Susan Powell’s Parents Contemplate Lawsuit, But 'There Is No One At Fault But Josh,’ Says Family Member
Posted on Feb 21, 2012 @ 02:30PM
By Debbie Emery - Radar Reporter
Susan Powell’s grieving parents are considering taken legal action against Washington state authorities over the child custody case that led to the death of their grandsons at the hands of their father, but RadarOnline.com can exclusively reveal that other family members believe that the only person to blame for the tragedy is Josh Powell himself.
“I haven’t heard anything about a lawsuit yet and they (Chuck and Judy Cox) haven't said anything to me about it,” Powell’s brother-in-law Kirk Graves told RadarOnline.com in an exclusive interview.
“I can say that based on the information I have, if I was in their situation then I wouldn't file a lawsuit.
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“If there was someone at fault it was Josh, and there was no one else at fault in my mind,” revealed Graves, who is married to Jennifer Powell, Josh’s sister, but the couple remain incredibly close to Susan’s family and are their strong and loyal supporters in light of both tragedies.
On Monday, Chuck Cox, Susan’s father, told FOX 13 that there were no immediate plans for a lawsuit and it was too premature to talk about legal action. "Right now, we need to figure out exactly where the blame lays," he said.
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"There's a lot of questions about how [the authorities] could have allowed visitation, knowing what they knew about Josh," he added.
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Powell was the prime suspect in the 2009 disappearance of his wife, Susan, when he attacked his two sons, Charlie, 7, and Braden, 5, with a hatchet on February 5 and then blew up the house, killing all three of them in the explosion.
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The boys had been placed in the custody of Susan's parents last September, and just days before the tragedy a family court judge told Powell that he was not likely to regain custody anytime soon, and that he needed to undergo a psychological review.
Heartbroken grandfather Chuck said on Monday that he believed Washington state child welfare workers pushed reunification between Josh and the children, despite red flags revealed in documents made public last week by Washington's Department of Social and Health Services.
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While the boys were living with the Coxes at the time of their death during a weekly supervised visit, Graves told RadarOnline.com that their long-term future may have been in his and Jennifer’s Utah home.
“We hoped that we would have gotten custody of the children and adopted them if Josh ended up in prison permanently,” their loving uncle revealed.
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Graves said that time is helping to heal the open wounds that the entire family suffered after the horrific murder-suicide, and admitted that suffering the emotional trauma surrounding Susan’s disappearance over the past two years had taught them essential coping skills.
“It is one of those things you have to put into the back of your mind and you go on with your life, then after a while you don’t have to put in the back of your mind anymore,” he told RadarOnline.com.
“This is worse than when Susan disappeared, but once you have been through it before, you are more ready,” Kirk explained.
“The boys’ deaths hit really hard, really fast and there weren’t a lot of questions afterwards so it was a matter of dealing with it and grieving. At least we know what has happened and where they are, the process is a little cleaner.
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“Whereas with Susan, we are still asking questions and we don’t know what happened to her and there is no closure. It has been two years, we can make assumptions but have no answers.”
Charlie and Braden were buried at the Life Center Church on February 11 in Tacoma, Washington, and Kirk and Jennifer made the long drive from Utah to say goodbye.
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“The funeral helped with the closure and let us say goodbye. I came away not great but feeling a little more human and alive again,” explained Graves.
“I think that is why we have that experience and recognize that time moves forward.”
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The Daily Juice
Feb 22, 2012 @ 10:30
I cannot imagine what the family is going threw; let them have day in court maybe than they will have peace or some peace until their daughter is found! This family must feel allot of people let them down.
Posted Wed, 02/22/2012 - 3:47pm
It may not be the perfect, long-term answer; but until they find one . . . hold the visitations in a county building (with security and detectors) or some other neutral, monitored meeting place.
Posted Wed, 02/22/2012 - 2:06am
Too much emphasis is placed upon putting innocent kids back with unfit parents. This was one of those cases. I hope they do sue; the authorities involved need to feel the financial sting so MAYBE this won't ever happen again.
Posted Tue, 02/21/2012 - 10:18pm
Too much emphasis is placed upon putting innocent kids back with unfit parents. This was one of those cases. I hope they do sue; the authorities involved need to feel the financial sting so MAYBE this won't ever happen again.
Posted Tue, 02/21/2012 - 10:18pm
He makes me sick just looking at his picture. Too bad we can't resurrect him and let the in-laws have at him. Unfortunately there is no one to sue and even if there were, there's no amount of money that will help.
Posted Tue, 02/21/2012 - 8:39pm
Wasn't it the Utah authorities who withheld vital info including the online porn from the Washington cops? So doesn't the blame rightly belong to Utah?
Posted Tue, 02/21/2012 - 8:39pm
I cannot even imagine how bad they must be hurting right now and the object of their anger is gone
Posted Tue, 02/21/2012 - 8:21pm
Of course we all know Josh is the one responsible but imagine being those poor people who loved their little grandsons and how they must be hurting right now..its going to take a while to burn off that anger..how does anyone deal with that?
Posted Tue, 02/21/2012 - 8:19pm