Susan Powell

Case background and investigation

Susan Marie Powell, a 28-year-old mother of two, was last seen on December 6, 2009, at her home in West Valley City, Utah. She had attended church that morning with her sons, Charlie (age 4) and Braden (age 2), and a neighbor reported seeing the family in the late afternoon. When Susan failed to show up for work and the boys were not brought to daycare the next day, relatives reported the family missing. Investigators found her purse, wallet, and identification inside the home and her cell phone in a family vehicle, circumstances they considered inconsistent with a voluntary departure.

Susan's husband, Joshua (Josh) Powell, told police he had taken the two boys on a spontaneous late-night camping trip in the Utah desert around midnight, in freezing December weather, and that Susan had stayed home. Police said they were unable to corroborate the account, and the couple's older son later made statements to investigators and teachers suggesting his mother had been with the family and did not come back. Josh Powell was named a person of interest but was never charged with any crime connected to Susan's disappearance. He and the children subsequently moved to Washington state to live with his father, Steven Powell.

The case took a horrific turn on February 5, 2012. During a court-supervised visit at a rental home in Washington, Josh Powell locked out the social worker supervising the visit, attacked his two sons, and set the house ablaze in a deliberate explosion, killing himself and both boys. Authorities in Washington ruled the deaths a double murder-suicide. Custody of the children had shortly before been placed with Susan's parents, Chuck and Judy Cox, while the investigation continued.

Separately, Josh's father, Steven Powell, was arrested in September 2011 after investigators searching his Washington home found thousands of voyeuristic images. In May 2012 he was convicted of voyeurism for secretly photographing two young girls who were neighbors; he was sentenced to prison and released in 2017, and he died in 2018. Prosecutors did not charge him in connection with Susan's disappearance, though West Valley City police later said they believed he may have had some knowledge of what happened to her.

On May 21, 2013, West Valley City police announced they were ending the active phase of the investigation and released case files. Officials stated their belief that Josh Powell was responsible for Susan's disappearance and that his brother, Michael Powell, who died by suicide in February 2013, had helped conceal her body. Deputy Police Chief Mike Powell (no relation) said Josh Powell 'was definitely involved' in his wife's disappearance but that investigators never developed sufficient evidence to file a murder charge, calling it a circumstantial case with no body or crime scene. As of 2026, Susan Powell has never been found and no one has been charged in her disappearance; searches, including at desert mine shafts Josh Powell had visited, have not recovered her remains, and her family has continued efforts to have her legally declared dead.