beyond loser.........

Let me see, the judge ruled that the boys must not stay with the father and subsequently the custody worker deemed it her god-given necessity to drop off the kids at the father's. Can anyone see a valuable need to pay $1 more tax dollar to this 'social' worker (well, except when she goes on welfare for the rest of her life now). The only 'social' this worker should be doing is trolling facebook.

Why in the world was he even allowed to see the children? Especially in his home where it could possibly have been difficult to get them back out. Why not a public or "neutral" place?

Wasn't there also some evidence that he (as well as his father) had something to do with child porn? What were the judges in this case thinking? The judge that denied custody unless the father agreed to "psycho-sexual testing," should also have ordered no contact, particularly in his home alone, until that testing was done.

wow robeson. Do you hate social workers that much? The kids probably ran up and in the house because they were going to their dad's before the worker even got to the porch. He barricaded her out. Give the worker a break. This is not the person who was dropping them off's fault, they were under a court order to allow him visitation. It is the fault of the SOB that took two innocent children with him.

He recently lost custody -- not visitation.

Don't blame the social worker...he stopped her from coming in, the article said...she was doing what she was told to do...I can only imagine how bad she feels right now.

COWARD!!! And now he had to take the lives of the two innocent boys. And, the rest of the family has to grieve far more than they deserve for the rest of their lives. Again, I say COWARD!!!

What a dick...there was just something narcissistic about the man just watching him in the news,... man why did he have to do this?

I wish the social worker had just a couple of seconds to realize something is wrong and turn back. Now this jerk has taken 3 innocent lives....what's with psycho retards and young children?

Absolutely sickening...

I could care less that this PoS killed himself, but it is incomprehensible that he felt the need to take his kids with him. This is the height of narcissism to feel that he was more important than anyone else and that his kids should not go on without him. I feel for his wife's family, not only losing their daughter, but their grandchildren as well to this worthless excuse of a person. At least he is dead as well so they will not have to endure a trial where some slick lawyer would try and get him off on temporary insanity or some other garbage.

What I do not understand is why the visitation with his kids was taking place at his home with everything that had been going on. You would have thought that the visitation would have been done at a location that the social worker could have had more control over. I do not fault the social worker for what happened, the location for the visit was not her decision. I do fault the system for not taking more precautions when dealing with an obviously disturbed individual.

Have the social worker forced her way inside, she would have died with them. This is a court ordered visitation. What idiots would blame the social worker for doing her job?

What a SELFISH, sorry excuse of a man.

May his young sons rest in peace.

Why didn't he take his perv. Dad with him instead?

Hearbreaking end for Susan Powell's two sons, her parents and extended family. Blessings and prayers for all to include Susan Powell.

This is so tragic. My heart aches for Susan's parents and family.

Article Quote..."Last week, a judge ruled that the children of missing Utah mother Susan Powell must remain in the custody of her parents, and that they would remain with the grandparents unless their father agreed to undergo psycho-sexual evaluation."

I am very angry that this monster was allowed visitation at his home with these little boys, giving him the opportunity to kill them like he killed their mother. As long as he was refusing the court ordered evaluation, he should never have been allowed visitation with the little boys. Why is there no common sense in our judicial system...especially when it comes to protecting children? Any "father" who would admit he took his two babies out at midnight to go "camping" in freezing temperatures, while their mother just happens to disappear...and then goes on to behave as he has with no interest or regard for his missing wife, should never have been allowed near those kids. Certainly his "camping trip" at midnight actions could have been cause for abuse/neglect charges. This is such a travesty of justice. Again...there are no words to express my sorrow over this, but my heart aches for the grandparents and other loved ones. This sick, demented coward has destroyed everything left of their beautiful daughter. I hope they can keep the monster murderer's father in prison for the rest of his life, as he played a part in Susan's murder...and created the monster that killed her children.

It seems evident that Powell was a man filled with rage and bent on the total annihilation of family...so much so that I don't believe that anything could have been done to stop him short of his own death. A coward kills himself under these circumstances but it takes someone truly evil to kill his own children.

My prayers are for Susan and her little boys that they were immediately united in heaven. Additionally, I pray for peace and healing for her family and all who loved them.

He should have allowed his children to enjoy a full and wonderful life. If only I had the chance to be with my children when they were small again.

Those poor little guys. May God bless them, and the family who remains that must be asking "why"?

That poor Social Worker. She will suffer too.

In MIchigan they are not allowed supervised home visits they are conducted in a public setting. I cant believe he was allowed a supervised home visit? in any case the social worked should have done a home inspection before taking the children in.

I hope his sorry ass is burning in hell right now. I can't believe he killed his entire family.

Oh, this just breaks my heart. Such a sad ending and such a waste of two precious little boys. Despite their father's actions, those little boys had a chance (and deserved the chance) to make a wonderful life for themselves. As mom to a two year old, this brings tears to my eyes. I am amazed a father could to this to his own children.

Selfish freaking coward!!! WHY THE HELL did he have to do this to the kids? Fine, You know what you did and you needed to die, THEN KILL YOURSELF. man this is so messed up.

leave the boys out of this. Why harm the innocent. Obviously this was a problem between wife and husband and had nothing to do with the boys. Could have left them with the grandparents or could have given them to me and I would have cared for them. Children do not belong to us. We are charged with their care but do not belong to us. Very selfish indeed.

James3199489, according to this article, Josh Powell blocked the social worker from entering the house after the boys went in. She then called her supervisors to tell them that and that she smelled gas. I got the impression from the way this was written that while on the phone with her supervisor, the house exploded. I don't know what the set up in Wash. state is as far as supervised visits. Every state is different. I also doubt that if she called 911 first that it would have made a difference.

This world is so broken. Or has it always been this way and we just see and hear the stories more often? The new is just too plain hard to read sometimes. I hope those boys are in a more peaceful place, yet I tend to lose faith even in that. Its neither justifiable my man nor God. It makes the problems in my own sphere seem so miniscule.

This is so sad. As much as the loss of life in general, two innocent boys died at the hands of their own father.

What parent in his or her right mind does that? None, I'll tell you that much.

And then again--why kill your children? Kill yourself if you must, but why innocents? So you can hurt others? Narcissistic indeed!!

If there were doubts he was responsible for Ms. Powell's disappearance, there should be little doubt now.

Because desperate people do desperate things. Ive been there when i went through my divorce. I do not know what i would have done if my ex wife had gotten the kids. He was on the edge he lost his wife. Now he lost his kids to people he did not think were good parents who were most likely talking bad about him to the kids. He felt trapped with no way out.

Should of never gave him the kids until the case was solved of his missing wife..he killed her no doubt too!!!

It's a shame that a person who is dead can't be tried and hung high. But he saved a judge of trying a murderer who killed his wife (bet he did) and killed his precious children. And Patrick, naturally he would think her parents were not good parents to be raising the children. As far as he was concerned, he was the only one who could and should raise the children.

RIP little ones. And my condolences to the grandparents who were raising the little ones.

@Patrick...

Your comment is a little alarming. You do not know what you would have done if your ex-wife "had gotten the kids"? Hopefully killing the kids would never have even crossed your mind. If otherwise, do your kids and everyone else a favor now, and get psychological help. Murder is never an "understandable" solution for anything. I feel sympathy for those who become so hopeless as to take their own life, and can understand and feel sorry for them. However, anyone who murders their own children in pre-meditated cold blood will never have my understanding. To murder your own children, is a selfish, spiteful, despicable act, and not a "desperate thing" that can be understood. Josh Powell "lost" his wife?...No, he eliminated her, for his own selfish, narcissistic purpose, and then he was ordered to have a psychological evaluation before he could be considered for custody of his sons, so he eliminated his sons, too, as a last act of spite against those who loved Susan and the children. My opinion.

