Category: Season 1

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Susan Cox Powell disappeared on Dec. 7, 2009.

The day after Susan turned up missing, her four-year-old son Charlie Powell spoke to a detective from the West Valley City, Utah police department. Charlie told the detective his mommy had joined him, his little brother Braden and their dad, Susan’s husband Josh Powell, on a camping trip. But Charlie also said Susan didn’t come home. She stayed “where the crystals are.”

Charlie Powell’s interview provided police with leverage. They confronted Josh with what Charlie’d said. Josh was unfazed, stating flatly that Susan had not accompanied he and the boys on their late-night drive on the Pony Express Trail.

In the 15 years since Susan vanished, likely at the hands of Josh, many people have focused on Charlie’s mention of “crystals,” hoping that clue might lead them to Susan’s remains. They often fail to account for the fact Charlie, at such a young age, did not think or talk like an adult. They also overlook other perplexing statements made, including claims that he flew on an airplane to go camping, and visited the beach afterward.

Audio and video recordings of child forensic interviews are not public under Utah’s open records law. COLD independently obtained a copy of the Charlie Powell interview. Publication of the recording might traditionally run against journalistic ethics, but the Susan Powell case presents a unique situation. Because Charlie Powell is deceased, along with his entire family, concerns for his personal privacy are moot.

At the same time, publication of the raw Charlie Powell interview can help investigators and the public better understand the challenges Charlie’s words posed for police in 2009.

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Charlie Powell interview 1

The entirety of the Charlie Powell interview conducted by West Valley City police detective Kim Waelty on Dec. 8, 2009, the day after Susan Powell was reported missing, can be viewed below.

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Charlie Powell “camping”

Interpreting Charlie Powell’s words from his first forensic interview is aided by understanding some of his experiences in the months prior to his mother Susan Powell’s disappearance on Dec. 7, 2009.

Charlie is known to have gone “camping” on four dates in 2009, not counting the outing on the night Susan vanished.

On Saturday, March 14, 2009 Josh Powell took Charlie and his younger brother, Braden, on a camping trip in Utah’s West Desert. Cold overnight temperatures forced Josh and his sons to return home prematurely, by 2 a.m. on March 15. These facts are established in Susan’s emails to friends and coworkers.

On Saturday, May 2, 2009 Josh took Charlie and Braden on an overnight camping trip on the Pony Express Trail in the West Desert. Josh took photos that revealed he camped in the vicinity of Simpson Springs. The photos also so Josh explored trails leading up into the foothills of the Simpson Mountains.

On Saturday and Sunday, May 30 and 31, 2009, Josh and Susan took Charlie and Braden on a camping trip on the Pony Express Trail. Josh wanted to take the boys to hunt for geodes at the Dugway Geode Beds, but had trouble finding his way there. The family ended up looking for topaz at a private mining claim, before overnighting near Fish Springs. On the following day, they managed to locate the Dugway Geode Beds.

Susan wrote an account of the trip, which provided valuable detail about their travels.

Susan Powell wrote this account of a camping trip with her husband, Josh Powell, and sons, Charlie Powell and Braden Powell, on the Pony Express Trail in Utah’s West Desert.

Finally, on Saturday and Sunday, August 15 and 16, Josh and Susan camped at Dinosaur National Monument on the Utah-Colorado border. An email exchange between Josh and Susan in the days prior revealed this trip was largely Josh’s idea.

Emails between Josh and Susan Powell in August, 2009 discussing plans for a camping trip to Dinosaur National Monument.

 They overnighted along the Green River and a short hike up Box Canyon in the monument.

Upon returning from Dinosaur National Monument, Josh and Susan took Charlie and Braden to the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, Utah. That visit occurred on Tuesday, August 18, 2009.

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Impacts of Charlie Powell’s first interview

Charlie’s talk of crystals, possibly a reference to the Dugway Geode Beds, launched West Valley City police on a search of abandoned mines scattered across the vast expanse of Utah’s West Desert region. Detectives and staff from the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining began that effort within the first weeks following Susan’s disappearance. That effort is detailed in Cold episode 7: Scouring the Desert.

Those searches did not result in the discovery of Susan’s remains. So, three months after the first Charlie Powell interview, West Valley City police decided to give it another try.

Josh Powell had by that time abandoned his house in Utah and retreated to his father Steve Powell’s home in South Hill, Washington. West Valley detectives worked with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office to obtain a warrant that authorized deputies to seize Charlie and Braden Powell away from Josh for the purpose of attempting a second forensic interview.

Forensic interviews of children who are victims of abuse or who have witnessed trauma are not like typical police interviews. Re-interviewing children a second time can be especially difficult. In the case of the second Charlie Powell interview, it was immediately apparent Charlie had been coached not to talk about camping or his missing mother.

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Charlie Powell interview 2

A video recording of Charlie Powell’s second interview at the Children’s Advocacy Center in Tacoma, Wash. on March 10, 2010 is below.

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“John didn’t tell me where she got lost at”

Charlie Powell’s refusal to talk about “camping” during his second forensic interview, along with his statement about keeping things related to Susan “secret,” suggest he had been coached not to talk to police.

The only significant new development that rose from Charlie’s second interview was his assertion that his uncle John Powell knew where Susan was located. Charlie identified John as living in the same house with he, his brother, his father Josh and grandfather Steve Powell.

It is unlikely that John Powell had knowledge of Susan’s whereabouts. However, Charlie might have been unintentionally confusing his unce John with another uncle, Michael Powell, who was also living at Steve Powell’s home in early 2010. Police later came to suspect Michael might have been an accessory to Susan’s presumed murder.

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Clues in the Powell family photos

Charlie Powell didn’t just talk about crystals during his first forensic interview. When asked about camping, he also said he flew on a plane to go “Dinosaur National Park City.” Charlie said on the return trip, he visited a beach.

Investigators never found any evidence to support the notion that Charlie traveled on an airplane the night Susan Powell disappeared, or that he went to a beach on the day after. These references to airplanes and a beach seemed nonsensical.

However, a review of Josh and Susan Powell’s family photo library has revealed possible explanations for what Charlie was trying to say.

Susan Powell worked at a Wells Fargo call center in the International Center, a business park immediately west of Salt Lake City International Airport. Josh and Susan’s photos show Josh routinely brought the boys to visit Susan during breaks at her job. The family would walk around a large pond adjacent to the Wells Fargo building, often feeding ducks.

On more than one occasion, the photos show Josh would conclude these visits to Susan’s work by taking Charlie to watch airplanes at a spot near the south end of a nearby airport runway.

Taken together, this evidence suggests Charlie might have associated the pond with a “beach,” and “airplanes” with his mother’s workplace. Charlie could plausibly have been attempting to tell police that Josh Powell stopped near Susan’s work on the way to go camping, and stopped there again before returning home.

