Unsolved cases

The disappearance of Susan Powell

Susan Marie Powell was born on October 16, 1981. She was a wife to Joshua Powell and mother to two boys, Charles and Braden.

Her disappearance is presumed to be a murder and the main suspect was her husband Joshua Powell.

Joshua Powell was born on January 20, 1976, to Steven and Terrica Powell in Puyallup, Washington. Joshua's parents had a dysfunctional marriage, caused in large part by Steven's disaffection with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS Church).

According to divorce filings by Terrica in 1992, Steven shared Pornography with Joshua and his two brothers and refused to teach or enforce limits on certain behaviors. As a teenager, Joshua allegedly killed gerbils belonging to one of his sisters and threatened his mother with a butcher knife. He also attempted suicide on at least one occasion.

By the late 1990s, Joshua was living in Seattle as a student at the University of Washington. It was here that he began a relationship with a young woman named Catherine Terry Everett, whom he met at a local LDS Church Congregation. After the two moved into an apartment together, Joshua became possessive towards Everett.

According to Everett, " He would have restrictions and limitations on what I could and couldn't do when it came to my family. If I was going to go visit them, he had to come too. I couldn't go by myself."

When Everett visited a friend in Utah without Joshua, she decided not to return to Seattle and broke up with him over the phone.

Joshua met Susan Cox, a classmate at his LDS Church Institute of Religion  course, during a dinner party at his Tacoma apartment in November 2000. The two began a relationship and married in the Portland Oregon Temple  in April 2001. Joshua had a bachelor's degree in business and worked for several different companies over the years, while Susan, a trained Cosmetologist, took up a job with Wells Fargo Investments  after the family's relocation to West Valley City, Utah, a suburb of Salt Lake City. The Powells went on to have two sons: Charles, born in 2005, and Braden, born in 2007.

For a brief period following their wedding, Joshua and Susan lived at Steven Powell's home in South Hill, Washington. Initially, unbeknownst to Susan, her father-in-law Steven had developed an obsessive infatuation with her which was only inflamed by their proximity. Steven followed Susan around the house with a camcorder, used a small mirror to spy on her while she used the bathroom, stole her underwear from her laundry, read her journals, and even posted love songs online under a pseudonym.

In 2003, Steven confessed his amorous feelings to a stunned Susan, who rejected him; the encounter was inadvertently captured by Steven's camcorder microphone. The Powells moved out-of-state soon after, partly so Susan could distance herself from Steven.

Susan's journal entries and email correspondence indicated the presence of marital discord. There was tension with Joshua over his refusal to attend church services with his family, and over his continued contact with Steven despite his father's ongoing advances toward Susan.

Susan's friends also pointed to Joshua's "extremely controlling" behavior toward his wife and to his extravagant spending habits. Joshua filed for Bankruptcy in 2007, declaring over $200,000 in debts. Susan recorded a video in July 2008 surveying property damage she attributed to Joshua, and wrote a secret Will that included the statements, "I want it documented that there is extreme turmoil in our marriage" and, "If I die, it may not be an accident, even if it looks like one."

On the morning of December 6, 2009, Susan, Charles and Braden attended church services. A neighbor visited them at home in the afternoon, leaving at about 5:00 p.m. This was the last time Susan was seen by someone from outside the Powell household.