All too often you can count on "juvenile court judges" and corresponding state agencies like "Departments of Family and Children services" to misjudge the dangers of "child placement" in these kinds of situations. Poor training, and glib legal interpretation, generally leads to subjective decisions which, too often are harmful, and even deadly to the Children. Doesn't help the two precious children here, but the liability is where it is.

What an evil human being!!! How horrible for Susan's parents' to go through, I can't even imagine. Aside from the obvious, I don't even know what to say about this, I am stunned speechless...!!

Patrick, desperation is one thing and a lot of us have been through divorce and extremely difficult situations where we don't know how we can really go on. Such is life at times. But for someone to actually kill his own children because of it... That takes on a whole new level of vile, wicked depravity. If you ever considered doing something along the same lines, I highly recommend that you get some psychiatric treatment.

Yanno, none of us here know the full facts of this case. We weren't there to see if the social worker was pushed back out, or if the kids simply ran ahead into the waiting evil of their father. We don't know the facts the judge was dealing with, and we certainly don't know who killed Susan. All we can do is speculate. So here is some speculation.

The judge, the lawyers, the social workers, the cops, they probably all did a pretty good job at assessing the risks relative to the rights of the father in this case. We don't have, and probably don't want, a set of laws which immediately remove your kids from you because someone says you are dangerous. Hence the requirement for a psycho-sexual evaluation. You do things the way your gut feels right now and you will have more lying in court by one or another spouse in divorce cases, you will have more people being deprived of their own children who should not be. In short, you will make the system worse than you even think it is now.

We can't, and shouldn't, design a legal system so that every possible bad act can be prevented. And the shame of it all is that occasionally innocent people, two young boys in this case, pay for that risk.

@Patrick, you sound like a man who sympathizes with this coward. I hope that this is not the case. Losing your children in a custody battle is not the end of the world, even though it may feel like it. But let's get back to the real story. This coward probably caused all of his own misery by making his wife disappear. So he doesn't deserve any sympathy or understanding. His wife and boys are the only victims here. To hell with him!

And now we know the rest of the story??

@Rich...

I know there are times that "bad acts" cannot be prevented through the legal system. However, many times there are ample warning signs that are not taken seriously enough (sadly, we could all name many). In this case, the father had reported that he had taken these two babies (2 and 4 years old at the time) out at midnight in a snow storm with freezing temperatures to go "camping"...and his wife just happened to disappear that night. That is bizarre and child endangerment in my opinion. Through the following weeks, his story changed, he claimed he didn't know the day, and thus missed work without calling in, etc. A month later he knowingly moved his sons in with his father, who he knew to be a sexual deviant...and who even preyed on his own daughter-in-law (the missing wife)...his sister has confirmed that his father exposed them to child pornography as children. And, there is enough circumstantial evidence to at least strongly suggest this man's involvement in the disappearance of his wife. Then he is refusing a psycho-sexual evaluation as a prerequisite to pursing custody of his children. If he had nothing to hide, why not have the evaluation? To me, all these facts are enough reason to keep him away from his kids, or at least only allow him to visit with them in a separate, safe, monitored setting where he could not set up another murder. He has now made a murder scene of the home he shared with his wife, and the home he shared with his father. I do believe there were enough concerning facts that he should never have been allowed to have the boys visit at his home.

Way too much evidence here that the powells were probably unfit. The younger Powell was in his fathers home. The father had revealed decadence, whether true or not, which strongly indicated He was not appropriate to the presence of children. That evidence, by the way, connected directly to the son. On top of all this, a strong suspicion of murder by the father or son, of the sons missing wife. Any judge who would order visitation to the home of such, under the positive probabilities of prohibitive circumstance, right there in His/Her face, ought to be discharged and disbarred. Wouldn't surprise me if this happens.

@RRoberson--Did you even bother to read the article? The social worker didn't take it upon herself to "drop" them off, it was a court ordered supervised visit, the kids ran out ahead of her and he closed and locked the door before she could get there, as she was calling her supervisors the blast happened!!!!!!! Please read the article before you go off on a tirade.

i hope he rots in hell

Or has it always been this way and we just see and hear the stories more often?

Yes, it has always happened. The only difference is that the stories tended to stay local. There wasn't 24/7 news that immediately beamed these horrors to everyone on the planet. 43 years ago my uncle and aunt were involved in a suicide pact that involved killing their two little children. Of course it made the front page--but only in the large city in which it happened. I did a lot of reading on the subject because I was at such an impressional age when it happened in my family. The case was unusual even then only because both biological parents were involved; usually it's just one or the other who kills the kids and all too often, the spouse as well. Yet even such an usual event remained a local story, because of the nature of the news media back then.

Of course this sort of thing became much more common with the advent of no-fault divorce. Divorce is the only time than a basically good parent can lose his (or sometimes her) children even though he's done something wrong. On top of that he may have to lose his home and continue to pay the hated ex-spouse who betrayed him. Of course some people are going to be driven insane with rage and grief. I know this sounds horrible, but things like this are one of the many social costs of divorce. The viciously adversarial nature of a custody battle practically guarantees that each parent will think the worst of each other, and that can lead to the irrational thought that "these kids would be better off dead than with my ex" or in this case, the ex's parents. Obviously my aunt and uncle didn't think a family member could take care of their kids. In fact, nobody even knew where they were until we got the middle of the night call from the police.

Want to prevent these tragedies? Two obvious things come to mind:

1) Eliminate unilateral no fault divorce, at least when it comes to the parents of minor children. Require actual grounds as every state did prior to 1969. Obviously abuse, adultery, mental illness, child abuse, pornography addiction, etc., would be among the grounds. I would also allow divorce by genuine mutual consent, providing the parents come up with an acceptable parenting plan.

2) Have a rebuttable presumption of equal shared custody. You wouldn't be able to get sole custody unless the other person agreed, unless you could prove he or she was unfit or otherwise couldn't care for the children.

As for the judge, people should realize that in many areas, judges are rotated in and out of family court, and it is a relatively low status field as far as a lot of judges are concerned. It's no surprise they sometimes don't know what they are doing. They mainly go by caseworkers' reports, which they barely have time to read. They also go a lot by impressions. An educated, middle class person who can afford a private lawyer just isn't going to to seem like a big risk compared to the more typical people who appear before that judge, who sometimes show up improperly dressed and stinking of alcohol. It's impressive that at least SUPERVISED visits were ordered. It's really nobody's fault but the father that things went so horribly wrong.

this guy is one out of thousands who have supervised visitation. Supervised visitation is how the judge sets it, and usually after hearing from gaudian ad-lietem, local DA, clients lawyer, soc services, amd so on. be it he has been found guilty of nothing other than being lynch-mobbed, there might not have been any type of concern other than the evaluation. he still had rights like the rest of us. some people abuse those rights most others do not and appretiate at least having that right.

i dont think this guy is anything other than a pos. never the less, he wasnt found guilty of anything, (not saying he was innocent of anything), and the judge used guidlines recommended by the DA. spend some time in a real and not a TV courtroom, and you might understand. seeing how some didnt learn all that in school/growing up.

at least we dont have to hear from the gun control group.

@OomYaaqub...

Except we all know he was involved in murdering his wife. Would you want your kids visiting with the person who was involved in killing their mother? I would bet that the attorney representing the grandparents did in fact present real concerns of the family regarding this man being allowed visitation with these children.

Sounds like your Aunt and Uncle's situation had nothing to do with divorce or custody battles...most likely theirs was a case of mental illness. That is different from a premeditated murder with a motive. This man maybe poisoned his wife...maybe that is part of why he didn't want her body found. And I do think these horrors against spouse and children are happening more frequently than fifty years ago.

rroberson,

Only a colossal sphincter would make this a left/right issue and blame the social worker. You know being a social worker doesn't make you a socialist... right?

Guaranteed that 'social worker' was acting on a court order. Social workers don't dictate policy and THEY DON'T WRITE LAWS. Social workers have NO POWER; they follow orders. If anyone is to blame for sending those kids into harm's way it is a Judge.