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Hear Charlie Powell’s words in a bonus episode of Cold: Beaches & Airplanes

Episode credits
Research, writing and hosting: Dave Cawley
Audio production and mastering: Ben Kuebrich
Cold main score composition: Michael Bahnmiller
KSL executive producer: Sheryl Worsley
Workhouse Media executive producers: Paul Anderson
KSL companion story: https://ksltv.com/713246/cold-searching-for-clues-about-susan-powells-death-in-her-son-charlies-police-interviews/
Episode transcript: https://thecoldpodcast.com/season-1-transcript/beaches-airplanes-transcript/

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Fifteen years have passed since the last time anyone saw Susan Cox Powell. Little doubt remains that Susan’s husband, Josh Powell, was responsible for her death but Susan’s remains have still not been located.

In the early days of the West Valley City, Utah police investigation into Susan’s disappearance on Dec. 6, 2009, detectives served a search warrant on Josh and Susan Powell’s minivan. In the van, they located a garbage bag containing a chunk of charred metal.

Evidence suggested Josh Powell used an oxyacetylene torch to destroy an unidentified object, in the garage of the family home, on the night immediately following Susan’s disappearance. Investigators hypothesized the object might have been a hard drive, GPS unit or cell phone.

However, additional investigation and experimentation by Cold has disproved that hypothesis, and provided another.

This special bonus episode explores the origins of Josh Powell’s mystery metal object, and reveals it might have been a cordless power tool.

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Josh Powell’s visit to AirGas

On the afternoon before Thanksgiving in 2009, Josh Powell visited an industrial supply business called AirGas in South Salt Lake. Airgas is a supplier of tools and materials for welding and torch cutting, along with various gasses.

Two Airgas employees were in the retail storefront when Josh came through the door at about 3:45 p.m. One of them, Andrew Robinson, approached Josh to see if he could be of assistance. Josh reportedly told Andrew he was simply browsing. About 15 minutes later, Andrew once again asked Josh if he needed any help.

“He said that he was interested in welding equipment, what we had in the way of that. I asked what it was in particular that he was wanting to weld. He said that he was interested in making jewelry,” Andrew said.

Andrew found Josh’s demeanor to be somewhat vague, but he tried to help as best he could. Andrew pointed Josh in the direction of a small oxyacetylene torch kit suitable for making light welds. But Josh spent the next hour debating what to purchase, asking Andrew and another AirGas employee questions about welding torches and the gasses that fuel them.

“I did get the impression from Josh that he didn’t have a great deal knowledge regarding the use of the equipment,” Andrew said.

It was after 5, when AirGas would typically close, before Josh settled on what he wanted to buy.

“Josh ended up purchasing a cutting kit, which is a bit more involved. It does allow you to do light welding,” Andrew said. “It also allows you to cut material with, obviously, the acetylene.”

The kit Josh purchased was a Radnor-brand medium-duty cutting and welding outfit. The torch supplied with that kit came with a tip for cutting, which would’ve been capable of cutting through steel half-an-inch thick.

“A little bit of overkill to be involved in the making of jewelry,” Andrew said. “That struck me as odd.”

Andrew and his coworker had supplied Josh with smaller tanks of oxygen and acetylene based on his original statement that he wanted to perform light welding for jewelry making. They did not up-size to larger tanks suitable for the Radnor cutting torch before ringing up Josh’s purchase.

Airgas provided this receipt to West Valley City police, showing Josh Powell’s purchase of an oxyacetylene cutting torch and fuel cylinders.

The following Monday, on Nov. 30, 2009, Josh returned to AirGas. He complained to staff that the setup they’d sold him did not work. The hose fittings for the torch did not properly mate to the gas cylinders.

“So he’s provided with quite considerably larger cylinders to accommodate the gas cutting equipment,” Andrew said.

A week-and-a-half later, Andrew saw Josh on the news. Word was spreading about the disappearance of Josh’s wife, Susan Powell, from her home in West Valley City. In the news clip, a reporter attempted to question Josh about where he’d been the night Susan vanished.

“His demeanor, the way that he interacted with the journalists was very similar to how he interacted with myself and my coworker,” Andrew said. “He didn’t interact in a positive way, just very in an evasive way.”

Andrew called West Valley police and informed them of the suspicious timing and behavior involved with Josh’s purchase of the oxyacetylene cutting torch.

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Discovery of the mystery metal

West Valley City police detective Ellis Maxwell served a search warrant on Josh Powell’s minivan on the afternoon of Dec. 8, 2009, the day after Susan Powell was first reported missing. That’s when Ellis located a plastic garbage bag hidden in a floorboard compartment.

Inside the bag were the mystery metal item, a few lengths of charred copper wire, some screws and a Phillips head screwdriver bit, and several pieces of badly burned drywall. Police sent the metal item to an FBI lab in Quantico for metallurgical analysis. The FBI was not able to identify the item, labeled “Q2” in an official report, but wrote “the Q2 fragments are predominantly steel. Calcium and strontium are present in significant amounts on many pieces.”

Strontium is an element often found in electric motors, like those used in handheld cordless power tools.

The final report from the FBI’s analysis of Josh Powell’s mystery metal object.

In regard to the wire segments, the FBI lab wrote “they are segments of multi-strand copper wire. The overall conductor gauge of each segment is 10 to 12 AWG (American Wire Gage), with a consistent strand gauge of 30 AWG.”

A wire of 10 to 12 AWG would be the proper gage to connect a battery to a small electric motor.

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The torch and toolbag in Josh Powell’s garage

Powell family financial records collected by West Valley City police during their investigation showed Josh Powell went on a shopping spree in November of 2007, two years before Susan Powell disappeared. Josh had opened a Home Depot credit card in Susan’s name, as he was going through bankruptcy at the time.

Josh spent hundreds of dollars purchasing a number of Ridgid tools, including several large items like a band saw, table saw and miter saw. Included in Josh’s purchases was an 18-volt cordless tool kit, consisting of several smaller battery-powered tools: a hammer drill, a reciprocating saw, a flashlight and so forth.

A 2006-era Ridgid catalog showed this 18-volt kit came in two varieties. The primary difference between the two was that one kit included an impact driver. It is not clear from Josh and Susan’s financial records which variant of the 18-volt kit Josh owned.

All pieces of that Ridgid 18-volt kit can be accounted for in police photos, or Josh Powell’s personal photos, after the time of Susan’s disappearance. There is no appearance in those photos of a Ridgid impact driver.

Police photos taken inside the garage of Josh and Susan’s home on the night of Dec. 7, 2009, the day of Susan’s disappearance, showed Josh’s Ridgid tool bag atop a chest freezer, next to the door leading from the garage into the house.

When West Valley police returned to the house on Dec. 8, 2009 to serve a search warrant, the Ridgid tool bag was on the concrete floor of the garage next to Josh’s oxyacetylene torch, a plastic gas can and a fire extinguisher.

Taken together, this suggested Josh Powell had moved the tool bag to the torch during the overnight hours of Dec. 7 into Dec. 8, and that Josh used the torch to destroy the mystery metal object at that time.

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Hear the story of the impact driver experiment in a bonus episode of Cold: Mystery Metal

Episode credits
Research, writing and hosting: Dave Cawley
Audio production: Andrea Smardon
Audio mixing and mastering: Ben Kuebrich
Cold main score composition: Michael Bahnmiller
KSL executive producer: Sheryl Worsley
Workhouse Media executive producers: Paul Anderson
KSL companion story: https://ksltv.com/712579/cold-new-experiment-aims-to-identify-mystery-metal-evidence-in-susan-powell-cold-case/
Episode transcript: https://thecoldpodcast.com/season-1-transcript/mystery-metal-transcript/

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NOTE: This page includes details about a wiretap of Josh Powell by police. The wiretap notes include instances of strong language, which have been blurred by Cold.

