Father-in-law admits 'obsession' with Susan as diaries seized
PUYALLUP, Wash. - As detectives seized computers, videos and diaries from the home of missing mom Susan Powell's husband, her father-in-law admitted he had a "romantic obsession" with Susan and wrote love songs about her before she vanished.
The father-in-law, Steven Powell, also said their relationship was "very sexually charged" and "inappropriate."
"There were definitely some things that were probably inappropriate for a married woman and her father-in-law. I acknowledge that," he said.
Steven Powell also admitted that Susan became upset when his advances toward her became increasingly overt. "When I took liberties or whatever, she became very upset and accused me of hitting on her," he said.
But police officials said Friday morning that the father-in-law, Steven Powell, had been ruled out as a person of interest in the case - despite his salacious admissions about his daughter-in-law.
The latest developments came as police escalated their search for evidence into Susan Powell's disappearance nearly 20 months ago.
She was last seen by her husband Dec. 6, 2009, in her West Valley City, Utah, home outside Salt Lake City. She was reported missing the next day when she didn't show up for work.
West Valley City police Lt. Bill Merritt said the investigation into her disappearance was the largest that the department had ever undertaken.
"This is larger than any of us in our department have ever seen - and probably will never see again," he said.
On Thursday, detectives scoured her husband Josh Powell's Puyallup home, where he moved after she went missing.
Police have said Josh Powell is the only person of interest in his wife's disappearance, but he has not been charged or detained. He was allowed to leave the area with his two young sons as investigators went through the property.
Detectives spent several hours combing through the house and vehicles, using disposable gloves in a search for evidence they said could propel the case forward.
Officials seized several computers while loading sealed boxes and bags into a mobile forensics command center.
"We came here looking for specific things, and some of those things we've been able to find," Merritt said Thursday night, about six hours after investigators arrived at the house. He called the evidence collected "very, very important" to the investigation.
Investigators also said Josh Powell has recently stopped returning phone calls from authorities seeking his aid in finding Susan, though he appeared calm when they arrived at his two-story home in the suburbs Thursday afternoon.
Police said the plan to search Powell's home had been in the works for a while - since before a recent search through abandoned mine shafts in Nevada. A few investigators thoroughly examined a van in the driveway, looking through every CD, flipping through scraps of paper and examining under seats.
Investigators declined to discuss what pieces of evidence they gathered, but Steven Powell said they took Susan's childhood journals and computers. He says they also took his own journal, along with videos and photos he took of Susan.
"I didn't want them to have my journals," Steven Powell said. "There's some very embarrassing things in my journals."
Lt. Merritt said the evidence gathered in the search "will help us draw closer to a conclusion."
"Whether it's the conclusion that everybody wants and hopes for, we don't know. It may be a conclusion that nobody wants to admit could happen," Merritt said.
The search came just hours after the case spiraled into an emotional saga pitting one side of Susan Powell's family against the other.
Josh Powell's father, Steve Powell, claimed in interviews on Thursday that he had a flirtatious relationship with his daughter-in-law - and he also claimed that Susan initiated it. He claimed that his journals, seized by the police, will confirm that.
"Susan was a very much willing participant in our relationship. In other words she loved my attention, she craved it and she responded to it positively," he said.
Eventually he became obsessed with her, he said.
"It was definitely a romantic obsession," he said. "You know, Susan's a beautiful woman. When a beautiful woman comes on to you like that, it's really hard to resist that kind of a thing, and maybe it's just me, and probably inappropriate. ... Sure, I wrote songs about her."
But Susan's father, Chuck Cox, adamantly denied that Susan had any feelings for Steven Powell. Cox says Steven initiated unwanted sexual advances toward her, and that made her uncomfortable.
Cox told the AP that his daughter claimed years ago that "something had happened" with Steve Powell that made her uncomfortable. He said she didn't disclose the details.
"She said something about Steve had wanted her to be a common wife for him and Josh," Chuck Cox said. According to him, when Susan discussed the remark with Josh, he dismissed it as part of his father's penchant for saying outrageous things.
Chuck Cox said he believes his daughter's discomfort with her father-in-law was part of what motivated her to move her family to Utah from Washington.
"She wanted as far away from him as possible," Cox said.
But Steven Powell denied Thursday that he and Josh wanted to share Susan as a wife.
Meanwhile, Josh Powell denied killing his wife or having anything to do with her disappearance.
"I would never even hurt her," a tearful, red-eyed Josh Powell said. "People who know me know that I could never hurt Susan."
Josh Powell, who still wears his wedding ring, said he loves his wife. He said she came from an emotionally abusive home with controlling, manipulative parents.
Chuck Cox, who also lives in Puyallup, denies allegations in court filings by Josh Powell seeking a protective order that he has harassed or threatened his son-in-law and said he only wants to spend time with his young grandchildren.
A court commissioner in Washington state Tuesday ordered Chuck Cox and Josh Powell to keep 500 feet apart.
Chuck Cox has never said he believes his son-in-law is responsible for Susan's disappearance, but wants him to be more forthcoming with police, who claim Josh Powell hasn't been cooperative.
"If he can get himself cleared, that's fine with me," Chuck Cox said. "But he has obstructed the investigation of the police, he has refused to talk to them and there's enough inconsistencies ... they have to look into it."
Police say Josh Powell has refused to answer questions about a supposed midnight camping trip he said he took with the couple's sons - then ages 4 and 2 - in the mountains west of Salt Lake City the night before Susan Cox Powell was reported missing.
The Powells also have been saying they believe the missing woman may have run off with another man, although Josh Powell said in interviews Thursday he doesn't know if his wife was ever unfaithful.
He said he would like to tell his wife that he loves her and that her children love her, but he vacillates in his beliefs about whether she is still alive.