At the state level, Judges are elected officials. They don't need any qualifications other than a law degree and a good size contribution ($50,000.00 is the going rate in my home town) to the local chapter of either (preferably both) political party to get on the ballot.

Once the money changes hands it's a foregone conclusion. Some previously unknown so-and-so puts on a robe and soon begins deciding life and death issues.

Blaming the social worker is like blaming a private for the Iraq war.

I think KJR is a bit naive here to think that this is more common now than before, and is buying into the mass media mentality that things continue to get worse with no regard for population growth or round-the-clock news. In any event Oom... was in my opinion spot-on with the analysis provided. I would take it to the next level, with a more basic premise.

The legal system/media created this monster and are going to do whatever they can to avoid responsibility for the havoc it created. Without being too sympathetic to Mr. Powell, considering that there is still much speculation surrounding the Susan Powell disappearance, the media driven witch-hunt is at the very least a part of the end result.

For those out there that are convinced that they know EXACTLY what happened, they are either wrong or in the wrong line of work, considering that law enforcement agencies in multiple jurisdictions are still far from solving the case.

Im not saying that the media or legal issues directly caused this outcome, but I feel that they are as much to blame as any other source that contributed to the total weight that snapped the camel's back.

In short, in my opinion had the media not pursued this story as vigorously as they did, the kids may still be alive. Some people dont deal with negative publicity as well as others.

Josh Powell I hope you rot in hell. You killed your two precious little boys and had to take them with you. My only hope is those two beautiful little boys are safe and with their wonderful mother now, who cherished and loved them so much. Prayers and blessing out to the Cox Grandparents who did everything in their power to protect and care for these two sweet boys. Josh Powell was a monster for taking to innocent little boys with him. My only hope is that SICKO father of his, who is in jail tells what he knows about where Susan is or can be found. What a terrible sick tragedy this has turned out to be.

I am heartbroken for these boys, Susan and their Grandparents. Living in this area, I have watched this nightmare unfold and this is NOT the ending that any of us would have expected.

Until this incident, my assumption was that this man's father, a real wierdo, had been the one who really killed his daughter-in-law. Now, it appears that the son was plenty unbalanced, and completely capable of doing the murder - he finished the job with himself and his poor children. Just sickening. Make sure Gramps is still fully investigated, he is the origin of the poison in this tragic family.
Some of the recent family murder suicides have been with foreign parents. In fact, several of the last ones in the SoCal news have involved the whole family - it's like the parents don't want to leave any loose ends?? In Asia, apparently the mother will do a murder/suicide as she feels leaving motherless children is cruel to do. Wish they'd ask the kids first - I'm guessing the kids would prefer living...

The guy was a nut case, but that was obvious some time ago.

What bothers me is that the state of Washington wasn't even using trained social workers to supervise his kids' visits - the article says it was an employee of a company the state had contracted with.

The problem with these outsource companies is that they're frequently more concerned about maximum profits than maximum service. They hire cheap help, so there's often a lot of turnover and not a lot spent on training. Can't say for sure that's what happened here, but it wouldn't be the first time. Replacing licensed social workers with people paid like pizza-delivery boys isn't always a bargain.

Who knows what was going on inside this guy's head? The trouble is we never know. When you look at the pictures of this guy he doesn't jump of the page as a total crazy. He pretty obviously did a pretty good job of masking his problems and had his wife not disappeared under questionable circumstances, who knows what would have happened. I look at this guy and think that he could be a neighbor and I might easily not be the wiser.

There are a lot of crazies in this world and some are pretty obvious while others keep a very low profile. I believe that some of these people could very well be helped, but often crazies don't even know they are crazy. And who can judge when someone is harmless crazy or dangerous crazy? Additionally, we attach such a stigma to treatment that even someone who may suspect something is wrong and may want some help, may avoid it completely. I don't believe it is easy enough to get that help too. I guess I would rather see these people able to seek help anonymously and at no cost, with no stigma attached, than to have them walking around waiting to explode. Whether or not that could have helped this guy we don't know, but maybe, just maybe, a couple of innocent young lives could have been saved. I'm not so sure that forced intervention is really that effective unless someone is obviously and overtly dangerous, and even then it is not an easy thing for courts to do and may sometimes infringe on people's rights.

It is a very tragic story, but sadly things like this will happen from time to time. One thing we need to do is take a whole different approach to mental illness. This guy was probably suffering for a long time in order to progress to the point of killing his own kids. I suppose he suffers no longer, at least in this world. Maybe he got the relief he was seeking. It's just tragic that his kids will never see another day. I just hope that something is learned from this and it is something that makes treatment of mentally ill people more effective.

I find it interesting (and disturbing) that the supervision and support that the state of Washington is supposed to provide its most vulnerable citizens was outsourced.

As a foster parent in a nearby state I can tell you from experience that I'm unaware of any case where a noncustodial parent who was limited to supervised visitation was allowed to have it at their residence. I've only ever seen it at state-controlled or state-approved offices or therapeutic environments. Washington really screwed the pooch here.

Hmmm... This guy probably was mentally ill. Being required by the court to have a psychosexual evaluation probably was the item that made him crack. Such an evaluation would have brought out all sorts of things that would have fueled the grandparents to seek full custody without any visitation.

Josh Powell was a coward and a murderer. (Not only did he kill his sons, but more likely than not, he killed his wife too.) This might have been part of the mindset, “If I can’t have them, no one else will have them.” This is a similar thought pattern to men who kill their ex-wife or girlfriend.

I believe the Social Worker made a very big mistake by not calling 911 was soon as she smelled the gas. Instead, she called her supervisor. Precious time was lost where there might have been an intervention by the sheriff’s department. (Five minutes is a very long time when there are active gas fumes.) The sheriff’s office might have had someone at the scene before she was off the phone with the supervisor.

So what's the difference between what Mr. Powell did and honor killings in the Middle East? One way or another they're both crazy and it's ironic how people are critical of each other when in the end it's family members killing other family members for whatever crazy reason.

Except we all know he was involved in murdering his wife. Would you want your kids visiting with the person who was involved in killing their mother?

The problem is that we DON'T know. If the evidence was really all that overwhelming he would have been in jail already and they would have denied bond. Even though the case was highly suspicious. there still wasn't enough evidence to risk arresting him and then seeing him walk. I'm sorry, there have just been too many cases in which the public was SURE somebody was guilty but they later proved that somebody else did it. The police and the district attorney are professionals; I have to assume that in most cases they know what they are doing.

Sounds like your Aunt and Uncle's situation had nothing to do with divorce or custody battles...most likely theirs was a case of mental illness. That is different from a premeditated murder with a motive.

Agreed, although they also premeditated the whole thing. In fact they killed the children with presciption medication which they must have been saving up for months. Even back in the 60s, when doctors were more lax about giving out pills, you could only get so many at one time, unless you were clever enough to go to several different doctors. The point is that you can be mentally ill or even legally insane and still commit a premeditated crime. Insane people have motives too. They just happen to be crazy ones.

This man maybe poisoned his wife...maybe that is part of why he didn't want her body found. And I do think these horrors against spouse and children are happening more frequently than fifty years ago.

I agree, it probably is, but I think a lot of the increase IS due to the breakup of the family. You always seem to hear of these cases in the wake of a messy divorce. No doubt divorce is more easily survivable in the psychological sense if you have a strong and supportive extended family. Obviously this guy did not.

It is a shame Susan Cox Powell did not realize what a nutball family the Powells were and are before she became legally and emotionally tied up with them. Too many people do not look below the surface when they meet, date, or marry someone, and this case is the unfortunate scenario of what can happen. Whenever something about a person or family does not add up, it is the wisest thing to head for the exits immediately.

Having found out that she was locked out , the social worker probably called the supervisor first to report being locked out and the smell of gas, when the house blew up. At least he did murder the social worker as well. She was exceedingly lucky under the circumstances, although she probably will never forget this horror for the rest of her life.