West Valley City, Utah police needed a break. They were running out of leads after searching for Susan Cox Powell for more than a year and a half. Her husband, Josh Powell, remained the sole suspect in his wife’s disappearance but had avoided being arrested or charged with any crime related to the disappearance.

So, in the summer of 2011, police crafted a plan. They secured court authorization for a wiretap on three phone lines: Josh Powell’s cell phone, his father Steve Powell’s home line (where Josh was then living with this two sons, Charlie and Braden) and Steve Powell’s mobile.

Cold previously detailed how several significant events during August and September of that year were coordinated by police as “catalysts” for the wiretap. The entire effort was known by the secret codename “Operation Tsunami.” However, details of the actual captured phone calls have never been publicly disclosed.

What follows are selected excerpts from the secret Josh Powell wiretap records, obtained and accessed exclusively by Cold.

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Powell wiretap: Friday, Aug. 19, 2011​

West Valley City police have staged a public search of abandoned mines in the vicinity of Ely, Nev. Media coverage of the event has prompted reporters, such as KSL NewsRadio’s Paul Nelson, to interview Josh Powell.

After conducting a round of media interviews, Josh told his father Steve Powell that the search in Ely was going to come up empty.

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Powell wiretap: Saturday, Aug. 20, 2011​

Susan Powell’s father, Chuck Cox attended a honk-and-wave event outside a grocery store in Steve Powell’s South Hill, Wash. neighborhood. Steve crashed the event and engaged Chuck in a shouting match in front of TV news cameras. Afterward, Josh’s brother Michael urged Josh to call 911. He believed they could get Chuck arrested for violating a temporary restraining order Josh had obtained earlier in the month.

The temporary restraining order was due to expire the following week. Josh intended to ask the judge to replace it with a permanent domestic violence protective order and had asked his family members to write declarations supporting him. Following the honk-and-wave, Josh talked to Michael about the declarations.

The brothers were also monitoring a private Facebook group called “Where is Susan Powell” using a phony account under the name Molly Hunt. Members of the group were reacting to news of what had happened at the honk-and-wave.

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Powell wiretap: Sunday, Aug. 21, 2011​

Josh and his family spent hours on the Sunday following the honk-and-wave continuing to work on their declarations. As they talked, Josh provided evasive or misleading comments to his father, brother and sister about his actions in the days immediately following Susan’s disappearance.

One of the primary points Josh planned to make during the scheduled hearing on the protective order was that his father-in-law, Chuck Cox, had once threatened to kill him during an encounter at a playground near Steve Powell’s home.

The supposed threat had occurred on Feb. 27, 2010, less than three months following Susan’s disappearance. Whether it had actually happened was a matter in dispute.

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Powell wiretap: Monday, Aug. 22, 2011​

Steve and Alina Powell both spoke with reporters early in the day. Both made comments that angered Josh. Steve, for one, revealed to the press that he had recorded an album of songs about and for Susan.

Later in the day, Josh and Michael spent time collecting screenshots of posts in two Facebook groups, “Friends and Family of Susan Powell” and “Where is Susan Powell,” using the phony Molly Hunt profile.

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Powell wiretap: Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2011​

Susan’s friend and neighbor Kiirsi Hellewell published a blog post detailing Steve Powell’s “immorality and depravity.” The blog caught the attention of reporters in Utah, who called Steve for  comment.

Kiirsi’s blog specifically claimed Steve had once sent Susan pornographic photos in the mail. When confronted with this claim by the reporter, Steve said a sexual energy had existed between himself and Susan.

Meanwhile, Josh was behind schedule for the 3 p.m. court hearing on his request for a permanent domestic violence protective order against Chuck Cox.

The hearing did not go in Josh’s favor. Chuck Cox denied having threatened his son-in-law and, in the absence of any physical violence, the judge instead handed down mutual anti-harassment orders to both Josh and Chuck. In a phone call following the hearing, Josh told Michael that he’d “lost.”

But Michael soon convinced his brother winning or losing was irrelevant. Josh simply needed to portray himself as a winner, regardless of the facts.

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Powell wiretap: Thursday, Aug. 25, 2011​

Steve Powell awoke early and departed home en route to Kennewick, where he was scheduled to attend a business meeting. He spoke to his daughter Alina on the phone driving. Alina expressed concern for her father’s safety, fearing the meeting could be a police trap.

That afternoon, while Steve was still in Kennewick, West Valley City police and Pierce County sheriff’s deputies arrived to serve a search warrant at Steve’s home. Alina met them at the door and was ushered outside, along with Josh, Charlie, Braden and another of Steve’s children, John Powell.

Alina narrated the search for her father as he raced back toward home. Josh, after a time, left the house with Charlie and Braden to rendezvous with a producer for NBC Dateline.

Michael, who was at the time living in Minneapolis, left his condo for fear police could be coming to serve a search warrant there as well.

Michael advised his family to avoid speaking to the media, urging them to keep quiet until they had an opportunity to seek legal counsel.

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Hear more of the secret Josh Powell wiretap calls in a bonus episode of Cold: Justice Delayed

Episode credits
Research, writing, hosting and production: Dave Cawley
Production assistance: Danielle Prager, Adam Mason
Additional voices: Kristen Sorensen (as Susan Powell), Eric Openshaw (as Josh Powell), Ken Fall (as Steve Powell)
Cold main score composition: Michael Bahnmiller
Cold main score mixing: Dan Blanck
Supplemental music: Dave Cawley
KSL executive producers: Sheryl Worsley, Keira Farrimond
Episode transcript: https://thecoldpodcast.com/season-1-transcript/justice-delayed-josh-powell-wiretap-full-transcript
KSL companion story: https://www.ksl.com/article/50017804/cold-newly-released-wiretap-conversations-depict-powell-family-on-the-brink

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The last time anyone saw Susan Powell alive, at least the last time that can be proven, was Dec. 6, 2009. Ten years have now passed since that date.

In that time, Susan’s story has spread across the globe. Network and cable news shows have aired hours-long specials about the investigation into her disappearance, as well as the criminal probe that focused on her husband, Josh Powell.

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An Unwelcome Anniversary

For Susan’s friends and family members, the anniversary marks a milestone they’d hoped to never reach. Susan, who Josh is widely believed to have murdered, has never been found. The manner of her death has not been determined. Questions persist about the circumstances of that snowy night a decade past.

Susan’s parents, Chuck and Judy Cox, sat down for a special interview with Cold, marking 10 years since their daughter vanished.

“Nothing’s really changed from our point of view because our daughter’s still missing, our children are still dead, our grandchildren are still dead,” Chuck Cox said. “Evil has been exposed, but our response to it is the same. It’s beyond our control.”

The interview was also the first time Susan’s mother, Judy Cox, shared her perspective with Cold on the record.

“It took me a long time to be willing to get in front of cameras or answer questions, because it hurts,” Judy said.

