case as well. They said he was in Washington at the time of her disapperance but new evidence has lead them to believe he knows what happened to her.

[sparky]

Just heard a reporter from KSL on the radio say that Charlie one of the boys recently drew a picture at school of his family camping and the van his dad rented. He told the teacher it was the last time they did anything together and that mom was asleep in the trunk. He also said Dad took mom out of the trunk and they went to talk but only Dad came back.

Washington state police just named Steven Powell (Joshs father) a person of interest in the Susan Powell case as well. They said he was in Washington at the time of her disapperance but new evidence has lead them to believe he knows what happened to her.

It's ok to waterboard a child-lusting sack of shit, right?

[NorthwestUteFan]

I rarely think of people as being evil. Mentally deranged? Ill? Yes. However, this pure evil.

I agree. I do not believe in 'the devil' per se, and blaming 'the devil' is a cop out to avoid the fact that people can make horrifically terrible decisions of their own accord.

But I will also call this guy 'evil', with the qualifier that he was evil on his own accord. I believe that he holds 100% of the culpability for his actions, and not 'temporarily insane'. I wish he could have been man enough to just off himself, rather than steal away his boys at the same time.

And I can't wait for the opportunity to piss on his grave.

[Green Monstah]

Just heard a reporter from KSL on the radio say that Charlie one of the boys recently drew a picture at school of his family camping and the van his dad rented. He told the teacher it was the last time they did anything together and that mom was asleep in the trunk. He also said Dad took mom out of the trunk and they went to talk but only Dad came back.

Washington state police just named Steven Powell (Joshs father) a person of interest in the Susan Powell case as well. They said he was in Washington at the time of her disapperance but new evidence has lead them to believe he knows what happened to her.

I've got to stop coming into this thread. Everytime I do, my eyes well up. The fact that sweet innocent kids are subject to this sort of monstrous shit is the type of stuff that makes me question God's love for us and/or his power and/or his existence.

[scottie]

Audio of his final voicemail to family, left 20 minutes before the fire:

http://landing.newsinc.com/shared/video.html?freewheel=90262&sitesection=sltrib&VID=23571213

Someone in that report also says that Powell unsuccessfully attempted to murder the boys before the fire.

[LA Ute]

I'll admit, I am unsubscribing from this thread. Can't handle it. Don't want to.

[DU Ute]

I'll admit, I am unsubscribing from this thread. Can't handle it. Don't want to.

I can't remember the last time something bothered me this bad. I can't believe they let him have such lightly supervised visitation. This is from a September ABC article when Josh lost custody: How do you allow kids to go to the home of someone who fosters this kind of environment for his kids?

The state's attorney told the judge that during a search of the home in August, police saw a poster depicting a woman with a sword through her genitals and found a hanging noose, and that on other occasions they had arrived at the home to find Josh Powell's brother naked when answering the door.

The lawyer added that Josh Powell admitted to investigators that he had taken photos of women's legs without their knowledge, in addition to having stored some of his father's information on his personal computer.

The judge granted three-hour visiting periods on Sundays for Josh Powell to see his children while the Coxes are at church. Josh Powell objected to the children going to church with their grandparents.

Terri Powell said her husband (Steven) viewed people as animals and that they should be able to have sex with anyone at any time. She recalled a conversation in which Josh Powell referred to a girl his brother, Johnny, liked.

"All she is good for is her body, right dad?" Terri recalled Josh Powell saying.

"Yeah, that's right," Steve Powell replied, according to the declaration.

Jennifer Graves, Josh Powell's sister, said in an interview with The Associated Press that she broke off ties with her father in part because of his problems with sex and pornography. She recalled going on a business trip with her father when she was about 11 years old and that he viewed a pornographic video while she was with him.

"Looking back, I wonder: If he was willing to do that with a 10 to 12 year girl, his daughter, in the room, what else would he be willing to do?" she said.

[Flystripper]

I'll admit, I am unsubscribing from this thread. Can't handle it. Don't want to.

I am with you...I am out.

[CardiacCoug]

Audio of his final voicemail to family, left 20 minutes before the fire:

http://landing.newsinc.com/shared/video.html?freewheel=90262&sitesection=sltrib&VID=23571213

Someone in that report also says that Powell unsuccessfully attempted to murder the boys before the fire.

Yeah they have said repeatedly that the boys died of carbon monoxide poisoning, meaning they can tell they were alive to inhale smoke despite the hatchet attack. Horrendous.

[Viking]

As a child, I was terrified of the Friday the 13th movies. My dad used to reassure me that no one existed like that. Now we have people worse than that. People that attempt to hatchet their children and then incinerate them while they presumably suffer from not-yet fatal blows to the neck.

How precisely did a man who allegedly had graphic sadistic material hanging in his home, whose father and effective room mate sits in jail under charges of child pornography, and who under any reasonable situation should have been charged with his wife's disappearance, have any visitation rights?

The police departments have been quick to deflect culpability but after reading this disgusting person's internet ramblings yesterday, I can only conclude that if you are a policeman or DA and can't, within the law, find a way to even charge Josh Powell, you are a f--cking idiot. If you can't keep Josh Powell from visitation given the known circumstances and facts in February 2012, you should step down from the bench.