The man must have been waiting at the door where the children could see him, then once they were inside the home he then locked the door, and set his awful plan of murder suicide in motion, like turning on the gas, after perhaps having already splashed around the accelerant, set a match to it blowing up the place with him and his children inside.

Each state have their own rules and regs regarding these visitation issues. But what is odd is the fact that the judge allowed the children to visit in the home, considering that this man may be also a person of interest in the investigation of the disappearance and possible murder of his wife and the other sex issues.

If the man had not already undergone the psychosexual eval as ordered, why allow visits in the home, even supervised ones?

Look at that judge in the Sandusky case who seem to know (of) Sandusky, did not recuse herself and probably knew he lived next door to a school, and was accused of sexual abuse of children, yet set a low bond?

Anyhoo, perhaps if the father was the one missing believed possibly murdered, and that the mother was the person of interest in the case and had not undergone court ordered eval, perhaps she would not have had even supervised visitation with her children... if some judges have their way. Some would even blame the mother for her own disappearance or death.. as it has been noted where some judges have blamed female rape victims as young as 10 years old for their own rape, while one judge even vacated the jury's guilty verdict rather instead siding with the defense of blaming the victim for her rape.

Perhaps that is how this father still got visitation with his children even although he had not yet undergone the court ordered psychosexual eval.

Who knows the police may even find the missing woman's body buried under the floorboards.....

I live in Graham WA a very short distance from this house, all the speculation needs to stop, because none of you know anything.

Susan Powell disappeared, that is all, nobody has ever accused Josh of killing her, but there has been a lot of rambling speculation, nothing more nothing less, speculation.

His father was in jail pending charges that from what I understand are weak. the authorities and grandparents have been all over him and these boys for some time now and haven't come up with anything new to explain Susan's disappearance just more speculations.

Mourn for the children they are the innocent here, and until proven otherwise so was the father.

God please grant them peace, for they had little here.

Sheila Beers...(#1.54)....I understand your sentiments......Nobody reveals when they are dating, " Oh, by the way, my dad's addicted to child pornography and if you ever try to divorce me, I will kill you"....From all that has been written on this case, over time Susan Powell had come to realize what a terrible situation she was in and was in the process of removing herself and the kids from there. Had she gotten her divorce and custody of the children....the time-line would have been different but more than likely the outcome would eventually been the same.

This is by far one of the worst things I have ever had to read about. I cannot for the life of me ever ever ever fathom hurting my sons for any reason in this world. I have no words for Susan's family and I hope that the find some sort of peace in all of this.

My heart goes out to the social worker. At least she didn't treat this as just another file in her case load. By all reports she was doing her job the way she was supposed to. We may not understand the Court's ruling about allowing visitation but I would imagine it would be to keep some sort of 'normalcy' in these young boys lives. they had already lost their mother - keeping them from their father certainly would have hurt them even worse. (WE - now know what he was like - but to them he was 'daddy' - so don't harp on me for that one). I would imagine right now she is very traumatized and needs our prayers as much as Susan's family does.

God bless those little boys - Their father may have taken them from this earth but I am sure they didn't end up in the same place.

For those that believe in heaven and hell, maybe he showed his true compassion. He reunited the boys with their mother and now you can choose to believe that your god did the same to him that he did to the social worker - slammed the door (to heaven) in his face. He may not have been as much of a narcissist as you think.

Why is it these cowardly POS' can't just kill themselves and NOT take innocents with them?

The news recently reported the children's refreshed memories of dad driving around "with mom in the trunk." Guess he wanted to take them all to 'Paradise.' What an ignorant, murderous loser, who was enabled by a system that's given him too much rope!

Egilman... I live 3000 miles from Graham WA, a very large distance from the the house. Proximity to the house, or the Moon, has no impact on the evidence presented so far.

I'm done speculating, as are the police. Josh Powell killed his wife and his two children. When the children start telling the story of what happened the night of Susan's disappearance, it's no longer "rambling speculation".

With the kids talking, Josh Powell knew the walls were closing in around him. He wasn't about to let his hated in-laws care for the kids. He killed his kids to spite in his in-laws.

Go ahead and continue to ask that we all give Josh the benefit of the doubt. I'm passing on your request. You're on the wrong side of history on this one. When I'm in a cow pasture and I step in cow crap, I don't sit and wonder if it might be chocolate just because it's brown.

His "ex-wife" didn't have custody of the kids - she's been missing for 2 years and presumed dead but they haven't found the body. It's HER parents who had custody of the children.

Rocks...When children are placed into the custody of a missiing mothers family, they may me misquoted or coached, just as they may have been coached by the other side while there.

Bottom line there is was no proof that Josh Powell killed his wife or that she is even dead. The media seems to have tried this one , especially the media based in Salt Lake City near where they used to live. Is Josh responsible for the actions of his father or did he even know about his fathers issues before the arrest? We do know the boys were happy enough to see daddy to run up to the house. And we know the three of them are dead. A guilty man or a man hounded to distraction by a relentles media continuing to put him on trial for an unproven crime. Results are the same 3 dead one missing.

Don.t be so quick to step in cow crap

"They were beginning to verbalize more," Downing said. "The oldest boy talked about that they went camping and that Mommy was in the trunk. Mom and Dad got out of the car and Mom disappeared."

i thought he took a minivan? not also saying these kids liars, but very impressionable. our dad had us kids convinced our grandmother was going to come riding by on her broom on hallow's eve. (my gram's was a sweet old lady). all you have to do is plant the right thing, the right way into a kids mind, and to them they will struggle with if it actually happend the way they said it did. these kids, not knowing and wanting their mother at such an early age are looking for answers. they could have been fed this type of belief, simply by putting it into the form of a bedtime story. as anyone knows, it isnt just the story that captivates, but how it is read, and so on, to put you in the setting, and the story. true or not, after 1 week with either side these kids could be talking trolls under a bridge breeding with aliens that needed a mommy too.

poltergeist... I hear you and in a general sense, think you are correct. I LOVED "don't be so quick to step in cow crap".

That said, Josh Powell's brother-in-law (Josh's own sister's husband) is out there saying he did it. That's WAY powerful. At this point, I'm done giving him the benefit of the doubt. Prior to this incident, I was comfortable giving him that benefit. After this incident, and after his own family is coming out against him, I feel very comfortable with my position - guilty of the murder of three innocent people.

He was deranged and the 'court system' in our country needs to be re-vamped!

There should be no way a murder suspect (only lead in his wife's murder) would have the right to have a 'court ordered visit' with his small children ANYWHERE!

What is WRONG with our legal system? WHEN will it change to protect innocent children/people?

That visit should have NEVER happened anywhere in our country!

Judges? Attorneys? GET THE MESSAGE! PROTECT THE INNOCENT AND NOT THE GUILTY!

Just to much for words. I can't stop crying.

they will find out for sure if the adult remains belong to him.....unlikely he escaped through the backdoor. No one will ever know how he killed his wife and where her remains are......at that point, after the death of the children....her family is not likely to pursue anything but grieve. Poor people.

Here in Ohio, they tried and convicted a man of murder, even though the woman's body was never found. ALL states need similar laws, so that even when the bodies can't be found, charges can be filed against suspects. It is ridiculous that this man was able to get away with with murdering his wife and then his children. I am GUESSING the missing woman may have suspected her father-in-law of being a pedophile,(and possibly her own husband) which led to her death.

I also think it was stupid on the part of the court to allow him visitation at his home; they NEED to make a playroom at a courthouse or other government building, where children and their parents can have visitation, SAFELY.

It is pretty hard to convict someone of a murder on suspicion alone , especially if you don't have a crime scene. A person should not be found guilty on suspicion alone. There would be a lot of innocent people in prison. You are right about meeting in a neutral place, supervised. A tragic thing, and I doubt that it was the social workers fault.

Retired, I completely understand what you're saying, I really do. But he rented a car the day after her disappearance while his was being searched. He logged 100's of miles on it....and they didn't even follow him! I'm looking AT THEM. THE police that didn't do their jobs correctly, allowed him to remain free and kill these children. I'm disgusted.

