Reflections on Snow, Crime, and Punishment

by Anne Bremner
Co-Authored by Bob Sims

Oh no, like salt on snow
I've been melted
Left alone on the side of the road
Is this where I am over
For your sake
Stuck between sleep and awake?

Having been snowbound for days here in wintry Seattle, my thoughts have drifted lately. But, still, I remain vigilant in my thinking about my cases, especially the ones involving missing persons and how inclement weather conditions sometimes affect the lack of crime.

I began pondering this when I started thinking about my clients Chuck and Judy Cox, and their missing daughter, Susan Cox Powell. More than two years ago Susan went missing when her husband Josh Powell supposedly took the couple's then 2- and 4-year-old sons camping in snowy Utah at midnight, browning marshmallows by campfire in the dead of winter.

Many speculate that Susan is out there in the snow, the snow that has melted and then fallen again and again over two long intervening winters. Others speculate she is alive and at some point has been kept secretly by Josh Powell and his father Steven Powell. But not many do. She is somewhere between sleep and awake.

Statistics show that snowy conditions reduce crime rates. This has been described in Dr. Emily Bloom's "The Ice Factor," where she wrote about how "snow slays crime."

And it is true. Crime declines during snowstorms. Is it the calming quiet that tames the beast in us? Or the inablity to get out and do things -- good or evil?"

It reminds me of what my psychiatrist father said when he was doing studies for Prozac, in the face of claims that Prozac made some people kill. My father said it just helped them get out of bed and they would've killed anyway.

"The first fall of snow is not an event, it is a magical event."

The thoughts of an icy, snowy death are unimaginable to me, like learning about those mountain climbers who died on Mt. Everest, as expressed so eloquently by Jon Krakauer in his book, "Into Thin Air."

It's almost akin to Titanic passengers drowning in the dark, icy North Atlantic waters long ago -- the same fate for some on the sinking cruise ship Costa Concordia off the Italian coast recently.

I believe Susan Powell didn't die in the snow, and the snow story just might turn out to be the Cox family's salvation. Almost everyone who has heard the story has scoffed and pointed toward her husband Josh Powell as a person of interest, for the very reason he has concocted this improbable tale.

"The future lies before you, like paths of pure white snow. Be careful how you tread, for every step is sown."

Crimes are not committed in snow.
In fact, such a claim makes me incredulous. As a prosecutor, I use the "footprints in the snow" analogy to describe circumstantial evidence.

When you retire to bed at night, the ground is covered with fresh and pristine snow, untouched. When you wake up in the morning, there are footprints in the snow, leading to your doorstep where the morning's newspaper is there. You didn't see the person deliver your newspaper directly, but circumstantial evidence tells you, via footprints in the snow, that someone indeed did.

Snow. Crime. Punishment. Help us find Susan Cox Powell.

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The Common Fear Factor

by Susan Murphy-Milano

One of the major reasons women stay in abusive relationships is fear. They are afraid of what will happen to them and their children if they leave. Sadly, their fears are often justified; statistics show that a woman is at the greatest risk for injury when she announces her plans or leaves an abusive relationship.

To illustrate the danger, let's consider the case of Utah's Susan Powell, a wife and mother who has not been seen or heard from since December 6th. Hers is a familiar scenario, one that occurs in the majority of abused women cases across the country. If one takes a close look at the evidence, in my opinion, the most logical conclusion is that Susan Powell was murdered. 

Susan Powell was a stockbroker with two young sons, a devoted mother and likely the person in the marriage with a larger paycheck than her husband, Josh. Over time, the marriage reportedly turned controlling, with Josh insisting on knowing what Susan was doing when not under his radar. We've all seen the news reports, including that he demanded she tell him how much she spent on herself and for household goods and services. In this type of case, the fights build up from yelling to shoving. A bedroom door is slammed with greater frequency, and the couple drifts apart. 

Many abused women hope that having children will change the behavior of an abusive mate. They hope the abuser will turn his/her life around for the sake of the children and that the result will finally be a happy home life. In the Powell case, that didn't happen. Pregnant with her second child, perhaps under circumstances beyond her control (she could have been forced as some are in the marriage), Susan brings another life into a world three years later where anger and violent outbursts become commonplace. During this time Susan likely announces, the marriage is over. Perhaps making statements such as, "we need to divorce" or "this is not fair to the children and I can no longer go on living this way." 

There is a point for many abused women when they verbally announce the steps to end the abuse that lays the foundation for an abuser to begin thinking about a course of action. Around this time an abused woman begins confiding in co-workers or close friends. As we later learned from authorities, that is exactly what Susan did. 