“Every time there’s a body found, every time there’s a you know cadaver found somewhere, we wait here,” Chuck said. “You kind of start wondering, ‘Well is this the one? Is our wait going to be over? Will we be able to put whatever’s left to her to rest with her children?’”

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Family Annihilation

The Coxes also reflected on the legacy of abuse in the Powell family, passed down by Josh’s father, Steve Powell.

“Steve taught [Josh] to be who he was. And Steve’s parents affected him,” Chuck said. “It’s just a sad waste of a life, a waste of time, and the tragedy that his time in life, Steve ruined his family. But is he a victim? And who’s going to judge that? I’m not going to judge that.”

Judy described visiting Steve’s home one time when Josh and Susan were vacationing in Washington. Susan had left their sons, Charlie and Braden, with Josh at Steve’s home while she went to spend time with her family. However, Susan had forgotten something and returned to the Powell house to retrieve it.

“We’re going up the stairs to the second floor,” Judy said. “As soon as I got to the top of the stairs, she looked at me, she goes, ‘Do you feel it?’ I go ‘What? I feel uncomfortable. I am not exactly happy to be here.’ She goes ‘You feel the evil?’”

When police served a search warrant at Steve Powell’s home on Aug. 25, 2011 in search of Susan’s childhood journals, one detective described the scene as a “house of horrors.” Investigators uncovered Steve’s collection of voyeur videos, many focused on Susan, as well as more than 2,000 pages of journal entries about his daughter-in-law. Most of them were explicit.

“I want people to know this story so it doesn’t happen to them.”​

Judy Cox

Susan had spent years during her marriage to Josh attempting to counter the negative influence of his father.

“The only reason she stuck around as long as she did is because she was trying to follow every everything that [The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints] taught, and she was not giving up on him,” Chuck said. “She kept investing time and energy and love and stuff to try and bring him back and save him and all that when he was a lost case from the beginning.”

Josh lost custody of his sons as a result of Steve’s arrest, due to the fact they had all been living under the same roof since December of 2009. However, during a court-authorized visit with the boys on Feb. 5, 2012, Josh bludgeoned Charlie and Braden and set fire to a home he had rented. All three died in the fire.

In the mean time, the Coxes find comfort in their faith, as well as in the knowledge that sharing their daughter’s story can help highlight the dangers of domestic abuse.

“[Susan] wanted to help [Josh]. She wanted to be a mom and have children and have a happy life and all that. And I think everybody still wants that, and everybody still looking for that,” Chuck said. “By sharing those experiences, talking about this and doing this, we’re helping a lot of people who are in different situations that may be similar but are different. 

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It’s a daunting thing to stand alone on a stage in front of a crowd.

On May 16, 2019, I stepped out from the wings on the stage of the Eccles Theater on Main Street in Salt Lake City, Utah to face just such a situation. It was a packed house. Looking out through the glare of the stage lights, I could see Susan Powell’s parents and close friends sitting in the first few rows.

Don’t screw this up, Dave, I thought.

Many of the rest of the more than 2,000 people in attendance for the special event, Cold Live, had come to hear the behind-the-scenes story of how the podcast had come to be. They had come to ask questions of myself, retired West Valley City police detective Ellis Maxwell and Utah Domestic Violence Coalition Executive Director Jennifer Oxborrow.

In spite of those nerves, I aimed to do my best in Susan’s honor.

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Question and Answer

Both the dress rehearsal and the main event included question and answer sessions. Audience members submitted their questions online and using printed cards during the pre-show and intermission periods.

Ellis, the former lead detective on the Powell case, discussed his frustration in dealing with Josh during the first two weeks of the investigation.

“If we went and took this in front of a judge or court or a jury and we had her last will and testament, we had blood on the tile and we had a theory… I guarantee you that a defense attorney could take this case a thousand different directions to sway the jury or the judge,” Ellis said. “There is absolutely no way that he would have been convicted.”

Ellis said that changed by the spring of 2012, after police eliminated many of the other possible explanations for Susan’s disappearance. However, Josh killed himself and his sons before detectives could secure criminal charges against him.

“I had spectacular investigators on this case that really, really poured everything they had into it.”​

Ellis Maxwell

Many of the questions aimed at Jennifer Oxborrow dealt with how to help loved ones who find themselves trapped in situations similar to Susan’s.

“It’s a difficult conversation to have. It’s very embarrassing to people sometimes. People just usually want the abuse to stop,” Jennifer said. “Avoid that question ‘Why do you stay? Why did you get yourself into this?’”

Instead, Jennifer said society needs to shift the focus onto the abusers, asking why they choose to mistreat their partners. She added that the most important actions people can take when confronted with situations of domestic abuse are to express support for the victims and direct them to resources.

Jennifer pointed out the availability of help through the Utah 24-hour domestic violence hotline, 1-800-897-LINK, or www.thehotline.org for people in other parts of the country.

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How Cold Live Came to Be

KSL, my employer and the company behind Cold, had partnered with MagicSpace Entertainment to craft a program focused on Susan and her sons, Charlie and Braden. Together, we hoped to provide an enlightening look at how Susan’s life and loss have impacted not only her immediate friends and family, but also an entire community.

The director of Cold Live, Jim Millan, and I had spent hours discussing the proper approach.

“Conversations and questions coming at this from the personal and journalism angle created all the ideas for the stage presentation,” Jim said later.

We did not want Cold Live to turn into a funeral in absentia, or to glorify the more ghastly aspects of what occurred in the Powell family. Keeping Susan central was our goal.

“Working with Dave to help him write the story of his journey with Cold was fascinating,” Jim said. “He was open and curious about how it might share something new for an audience and determined to make it worth people’s time.”

A conversation was then playing out among the Cold audience about how Susan had become a victim of domestic abuse. By shining a light on the mistreatment she’d endured, we hoped to help others recognize the warning signs.

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Glimpse Behind the Scenes

For me, Cold Live also provided an opportunity to share the backstory to how a news story that I had covered off-and-on throughout the years morphed into an idea for a podcast, then blossomed into an outright obsession. The quest for answers extended beyond the KSL newsroom, filling the dark and quiet hours at home as I reviewed hours upon hours of Josh Powell’s audio journals.

No such undertaking can occur without the help of many talented people. So, during Cold Live, the voice actors who took on the difficult task of portraying Susan, Josh and Steve Powell in Cold told of their experiences filling those roles.

Far too many others went without credit, like composer Michael Bahnmiller. I had to cut part from the program in the interest of time.

Many in the audience had never met or even seen the people who are portrayed in the podcast. Through several video clips, they were introduced with Josh’s ex-girlfriend Catherine Everett, his sister Jennifer Graves and the Powell’s daycare provider Debbie Caldwell, among others.

Susan’s oldest sister, Mary Douglass, even shared her perspective, something that was not present in the podcast itself.

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After Cold Live​

I walked off stage at the conclusion of Cold Live feeling a little hoarse. A sense of uncertainty and self-doubt pervaded. What would Susan have thought, I asked myself, had she been in the audience?

Susan’s parents and several of her close friends were in the lobby afterward. We shook hands and stood together for pictures.