As far as I know it's still innocent until proven guilty.Unless the people on here are the judges. Although I don't think so myself she could have run off with someone she met on the net and another innocent man would have been convicted.There is no body, no crime scene no nothing how can you convict him on anything . People who think he needed to be tried need to move to some foreign country where there are no rights and then see what they cry about . We don't need mob rulehere folks. Wake up people! Aren't we losing enough rights?

There is no evidence he had anything to do with his wife'sdisappearance. I would bet more on the father in law then the father of the kids. Or she ran off with another man. Look at the man in Texas got convicted with circumstantial evidence on the disappearance of his wife and got 20- life then the wife turned up in California 10 years later with a new family and new name. There is always more to every storey then your told

Patrick, you are a moron and a complete creep. That you could think he was in any way justified in MURDERING his children makes me extremely glad that I do not know you in real life.

Thanks at least one person got it right. In this world today we sem to be herded by the people working these cases and it is possible that this may have led to what he did. You see his lawyer said he never admitted to even him that he did anything to his wife. That was written in the story above but few read it all in their haste to become judge jury and a bit of nancy Grace in these issues.

Wow, there are some ignorant people in this world. I never thought someone would suggest that these children deserved to die in the most horrific way possible because of their grandfather. Hopefully, they didn't suffer and I wish Patrick had been there with Powell so he could no longer make these stupid comments.

STATE OF WASHINGTON JUST MURDERED TWO INNOCENT LITTLE BOYS =

DUMBA$$ State Laws regarding Parent Visitation of their children when parents were suspected in other parent's death and then that same suspect parent ended up losing custody of these kids.

Visitation should been supervised in a conference room at the County Jail ONLY. That is how it is done in the State where I live in cases like this.

How could Child Services or whatever they are called in Wa State be so damn stupid.

And the DUMBA$$ Social Worker = calls her supervisor first instead of calling 911. Unbelievable.

Missing Mother's Parents need to be suing that local Child agency personnel and the State Agency, the Judge who allowed home visitation at all, supervised or not, along with the murdering sperm donor's estate (he sure was no father) and his attorney's because you know they also knew he was guilty of killing his wife.

I hope all of these people suffer the rest of their lives, knowing that their actions got both of these young boys murdered.

This murdering sperm donor's parents have known from the start that he killed his wife and where she is buried or was disposed of. They need to be arrested as murder conspirators and Mother's parents need to sue them and their estates. Money will not bring back their daughter but it sure as heck will hurt the scum bags parents.

WESTBORO BAPTIST CHURCH = I HOPE WESTBORO BAPTIST CHURCH MEMBERS IMMEDIATELY GO TO THIS TOWN AND PROTEST ALL OFFICES AND THE FUNERALS OF THE SPERM DONOR AND HOMES OF ALL PERSONS INVOLVED. These are people they need to be protesting.

@breadex, even if the coward would have told his attorney that he killed his wife, his attorney would never come out and say it. So just because he denied killing her, like every murderer does, doesn't mean that he really didn't do it. Check your logic.

@the way it is--I hope you are not of the mindset of the people from the Westboro Church, I would say that makes you maybe slightly unstable and in need of therapy. There is alot of hate in your post, maybe you should reevaluate. I understand your anger but in our state supervised visits happen in a number of places, depending on the situation.

But he rented a car the day after her disappearance while his was being searched

So for the week or two while the vehicle was impounded, what did you expect him to do?

State Laws regarding Parent Visitation of their children when parents were suspected in other parent's death and then that same suspect parent ended up losing custody of these kids.

So for three years you expect the kids to only visit inside of a prison? So far the father was not charged with anything. You don't see any problems with violating his Constitutional rights? Or do you suggest convictions based on what some "think"? What did you expect the courts to do with someone who has not be charged with anything?

@Patrick I tend to find a strand of plausibility in your logic. Considering she hasnt been found, it is possible that she left with another lover to start a new life. Its even conceiveable that she is the one that murdered Mr Powell and the 2 kids to enable her getaway, which leads me to also agree with alumette. I suspect that her family may give up on trying to find her now and proceed with the grieving process. In any case, my thoughts and prayers are with both families that have lost loved ones.

I didn't see Patrick as attempting to justify murder, but only saying that we can't go around locking people up just on the suspicion that they might have done something or might be potentially dangerous. It is pretty easy to Monday morning quarterback in cases like this because we already know the outcome.

If we locked up everybody that might do something wrong, there wouldn't be anyone left to guard the cells! It's nice to think that people like this guy send some kind of detectable signal that we can say is conclusive evidence, but it just doesn't work like that. What makes our country different, at least in theory, is the presumption of innocence until proven guilty with evidence. Your gut feel isn't evidence. The drawback to our system is that sometimes someone's gut feel turns out to be right. But I suspect that it turns out wrong just as many or more times. My guess is that there are dozens of different theories to what actually happened leading up to this tragic act, floating around in the minds of readers. But unless he left behind some detailed explanation, we will likely never really know.

I would guess that there are a least a couple dozen or more people close to this that are racking their brains right now wishing that they would have seen this coming and done something differently to prevent it. I feel sorry for those people who will likely carry this with them for the rest of their lives. We can second guess them and say they should have seen something if they were doing their jobs right, but we don't really know that. A few weeks or months will pass and most of us will forget this unless reminded of it. But it won't work that way for those who were close to this.

1NewDay- I agree, most of the people are making emotional judgements because they already know the outcome. It's horrible what happened, but had the court denied him visitation and his wife turned up in the bahamas with another man, the story could have been spun to how horrible it is that the children and father had been seperated by the court system. You just can't win sometimes, we live in a world were you have to have trust. You trust that the car next to you won't run you off the bridge, you trust that the guy giving you your hamburger won't spit in it, we trusted that this guy wouldn't kill his children because he hadn't been convicted of murdering his wife. In the end the only thing you can say is, it sucks. But lets not take away every other fathers rights because of this piece of..

Visitation should been supervised in a conference room at the County Jail ONLY.

What kind of visitation would THAT be? Think of the children, under normal circumstances I mean. They want to PLAY with their father and that involves toys and games, not a damn conference room. I have observed such visitations, and they are very sad for the kids involved. I've seen the kids just cry and cry because they knew they wouldn't be seeing their parent(s) again for two weeks. It would be much better to have a gymnasium style play room full of toys and things to do, even if the caseworker is observing.

The sad thing is that we Americans are such reactive people that they may end up punishing all families in a supervised visitation setting just because of this one case, which was really a tragic fluke.

seems like the police should have had enough to deny him visits with his children, supervised or not. The bastard killed his wife and now murders his children. There are no words to describe this situation.

If he'd been behind bars where he should have been, these kids wouldn't be dead now. "Innocent till proven guilty" wasn't intended to protect the guilty and yet it seems to be the trend now to let murderers go if no one sees them commit the crime, no matter how much evidence there is.

I'll try to thihnk like this if you ever have a loved one die and someone suspects you. His father could have done it, or the son could have. They both sound really screwed up. Still, I have never seen this kind of social services thing in Utah. I hope I never do. I have been a fost-adopt mom and was even let to supervise a visit between my foster boy and his dad. Never did I see anyone take their eyes off of a visitor for a moment. I didn't. Washington social workers should go through an exhaustive retraining process.

Here in Ohio, they tried and convicted a man of murder, even though the woman's body was never found. ALL states need similar laws,

I'm pretty sure they already do. Sometimes the reason they put off charging people who might seem to be obvious suspects is that they want to be sure they have enough evidence. There is no statute of limitations for murder. On the other hand, once you arrest someone, the Constitutional rules guaranteeing a speedy trial as well as double jeopardy apply. That is why they will wait until they are sure they have their ducks in a row even though it may frustrate the public.

