Grandparents grieving deaths of Powell boys, one year later
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GRAHAM, Wash. -- Exactly one year ago, the sons of missing Puyallup native Susan Cox Powell died when their father blew up their house.
The boys' grandparents say Charlie and Braden Powell may be gone, but they will never be forgotten. Chuck and Judy Cox visited their grandsons at Woodbine Cemetery on Tuesday.
"I wanted to bring some flowers for Charlie and Braden. Some fresh flowers," said Chuck Cox.
"It's been a year, but I don't feel I've been able to grieve the way I want to," said Judy cox.
The boys are pictured with their mother, who is still missing. Since she disappeared three years ago, her husband had been the focus of her disappearance.
But on a supervised visit one year ago in what was a well-planned murder-suicide, Josh Powell rushed the boys into the house and locked the caseworker outside.
"I couldn't stop him and either could anyone else have stopped him," said case worker Elizabeth Griffin-Hall.
The house exploded in flames. Josh Powell and his two sons were killed.
"It's just hard," said Chuck Cox. "It's a hard time."
Leading up to this day, the Coxes stayed busy at the state Legislature, supporting a bill that would make it tougher for a person suspected of murder to get custody of children.
"Luckily this week, I've had the distraction of Olympia in trying to get something to prevent it from happening again," Chuck Cox said.
Members of the community were paying their respects as well. The tragedy has hit everyone hard.
"Just know that the community supports them 100 percent," said Krisal Guilliot of Tacoma.
Judy Cox says the tragedy is a lesson in loving our kids.
"Just hug them and love them, because you don't know if something could happen," she said.
The Coxes find a bit of peace in the shadow of the Christmas Box Angels that looks out over their grandsons.
The public was invited to attend a vigil scheduled to be held in Graham Tuesday evening. Supporters planned to gather at 82nd Avenue East and 189th Court East at 6 p.m. The Coxes planned to attend.
The boys' grandparents say Charlie and Braden Powell may be gone, but they will never be forgotten. Chuck and Judy Cox visited their grandsons at Woodbine Cemetery on Tuesday.
"I wanted to bring some flowers for Charlie and Braden. Some fresh flowers," said Chuck Cox.
"It's been a year, but I don't feel I've been able to grieve the way I want to," said Judy cox.
The boys are pictured with their mother, who is still missing. Since she disappeared three years ago, her husband had been the focus of her disappearance.
But on a supervised visit one year ago in what was a well-planned murder-suicide, Josh Powell rushed the boys into the house and locked the caseworker outside.
"I couldn't stop him and either could anyone else have stopped him," said case worker Elizabeth Griffin-Hall.
The house exploded in flames. Josh Powell and his two sons were killed.
"It's just hard," said Chuck Cox. "It's a hard time."
Leading up to this day, the Coxes stayed busy at the state Legislature, supporting a bill that would make it tougher for a person suspected of murder to get custody of children.
"Luckily this week, I've had the distraction of Olympia in trying to get something to prevent it from happening again," Chuck Cox said.
Members of the community were paying their respects as well. The tragedy has hit everyone hard.
"Just know that the community supports them 100 percent," said Krisal Guilliot of Tacoma.
Judy Cox says the tragedy is a lesson in loving our kids.
"Just hug them and love them, because you don't know if something could happen," she said.
The Coxes find a bit of peace in the shadow of the Christmas Box Angels that looks out over their grandsons.
The public was invited to attend a vigil scheduled to be held in Graham Tuesday evening. Supporters planned to gather at 82nd Avenue East and 189th Court East at 6 p.m. The Coxes planned to attend.
Condolences Powell family. So very sorry for your losses and the horror you've been through.
Read the article thoroughly and feel what the Cox family is trying to do is reasonable. For them, and in light of what happened, NOT doing anything would be like losing those boys in vain. Can you even fathom what their lives are like after being dealt the blow(s) they have? Until it happens to you.....
 @skepticaloptimist I hear what you say, but we cannot have laws for every eventuality. It's not that this happens all the time. If a parent is considered high risk other measures would need to kick in, such as visits supervised by LEOs, or what have you. We have too many laws already.
 @Komo Dragon Agree wholeheartedly. Merely speaking more from the vantage point of what life is like in "their shoes" and their desire to be pro-active.