In a conversation the next day, Susan’s mom, Judy Cox, told me how it felt sitting in the audience and listening to Ellis Maxwell describe his part in the investigation.

“You always learn from your mistakes,” Judy said. “I knew they were working hard and doing their best. We also felt frustrated about things because [Chuck Cox, Susan’s dad] wanted to try to be more involved.”

Chuck, for his part, shared a pragmatic perspective.

“Police aren’t miracle workers, they’re just police. They’re people doing their job,” Chuck said. “I do know their heart was in the right place.”

And, as a parting note, he offered words of thanks for the role that Cold has had in drawing new attention to his daughter’s story.

“I’m so thankful that you took the time to go through it,” Chuck said. “You’re getting the story out and teaching people some stuff. So thank you for the effort.”

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Cold has uncovered new clues regarding the likely contents of an encrypted hard drive seized from the West Valley City, Utah home of Josh and Susan Powell on Dec. 8, 2009, one day after Susan disappeared.

The Josh Powell hard drive was encrypted and has never been accessed, in spite of extensive efforts by law enforcement and ongoing work involving private digital forensics experts.

It is not clear whether or not the device might hold clues pointing to Susan’s whereabouts. However, breaking the encryption could reveal new information about Josh’s activities in the weeks prior to the disappearance.

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The Josh Powell Hard Drive

Detectives seized the device in question while serving their first search warrant at the Powell family’s home on Sarah Circle in West Valley. They located it in the downstairs bedroom that Josh used as his home office. The Western Digital-brand MyBook World Edition was connected by way of an ethernet cable to Josh’s home network.

The MyBook World drive had been in that same position for at least a year and a half. Susan pointed it out while recording a video documenting the family’s assets in July of 2008.

“This is some type of backup device,” Susan said in the video. “It says WD on the side. I don’t know, it like shares the information somehow.”

West Valley police investigating Susan’s disappearance discovered the MyBook World drive was inaccessible after delivering it to the FBI’s Intermountain West Regional Computer Forensic Laboratory or RCFL in Salt Lake City. Based on the FBI’s analysis, it appeared the whole drive had been encrypted using a freeware tool known as True Crypt.

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ViceVersa Pro

Not all of Josh Powell’s hard drives were similarly encrypted. While reviewing data from Josh’s other computers and digital storage devices, investigators flagged several files referencing encryption, hoping to discover possible passwords or other insights that might help them gain access to the MyBook World drive.

One of those files resided on an array of hard drives in Josh’s desktop computer tower. It had the file name vvdb1NetworkEncrypted.tdb.

The Cold podcast obtained a copy of that file and discovered it is a tracking database created by a file backup app called ViceVersa Pro. The database contained a log of files ViceVersa Pro had transferred to a disk named “mybookworld.” While the database did not hold copies of the files themselves, it did record their names and the locations to which they were saved on the MyBook World drive.

Based on this evidence, Cold believes the ViceVersa Pro database is likely an at least partial log of the files saved to the encrypted Josh Powell hard drive.

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Forgotten Password

Josh made an effort to determine whether or not police had gained access to the MyBook World drive in the months immediately following Susan’s disappearance.

His defense attorney, Scott Williams, contacted police by email in March of 2010, requesting the return of his client’s digital devices. West Valley police Sgt. Robert Bobrowski refused, but offered to have detectives seek out any individual files Josh might need.

“If it is in the encrypted section then your client will need to provide the password to help the process move along,” Bobrowski wrote to Williams.

Josh had previously told police he could not remember the password to the encrypted MyBook World drive.

“If possible, pleas send all photos, audio, and video files you can find. There will be some hundreds of gigabytes in total.”​

Josh Powell

On April 5, 2010, Josh provided police with a list of files he wanted them to retrieve for him. At the top of the list were his photos and videos, which he described as “basically unreplaceable [sic].”

“Everything that can be released from the white Western Digital drive would be greatly appreciated,” Josh wrote.

West Valley police were unable to accommodate Josh’s request.

In truth, Josh already had copies of many of those files safely in Washington. This became clear after police served a search warrant at the home of Josh’s father, Steve Powell, in South Hill, Washington on Aug. 25, 2011. At that time, they once again seized Josh’s computers and digital devices.

An RCFL examination of those devices revealed some of them contained copies of Josh’s photo and video library, the very files he had claimed were not replaceable.

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Decipher Forensics Attacks the Josh Powell Hard Drive

On Feb. 5, 2012, Josh Powell killed himself and his sons, Charlie and Braden. The murder-suicide forever deprived police of the possibility that Josh might voluntarily provide the password for the MyBook World drive. The subsequent release of West Valley’s redacted case files in May 2013 publicly revealed for the first time the existence of the still-encrypted Josh Powell hard drive.

Richard Hickman, who was then a partner in a Utah-based digital forensics firm called Decipher Forensics, saw media reports about the encrypted drive. He contacted Susan’s father, Chuck Cox, and offered to attempt to crack the encryption.

“I reached out and said ‘hey, we’d be willing to take a look at it at no charge,’” Hickman said.

Another partner at Decipher, Mike Johnson, had built a pair of powerful computers to mine cryptocurrency. Hickman told Cox those machines could also be used for password cracking. Cox convinced West Valley police to meet with Decipher.

Police case records showed Detective Ellis Maxwell, the now-retired lead investigator on the Powell case, provided Decipher with a copy of the MyBook World drive in December of 2013.

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Box Within A Box​

Trent Leavitt, a third partner at Decipher, said they put their computers to work on what’s known as a dictionary attack in an effort to guess the password. The dictionary was built off of lists of common passwords collected from past data breaches. Special software used that dictionary, along with variations, to attempt to unlock the encryption.

After a period of time, the software reported success. It had discovered that the encryption on the MyBook World drive accepted the password “ap1124.”

“It’s six characters,” Trent said. “It’s really simple.”

However, when Decipher attempted to access the drive, they discovered it was blank. This led them to believe that Josh had utilized a feature of True Crypt that allowed for the creation of invisible encrypted partitions nested within encrypted volumes. In essence, a box within a box.

“There might not even be a second layer,” Hickman said. “It could just be, we cracked that top code and it was an empty hard drive.”

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Burnout

The Decipher Forensics team put their machines back to work in an effort to crack the suspected second layer of encryption. The software ran through billions of possible passwords.

“That thing would run around the clock, 24/7, for months, if not, you know, close to two years before those things burned up,” Trent said. “And still didn’t break it.”

In October of 2017, word leaked that the Decipher team had succeeded in cracking a password for Josh’s MyBook World hard drive. However, West Valley police had Decipher under a non-disclosure agreement. They were legally prohibited from discussing their work.

“We didn’t talk about the fact that we were even doing it with anybody.”​

Richard Hickman

A short time later, the firm Eide Bailly purchased Decipher Forensics. Richard Hickman and Mike Johnson left the company, but Trent Leavitt brought their copy of the MyBook World drive to Eide Bailly’s new state-of-the-art digital forensics lab in Lehi, Utah.

His work on the Powell case has continued there, when time and resources have permitted.

“Most of its done after hours,” Trent said. “We’ll get together as a group and meet and pull our computers out and start working on it. We’ll collaborate on whiteboards.”