Social workers don't make the decision about parents' custody or visitation. That's up to the courts.

yeah and we know how efficient and well informed the courts are....NOT !

Deborah,

Unfortunately people like rrobeson don't have a clue. In his eyes the social worker made the decision to allow a visit. The social worker wasn't the one but folks like r just can't deal with that. To them they must spew their hatred justified or not. For people like r the internet is a wonderful place. They can vent their stupity in ways they'd never do to their spouse, their family, or their friends.

HI2- they should of kept him in jail til they found out.

Sorry but our justice system doesn't work like that, thank God. If it did we'd be like way too many third world countries that stick their people in prison without legal recourse. If you really want a justice system like that I can recommend some places for you to move to.

Back in the mid 80s I lived in Winston-Salem, N.C. and there was a case alot like this. This guy's wife was sleeping with her cousin. They kiled several of their family members and when they were about to be assested they blew up the vehicle they were riding in killing the 2 kids. It is sadwhat people are willing to do.

Deborah Cox:

Try and get CPS out to come to evaluate an abusive household, with abused children.

They won't come out--we know of several families who have tried and think this is a useless Organization. Child Protective Services--shameful---

They have certain guidelines, maybe such as the Powell one, where the mother is presumed killed by her husband/and or the Father-in-Law, who is a pervert.

So sick of all the child killings. So sick. Baby Lisa's mother whatever, goes on the Dr. Phil Donahue show to tell the world she is innocent from killing her baby Lisa. Why would she goe on public Television?. Dr. Phil cannot arrest her. He sympathizes with his guests. Could she not have told the truth to the Investigators--Silme balls galore in this country.

Castrate these guys who have been reported. Sterilize the Mothers who before they kill their kids. Casey Anthony---("I'm having a good time now"). Iran would do it.

Yuck.

You're right, imwhitewolf. We have an amazing system and even when it's imperfect, it's a far better system that what most of the world knows. There will always be those like Powell who are so filled with rage and are dangerous because they know how to thwart the system.

There are many ways Powell could have gotten his hands on his children even if the court had denied him any visitation whatsoever. He wasn't despondent nor did he think he'd been wrongly accused. He didn't kill his children in the grief-stricken belief that he and his children would be reunited again with his children's mother. His anger towards his in-laws, his children's mother, the investigators, social workers, media, and the "system" were more important than being a dad. His way of thumbing his nose at his in-laws was to take away what they loved best...their grandchildren. His "I'll show you" attitude was more powerful than his love for his kids. Powell had to win...at all costs...and the price he paid was everyone's worse nightmare.

BTW, the true story you mentioned was turned into an LMN movie and eerily, it was re-broadcast just last week.

KJR...he didnt take anyone camping. he went to bury his wife.

Unless you almost kill your children, CPS won't do much, they figure the children are better with their parents because putting them in foster care is also risky. There are so many cases of children who are abused by their foster parents. I have a degree in social work but after I did my internship, I graduated but I couldn't be part of a broken system that does nothing for the people that are supposed to help.

There are cases of foster parent abuse, but lately it seems more parents are actually getting worse then foster parents. Fortunately, my grandchild is with absolutely wonderful foster parents and I hope they get to adopt. Sad to say, my daughter is not a fit parent and I sincerely hope the courts see it as I do.

As for the two innocent little boys in this story. I hope they rest in peace and the father burns in hell.

hawaii

i dont know what state you live in, but the cps in california is the gestapo. they will investigate you at the drop of a hat. if you piss off your neighbor, he can drop a dime on you and they wont even let you know who complained. yet if someone sees a mob killing, they print their name and address in the paper for a hit man to take them out before they can testify. go figure. you are guilty even if proven innocent. then they send out some 20 year old black social worker who probably never met either of her parents to tell you how to raise your children. one b*tch insisted that i had to make all the exterior doors to my house child proof to a six year old kid. a six year old would have to be autistic or a retard to not be able to unlock a door from the inside, unless you want to chain the door and have a padlock with no key. thats okay if you dont mind the six year old and her 16 year old sister dying in a fire while you try to rush home with the key. this case is sad, but im sure more kids are killed under cps and foster care than with parents. i had a couple of 20 year olds work for me who were in the foster system and they are definately damaged goods. imagine, youre two years old and they take you away from your mom and put you with a stranger. after a couple months, you start identifying with your captor- just like any kidnap victim. then, they move you again, and again. after a while, to survive the kid makes the decision- im not going to let myself trust anybody. then you wonder why they kill pets and become hookers. its obvious the mother was murdered. the missing wife cases cited by the fools on here arent even comparable to the midnite camping dad, the father in law who said he was doing the mom (with no argument from the son) , or the voyeur cam video found with the father in law. but, as somone said, there are a lot of things the dad could do if the kids still trusted him as they obviously did to run ahead to see him. what if he had brought a weapon to a neutral visitation site and just killed everyone including the person supervising the visit.

To Ruth:

Great Comments re: CPS---the truth.

To Anti-Reagan:

Please read comments by Ruth #5.8

Just saw Frontlline on PBS. This tells the rest of the story. Investigative Jouralism at its best. Most States have no defining standards for the qualifications of local Coroners...theyare elected officials often without any criminal scientific background to work effectively with Medical Examiners, usually County Employees who are supposed to be certified and experienced pathologists. CSI TV Programs idealize what many cities and counties don't have in the means or access of decent forensic equipment let alone forensic psychologists to determine and subpoena mental/emotional stability or pathology in these crimes. Some do't even have a cold storage unit to store deceased that is not built from the 1960's and without insulation sealing gaskets.

Drew Peterson who appears to maintain some pathological behavior in front of media should be ordered to undergo full psychiatric testing. This will reveal any deviations and the tests cannot be manipulated.

Powell did not have to murder his children. Unfortunately Narcissists cannot think or feel outside of their own needs and care not about the consequences of their behavior.

Social workers are some of the stupidest people in this country.

Fortunately, my grandchild is with absolutely wonderful foster parents and I hope they get to adopt

Why isn't your grandchild with YOU? And how could you want your grandchild adopted when it means that you will never see him or her again? Your story makes no sense, and I'm not sure I believe it. I NEVER saw a case in which a close blood relative was rooting for the child to go to strangers.

Bet he isn't laughing now.

I am sure when he meets Satan in hell, all his laughing will stop forever.

God bless Susan's family. Susan and her sons are now together and safe in heaven for all eternity.

Based on what? You suggest keeping kids away from any parent that some "think" is unfit"? that kid who was fat and couldn't or wouldn't lose weight. Grab him and pull him from the parents. Hell, a lot of parents are probably losers. Take those kids. then what do you suggest doing with them? Dumping them in a foster home?

So easy to second guess the day after. For three years this guy saw his kids without any incidents. why would they think today was the day he was going to end it?

I forgot to add that I hope someone files criminal charges against the CPS worker for even allowing the children to enter the house if she smelled gas.

EDMF - are you kidding? You must be!

Beyond words of how sad this is. I cannot even begin to imagine the pain the grandparents are feeling. What a horrible man. I hope he enjoys his time in hell. Although the boys deserve a happy life on earth, at least my faith tells me they are back in the arms of their mom. Just so sad.

It sounds like the father quickly took the kids in and then wouldn't let the social worker in (probably part of the deal for visitation that she was present). It's possible the gas smell hadn't escaped out the door yet -- until he already had the kids inside. Don't think any of this is HER fault. The FATHER had this planned and before she could do anything, he lit the match (or whatever). Not much she could have done.

NO! I'm not kidding. I live in Western Washington. I've seen this story in the news for the last three years. I also know how incredibly inept Washington's CPS is. Its time someone is actually held accountable for this awful failure that took the lives of two innocent boys. Life in a 6x8 cell in Purdy would probably be the best outcome... I seriously doubt that it will happen... but one can hope.

