Reader: Josh Powell Dumped His Wife's Body in the Great Salt Lake

• While the GSL is up to 30 feet deep, that is many miles from the shore. In most places you would have to walk several miles from shore to get into water deep enough to sink a body. In the middle of winter the water runs about 32f  and the person doing this would go into hypothermic shock and die before they got back. The body would also be very difficult to sink. Sorry, but your theory isn't fully baked.

• What about in the fresh water wetlands next to the salt lake, in some tall, heavy reeds? Farmington Bay, for example, is only 36 miles from the Powell home in West Valley. Where are some duck hunting spots along the salt lake that are easily accessible in the winter? Would the water in the wetlands be frozen on December 6 in sub-freezing weather? Haven't read if Josh is a hunter, but sounds like he's at least a camper. Are there any campgrounds near wetlands along the salt lake? His first answer, when asked where he went camping, was "south" and then he seemed to make the rest up as he went (including that he "guessed" they had campgrounds where he told the reporters he went). That probably means he went north (which is where the salt lake is, in relation to his home).

• I do not think he killed her he has a 4 yr old boy there would be a fight loud screams this 4 yr old would run in to see what was going on he did not put her in the back of that van and risk the 4 yr old might see something instead he got the kids out of the house and had someone else kidnap her frove her away my guess is where ever he drove the rental car too is where he went to see her body i hope and pray she still alive but this story is so much like the Scott Peterson story I strongly believe it is someone that he payed to kill her she was going to leave him it made him mad and he planned this his cell phone should have some numbers calls on it that needs checked out find out who he called on his way camping that night and days leading up to it

• ok noone has mentioned the fact he might have not killed her at all.It could been a murder for hire .He left the house give someone instructions left a door unlocked the day he rented the car could have been the pay off day.

• First of all, in order to get to the deep parts for him to throw the body in, he would have to have a boat and get quite aways from shore. I don't know where he was camping, but they might as well call it the Great Salt Swamp. Nobody who lives in Utah will disagree with that. It is a totally dead lake and any body thrown in it would float back up to the top unless weighed down really well. So I suppose he could have killed her, found a boat somewhere, rowed her out to the middle of the lake without being noticed, dumped her weighted down body overboard without leaving any evidence in the boat, ditched the boat or whatever, and then driven back home with a clear conscience. Yeah, I guess that is possible. There are about a thousand easier ways to dispose of a body out here than that though.

• There's nothing new right now, Cleo, other than Josh has packed up his family and moved to Washington. But you'll find any new updates here: http://www.truecrimereport.com/2010/01/susan_powell_missing_husband_j.php All hail the great nation of Canada!

• To: Pete Kotz, please, can you find out,somehow, what is going on with the stuff ,the police took from his house, apparently, that it would have take 4-5 weeks, we are past that amount time. Is there any, recents reports on these evidences.??? Thanks for your site. From Canada. I read the comments, everydays .

• I think he burried her in the snow ans thought he would go back when it got warmer and burried her for real he didnt realize he got caught till he got home and found that everyone was looking for him and his family he is a real doofus if ya ask me and ppl walk for these crimes because they dont talk to the law enforcement. I think we all should be micro-chipped then we could find all these missing children and wives and mothers and daughters once in a while u may see a man but its mostly women and there are alot of them out there that have never been found.

• such a shame shes so beautiful

• If I could say something here. A body will not sink in the Great Salt Lake. The Lake is not shallow. The lake is generally 16 ft deep but its depth varies.

• well i think when he went on his camping trip and cooked smores he also cooked his wife too . they should have check his stomach content that day he came back from his so called camping trip . i know grosse but thats my thoughts

• Don't confuse time passing as criminal intelligence. Just because he hasn't been arrested does not prove that he is smart. It just proves that the cops don't have everything they need to make an arrest. I'm pretty sure that the cops aren't wanting to jump on him too quickly since that could jeopardize their case. Like others have said before, I would rather see a slow and detailed investigation than a short, botchy one.