"It's a rollercoaster," he told ABC News.
Chuck Cox said his family remains hopeful, but they are preparing "for the worst."
---
The father-in-law, Steven Powell, also said their relationship was "very sexually charged" and "inappropriate."
"There were definitely some things that were probably inappropriate for a married woman and her father-in-law. I acknowledge that," he said.
Steven Powell also admitted that Susan became upset when his advances toward her became increasingly overt. "When I took liberties or whatever, she became very upset and accused me of hitting on her," he said.
But police officials said Friday morning that the father-in-law, Steven Powell, had been ruled out as a person of interest in the case - despite his salacious admissions about his daughter-in-law.
The latest developments came as police escalated their search for evidence into Susan Powell's disappearance nearly 20 months ago.
She was last seen by her husband Dec. 6, 2009, in her West Valley City, Utah, home outside Salt Lake City. She was reported missing the next day when she didn't show up for work.
 Susan Powell |
West Valley City police Lt. Bill Merritt said the investigation into her disappearance was the largest that the department had ever undertaken.
"This is larger than any of us in our department have ever seen - and probably will never see again," he said.
On Thursday, detectives scoured her husband Josh Powell's Puyallup home, where he moved after she went missing.
Police have said Josh Powell is the only person of interest in his wife's disappearance, but he has not been charged or detained. He was allowed to leave the area with his two young sons as investigators went through the property.
Detectives spent several hours combing through the house and vehicles, using disposable gloves in a search for evidence they said could propel the case forward.
Officials seized several computers while loading sealed boxes and bags into a mobile forensics command center.
"We came here looking for specific things, and some of those things we've been able to find," Merritt said Thursday night, about six hours after investigators arrived at the house. He called the evidence collected "very, very important" to the investigation.
Investigators also said Josh Powell has recently stopped returning phone calls from authorities seeking his aid in finding Susan, though he appeared calm when they arrived at his two-story home in the suburbs Thursday afternoon.
Police said the plan to search Powell's home had been in the works for a while - since before a recent search through abandoned mine shafts in Nevada. A few investigators thoroughly examined a van in the driveway, looking through every CD, flipping through scraps of paper and examining under seats.
Investigators declined to discuss what pieces of evidence they gathered, but Steven Powell said they took Susan's childhood journals and computers. He says they also took his own journal, along with videos and photos he took of Susan.
"I didn't want them to have my journals," Steven Powell said. "There's some very embarrassing things in my journals."
Lt. Merritt said the evidence gathered in the search "will help us draw closer to a conclusion."
"Whether it's the conclusion that everybody wants and hopes for, we don't know. It may be a conclusion that nobody wants to admit could happen," Merritt said.
The search came just hours after the case spiraled into an emotional saga pitting one side of Susan Powell's family against the other.
Josh Powell's father, Steve Powell, claimed in interviews on Thursday that he had a flirtatious relationship with his daughter-in-law - and he also claimed that Susan initiated it. He claimed that his journals, seized by the police, will confirm that.
"Susan was a very much willing participant in our relationship. In other words she loved my attention, she craved it and she responded to it positively," he said.
Eventually he became obsessed with her, he said.
"It was definitely a romantic obsession," he said. "You know, Susan's a beautiful woman. When a beautiful woman comes on to you like that, it's really hard to resist that kind of a thing, and maybe it's just me, and probably inappropriate. ... Sure, I wrote songs about her."
But Susan's father, Chuck Cox, adamantly denied that Susan had any feelings for Steven Powell. Cox says Steven initiated unwanted sexual advances toward her, and that made her uncomfortable.
Cox told the AP that his daughter claimed years ago that "something had happened" with Steve Powell that made her uncomfortable. He said she didn't disclose the details.
"She said something about Steve had wanted her to be a common wife for him and Josh," Chuck Cox said. According to him, when Susan discussed the remark with Josh, he dismissed it as part of his father's penchant for saying outrageous things.
Chuck Cox said he believes his daughter's discomfort with her father-in-law was part of what motivated her to move her family to Utah from Washington.
"She wanted as far away from him as possible," Cox said.
But Steven Powell denied Thursday that he and Josh wanted to share Susan as a wife.
Meanwhile, Josh Powell denied killing his wife or having anything to do with her disappearance.
"I would never even hurt her," a tearful, red-eyed Josh Powell said. "People who know me know that I could never hurt Susan."
Josh Powell, who still wears his wedding ring, said he loves his wife. He said she came from an emotionally abusive home with controlling, manipulative parents.
Chuck Cox, who also lives in Puyallup, denies allegations in court filings by Josh Powell seeking a protective order that he has harassed or threatened his son-in-law and said he only wants to spend time with his young grandchildren.
A court commissioner in Washington state Tuesday ordered Chuck Cox and Josh Powell to keep 500 feet apart.
Chuck Cox has never said he believes his son-in-law is responsible for Susan's disappearance, but wants him to be more forthcoming with police, who claim Josh Powell hasn't been cooperative.
"If he can get himself cleared, that's fine with me," Chuck Cox said. "But he has obstructed the investigation of the police, he has refused to talk to them and there's enough inconsistencies ... they have to look into it."
Police say Josh Powell has refused to answer questions about a supposed midnight camping trip he said he took with the couple's sons - then ages 4 and 2 - in the mountains west of Salt Lake City the night before Susan Cox Powell was reported missing.
The Powells also have been saying they believe the missing woman may have run off with another man, although Josh Powell said in interviews Thursday he doesn't know if his wife was ever unfaithful.
He said he would like to tell his wife that he loves her and that her children love her, but he vacillates in his beliefs about whether she is still alive.
"It's a rollercoaster," he told ABC News.
Chuck Cox said his family remains hopeful, but they are preparing "for the worst."
---
