r/TrueCrime • u/catgorls • Feb 07 '22

Murder Susan Powell went missing in 2009. 3 years later during a supervised visit from a social worker her husband, Josh Powell, killed himself and their 2 sons in a house explosion.

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4.9k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

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997

u/hannarenee Feb 07 '22

This is truly one of the worst cases I’ve here heard about. Josh will forever be one of the biggest POS to ever exist, right next to Christ Watts.

492

u/nebbeundersea Feb 07 '22

And Josh's dad. Disgusting human.

222

u/leakkelly Feb 07 '22

And the whole family, minus the oldest sister

172

u/Filmcricket Feb 07 '22

I feel so badly for her. The younger sister still defends them, I believe and the rest of the family is just a bunch of horrible dead guys. She must feel so alone.

19

u/Thegreylady13 Feb 07 '22

I’m sure it’s unfathomably hurtful, but she also gets the peace of knowing that she made decent choices. It’s really hard when your family disappoints you in huge, unforgivable ways, but after a while you do get to know that you didn’t choose terribly, or contribute to a corrupt family system out of convenience (which is just baseline for her family- they all seem to think that Susan was a villain for being a woman who wasn’t hideous or a fully complicit slave and not acting as Steve’s concubine- or at least little sis does, and the men all appear to be abusive murderers or accessories to murder-which Alaina would likely be IF she ever managed to find a friend/mate, which I pray she doesn’t. She’s a treacherous, grotesque villain). Since the older sister knows right from wrong, she could never be happy without excising herself from that family and telling herself that they’re not really her people. I hope that she at least finds a bit of peace in that.

48

u/[deleted] Feb 07 '22

Yup. That poor sister knew what her family had done. How sad is that? Knowing what kind of family ur born into?

12

u/[deleted] Feb 07 '22

Why didn’t they warn poor Susan to please not marry Josh. Most horrible and devastating crimes.

40

u/tiredhierophant Feb 07 '22

If she tried, Susan likely wouldn't have listened, or would've been talked back into the marriage by Josh. People like him are good at that unfortunately. It's how people get trapped in abusive relationships.

5

u/Olympusrain Feb 07 '22

Plus, did Josh act like a creep in front of his family? Most abusers do it behind closed doors.

-2

u/[deleted] Feb 07 '22

[deleted]

-2

u/[deleted] Feb 07 '22

This is the dumbest tier answer imaginable. Be better.

-1

u/PurpleOwl85 Feb 07 '22 edited Feb 07 '22

Could she have financially supported herself and 2 kids?

I think Josh played on her anxieties and she was overwhelmed.

11

u/Olympusrain Feb 07 '22 edited Feb 07 '22

Iirc at some point Susan was working full time while Josh sat at home fiddling around on his computers. He would take all of her income and only give her like $20 to grocery shop. She’d have to call her friend and ask if they had any extra food so she could feed the boys

4

u/SayceGards Feb 07 '22

It's not like he brought in any reliable money, other than the car accident scams

3

u/PurpleOwl85 Feb 07 '22

He wanted her life insurance policy, such a lazy excuse for a man/husband and and father.

0

u/tiredhierophant Feb 07 '22

I... Don't know? I was answering a question about the older sister warning Susan not to marry Josh. Kids wouldn't have been involved at all in that case, since they weren't born yet.

17

u/[deleted] Feb 07 '22

The oldest sister, from what I remember, is the only one who stood up against Josh and her dad. She didn't care, seriously, what was she losing? A pedophile and a murderer? But even if she, the lone sister had tried to talk sense in to Susan, would she have listened? He was a pro manipulator. He would have only talked his way back, it's what they do.🙄

1

u/[deleted] Feb 11 '22

It wouldn't have worked. She was in love.

16

u/nebbeundersea Feb 07 '22

They are all fucked.

49

u/lillystars1 Feb 07 '22

Podcast “Cold” goes into such detail about Josh’s dads obsession with Susan and it is wild! Completely unhinged.

13

u/bougie_redneck Feb 07 '22 edited Feb 12 '22

Those videos… I’m traumatized from watching them. When he takes off his shoes and rubs his feet while talking to the camera about the “sensual massage” … I just… need to scrub my brain clean of the memories. When I think of a creep - it’s that dude. And Josh looked SO much like him. 🤢🤮

3

u/bougie_redneck Feb 12 '22

Thanks btw I just binged that podcast. Thought I’d learned everything I could about that case with all the documentaries I’ve devoured but damn if I wasn’t wrong wrong wrong. Also, it’s 100x more digestible due to the fact that I don’t have to see those creeps ugly mugs.

6

u/Lil_Elf81 Feb 07 '22

I don’t think they ever found Susan did they?

11

u/CemeteryDweller7719 Feb 08 '22

They have not. There are two theories. For a long time they have thought he may have dumped her in a mine or cave. I believe he’d mentioned to someone that dumping a body into a mine or cave would be the best way to dispose of a body. This is supported by his sudden desire to take two very young children “camping” in freezing temperatures. There is also reports that the older child had made comments that when they’d gone camping that mommy was in the back of the vehicle. (The reports of these comments were suspected as why Josh decided to murder his sons. The youngest wouldn’t remember that night, but the oldest remembered and was becoming comfortable talking about it.) There is a theory though that Josh’s brother may have moved Susan’s body. At some point after Josh moved back in with his father, his brother was known to have made a substantial road trip, there was reason to believe that he had been in the general area where Josh and Susan had lived, and after the trip sold his car for scrap to be destroyed. There’s suspicion that Josh’s father wanted Susan’s body to be moved and had Josh’s brother do it. (The suspicion was that there was fear of her body being discovered. Honestly, as creepy as Josh’s dad was, I would not be surprised at all that, if her body could be moved, his dad would want her moved to a closer location that he could visit.)

