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Susan Powell: Police say Susan Powell's brother-in-law was 'heavily involved' in her disappearance as they reveal that Josh had an affair in the months before his wife vanished

Police made two major announcements in the investigation into Susan Powell’s disappearance but neither will likely bring her desperate relatives any peace of mind.

Investigators said that they officially believe that Josh Powell's brother Michael was 'heavily involved' in Susan's 2009 disappearance, but their theory gives little relief as they announced that they are closing the case.

In spite of their bold declaration about their suspicions, there is little for them to go on as Michael killed himself by jumping off of a parking lot in Minneapolis in February, and his brother died when he set fire to the home that he was staying in with his two sons 15 months ago.

The police file also revealed that Josh Powell had an affair with a different Utah woman about six or seven months before Susan Powell disappeared.

Case closed but not solved: Police formally said that they are putting the active investigation into Susan Powell's disappearance aside but say that her brother-in-law was 'heavily involved'

The woman's name was redacted from the file, but police confirmed that they interviewed her in connection to the case after discovering her phone number. 

The woman said she knew Powell by the name John Staley and met him through a dating service, and she didn't know he was married.

Accessory? The father of missing mother Susan Cox Powell claims police have turned their focus on her brother-in-law Michael C. Powell, pictured, who committed suicide in February

She said Powell gave her about $800 over the course of their relationship. The report didn't specify how long the relationship lasted, or what the money was for.

The woman "said that she eventually broke up with him and it wasn't until she saw the news story about the Susan Powell case that she realized John was actually Josh Powell," Detective David Greco wrote.

West Valley police released the case file, which includes details that have been kept under wraps since she went missing four years ago, but said that they would reopen the case if they get new information.

Police based their suspicion in part on a car Michael C. Powell left at an Oregon junkyard only weeks after Susan Powell disappeared.

The junkyard is about 200 miles from a forest outside Salem, Oregon, where authorities searched last week, looking for a body. The search turned up nothing, and police said they ran out of clues.

Deputy West Valley Police Chief Michael Powell - no relation - said authorities believe Josh Powell killed his wife, and that his brother later got involved in a cover-up.

Michael C. Powell denied any wrongdoing while under investigation, and killed himself on February 11.

It wasn't until last August that Utah police discovered Michael Powell's Ford Taurus at the junkyard outside Pendleton, Oregon.

Tragic: Josh Powell remains the most mysterious one in the case, as he killed himself and his two sons in a house fire 15 months ago and was long-thought to be the main suspect in his wife's murder

Grisly: Powell attacked his sons with a hatchet before torching the home in Graham, Washington, pictured

DNA recovered from the upholstery inside the car's trunk proved inconclusive, they said.

The Powell brothers used sophisticated computer encryption to communicate, according to West Valley City Deputy Chief Phil Quinlan. Investigators have been unable to decipher that encrypted communication, Quinlan said.

Investigators said they focused on the brother last year, when Josh Powell changed his insurance policy to list Michael Powell as a primary beneficiary, rather than his wife or children.

Michael C. Powell was an ardent supporter of Josh Powell.

He was interviewed numerous times after investigators discovered he had sold his car for salvage value - a discovery that came nearly two years after Susan Powell's disappearance.

Officials said he offered evasive answers about why he got rid of the car and how it had used it in the weeks after her disappearance.

Revelations: Police released their complete file on the case which showed that Josh Powell had an affair with a Utah woman six or seven months before his wife's disappearance

His suicide left investigators without any person of interest in the case. While authorities believe the brothers were responsible for Susan Powell's disappearance, they said repeatedly Monday that they never had enough evidence to bring charges.

'This is a circumstantial case, yes,' Quinlan said. His fellow deputy chief, Mike Powell, added, 'We didn't have a body. We don't have a crime scene.'

Susan Powell was reported missing more than three years ago after failing to show up for work.

Her husband, Josh, maintained his innocence and said he had taken the couple's young boys on a midnight camping trip in freezing temperatures the night she was last seen.

Josh Powell eventually returned to the couple's hometown of Puyallup, Wash., where he got caught up in a battle with Susan Powell's parents for custody of the boys, 7-year-old Charlie and 5-year-old Braden.

On February 15, 2012, he locked a social worker out of a rental home at the start of a supervised visit, attacked the boys with a hatchet and set the house afire. All three were killed in the blaze.

Suspect: The working theory is that Josh Powell (pictured) killed Susan and that his brother Michael either helped him do it or to hide it by transporting the body after the fact

Days earlier, a court had ordered Josh Powell to undergo an intensive psychosexual evaluation in the custody dispute.

Josh Powell was never charged in his wife's disappearance, but unsealed documents say authorities found drops of Susan Powell's blood on a floor next to a sofa that appeared to have been recently cleaned, with two fans set up to blow on it.

Investigators also found life insurance policies on Susan Powell and determined that Josh Powell had filed paperwork to withdraw her retirement account money about 10 days after her disappearance.