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Focusing Sunlight​ on the Josh Powell Hard Drive

The public revelation of Decipher’s work in late 2017 drew the attention of cybersecurity analyst Rob Burton. He worked for a large corporate employer in West Valley City as a digital forensics specialist and had a keen interest in the Susan Powell case.

“The Susan Powell case had a big impact on me personally,” Rob said. “I was aware of it 10 years ago when the news first broke of Susan’s disappearance and the involvement of Josh Powell.”

Rob decided to approach West Valley police. Like the team from Decipher Forensics and Eide Bailly, he offered to volunteer his time and expertise to the password cracking effort. Police accepted his offer and provided him with a copy of the MyBook World drive. They also required that he sign a non-disclosure agreement.

“I knew I just couldn’t just create a folder on my computer called ‘Susan Powell project’ because I was under NDA and kind of had to keep it hidden,” Rob said.

He decided to give that folder the codename “Project Sunlight.”

“There’s a lot of dark things related to this case. And especially after listening to the Cold podcast. Josh, Steven and some of their activities and efforts and a lot of dark subject material. But there’s hope and there’s light,” Rob said. “Sunlight is the best disinfectant, I think.”

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Hear the surprising discovery we made in Josh Powell’s digital data in a bonus episode of Cold: Project Sunlight

Episode credits
Research, writing, hosting and production: Dave Cawley
Production assistance: Danielle Prager, Adam Mason
Additional voices: Kristen Sorensen (as Susan Powell), Eric Openshaw (as Josh Powell), Ken Fall (as Steve Powell)
Cold main score composition: Michael Bahnmiller
Cold main score mixing: Dan Blanck
Supplemental music: Dave Cawley
KSL executive producers: Sheryl Worsley, Keira Farrimond
Episode transcript: https://thecoldpodcast.com/season-1-transcript/project-sunlight-josh-powell-encrypted-hard-drive-full-transcript
KSL companion story: https://www.ksl.com/article/46688866/cold-pornographic-images-at-center-of-custody-case-werent-josh-powells

---

Josh and Susan Powell moved from their home state of Washington to Utah at the beginning of 2004. Neither had a job lined up, nor did they have a place to live planned.

Prior to the move, the Powells had worked as live-in managers at a pair of senior living communities. They’d run afoul of management at the first, Orchard Park in Yakima, Washington, due in part to excessive absenteeism related to medical treatment.

That treatment, comprising several months of chiropractic and massage therapy care, had followed a minor car crash on May 12, 2003 in the community of Union Gap, Wash.

Records now recovered exclusively by Cold raise questions about the necessity of the treatment and suggest fraudulent behavior in this and other Josh Powell car crashes.

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Josh Powell Car Crashes

The Union Gap crash occurred as Josh and Susan Powell were driving northbound on an I-82 frontage road called Rudkin Road.

Another motorist who was behind the Powells had glanced away from the road for a brief moment. Bob Powers told Cold he recalled looking back to see the minivan stopped in front of him, for no apparent reason.

“There’s clear roadway ahead, no stop lights, no stop signs, no right or left turn opportunities,” Powers said. “There was no reason for him to be stopped dead center in the middle of the road.”

Powers’ Lexus ES240 sedan collided with the Powell’s minivan at a low speed. The crash caused minor damage to a headlight on the car.

Repair records from Greenway Auto Body in Yakima showed the crash also left a small dent in the rear bumper of the minivan. The shop billed $1275 to Powers’ insurance to repair the damage.

Photos taken by appraiser Kelly Lawson and included with the body shop paperwork showed the damage was mostly cosmetic.

A Union Gap police officer responded to Powers’ phone call reporting the crash. A report authored by the officer described Josh as having claimed he had slowed to make a left-hand turn. The officer’s report also noted that “no injuries were reported.”

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Josh Powell Car Crashes and Whiplash

Following the crash, Josh had Susan drive him to Memorial Hospital in Yakima. Josh sought an evaluation in the emergency department for symptoms of whiplash.

Records retained by Josh Powell and recovered from his digital archive by the Cold podcast, with the assistance of digital forensic experts at the firm Eide Bailly, showed he received a prescription for Vicodin. Josh was also advised to avoid strenuous activity at work “for 3-4 days.”

Susan Powell did not complain of any pain the evening of the crash. She did not request an evaluation at the hospital. However, the morning after the crash, she went to a clinic with general body aches. Susan received a prescription for Celebrex, which she did not end up taking, and similar advice regarding light duty.

On the second day after the crash, Josh convinced Susan they both needed to see a chiropractor. Josh had found one he liked in the Yellow Pages. Josh and Susan spent the next two months seeing the chiropractor two or three times per week. They also made multiple visits to a massage therapist.

All of those visits were billed to auto insurance.

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Evidence Against Josh Powell’s Injury Claim​

In mid-July, 2003, Josh Powell decided that his recovery had plateaued. On July 16, 2003, he transferred his and Susan’s care to a different chiropractor.

However, only three days earlier, Josh and Susan had visited a trucking business in Kent, Wash. Josh at the time was considering obtaining a commercial driver license. In video recorded that day by Josh’s father, Steve Powell, Josh can be seen using his arms and upper body to steer a tractor-trailer.

By coincidence, that day was also when Steve Powell confessed his infatuation with Susan to her in a conversation he accidentally captured on tape.

Josh Powell’s personal notes indicate the second chiropractor advised the Powells they should hire a personal injury attorney in an attempt to extract a settlement from Bob Powers’ insurance company. Josh resisted this idea, opting to instead negotiate with the insurance company directly.

“I actually had no idea that this guy had made any claim whatsoever with my insurance company until you guys had come up with that information.”

Bob Powers

By August, both insurance companies involved in the claim had become suspicious about the necessity of the ongoing chircopractic and massage therapy treatments. Josh’s insurance provider, Pemco, ordered the Powells to undergo independent medical evaluations.

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Josh and Susan Powell’s IME​

Records show both Josh and Susan Powell took part in those evaluations on Aug. 19, 2003.

The evaluator noted that Josh complained of  “aching, stabbing, or burning pain” in his neck, as well as headaches. Josh also described having hit his head at the time of the crash and blacking out “for about two seconds following the accident.”

On an intake form, Josh checked boxes indicating he was experiencing severe or frequent headaches,  shaking or twitching in limbs, loss of motion in joints, spine abnormality and excessive worry or anxiety.

Susan did not check any boxes indicating current symptoms.

The IME paperwork also revealed both Josh and Susan had each missed eight days of work following the crash.

Josh also told the evaluator that he had no “previous problems involving his neck or mid back prior to the motor vehicle accident of May 12, 2003.” In fact, this was the second in a series of three Josh Powell car crashes from which he’d claimed injury. Josh had received similar treatment for neck and back pain following the first crash in June of 2000.

In the end, Pemco agreed to cover the lion’s share of the medical costs. It refused to pay for specific treatments provided by the second chiropractor, finding them to be “not reasonable.” Pemco, in turn, received reimbursement from Bob Powers’ insurance provider, State Farm.

Josh Powell’s own negotiations with the other insurance provider proved lucrative. He ended up receiving a check for more than $6,000, above and beyond the covered medical expenses.

