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Susan Powell Disappearance: Her Parents Finally Turn on Husband Josh Powell
By Pete Kotz in homicide, missing persons, unsolved
Tuesday, Feb. 16 2010 @ 4:56PM
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UPDATE: Susan Powell's parents are finally dropping the kid gloves. They say husband Josh Powell was a controlling dick who did his best to belittle her as a wife and undermine her as a mother. See update after the jump...


Most of our readers knew all along there was something wrong with Josh Powell's story. He supposedly took a midnight camping trip with their young children from their suburban Salt Lake City home -- in the middle of the winter.

Then he arrived home after missing a day of work -- only to find his wife Susan gone. There were no signs of forced entry. Her keys, credit cards and cell phone were all at home, as was her car. Friends say there's no way she'd leave without her kids.

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It's pretty clear Josh Powell killed his wife. But Susan's family is only now beginning to realize it.
Then there was her husband Josh. He quickly lawyered up and refused to answer detailed questions from police. He also refused to show them where he went camping. In the middle of what was supposed to be a search for his wife, he moved with the kids to Washington state to live with his father.

All along, Susan's parents, Chuck and Judy Cox, declined to cast aspersions at their son-in-law. They're devout Mormons inclined to believe the best about people. They wanted to buy Josh's pleas that he wasn't involved.

But two months after the December 7 disappearance, they finally seemed to have realized that Josh is the likely suspect.

They still believe their daughter is alive. But they now admit Josh has done nothing to help police find her. "He's the last person who saw my daughter -- his wife -- alive," Chuck Cox told ABC4-TV. "He's got to know something. He's got to help out. He's thrown a roadblock without his cooperation."

They also say Josh refuses to let them see their grandkids unless they visit them at his father's house in Puyallup, Washington. So far, that's been a no-go for the Coxes. No matter how polite they spin it, they won't visit the home of the man they must know killed their daughter.

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Susan Powell disappeared two months ago. The best guess is that husband Josh killed her and hid her body while he was supposedly out camping.
UPDATE: As you likely surmised, Josh Powell was a controlling prick to his missing wife.

Friends and family of Susan Powell are getting more open about their criticism of the man who likely murdered her. At a news conference yesterday, they said he once physically abused her and that he was weird about control, a principal trait of wife beaters.

They used to believe she was an enthusiastic gardener until they learned she was growing food for survival, since Josh wouldn't give her enough money to feed the children. They also say he repeatedly changed access codes to their bank account so she couldn't touch their money, even though the 28-year-old stockbroker was the family breadwinner,.

They further say he tried to undermine her as a mom, doing such things as allowing the kids to get out of bed after bedtime because
"Mommy is so mean."

In fact, Susan told people that she planned to end their marriage on their April 6 anniversary if things didn't improve. They don't know if Josh knew about the deadline.

Yet Powell was worried about the fate of her two young sons. Josh threatened to take their children if she left, and friends say the doting mom could never be without her kids. But they also say Susan never expressed fear that Josh would physically hurt her.

Also see Susan Powell Missing; Husband Josh Powell Shows No Interest in Finding His Wife

Stockbroker Susan Powell Missing in Utah; Husband's Actions Suspicious.

Tags: Utah