Josh Powell Won’t Be Buried in Same Cemetery With Murdered Sons
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KOMO/ABC News(SALT LAKE CITY) — Josh Powell will not be buried in the same cemetery as his two sons, an attorney for Josh’s in-laws announced Thursday.
Steve Downing, who represents Chuck and Judy Cox, said that the Powell family reversed their earlier decision to try and bury Josh near sons Charlie, 7, and Braden, 5, whom he killed in a fiery explosion earlier this month.
Downing told ABC affiliate KTVX that Powell’s mother would announce Thursday that the family would not bury Josh at Woodline cemetery.
Earlier this week, the Cox family and local police expressed outrage that Powell could be buried next to the boys he killed. Crimsetoppers purchased two burial plots directly next to the boys to prevent Powell from being buried there, according to the Pierce County, Wa., sheriff’s department.
Thousands of dollars in donations poured into Pierce County Crimestoppers to buy the two burial plots on either side of the brothers’ shared casket in an effort to prevent Powell from being buried so close to the boys.
The grandparents of the children had said it was outrageous that their father would be near the boys he killed.
“I can’t see this happening. I just hope it goes away quickly,” said Chuck Cox, the grandfather of the boys and father of their mother Susan Powell, who went missing under suspicious circumstances in 2009.
Powell, who reportedly became upset when he was denied custody of his two sons, slammed the door on social worker Elizabeth Griffin-Hall on Feb. 5 when she brought Charlie and Braden for a biweekly supervised visit with their father. Within a few minutes the entire house burst into flames, which is believed to have been caused by Josh Powell leaking gas into the house and igniting it.
Search teams have also been scouring a nearby recycling center for clues into the disappearance of Susan Powell, who vanished from her home while Josh Powell and her boys were on a spontaneous late-night camping trip, but so far have come up short.
“There was some paperback books with Susan’s name, a map that we’ve tied to them, but there’s no markings on it,” Ed Troyer told ABC News.
At a nearby storage unit detectives said they found a blood-stained comforter, along with gas cans that looked like the ones found at the house.
Detectives have also said now that the home that Josh Powell blew up in Graham, Wash., was a sham that was exclusively set up for the social worker visits with his boys.
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