Thursday, February 14, 2013

Susan Cox' Brother-in-Law Commits Suicide


Younger brother of Josh Powell, crazed dad who killed sons and himself in 2012 house explosion, commits suicide in Minneapolis

Michael Powell, 30, leapt off a multistory parking garage on Monday afternoon. Powell's brother, Josh, was a person of interest in the 2009 disappearance of his wife, Susan Cox Powell, when he blew up a home with his two sons inside last February.








 Josh Powell, husband of Susan Cox Powell, walks to a court hearing Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2011, in Tacoma, Wash. Powell requested a restraining order against Chuck Cox, father of Susan Cox Powell. Susan Cox Powell has been missing for two years and Josh Powell is under a cloud of suspicion in her disappearance. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

ELAINE THOMPSON/AP

Above, Josh Powell, husband of Susan Cox Powell, killed himself and his two young songs in Graham, Wash., last February. His brother, Michael, died in a suicide on Monday. The brother of a troubled Washington state dad who incinerated himself and his two young sons in a horrific murder-suicide last year committed suicide by leaping off parking garage in Minnesota, police said.

Michael Powell, a 30-year-old grad student at the University of Minnesota, died instantly after jumping from the seven-story structure in Minneapolis around 2:30 p.m. Monday, authorities said.
The suicide was the latest chapter in the grim saga of the Powell family that began with the disappearance of Susan Cox Powell from her West Valley, Utah, home -- allegedly at the hands of her husband -- in December 2009.
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HARDMAN PHOTOGRAPHY VIA AP

Susan Powell vanished in 2009. Her disappearance was the start of a bizarre case that ended in the horrific death of her children at the hands of her husband, Josh Powell.

Michael Powell's death leap comes exactly a year and a week after his older brother Josh Powell butchered his sons with a hatchet and then blew up them and himself in a gas explosion during what was to be a supervised custody visit at a home in Graham, Wash.
There were no witnesses in Michael Powell's death, and police don't know what may have driven him to suicide, Utah's Deseret News reported.
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ED TROYER/AP

The garage area of the home in Graham, Wash., where Josh Powell and his two sons were killed. Powell's wife, Susan, went mysteriously missing from their West Valley City, Utah, home in December 2009, and he was person of interest -- though never an official suspect -- in her disappearance.

According to reports, the younger Powell was locked in a bitter legal battle with his dead brother's in-laws over Josh's $3.5 million life insurance claim.
Michael and his sister Alina were designated as the policy beneficiaries, but were sued by Susan Cox Powell's parents when they tried to collect, The Los Angeles Times reported.
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FAMILY HANDOUT/KOMONEWS.COM

The Powell family, Josh, Susan, Braden and Charlie.  

Chuck and Judy Cox said in the suit that since Josh Powell kidnapped and killed their daughter, his family had no right to receive money from his death or the death of their grandchildren.
A friend of the Powells' told Deseret News that Michael and Josh's sister Jennifer Graves was torn apart by the latest tragic blow to her family.
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ELAINE THOMPSON/AP

  Chuck and Judy Cox, in-laws of Josh Powell and parents of Susan Cox Powell. Michael Powell and the Coxes were in a dispute over who would receive payment from Josh Powell's $3.5 million insurance claim, which was taken out several months before his death.

"I just felt so heartbroken for her," Kiirsi Hellewell said. "They have been through so much.
"Even though she's been estranged from Michael for the last three years, she still loved him," she added. "He's still her brother. She grew up with him, and she's just got to be going through so much."
Michael Powell rigorously defended his brother during the disappearance ordeal, helping Josh move to Washington from Utah, where he and Susan lived before she vanished, and later launching a website accusing the Coxes and police of harassing his brother, the Times reported.
Josh Powell was never officially named a suspect in his wife's December 2009 disappearance. He said that she vanished mysteriously after he took the two boys camping, leaving after midnight in freezing weather.
The Powells' father, Steven Powell, is currently serving a 2.5-year prison term for acts of voyeurism against young girls. 

17 comments:

Ivy said...

I wonder if the father has any moments of clarity where he sees how much pain he has caused in the world.

OT a 911 call full of lies http://www.azcentral.com/community/scottsdale/articles/20130213tempe-knife-death-disputed.html#protected

Trigger said...

Steven Powell has given his children a legacy of pain and shame.

His intimidation of his children, the self-gratification and obsession with sexual deviancy, and his absence of care for the well being of his family, has caused unfathomable wreckage for those in close contact with him.

The Cox's deserve the insurance money for all their losses and horrific suffering caused by Josh Powell and Steven Powell.

dadgum said...

Sad.

Anonymous said...

I'm shocked by this info, I thought most Insurance policies don't payout for suicide unless the policy has been in force for atleast 2 years?

BostonLady said...

My first reaction is this is tragic. What happened to this family that caused such horrific actions and reactions?

Is it pure evil running from the father thru the sons?

dadgum said...

2 notes..
Last week was the anniversary of his brother's suicide and murder of his sons..he had supported his brother with a website, and seemingly never doubted him.

Michael had just filed a response to a ruling that the $1.5mil go to the Cox family.

Shelley said...

The parents of Susan and grandparents... My heart breaks for them.

So much tragedy. I can not even imagine....

That Powel Family is so clearly sick and evil. Wish they all had just killed themselves and spared all these innocent lives.

Christy said...

Trigger- that was my first thought as well- The damage that was originally done.

3.5 million, wow. The Cox family seems like such good people, I'm betting that they don't even care if the $ goes in the trash, they just do not want the Powells to have it on principle.

& I get that.

Pak31 said...

I have always wondered about Josh Powell's mother in all of this and am sort of surprised to learn that she feared Josh. He threatened to kill her with a knife once. She said he once tried to commit suicide and she feared he and a brother could harm the family. This was all before Susan and the kids. This family has been messed up for a long time. Knowing this info now, I am not shocked anymore.

Anonymous said...


Is the daughter the only child left in the Powell family?

sidewalk super said...

nice legacy for the perv; destruction spreading like an ugly stain around him. Poison papa.

Statement Analysis Blog said...

I believe the sister is the only sibling left, and should be in our prayers.

She has courageously spoken out and must live each and every day of her life, with burdens most of us will never know.

Peter

sidewalk super said...

Peter,
The sibling you speak of is Jennifer Graves. She went to live with her mother early on.

But, living with the perv, were 4 other children: John, said to be mentally disabled, (wore diapers around the house), and , another daughter Alina, (set up a website in support of her brother, her father).
Suicide Michael was the college student, and, Josh, who is suspected of murdering his entire immediate family.

Of Josh's named heirs on his insurance policies, only Alina and John are alive to collect, if the courts allow it.

And, yes, she has my prayers, and I can only imagine.

Statement Analysis Blog said...

Thanks to Sidewalk Super!

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