• If he's so dumb, and did it, why isn't he in custody right now? Most murderers who are not clever get arrested just hours or days after the police get involved. It seems pretty likely that he did it, and he hasn't been arrested yet, so he obviously thought this through, at least enough to baffle the police, who are trained at sniffing these things out.

• No matter how dumb someone was I doubt they would attempt disposing a body in a very shallow and very salty body of water. Depletion of oxygen allows anaerobic bacteria to proliferate and generate sufficient gas to float a body and an attached engine block. Animals would perhaps disperse some of the bones but it is more likely he would have attempted a shallow grave despite the temperatures. He may not have gone to the area he claimed to and body disposal can be easier if there are a sufficient number of hungry animals, or acids from industrial/commercial processes. Time is on his side so even a bad disposal job may well prove to be sufficient.

• because josh isn't too bright, he probably would try and sink her in the salt lake. usagizero, i totally agree with your assessment. it's difficult enough to locate one woman's body in such a vast and wilderness type area, that finding just bones would be worse than trying to find a needle in a haystack. if josh were smart, or perhaps just dumb luck, he dumped her at a campsite he's been to before. i marvel at the so called friends that have done this media blitz, yet have not bothered to look for her at all. if they were friends, and this was common for josh to take them camping, then they should have some clues as to where they have been as a family. They should know exactly where to look from passing conversation (that is, if they really were friends). it's a pity. i imagine susan and her family to be the only sane people in her life. the husband sure hasn't acted as a husband is expected to, his father is suspect in the way he treated her, nor have her friends acted like true friends. lots of gossip has come from her friends from what i have read. the other observation i've made is this peterson friend of the family said he went and blessed her when she was not feeling well. then the day she went missing and the church friend was there for pancake supper, she was not feeling well again. maybe just coincidence, but if i were a betting lady, i'd check for arsenic when she is found. just sayin... sorry, off my soap box for now. this is all my opinion only.

• usagizero, I have to agree with others on this one, Josh doesn't seem too bright, or doesn't seem to have thought much through. That being said, I doubt he would think it through enough to let animals feed on the body. Not that it would be very smart to do that either because most don't eat the bones and bones carry DNA also. At least, I think they do.

• More likely he left the body (or parts of the body) in remote parts of wilderness. Food is scarce for animals, they would pick it apart in a short while leaving only bones which would also be scattered. (not to sound ghoulish)

• Well, Josh isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer considering his excuses and actions. His chapped hands could be from digging in the snow. Are there any caves around there? It will be somewhere he has camped before. Most murderers hide bodies in locations they know. Hopefully, if he is guilty as he acts the forensics will sink him. I assume they cut some of the carpet up that was cleaned. You have to be a real scumbag to take a parent away from his/her children right before Christmas.

• Ok, that is very stupid. The body is not in the lake. Here is some science: 1. The SALT lake is known for making things FLOAT EASIER. It is world-known and people that have a hard time floating go to salt lakes to FLOAT. 2. Bodies release gasses as they decompose, that get trapped in the chest cavity, or other places in the body, and that causes bodies to float. So, hiding a body in a salt lake seems like the WORST IDEA EVER.

• I am from Utah. You can swim and sail in the GSL. It is deeper than 4 feet. Although I think that it is very difficult to get something to sink in such high salt content. If Jen's suspicions are correct, he must have used quite a bit of weight, and even then, how long would the body actually stay down in that brine?

• Not to dispute you CMG, but according to Utah.com, the lake can get up to 33 feet deep. It says that the water level does majorly fluctuate, but I cannot find anything that is stating that the lake is 4 feet in depth, even right now.

• The Great Salt Lake is about 4 ft. deep. The whole thing. You could walk across it without getting your hair wet. Yes, it is large, but not deep. A helicopter should be able to see the body.

TotalComments: 22