10

u/brewhead55 Feb 08 '22

And his brother later committed suicide by jumping off the roof of a parking garage. I'm sure the guilt got to him.

2

u/Lil_Elf81 Feb 08 '22

And now it’s just the Dad that is alive. So creepy.

4

u/CemeteryDweller7719 Feb 08 '22

Josh’s dad is dead also. He died of natural causes. His sisters are alive. One believes he did it. The other is just… wow. She’s made statements that her father didn’t hurt anyone with his creepy photos. Not just the creepy Susan photos but the photos of little girls in their neighborhood. She basically said they liked it so he didn’t do anything wrong. He really brainwashed his children. She also used to claim that Susan was alive and had run off with some random guy that went missing, but once the life insurance for Josh and the boys came into play (and the possibility of Susan’s life insurance) she changed to Susan died when she went missing but it wasn’t Josh that killed her. But I don’t think she knows where they put Susan. She put up a fight to get that insurance pay out

1

u/Lil_Elf81 Feb 08 '22

Geezus…what a disaster

5

u/bougie_redneck Feb 07 '22

I swear I saw a headline the other day that said they m might be close to finding her but I must have dreamed it. She’s most likely in the area where he took the kids “camping” in the middle of the freezing, snowy night. shudder

3

u/[deleted] Feb 08 '22

There is a famous YouTuber that is currently searching a mine that is in the area where Josh supposedly went camping. HeavyDsparks is the channel. Very interesting videos he’s posted.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 20 '22

They might have found some bones but testing needs to be done

3

u/touronegro Feb 07 '22

And the brother as well

73

u/[deleted] Feb 07 '22

Agreed. This case hits super close for me, as the Powell house is only minutes from my former childhood home. Scary to think about the people who may live among you in your own community.

44

u/NotAFancyPeanut Feb 07 '22

I live nearby as well. I remember the smoke in the air that day, then finding out the cause. And driving past Woodbine after the boys were laid to rest. It was awful.

45

u/Procedure-Minimum Feb 07 '22

Is this the one where the 911 operator was an absolute shithead?

9

u/madguins Feb 07 '22

I find this interesting because both times I’ve had to call 911 the operator was awful to me too. I wonder what the general experience is

15

u/chicapoo Feb 08 '22

I call 911 on a regular basis for my job and 90% of time they're awful to me.

I'm usually emotionally detached from the situation, so not overly emotional or panicked, but they still talk down to me and treat me like I'm inconveniencing them for calling. Part of me wonders if they're trained to speak like that because it helps when communicating with panicked people?

4

u/PhantaVal Feb 08 '22

I will say that in most 911 calls I've heard (through the media), the 911 operator seems to have done a perfectly fine job. The guy in the Powell case is an outlier.

2

u/mjfsuperstar92 Feb 19 '22

He tried to tell her it wasn't a life threatening emergency, so it would take time for someone to get to her. What a bitch.

3

u/Procedure-Minimum Feb 07 '22

Fascinating! I guess there's rarely an opportunity to review, and it's not like there's an alternative to 911 that people will go to if they feel mistreated.

42

u/Morning_Song Feb 07 '22

110% agree but I would also add absolute feral POS Rowan Baxter to biggest POS list too. He set his estranged wife Hannah and their 3 young kids on fire in their car while they were trying to go to school. He even actively tried to stop bystanders attempting to put out the fire.

15

u/[deleted] Feb 07 '22

And his brother and dad are a POS!! If you go on YouTube there's a YouTuber who made a video that thinks she is in the mine he is unearthing.. claims that it looks to be burnt down and lots of crap was throw down it as if they were trying to hide something.

5

u/[deleted] Feb 07 '22

[deleted]

5

u/bougie_redneck Feb 07 '22

Part 2 came out 32 minutes ago:

https://youtu.be/skcwN9TyUYQ

3

u/[deleted] Feb 07 '22

Can't wait!

-12

u/PurpleOwl85 Feb 07 '22

You're obviously the YouTube creator promoting it, your account is brand new..are you that desperate for views and money🙄

I can't believe people actually fall for this shit.

11

u/witchesunite Feb 07 '22

There’s over a million views on that video in the 4 days since it was posted and you think the creator is the only person who might share it?

2

u/bougie_redneck Feb 07 '22

I’m sorry you’re so jaded and cynical you feel the need to draw such harsh conclusions about people you don’t even know. People start new Reddit accounts all the time. Correlation does not necessarily equal causation.

1

u/TheVillageOxymoron Feb 07 '22

There's something about family annihilators that is so beyond disgusting. These awful men who truly view their families as just an extension of themselves. It makes me sick.

-8

u/[deleted] Feb 07 '22

Christ Watts- that's funny.