For the alleged offender, I will use Josh Powell as an example. Now he is formulating a plan no different from the plans of other violent persons: one born of anger and desperation. Anger because the person is leaving and ending the relationship. Desperation over what he (the abuser) will be forced to carry out if the person with whom he is in a relationship cannot be persuaded to stay. 

This plan remains in the abuser's mind, of course, until he see signs of movement. In this case, perhaps Susan was whispering on the phone to someone, and when Josh walked into the room she quickly changed her tone or ended the phone call. Or he learned that Susan set up a bank account and believed she was hiding money so she and the kids could leave. 

The signs of movement spark Josh or any potential abuser to think of the next level. They think to themselves, Okay, she is going to leave me. I will not let that happen. He acts as though nothing is wrong but, when she goes to sleep, Josh rummages through her car looking for evidence of her plan, a bank receipt or an unusual transaction or charge. Maybe in her purse he checks the cell phone for any unusual numbers he does not recognize. Or goes through the computer and checks the browser to see her activity. 

He finds something and his anger is elevated, his heart is racing, but he remains calm and says nothing to Susan. A smile comes to his face because he "caught her," and he figures she will pay one way or the other at a later date. 

Around this time Susan begins sending e-mails about the abuse and threats she has endured by Josh to a trusted circle of friends. Maybe she keeps a detailed log with dates and times of the incidents. 

Now Josh does what I label the "smell change." Susan is acting strange and, like cologne,
Josh can literally (as with most abusers) sense when their environment has shifted. Perhaps Susan is verbalizing her unhappiness with greater frequency. Maybe she stands up for herself during a fight where months before Susan would have backed down and gone to her room without incident. 

It is very difficult for any abused women to hide that spark of empowerment from a clever abuser. They (the abuser) smell it as sure as a fox entering a coop filled with chickens.


It's now that most abusers decide to implement their plans. He has thought about it from the moment it entered his mind. The children are sleeping and the couple gets into a heated argument. At this point possible scenarios vary. Here is one example: Josh in his rage could have knocked her unconscious and carried her out to the car. Then, one at a time, he lifts his sleeping boys into the back seat. The family drives to the desert. Susan wakes up and gets out of the car. Josh and she are arguing and he hits or pushes her off an embankment and into a ravine. Josh drives back with the boys to the house where he is questioned by authorities. 

In many ways, the case of Susan Powell appears no different from the millions of cases of violence we never hear about, until women go missing and their bodies are found. Abuse victims often have no official documentation of the abuse because they were too afraid to contact police or obtain a court order of protection. Why? Because better than anyone they (the victims) know it would do them no good. It would only escalate the level of danger. 

The one thing an abuse victim knows for certain is the fear that has been planted in them over time by an abuser and the likelihood of imminent danger if it is discovered they plan to leave. I believe this is what happened in Susan Powell’s case;  she had only one opportunity to leave and somehow Josh Powell found out. 

On December 7, 2009, I, like a number of you, saw this case on the Internet or on a news broadcast. And, sadly, I bowed my head in prayer, knowing she would never again be seen alive.

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The Truth of the Matter

by Pat Brown

On December 6th in Salt Lake City, Utah, Josh Powell's wife, Susan, went missing sometime in the wee hours of the morning. It wouldn't be too unusual if she had been out jogging in the dark at midnight or was last seen drinking in the parking lot behind a bar with some sketchy character; serial killers look for victims that are easy prey and female joggers and intoxicated women are two of their favorite targets.

But, Susan Powell didn't spend the last evening before her disappearance involved in any high risk behavior (and I mean behavior that one should have a right to engage in, but could get you killed nonetheless). She had friends over for dinner with her husband and two children, and then, as far as we know, settled in for the night. Her hubby, on the other hand, must have been a bit restless.

When the clock struck twelve, Josh Powell got a bit of wanderlust, so he says. He woke their two young boys (and I say woke because a two-year-old and a four-year-old are unlikely to still be up when both parents have work in the morning) and, with no argument from his wife or his sleepy boys, took them on a 'just us guys' adventure, one they were sure to be excited about! A trip into the desert in a freezing cold snowstorm! Woo hoo! I hope they had a great time, because when Mr. Powell finally brought the boys home at 5 PM Monday afternoon (well, he didn't go to work because he forgot what day it was), his wife wasn't there. Josh found his wife had gone missing in the middle of the night, leaving her purse and cell phone behind (no wonder she never called Josh to remind him what day it was).