It's not her fault that this happened, and to place the blame on the poor woman and ruin her life for the decision of a sick man is utterly ridiculous. Unless you have some theory that she was in on this as well? The rules of CPS need to be rewritten if they are that bad, but the CPS worker is not in charge of the rules.

but you know what, sometimes it takes a determined and concerned person to overturn an unjust decision, and I am not saying this woman was, but there are many "social workers" there who seem to have lost any interest whatsoever in the well-being of the kids and families they oversee. Unfortunately it is the reality we're dealing with hence all the comments about "social worker" in this case. I don't think it is fare to blame her until there are all the facts known in this case (why did the kids each the house before she did? was it up to local caseworkers to decided where, when and under which circumstance the visit occur? was there a leeway for them to deny the access based on some criteria legal system has given? - it is never black and white with the law, as we all know) But I can see why some people are frustrated with the CPS: try to get them to do their job efficiently and protect the children, not follow some meaningless "guidelines" and you will know why... personally, I'd rather risk having repercussions with my job then having to live with the death of two innocent kids when you could have done something... that said, this woman might have done everything she could - we simply don't know

but you know what, sometimes it takes a determined and concerned person to overturn an unjust decision, and I am not saying this woman was, but there are many "social workers" there who seem to have lost any interest whatsoever in the well-being of the kids and families they oversee. Unfortunately it is the reality we're dealing with hence all the comments about "social worker" in this case. I don't think it is fare to blame her until there are all the facts known in this case (why did the kids each the house before she did? was it up to local caseworkers to decided where, when and under which circumstance the visit occur? was there a leeway for them to deny the access based on some criteria legal system has given? - it is never black and white with the law, as we all know) But I can see why some people are frustrated with the CPS: try to get them to do their job efficiently and protect the children, not follow some meaningless "guidelines" and you will know why... personally, I'd rather risk having repercussions with my job then having to live with the death of two innocent kids when you could have done something... that said, this woman might have done everything she could - we simply don't know

amir::: Have YOU ever told YOUR BOSS that the decision isn't right? Tell your boss that he is wrong, that you are right, and you could very well be loading your car with your personal stuff and looking for another job.

The caseworkers work for someone-- some governmental agency-- and they take their orders from the powers that be.

why did the kids each the house before she did?

I'm a mom, and I'll tell you why--they were boys, ages 5 and 7, who just got out of the car, and the last one in the house would be a "horny toad." They were probably jumping on the couch or running upstairs to their old bedrooms when the house went. Kids are kids--loud, noisy, active-- not characters in prim literature.

I hate to say this but I have seen people pumping gas at gas stations and there is an explosion. If she smelt gas then used her cell phone, that could have created the spark to destroy the house. Using her cell phone could have done that. At the pump of gas stations they say DO NOT USE YOUR CELL WHEN PUMPING GAS. There is a reason for that.

I condone any reason for taking an innocent life. But it happens all too often. Too many children die for no reason. Kallie Anthony, Susan Smiths children and on and on and on. That seems like life.

I don't get the whole setup.

Given all the circumstances -- the man is suspected of the murder of his wife, has lost custody of his children, is ordered to have psycho-sexual evaluation -- why would the system send the children to his house for visitation and why would they put a woman's life at risk by sending her inside this man's house alone to "supervise?"

I would be afraid to go inside that man's house. This whole thing sounds insane -- an obvious tragedy waiting to happen. The social worker is fortunate he didn't murder her, too.

Where is the common sense in the judicial system? These judges apparently have too much power. The system needs to be changed so there are rules for various circumstances rather than morons making personal decisions that put other people's lives in danger.

At the very least, the judge is incompetent and should be removed from the bench immediately.

NOT the CPS worker's fault. The JUDGE ordered supervised visitation - at the psycho perv father's home! Should have been not visitation or at the least it should have been in a secure area away from his home. He took the kids, kept her out of the house and she did what she was supposed to do and that's call for assistance. CPS workers are not supposed to fight the parent for the kids.

susie - actually I did, and yes, you are right - I am likely to be fired, but guess what - in my case(s) they actually listened, even if they hated it. this is exactly what I said: I would rather face repercussions then live with this - honestly, wouldn't you? would you rather not risk your job if you knew the kids were in this much danger? I am not sure that she did know, but your job should never cost more to you than someone else's life! and yes, I DO mean it, even if there are some cynics who would laugh at this

Please remember one thing. The children 'ran up' to their father's door. The father 'barred' the door so the social worker couldn't get in. It was at the barred door that the social worker smelled the gas and called authorities. While there's probably much blame to go around, I don't see where the social worker deserves any. She'll probably spend the rest of her life torturing herself as it is.

Judges don't do anything without a recommendation of the social workers. What do you think, the judge does these evaluations themselves? You have got to be kidding.

If I had been Susan Powell's parents I would have taken one for the team and shot this pig after my daughter disappeared. There is no way in hell I would have let him live. Spending the rest of my life in prison would be a small sacrifice but at least my grandkids would be okay.

If the courts are going to sit around with their thumbs up their butts, people need to go vigilante.

Why wasn't there a police escort along with the social worker for the visitation?

Seems like this guy was certainly a big threat and not to be trusted with children!!!

Maybe the legal system should learn from this senseless tragedy and never allow a suspected murderer to have supervised visitation without a 'plain clothed' police officer present. Who else would protect those children? Certainly not an unarmed social worker!

4sedona2, you do not change an entire system that usually works well just because of one tragedy. By that logic we could have to ban driving cars as thousands of people die in car crashes every year. This was one freak incident. Why can't people understand this?

where ever he goes is not anywhere in their location. They are now permanently freed of him....and with their mom for sure.

The sweet children are now in the loving arms of their mother. Josh should now be rotting in hell with the likes of Sadam and Osama!

at this point, it is obvious he killed his wife as the stress of being under a microscope got to him. It makes little sense to turn over every stone to establish the reality that he is a murderer. They will not likely find the remains of his wife unless they turn up in a fluke.....not impossible. Another police failure....they should have put real pressure on him. They did not.

I agree, Buffale51...I don't know how someone can say they love someone yet do such a terrible thing to them.

Damn...if someone doesn't want you anymore, then be an adult and just go. Make it easy on everyone and do the right thing. Then your kids can grow knowing their parents still love them and have a chance at their own happiness.

I just hope the kids didn't have a chance to be scared before it happened.

Don't forget the creepazoid probably had help from his sicko perv. Dad.

It may not make sense to "turn over every stone" to prove that Josh did kill Susan, but her parents deserve to have her body so they can give her a loving burial or cremation. I feel so sorry for them...

I hate the "if I can't have them no one can" attitude when kids are murdered

Isn't that exactly what every woman does when she chooses abortion as opposed to having the baby and then giving him up for adoption? Just saying.

He didn't get away with it. He is burning in Hell forever and ever and ever.

The babies are with their momma in heaven where they will never feel pain again. The blessing is they didn't feel any pain. It was over in seconds.

May the family left behind find peace someday.

When the coward pervert had the kids, he most likely abused them as well.

His wife must have caught him messing with the boys,so he took her for a ride never to be seen again because if he was, you know she was going to tell it. He couldn't have that happen... now they are getting older and perhaps might just tell what was going on. Something is very rotten here,

This child porn stuff, perverts and molesters of children has to be stopped NOW.. When the Wife disappeared, that is the moment they should have taken the boys and found a decent home for them.. Grandpa, was a porno freak... so that left out the grandparents... I can't believe this. Those boys were so nice looking and full of life and this pecker head never grew up...He is exactly where he should be....in the bowels of Hell.

Who really knows in most cases who the "better parent" is? That's why shared custody is usually the best way to go.

They were granted custody but he was allowed supervised visits. When she dropped the boys off he refused to let her in the house.

evidently he had supervised visiting rights. He got the kids in the house first, then pushed aside the social worker and blew up the house. He had it all figured out. He should have been in jail with no bond while waiting for a trial that would have been 100% circumstantial. Do-able. The justice system failed these boys.

