GRAHAM, Wash. – Days after a judge ruled against him in a child custody hearing, a father of two young boys apparently blew up a house Sunday with all three inside – a tragic ending to a bizarre, long-running case that began when the man’s wife went mysteriously missing in Utah.
A Child Protective Services worker brought the two boys to Josh Powell’s home 20 miles south of Tacoma for what was to be a supervised visit, and Powell let his sons inside – but then blocked the social worker from entering, said Gary Franz, Graham Fire and Rescue chief.
The social worker called her supervisors to report that she could smell gas, and moments later the home exploded. What’s left of the house was still smoking Sunday afternoon, and fire crews were mopping up the scene.
Sgt. Ed Troyer, Pierce County sheriff’s spokesman, said emails Powell sent authorities seemed to confirm the Powell planned the deadly blast. Troyer didn’t elaborate on the contents of the emails.
Jeffrey Bassett, who represented Powell in the custody case, said he received a three-word email from his client just minutes before Powell and the two boys died. It said, “I’m sorry, goodbye.”
The email arrived at 12:05 p.m. Sunday, about 10 minutes before the explosion, but he didn’t see it until two hours later, when others told him Josh and the boys had been killed.
He said he knew Josh was upset after being ordered to undergo a psychosexual evaluation recently, but he didn’t see this coming.
Powell was under investigation in the disappearance of his 28-year-old wife, Susan, from their West Valley City, Utah, home in December 2009. He claimed he had taken the boys on a midnight excursion in freezing temperatures when she vanished.
The children, 5 and 7, had been living with Susan Powell’s parents since Josh Powell’s father, Steven, was arrested on child porn and voyeurism charges last fall. On Wednesday, a judge had denied an attempt by Josh Powell to regain custody, saying she wouldn’t consider returning the two boys to their father until he underwent a psychosexual evaluation.
“It’s the most horrifying thing you can imagine happening,” said lawyer Steve Downing, who represented Susan Powell’s parents, Chuck and Judy Cox, in the custody fight. “The Coxes are absolutely devastated. They were always very fearful of him doing something like this, and he did it.”