 @skepticaloptimist I fully understand. I t happens quite frequently that we encounter family murder-suicides, in which parents and kids are killed. The logic being that children survivors could not handle the grief and they would be better off being dead as well. Family annulment. It's a psychological twist, but maybe we can work on convincing suicidal people to limit their actions to their own persona only.Â
Hey, sorry you lost your grandkids but don't try to get Olympia to pass a special bill that won't bring them back to life...
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INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY. Think of the pain you have from not seeing your grandkids, now for some sick twist of monster-envy YOU want to deprive anyone suspected of murder of access to their children? What is wrong with you?Â
 @NW-Economist Gee - Josh Powell was never convicted of killing Charlie and Braden. How dare we cast stones upon him. INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY!
 @hunsinD3haha You're just being a troll, he obviously killed those two boys and hindsight is always 20-20. BUT GUESS WHAT? THAT"S THE COST OF LIVING IN A FREE SOCIETY.Â
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If you're too scared then go to the UK where the accused have no rights, or go to China where they have roving execution vans.Â
 @NW-Economist Yes he was innocent until proven guilty, because they never decided to push that damn dirtbag! And it's because of those actions is why that pathetic slime was able to harm and kill those children the way they did! The idea is to help prevent it from ever happening to someone else! Might want to take something to help that absolute ignorance of yours.
 @Zoso  @NW-Economist I hope you never get accused of anything....
 @sunnysandiego Except you were spouting off about it constantly on every opportunity you got, even on stories where the cops were doing stuff right, even something heartfelt, you still spouted off about it. Now what does that make you look like? If you really were concerned about it to the point that you were concerned about it, I certainly wouldn't have tried to gain attention for it here on every post. I wouldn't doubt that it was a problem then, (obviously there is now) I haven't heard the best SPD stories from people, even other agencies around here at the time, and yeah, we're a lot more aware of it now than we were then, but don't take credit for being right. And it's not like San Diego is all THAT clean either, despite the fact I agree it's a very nice city. I'll admit your comments are better now.
 @Zoso well yes.  and for the record I am not a cop hater.  I was calling for someone anyone to take a look at the corrupt SPD there BEFORE most others were doing the same.  If nothing else if you deny that you are a liar.
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So for asking people to take a hard look at your spd I am a troll fair enough.
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But this was before the wood carver, the racial comments, the cross walk beat downs and oh year, the investigation by the federal government for concerning practices coming out of the department.
 @sunnysandiego Wow Sunnysandiego, MKE6565, and your 2 billion other usernames that have done nothing but gloated about San Diego and has been a cop hating poster on most of your posts... did you really just say that? LOL!
 @Zoso  @NW-Economist why is everyone who comments a troll to you but you don't think of yourself as a troll...
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please tell me what exactly it is that makes me or this person a "troll" vs what a non troll as I am sure you see yourself
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I mean you make comments like why don't I comment in SD well for starters welcome to the age of technology where borders are no longer a part of our existence. Â I have a major stake there and I care about there so I comment. Â Get over it.
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A person can live in one community and comment in another thanks to the internet. Â It's pretty cool you oughta try it sometime.
 @NW-Economist Oh wow! Did a troll just say that? You really should be taking your own advice.
 @Zoso Why wasn't he in custody then? That's right, shut up, go away.Â
 @sunnysandiego Yeah it's better to let an innocent man go and kill his 2 kids, right? I don't even remember saying anything about giving Josh the death penalty, he already did that by yourself! Why don't you just take your arrogance down to the San Diego newsboards since you're already down there anyway? Why do you waste your time here?
 @NW-Economist What exactly is that supposed to mean? If I was actually acused of something where there's evidence, then there would be a thing called due process where I would have my rights to defend myself. But of course Josh Powell never had to worry about since they never decided to do a damn thing with him, they just stood by and let him kill those kids! How do you seriously come back with an arrogant response? Oh wait! That's right! You're just trolling!
 @NW-Economist  @Zoso and thank god zoso is not deciding who gets the death penalty too.
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remember how your founding father put it.... better to free how many guilty men than to convict one innocent man.
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That still counts right. Â Or do we pick and choose which one of those inherit rights we enforce and which ones we casually overlook?
NW-E is ignorant because he believes in one of the most important legal ideas of the free world??Â
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Wow...
 @Pierce Co Repub When it comes to Susan, I will just let the facts speak for themselves.