THE POWELL FAMILY; IN THE AFTERMATH

                     THE POWELL FAMILY; IN THE AFTERMATH

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THE AFTERMATH

          On February 11, 2013, approximately one year after the 

death of Joshua and his sons, Michael Powell killed himself in 

Minneapolis, Minnesota, by jumping from the roof of a parking 

garage. Police had questioned Michael several times in 2012 

after discovering his abandoned Ford at the Oregon wrecking yard.

 Police described him as "evasive" about why he left the car at that

 location. Utah authorities have since stated their belief that 

Joshua and Michael were accomplices in the murder of Susan.

West Valley City police's active investigation into Susan's 

disappearance was closed on May 21, 2013.

          In a February 2013 interview, Manley, who had conducted 

the 2011–2012 evaluations of Joshua for Washington authorities, 

acknowledged his suspicions that Joshua was involved in his wife's

 disappearance. However, he did not mention these suspicions in 

his report because they were beyond the scope of his duties and 

because Joshua had not been charged with any wrongdoing.

           Joshua's sister, Jennifer Graves, wrote a memoir with co-

author Emily Clawson about the Powell family's tumultuous 

history. The memoir was published in June 2013 as A Light in Dark

 Places. Jennifer was inspired to write the book, she says, "to help

 other people to recognize abuse in either their own relationships 

or relationships around them because it's not always completely 

apparent."

           In March 2015, Chuck Cox won a protracted court battle

 with Terrica and Alina Powell over control of Susan's estate. 

Terrica and Alina had sought to have Susan declared legally dead 

to collect life insurance, but Cox ultimately gained full control of 

the estate. The Cox family also sued Washington's Department

 of Social and Health Services (DSHS) and its social workers, 

claiming that the agency prioritized Joshua's parental rights over 

the safety of Charlie and Braden, facilitating their deaths. In 2015,

 a federal court granted summary judgement to the defendants, 

ruling that the social workers had immunity and DSHS was not 

negligent.In 2019, an appeals court partially overturned that

 decision, ruling that the social workers did have immunity but the

 question of DSHS's negligence could proceed to trial. At 

trial, a jury ruled that DSHS was negligent and awarded $98 

million to the estates of Susan's two sons. Susan's family also

 pressured state lawmakers in Washington and Utah to pass bills

 that would restrict or block visitation rights for parents being

 investigated for murder.

        Steven Powell was released from prison on July 11, 2017, 

after serving nearly six years following his voyeurism and child 

pornography convictions.[66] He died of natural causes in Tacoma,

 Washington, on July 23, 2018.

         In 2019, Salt Lake City radio station KSL, which had produced

 a podcast about Susan's disappearance called Cold, disclosed that 

the "incestuous cartoon porn" found by West Valley City police was 

not Joshua's nor even came from his computer. The images were

 found to be from a computer that actually belonged to Susan and 

had been viewed by the computer's previous owners, fellow 

members of her LDS Church congregation, from whom she had 

purchased the computer secondhand. Dave Cawley, the host of 

Cold, declined to identify the original owners of the computer

 because he had a conflict of interest as their personal 

acquaintance. No criminal charges have been filed against anyone

 related to the images.

         Susan remains a missing person, but given the fates of her 

sons, it is widely believed that she was murdered by her husband 

Joshua. There were calls as of March 2018 to have her declared 

legally dead, with the cause being homicide.

          In early 2022, a cave exploration crew led by Diesel Brothers

 personality Dave Sparks took up the challenge of searching a mine

 shaft in the Utah desert in search of Susan's remains. The team

 discovered several rib bones, possible human vertebrae, scraps of

 clothing, and other possible evidence of human remains in the

 mine shaft.The remains were sent to a lab, with DNA tests

 concluding that none of the bones belonged to Powell, but were

 instead animal remains. Pants recovered with the bones 

tested positive for male DNA and the family is trying to identify the

 man.

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AFTERMATH, IN THE MEDIA

              In October 2018, the Crime Junkie podcast covered the 

case in one of its episodes titled "Murdered: The Powell Family".

               Dave Cawley, a reporter for KSL Newsradio in Salt Lake 

City, began a podcast on the Susan Powell case in November 2018.

 The podcast, titled Cold, offers evidence and information from

 the case that has never before been made public, such as voice 

and video recordings, interviews, and more. On February 10,

 2021, a TV series development deal for the Cold podcast was 

announced.

              In December 2018, Investigation Discovery premiered an 

85-minute documentary titled Susan Powell: An ID Murder 

Mystery.

           A documentary titled The Disappearance of Susan Cox

 Powell premiered on Oxygen in May 2019. The two-night

 special was touted to be the "definitive" account of the 

investigation, revealing Steven Powell's never-before-seen videos

 that were seized by police when he was arrested. The 

documentary included interviews with many who have never 

spoken out publicly, including Joshua Powell's sister Alina.

          In July 2019, the Morbid podcast discussed the case in its 82nd episode The Tragic Case of Susan Powell: Mini Morbid.[79]

In December 2019, the podcast And That's Why We Drink 

discussed the case in its 152nd episode.

        Gregg Olsen and Rebecca Morris covered the story in their 

book If I Can’t Have You: Susan Powell, Her Mysterious 

Disappearance, and the Murder of Her Children.

        In February 2022, the YouTube channel HeavyDSparks 

(owned by Dave 'Heavy D' Sparks, Producer of the Discovery 

Channel show Diesel Brothers) posted four videos filmed over 11 

days documenting their excavation of a 225-foot  deep 

mineshaft. Its location is in the vicinity of the area her husband 

claimed to have gone camping the night his wife disappeared. The

headframe of the mineshaft had been torched and destroyed, 

causing it to fall into the vertical shaft near the time of Susan's 

disappearance. Sparks and his team excavated about 40,000

pounds of dirt and debris before finding bones of unknown origin 

and pieces of clothing. Upon having the remains analyzed by 

forensic scientists, they concluded that the bones were very 

unlikely to be human.

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***on a personal note******

    Of all the crimes that I have heard of, seen on Court Tv, or even 

have profiled, as it came across my desk, whether for study,

or vocation, NO CRIME has touched me quite as profoundly 

as that, which originates with Susan Powell. Josh's evil 

narcissism in taking Susan's body location, to his grave;

much in the same way that he took control over the life and

death of both of his two sons. His selfishness, and frankly, 

ability, to keep key details QUIET, is rather unusual. I cannot

fathom anything about this case, but I cannot imagine the

'not knowing", and all the what if's of Susan's brother as well

as mother and father.