Susan Powell, then 28, was last seen December 6, 2009.

The Tragic Powell Family: A Timeline

The Weekend of December 6th and 7th 2009 - Susan Powell, then 28 is last seen at the West Valley City, Utah, home she shares with her husband Josh and their two sons. Josh Powell tells police that he decided to take his boys on an impromptu camping trip that night in the middle of a blizzard but returns home to find his wife gone.December 24th, 2009 - After two weeks of investigations during which Braden and Charlie confirm the camping trip, Josh Powell is named a person of interest in his wife's disappearance.Josh's father, Steven, tells the media he thinks Susan skipped town with a man from St. George, Utah, who also vanished from a party the same night she was last seen.January 2010 - Josh Powell decides to move with his two sons to Puyallup, Washington, which is where he and Susan grew up. He has now begun to tell the media his wife was 'extremely unstable' and was mentally ill.August 18th, 2011 - Investigators working on a lead travel to abandoned mine shafts in Ely, Nevada, 200 miles away from West Valley. However, nothing is found.August 20th, 2011 - At a rememberance service for Susan, Steven Powell and her fahter Chuck Cox engage in a public shouting match in which Powell calls Cox a 'liar'.August 25th, 2011 - Forenisc investigators remove three computers from Josh Powell's home and Steven Powell claims that Susan made sexual advances on him that were 'a little beyond the pale'.September 14th, 2011 - Authorities in Utah find a shallow grave in a mountainous region which they believe could contain the remains of Susan Powell - the site, near to Topaz Mountain is 30 miles from where Josh said he took the boys camping.September 22nd, 2011 - Steven Powell is charged with child pornography charges after the computers removed from his sons house reveal incriminating evidence.September 23rd, 2011 - Steven Powell and Josh Powell are issued with an injunction preventing them from publishing any material from Susan Powell's journals.September  28th, 2011 - Josh Powell's sons are removed from his custody and placed with Chuck and Judy Cox because they are living in a home with sexually explicit material. He is, however, granted visitation rights with his boys. February 1st, 2011 - Josh Powell is ordered to take a psychosexual evaluation and polygraph test to regain custody of his boys. Police note that there is information and images on his computer that 'specifically related to their children's welfare.'February 5th, 2012 - Josh Powell sets off an explosion at his Washington home today that killed himself and his two sons. May, 2012 - Steven Powell began a prison sentence for 14 counts of voyeurism.February 11th, 2013 - Michael Powell files motion attempting to have his brother's $1.5 million life insurance policy which he was a beneficiary of paid out.

He thinks that the revelation that Charlie had started talking about the details of the evening when Susan disappeared played into Josh's decision to kill his children.

'They were becoming more fun, more vocal. They were acting like little boys again, which we hadn't seen in a while. … I imagine that part of Josh's motivation was, what could he do to hide that story?'

He told the Salt Lake Tribune that he takes the explosion as an admission of guilt in Susan's case.

'In my personal opinion this is Josh's admission, that he did it. I know others won't interpret it that way.'

Steve Downing, a lawyer for Susan Powell's parents Chuck and Judy Cox said in the aftermath: 'It's the most horrifying thing you can imagine happening.'

'They are beyond devastated. They always feared Josh would do something like this.'

The children, five-year-old Braden and seven-year-old Charles, had been living with their maternal grandparents since September because they were feared unsafe in the care of Josh because of an ongoing voyeurism and child pornography investigation involving Josh Powell’s father Steven.

Adding to the woes of the Powell family, in September 2011, Michael and Josh's father Steve was arrested on child pornography charges.

Authorities had searched the home looking for evidence in Susan's disappearance and found child pornography and other troubling videos in Steve Powell's bedroom.

Prosecutors said that for at least a decade, he had been secretly filming women, including Susan Powell, and that he shot footage of two young female neighbors as they took baths and sat on the toilet.

Grandparents: Chuck Cox, pictured, and his wife Judy were devastated by their child's murder

Immediately after Susan's disappearance, Steven Powell claimed his daughter-in-law was in love with him. In July 2011 he announced that he planned to publish her private journal online. Her parents managed to get a restraining order.

A month later, Josh Powell and his father went on national television to discuss the case. They claimed Susan Powell was promiscuous, emotionally unstable and suicidal, a claim her family denies.

Steven Powell said he had a flirtatious relationship with his daughter-in-law and believed they were in love.

‘People don't know that there are two distinct sides of Susan. She was very ... kind of an open person in a sexual way ... with the opposite sex,’ he said.

'Susan was very sexual with me,' Steve Powell told ABC's Good Morning America. 'We interacted in a lot of sexual ways because Susan enjoys doing that.'

'I'm still thinking she left. Hopefully they'll be able to find her at some point... We don't believe she's dead.'

The Coxes defended their daughter and said it was Steven Powell who initiated unwanted sexual advances.







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