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Josh Powell on Unemployment​

A dispute over Josh and Susan’s missed work time as a result of the May 2003 car crash contributed to a worsening of their standing with their employer, Holiday Retirement. In a probationary move, they transferred to a different senior living center in Olympia, Washington toward the end of 2003.

However, that move brought Josh and Susan Powell physically closer to Steve Powell, who Susan had gone to great lengths to avoid in the months following her rejection of his love confession. So, in the waning months of the year, Josh and Susan decided to move to Utah.

The couple spent the first few months of 2004 living with Josh’s older sister, Jennifer Graves, and her family in West Jordan, Utah.

They obtained jobs with Fidelity through a temp agency. Josh lost his within a matter of days. By February, he was receiving unemployment insurance benefits from the Utah Department of Workforce Services.

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Susan Powell Insurance​

On Feb. 8, 2004, Josh filled out paperwork applying for private health insurance coverage from IHC Health Plans. On the form, he listed his occupation as “manager.” He did not disclose that he was unemployed.

Elsewhere on the form, Josh wrote that he and Susan were both in “great health.” On a section of the form dealing with past prescription medications, he omitted the pain medications both he and Susan had received after the May 12, 2003 car crash in Yakima.

Insurance application processing notes later recovered by West Valley City police through an investigative subpoena showed IHC Health Plans quoted Josh a 15% rate increase due to his and Susan’s recent neck and back pain.

Those processing notes included a history of contacts between the insurance agent, sales representative and underwriter. In one exchange, the agent described Josh as “quite difficult to work with” over a request for records related to the chiropractic treatment.

In the final exchange captured in the processing notes, the sales representative asked the agent what it was that Josh managed. The agent replied that she had learned Josh was actually “between jobs.”

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Hear about the two other Josh Powell car crashes in a bonus episode of Cold: Car Crash Con

Episode credits
Research, writing, hosting and production: Dave Cawley
Production assistance: Danielle Prager, Adam Mason
Additional voices: Kristen Sorensen (as Susan Powell), Eric Openshaw (as Josh Powell), Ken Fall (as Steve Powell)
Cold main score composition: Michael Bahnmiller
Cold main score mixing: Dan Blanck
Supplemental music: Dave Cawley
KSL executive producers: Sheryl Worsley, Keira Farrimond
Episode transcript: https://thecoldpodcast.com/season-1-transcript/josh-powell-car-crash-con-insurance-scam-full-transcript
KSL companion story: https://www.ksl.com/article/46685384/cold-josh-powell-got-insurance-claims-from-3-suspicious-collisions

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Josh Powell made an unexpected drive from his father’s home in South Hill, Washington to his former home in West Valley City, Utah on May 5 and 6, 2010. He returned to Washington after spending just hours in Utah.

West Valley City police were at that time conducting a surveillance operation focused on Powell. They believed Powell was responsible for the disappearance and likely murder of his wife, Susan Cox Powell.

During the trip, Josh Powell took a series of photographs with a Nikon digital camera. Police were not aware of the photos until they located copies of them on a hard drive seized from the home of Steve Powell in Washington on August 25, 2011.

Cold obtained copies of those photos with the assistance of digital forensics experts with the firm Eide Bailly. They are published here for the first time.

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Josh Powell Photos Metadata​

The photos recovered from Josh’s hard drive by police included a form of metadata specific to files generated by digital cameras. That EXIF data, as it is known, records settings used by the camera, as well as timestamps and, on some devices, geolocation information.

An examination conducted by the Cold podcast of the EXIF data recorded by Josh Powell’s Nikon D60 camera shows it did not include geotags. The model of camera Powell used did not include a GPS receiver. However, Cold managed to manually pinpoint the locations of all of his photos.

Cold’s analysis of the timestamps recorded to the EXIF data showed them to be incorrect. Based on Powell’s known locations from police surveillance logs, the timestamps appeared to be offset from Mountain Daylight Time by 13 hours.

This could likely have resulted from someone incorrectly setting the camera’s date and time in regards to AM/PM while in Pacific Daylight Time. At the time these digital photos were created, Josh Powell was living in Washington, which falls entirely within the Pacific time zone.

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Josh Powell Photos in Utah​

Police surveillance logs indicate Josh entered Utah at approximately noon on May 6, 2010. After stopping for gas in Tremonton, he drove south toward Salt Lake City on the Legacy Parkway. Josh began taking photos from the driver seat of his minivan as he passed through the suburb of Woods Cross.

The photos showed Josh Powell continued from Legacy onto the I-215 west belt and then to westbound I-80. He exited the freeway at Wright Brothers Drive. At about 12:47 p.m., Josh shot a trio of pictures from the parking lot of an office building in the International Center, a business park adjacent to Salt Lake City International Airport.

Josh’s photos showed he next drove to the parking lot of the Wells Fargo call center where Susan had worked prior to her disappearance on Dec. 7, 2009. EXIF data revealed he remained at that location for less than two minutes.

Josh then left the Wells Fargo call center and headed west. He turned south at 5600 West and proceeded to drive to his former employer at Aspen Logistics.

West Valley surveillance logs and Josh’s own photo metadata showed he spent about 20 minutes at Aspen Logistics. Detectives later interviewed the company’s HR director, who told them Josh had arrived unannounced under the guise of returning some company property.

Upon leaving Aspen Logistics, Josh returned to 5600 West and continued south. He took a large number of photos while driving along the busy stretch of road. The photos did not appear to be of any particular subject.

Josh completed his drive when he reached the Sarah Circle home at 2:37 p.m.

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Here Lies Death​

Josh’s arrival caught his tenants by surprise.

Dax Guzman had agreed to remodel and finish the basement of the home on Josh’s behalf, in exchange for reduced rent. Josh told Guzman he wanted to check on the progress of the work and explain how he wanted the finished project to look.

“With the amount of work that I put into that basement, I mean if I broke it down, he was paying me like 2 or 3 bucks an hour,” Guzman said.

Josh arrived without warning on that May afternoon to check on the progress of the work and to gather the last of his and his wife’s belongings. The Guzmans were caught by surprise.

“We’re living in the house and he’s giving us deadlines of when he wants things done,” Guzman said. “I’m like ‘dude, I’m working. I have a family. … If you want it done, come back and do it. Why don’t you come back to Utah, see how you’re greeted?’”

Josh’s photos indicate he also examined the state of the yard, as well as the contents of a shed on the property.

“When I went into the shed it was kinda weird,” Guzman said. “He had wired a light in it but under the base of where the light was it read ‘here lies death.’”

Josh also used the opportunity to gather the last of his and Susan’s Utah possessions.

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Josh Powell’s Final Utah Departure​

Josh Powell took his final photos in Utah just after 10 p.m. They both depict two young girls sitting on a couch. Cold has been unable to identify the girls or determine where the photos were taken. Due to privacy concerns, those photos are not published here.

Police surveillance logs indicate Josh left the Sarah Circle house en route to Washington at about 11:10 p.m. He headed north toward Idaho on I-15 and I-84, with detectives on his tail.

“He’s of course driving exactly 65 miles an hour the whole way,” U.S. Marshal Derryl Spencer said.