Susan's family, on the other hand, knew it was Monday. They were called when she never dropped her kids off at day care. They found out Susan had never shown up at work. They couldn't find Josh and the children. They called the police. The police came to the home and found a wet spot on the carpet with two fans blowing on it. Apparently Susan must have spilled something after Josh and the kids went off on their camping trip.

I can see what all of you are thinking, but don't jump to conclusions. The police have clearly stated Josh Powell is not a suspect. When I slipped up yesterday morning on the Today Show, Matt Lauer promptly corrected me, as he should; Mr. Powell is not a suspect. The family also does not view Josh as a suspect. They say there were no problems between him and Susan and that his middle-of-the-night camping trip was not so strange for him. He also often forgets what day it is. They think the police should broaden their investigation to include scenarios other than a domestic homicide.

Let's get real. I don't know when this silly rule showed up where the police can't say someone is a suspect when he clearly is. In this case, the police haven't looked at any other possibility than that Josh Powell killed his wife in the middle of the night. They have not reached out to the public for information or informed them that Susan was kidnapped. They said she is unlikely to have run off, since her purse and phone were still in the home. They won't, however, say Mr. Powell is a suspect. They won't even say he is a person of interest. Obviously, the legal climate has dampened the ability for folks to be forthright and honest. Well, let me do it for them. Josh Powell is the one and only suspect in the disappearance of Susan Powell, unless some other information or evidence comes to light that takes the focus off of him.

Let's look at the three most likely scenarios in the disappearance of Susan:

1) Josh Powell killed her.

2) Susan ran off with a lover or was sick of taking care of her kids and working.

3) Someone kidnapped her in the night.

Scenario Two goes like this: In spite of the fact Susan has a good character, that she is a stockbroker with good career, that she loves her little boys, and that no one has said she acted in any bizarre way in the past, she just took off. She is running off to meet her lover or abandoning her family or she is seeking attention by staging a domestic murder or abduction a la Jennifer Wilbanks, the Runaway Bride. I would have to vote for the attention-getting motive for disappearing since the other two reasons would mean she would probably take her purse and phone along and her car (unless her lover was picking her up). But, that night she decided she wanted to worry everyone and vanish without a trace. Lucky for her, Josh decided to take the boys on a camping trip at midnight allowing her to slip away on foot into the night, with nothing on her person.

Scenario Number Three goes like this. A serial killer or an obsessed stalker decided he wanted to grab Susan. Rather than pick a time when she was home alone or out taking a jog or a walk by herself, he decides to go to the house on a Sunday evening hoping to find her alone. But, alas, the whole family is at home. However, he is a patient man and waits, hoping he will get lucky. And, whaddya know? The husband decides to take his boys on a camping trip at midnight and drives off leaving Susan alone for her abducter to grab. He is really good at not leaving any evidence around, too; no sign of a break-in, no sign of a struggle, no footprints in the snow, and if he did leave evidence, he must have scrubbed it away and set the fans out to dry the carpet because he really cares about leaving a house the way he found it.

Now to Scenario Number One: Josh Powell killed his wife, tried to eliminate the evidence, and took her body in the van to some remote location. He may or may not have taken the children with him at that point in time. He may have left them alone like Bobby Cutts did with his son while he drove to a park to dispose of his pregnant girlfriend. Then again, he may have brought the kids along so they wouldn't wake up and start screaming and alert the neighbors that something was amiss in the home. The police say they went to the location where Josh says he was camping, but we have no way of knowing if he really went there or if he went there after he made a detour. Josh had all night to find a good hideaway for his wife's body.

I don't think it is too difficult to figure out which scenario is likely the right scenario. But, if most of us see this, then what of Susan's family? Why do they disbelieve Josh couldn't have anything to do with what happened to their daughter? Well, if I were them, I would want to believe more than anything in the world that my son-in-law is just an oddball and has a bad memory and communication problems, because the alternative is too awful to consider. They know Susan isn't any Jennifer Wilbanks, so they have to hope she was abducted and is being held somewhere to eventually escape or be found and saved. They have to hope their son-in-law is really not a person of interest or a suspect and the police are failing to due their job diligently.

Sadly, in spite of the family's support for Josh Powell and the police refusal to call him a suspect, the odds of this case not being a domestic homicide are about as good as Natalee Holloway living a life of blond girl slavery in Guyana. It might be a distant possibility, but no police detective is really entertaining alternative theories when the evidence in front of them all supports the same scenario.

I hope some evidence shows up that changes this bleak picture, and Susan Powell can come home to her boys, but in spite of all the effort to avoid calling her husband a suspect, we all know in our hearts he is.

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