The Powells apparently blame the media. Morons. Josh Powell is to blame and perhaps those around him. But shame on the guardians of the young for not protecting them.

Powell's ramblings of a madman have been available for public consumption for months. How someone couldn't start a discovery quest based on what he had written and show the inherent mental instability of the person and his lack of fitness as a parent in any capacity, even in "supervised" visitation, is truly baffling. His blog, or whatever one might call it, at least points to serious mental disorder. This should have happened months ago. How the HELL did this happen??!!

[Viking]

Just heard a reporter from KSL on the radio say that Charlie one of the boys recently drew a picture at school of his family camping and the van his dad rented. He told the teacher it was the last time they did anything together and that mom was asleep in the trunk. He also said Dad took mom out of the trunk and they went to talk but only Dad came back.

Washington state police just named Steven Powell (Joshs father) a person of interest in the Susan Powell case as well. They said he was in Washington at the time of her disapperance but new evidence has lead them to believe he knows what happened to her.

This is all helpful now that two innocent children have been murdered.

Apparently, children drawing pictures of their father, already under suspicion for killing his wife, traveling with mommy in the "trunk" and saying she's "in the mines", having one grandpa sit in pound-me-in-the-ass prison for child porn charges stemming from his time in the same home as the kids, having the POLICE see sexually violent images displayed in "dad's" home in full view of the children, and being able to PUBLICLY read his insane ramblings for months isn't enough to say, "time out, let's suspend all parental visitation. There's too much going on here."

Now, I'm just really mad. I can't believe that more was not done to protect those kids in the face of the obvious.

[doctorcoug]

As a child, I was terrified of the Friday the 13th movies. My dad used to reassure me that no one existed like that. Now we have people worse than that. People that attempt to hatchet their children and then incinerate them while they presumably suffer from not-yet fatal blows to the neck.

How precisely did a man who allegedly had graphic sadistic material hanging in his home, whose father and effective room mate sits in jail under charges of child pornography, and who under any reasonable situation should have been charged with his wife's disappearance, have any visitation rights?

The police departments have been quick to deflect culpability but after reading this disgusting person's internet ramblings yesterday, I can only conclude that if you are a policeman or DA and can't, within the law, find a way to even charge Josh Powell, you are a f--cking idiot. If you can't keep Josh Powell from visitation given the known circumstances and facts in February 2012, you should step down from the bench.

The Powells apparently blame the media. Morons. Josh Powell is to blame and perhaps those around him. But shame on the guardians of the young for not protecting them.

Powell's ramblings of a madman have been available for public consumption for months. How someone couldn't start a discovery quest based on what he had written and show the inherent mental instability of the person and his lack of fitness as a parent in any capacity, even in "supervised" visitation, is truly baffling. His blog, or whatever one might call it, at least points to serious mental disorder. This should have happened months ago. How the HELL did this happen??!!

I am not placing blame on anybody but the monster. Just to let that be clear.

We know about this case because it is high profile. There was a child locally that died a similar death. The world didn't hear about it because it was a low profile situation. Few people care about the deaths in the ghetto.

I bring up this example to show what I think is happening. In my state, the child protective services is overwhelmed. Unless you are found with heroin dripping out of your arms, you can rest assured you won't lose your kids. I wondered if that happened in Washington.

Everybody is overworked right now. This situation is possibly a function of things that include budget cutbacks.

[Viking]

I am not placing blame on anybody but the monster. Just to let that be clear.

We know about this case because it is high profile. There was a child locally that died a similar death. The world didn't hear about it because it was a low profile situation. Few people care about the deaths in the ghetto.

I bring up this example to show what I think is happening. In my state, the child protective services is overwhelmed. Unless you are found with heroin dripping out of your arms, you can rest assured you won't lose your kids. I wondered if that happened in Washington.

Everybody is overworked right now. This situation is possibly a function of things that include budget cutbacks.

You're right it's his fault, but you fail to recognize that this was a HIGH profile case and thus all the more reason CPS/the judge/the apparently keystone cops should have been all over this.

[NorthwestUteFan]

I hate to add more heart-wrenching info to this event, but apparently the caseworker was forced to plead with the 9-1-1 dispatcher FOR SEVEN MINUTES before they even sent the Sheriff. The tapes have been released but I can not and will not force myself to listen to them.

This whole Charlie Foxtrot is a chain of relatively small screw-ups that each served to enable a sadistic and disgusting murderer. I assume there will be a large outcry to remove the judge from the bench, and perhaps they will also look more closely into the protocols of 9-1-1.

A few years ago there was a somewhat similar incident with 9-1-1 in the neighboring county. A man 'snapped' and 'accidentally' stabbed his girlfriend's toddler with a steak knife. She called 9-1-1 asking for an ambulance. They were going to immediately send an ambulance, until they realized the man was still in the house, at which point they refused to call the ambulance.

They continued to question the woman, who was clutching her dying toddler and begging for help, but they deflected her questioning. They never explained to her that the EMTs are not allowed to enter the scene until the perpetrator was off the premises, and also that the cops are not allowed to enter the scene for the same reason.

Eventually the man walked out of the house and off the property. The ambulance, which was initially 3 minutes away, arrived about 27 minutes after the call and were unable to revive the child. Had they arrived a few minutes after the call the child would very likely have survived.