“We couldn’t lose him because we didn’t know where he was going or what he was doing.”​

Derryl Spencer, U.S. Marshals Service

Spencer, who was assisting West Valley detectives with their surveillance operation, noted the presence of two large plastic barrels strapped to a tow hitch cargo carrier on the back of the vehicle. A roof box and bicycle were also strapped to the top of the minivan.

“That made it extremely easy to watch him from a distance ‘cause you had this large 55-gallon drum on top of a minivan cruising northbound going 65,” Spencer said.

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Josh Powell Photos in Idaho​

At approximately 2:20 a.m. on May 7, 2010, Josh Powell left I-84 at exit 194 in Jerome County, Idaho. Police wrote that he appeared to sleep near a field north of the interstate until 10:30 a.m.

This spot was just two miles west of another location where Josh had stopped during a previous drive between West Valley City, Utah and South Hill, Wash. That earlier stop, first discovered by Cold through an analysis of data collected by a court-authorized GPS device hidden on Josh’s minivan the day after Susan disappeared, occurred near where I-84 crosses the Milner-Gooding Canal.

Shortly after resuming his drive on May 7, 2010, Josh stopped at the side of I-84 and took four photos of a farm north of the interstate. All four photos show irrigation sprinklers covered with ice.

Police surveillance records do not mention this stop. Nor do any other West Valley records suggest that police ever identified this spot or conducted a search of it.

Cold used a combination of Google Earth and Street View imagery, as well as a visit to the site, to determine precisely where Josh had stood while taking the Idaho photos.

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Josh Powell Photos in Oregon​

West Valley police did, however, take notice of several photos Josh Powell shot later on May 7, 2010 alongside I-84 in rural Oregon.

Josh took those pictures at a spot between Ontario and Farewell Bend, Oregon. Several showed his minivan. Others captured the landscape surrounding the interstate.

Detectives flagged the Oregon photos while reviewing the digital evidence seized from the home of Steve Powell on Aug. 25, 2011 as well as Josh’s safe deposit box on Sept. 12, 2011.

West Valley police, with the assistance of cadaver dogs and sheriffs deputies from Carbon and Malheur Counties in Oregon, conducted a search of the Oregon photo location on May 1, 2012. By that point, Josh had been dead for nearly three months, having killed himself and his sons Charlie and Braden on Feb. 5, 2012.

Case records said “based on the area searched by law enforcement … there was no evidence located to suggest that further searching was required in this particular area.”

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Hear about Josh Powell’s suspicious dumpster drops in a bonus episode of Cold: Dumpster Drops

Episode credits
Research, writing, hosting and production: Dave Cawley
Production assistance: Danielle Prager, Adam Mason
Additional voices: Kristen Sorensen (as Susan Powell), Eric Openshaw (as Josh Powell), Ken Fall (as Steve Powell)
Cold main score composition: Michael Bahnmiller
Cold main score mixing: Dan Blanck
Supplemental music: Dave Cawley
KSL executive producers: Sheryl Worsley, Keira Farrimond
Episode transcript: https://thecoldpodcast.com/season-1-transcript/josh-powell-dumpster-drops-gps-full-transcript
KSL companion story: https://www.ksl.com/article/46681586/cold-new-analysis-focuses-on-unexplained-stops-josh-powell-made-shortly-after-wife-disappeared

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The disappearance of Susan Cox Powell from her home in West Valley City, Utah on Dec. 7, 2009 came just two weeks following another major tragedy. Just before Thanksgiving of that year, a man named John Jones became trapped in Nutty Putty Cave.

Nutty Putty Cave was a popular spot for spelunkers. It had also been the site of multiple search-and-rescue operations in the decades since its discovery. Jones’ ordeal in the cave ultimately cost him his life and Nutty Putty was permanently sealed.

Because that caving tragedy and the disappearance of Susan Powell occurred close together, both in time and in place, it led many people to wonder if Josh Powell might have hidden Susan’s body in the cave prior to its closure.

There are indications Josh was aware of the cave. A review of his personal files by Cold uncovered a scanned postcard. On the back of the card, Josh had written a note describing Nutty Putty as a “hole in the ground w/ maze.”

In this bonus episode of the Cold podcast, we examine the evidence to see if the theory of Susan Powell being buried in the cave holds any merit. Utah County Sheriff’s Sgt. Spencer Cannon, who was present for the John Jones rescue effort in 2009, also provides his insight.

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Hear… in a bonus episode of Cold: Nutty Putty Cave

Episode credits
Research, writing, hosting and production: Dave Cawley
Production assistance: Danielle Prager, Adam Mason
Additional voices: Kristen Sorensen (as Susan Powell), Eric Openshaw (as Josh Powell), Ken Fall (as Steve Powell)
Cold main score composition: Michael Bahnmiller
Cold main score mixing: Dan Blanck
Supplemental music: Dave Cawley
KSL executive producers: Sheryl Worsley, Keira Farrimond
Episode transcript: https://thecoldpodcast.com/season-1-transcript/nutty-putty-cave-susan-powell-full-transcript
KSL companion story: https://www.ksl.com/article/46523673/cold-theory-of-susan-powell-in-nutty-putty-cave-debunked

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U.S. Marshal Derryl Spencer played a unique role in the search for Susan Cox Powell. During 2010 and 2011, Derryl interfaced with Josh Powell and members of his family numerous times. He worked to build rapport with the Powells, playing the “good cop” to the West Valley City police department’s “bad cop.”

Derryl shared his recollections from the Susan Powell investigation for this bonus episode of the Cold podcast. He talked about his frustration over prosecutors refusing to charge Josh Powell and the feelings he was left with after Josh murdered Susan’s sons.

“It was so frustrating because I felt like we had enough evidence. Let’s get him into custody, let’s solve this problem and let’s finish building the case from there,” Derryl said. “And I just didn’t feel like the district attorney’s office was supportive of that.”

Derryl also played a key part in police efforts to obtain Susan Cox Powell’s childhood journals from Josh and Steve Powell. He on multiple occasions attempted to negotiate a trade with the Powells, offering a return of evidence in exchange for the journals.

“Steve soon became the proxy. He wanted to communicate with me instead of Josh,” Derryl said. “Steve was extremely fascinating to talk to. … I always felt dark and like I needed shower after getting off the phone with him.”

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Hear about U.S. Marshal Derryl Spencer’s hidden camera recording of Steve Powell in a bonus episode of Cold: Marshal Misdirection

Episode credits
Research, writing, hosting and production: Dave Cawley
Production assistance: Danielle Prager, Adam Mason
Additional voices: Kristen Sorensen (as Susan Powell), Eric Openshaw (as Josh Powell), Ken Fall (as Steve Powell)
Cold main score composition: Michael Bahnmiller
Cold main score mixing: Dan Blanck
Supplemental music: Dave Cawley
KSL executive producers: Sheryl Worsley, Keira Farrimond
Episode transcript: https://thecoldpodcast.com/season-1-transcript/marshal-misdirection-here-lies-death-full-transcript
KSL companion story: https://www.ksl.com/article/46519317/cold-us-marshal-shares-insider-account-of-susan-powell-investigation