You are missing the fact that he had supervised visitation rights , considering that he was just a suspect in his wifes disappearance that seems reasonable. If your wife /husband goes missing you are by default a suspect does that mean you should lose all contact with your kids? Maybe we should lock up everybody when their significant other goes missing just in case ,prevent them from any contact with their kids ,take their job ,their house etc .

Try reading the article. The social worker wasn't DROPPING THEM OFF at their father's home. She was taking them there with the intent to supervise their visit. It is not her fault the schmuck slammed the door and locked it before she could enter.

Courts often award these visitations NOT as a reward to a parent who is suspected of a crime, but for the children to maintain a relationship with a parent who has not yet been proven guilty of a crime. Can you imagine the trauma to your children to be withheld from visiting with you while waiting to go to court to prove you are innocent?

It is not her fault the schmuck slammed the door and locked it before she could enter.

If he hadn't, she would have died along with the father and children. Assuming the explosion was intentional, I guess it's the one good deed he performed on the last day of his life. ONE innocent life was spared.

Isn't that the truth?! Who knows what sick things were going on between that man, his father, the boys and his wife. I have a feeling it was pretty bad for all of this to happen. I have my own ideas on what it may have been but I'm afraid to think it aloud.

He didn't have partial custody; read the article again. He was awarded SUPERVISED VISITATION -- but he slammed the door and locked it before the social worker could enter to do said supervision.

Well, we probably don't get to vote on who reincarnates as what, but I'd prefer to have him reborn as someone who is so sensitive to the suffering of others that he devotes his entire life to alleviating their pain, meanwhile feeling their pain constantly.

I will never understand. I thought the children would be safe since he no longer had custody. Will we ever know what happened to Susan or where she is? Horrible outcome :(

I don't think it's narcissism... I think it's hate and spite. He hated his in-laws and they had custody of his kids.

Lots of people think Josh Powell's motivation was "If I can't have them, no one can."

I think it's more a case of "I'll show you. I'll make make you miserable for the rest of your life."

Dman... bet thankful you don't understand. Not understanding this depraved level of hate and spite is a good thing.

Really? Maybe a conviction based on "I KNOW he did it". Last time i looked , you need proof to convict someone.

Because allowing the only "person of interest" in a missing mommy murder case to have access to the kids is brilliant.

Conviction or not, common sense would've kept those kids alive. Proving once again that common sense is horribly misnamed.

he did not commit a crime why take his kids well they had to have a reason for removing the children.but what is it---was he a threat to the children they must have thought so if you believe a person is a threat you need better safe guards than a woman who smells gas and calls her superviser---911 first the call break down door window if you take responsibilty its not just for a pay check.this is a case that shows the system is in shambles the judge should be investigated along with children services and the prosecutor

Hopefully he really is dead. They need to find and identify an adult body. He and his Dad may have hatched a plot.

Did you see the photo? Nobody could have survived that explosion.

Well, the social worker should have been allowed in to supervise. It's too bad the supervised visits were allowed in his home. It would make more sense to require a murder suspect to visit with the children in a court facility in which screening devices are used to make sure weapons/explosive devices aren't brought in.

The Grandfather probably knows exactly where the Mom's body is. He is as sickening as his son.

Yep that grandpa probably groomed his son and sexually molested him...I hope grandpa offs his sorry POS self and as fast as he can with only his thoughts of joining his son in hell...but a selfish monster only thinks of themselves so he might hope to molest again.

I pray for those dear parents who lost all they had and will never recover from the loss...they will be reunited in heaven if that is any consolation and they are with mom now.

The system failed those children and I hope that they realize it and take better care of children who's parent is a murder suspect...as if they haven't seen this type of behavior multiple times. CPS is a joke if this is how they take care of kids.

I blame the judge who allowed visitation........we are having that problem here in Oklahoma right now, judges are putting young children back with abusers for financial reasons and one after another is dying at the hands of abusive parents.....we need to investigate the judges.

Our federal and state courts are overwhelmed due to budget cuts and politicians needlessly delaying the appointment of judges to play partisan politics.

We as a nation MUST remember that we must look after the most vulnerable of our society- the elderly, children and the disabled.

Don't talk to me about "drowning" our government. Yes, we want our government to use our money wisely. But, I DO want my tax money to make sure that there are enough social workers and judges and policemen and firemen and highway workers to keep our society just and livable. What kind of society does not do what it can to protect children?

Privatizing these services out to corporations has been a disaster where it has been tried.

Protect our children. Protect our elderly.

I blame the judge who allowed visitation........we are having that problem here in Oklahoma right now, judges are putting young children back with abusers for financial reasons and one after another is dying at the hands of abusive parents.....we need to investigate the judges.

Supposedly, there is a task force investigating all of this. Maybe something will come of it. I hope so as I am in the middle a DHS case in regards to my grandchild. I am praying DHS does not give the child back to the mother, who I am sad to say, is my daughter who has to many problems. I am hoping the foster family gets to adopt. He is with a great family who love him dearly.

Supervised visitations should be on NEUTRAL ground....which does not include the parent's home. There is something fundamentally wrong with our system in that we do not protect children any better than this. The blood of these children is on the hands of all those in the legal system that did not protect them any better. Not that I think they will loose any sleep over this, because they do it over and over and over....(returning children to the hands of the abuser). The children should NEVER been allowed back in his home until the evaluations were complete. Pretty good indication of what happened to Susan...it's just like we all thought in the first place.

More sick stuff with the world.  Lets us citizenes take care of these defects.  Throw them in prison cost's taxpayers over 30K a year to reform a genetic defect?  Oh WE HAVE no choice where we want our taxdollars program to go to "   MIne I want them to help the sickos  who molest kids elders lets help the sickos  Holy crap HEXX NO U know let them stay in Your house Not on the expense of the rest of us. The mother is missing, grandpa-father is in porn

.  And YES the social worker could do something It might be an hour overtime for him/her with that attitude but I aint getting paid so I dont'  CARE  

 And I hope this comment pxx them off and wake up  jUST LIKE COPS JUDGES, Wait till its someone in there family tHEN THEY WIll pay attention and not worry if they dont get pAID

SOCIAL=  PEOPLE     SOCIAL WORKERS = WORK WITH PEOPLE  YES IT IS YOUR JOB TO REPORT

EVEN IF YOUR BOSS DISAGREES   SOCIAL PEOPLE GET ALL REPORTS WITNESS PICTURES ETC

More sick stuff with the world.  Lets us citizenes take care of these defects.  Throw them in prison cost's taxpayers over 30K a year to reform a genetic defect?  Oh WE HAVE no choice where we want our taxdollars program to go to "   MIne I want them to help the sickos  who molest kids elders lets help the sickos  Holy crap HEXX NO U know let them stay in Your house Not on the expense of the rest of us. The mother is missing, grandpa-father is in porn

.  And YES the social worker could do something It might be an hour overtime for him/her with that attitude but I aint getting paid so I dont'  CARE  

 And I hope this comment pxx them off and wake up  jUST LIKE COPS JUDGES, Wait till its someone in there family tHEN THEY WIll pay attention and not worry if they dont get pAID

SOCIAL=  PEOPLE     SOCIAL WORKERS = WORK WITH PEOPLE  YES IT IS YOUR JOB TO REPORT

EVEN IF YOUR BOSS DISAGREES   SOCIAL PEOPLE GET ALL REPORTS WITNESS PICTURES ETC

As someone who has dealt with foster agencies, social workers and caseworkers, I am tired of everyone saying there was nothing the social worker could have done. That is total BS, there is a lot she could have done to prevent this. This was supposed to be a supervised visit, so why were the children allowed to run out of the car before she got out, that's why cars have child lock out systems to prevent that from happening, so why wasn't this engaged in her car. I have seen several incidents like this were a parent have threatened their child with harm being allowed to have home visits while the worker just sits in their car sleeping. There are a lot of these workers out there, it seems, that just don't care, and with them being responsible for the life and well being of the children this is just so sad.