Josh Powell Voicemail: Father Called Relatives Before Killing Sons

The father who deliberately killed himself and his two sons in a fire left a despondent and apologetic phone message with relatives shortly before Sunday's murder-suicide.

"I am not able to live without my sons, and I'm not able to go on anymore. I'm sorry to everyone I've hurt. Goodbye," Josh Powell said in a voicemail to unidentified relatives obtained by ABC's "Good Morning America."

Powell's ominous words were recorded 20 minutes before he attacked his sons Braden, 5, and Charles, 7, with a hatchet moments after they bounded into his Graham, Wash. home ahead of a Child Protective Services worker who accompanied them for a supervised visit with their dad.

Powell locked out the child welfare worker before chopping Charles in the neck and Braden in the head and neck, according to an autopsy report. He then set a fire that quickly engulfed the house. All three apparently died from smoke inhalation, Fox News says.

Authorities said Monday that Powell -- who had lost a court battle last Wednesday to regain custody of his sons -- had carefully planned the deadly blaze for several days, according to The Seattle Post-Intelligencer. He donated toys to a charity over the weekend and composed goodbye emails to relatives and acquaintances, some of which included instructions on where to find his savings, the newspaper reports.

The explosion that razed Powell's house to the ground was the latest dark chapter for a family beset by scandal and despair since Powell's wife Susan Cox Powell vanished in December 2009 in Utah.

PHOTOS FROM THE POWELL FAMILY TRAGEDY:(Story continues below)

Police labeled Josh Powell a person of interest in his 28-year-old wife's disappearance. But Powell claimed that his wife was gone when he returned from an overnight camping trip with his boys.

He didn't mention Susan in the phone messages and emails he sent shortly before his death, media outlets said.

The Utah cops searching for Susan Powell say their investigation continues, The Salt Lake Tribune reports.

Braden and Charles had lived with their father and grandfather Steven Powell until the fall. They were removed from the home and given to their maternal grandparents, because Steven Powell was charged with voyeurism and possessing child pornography .

Normally, the children liked visiting their dad, but on Sunday they were unexpectedly reluctant to spend time with him, Susan's father Chuck Cox told The Seattle Times.

Comments

[Elisabeth Lake]

10:28 AM on 02/12/2012

Dear Cox Family as you prepare to bury your precious grandsons, Know that you are not alone in this horror. Know that Domestic Violence victims just as your daughter Susan, and babes Charlie and Braden are murdered each week in this country by an out of control abuser given custody and or unprotected visitation by the Family Law Courts over the grave concerns of protective family members. The abusers in these murder/suicides are favored, the safe parents, and in your case the safe grandparent are not. We all know the result. A few names for you to consider and families to connect with because your, family shares the same fate with those children and dv victims listed below:
Amy Lichtenberg, Conner and Jack, Katie Tagle,

Wyatt Garcia
Stephen Garcia
Franki Jacobson
Eric Jacobson
Joshua Jacobson
Isaac Gallegos
Sandra Thomson Ramos
Nicolas Ramos
Emma Ramos
Gilbert Ramos
Ramon Alejandro Haro Colin
girl of Sergio Thomas
Bradley Garcia
Edward Garcia
Bradley's twin brother
Anthony Castillo
Austin Castillo
Athena Castillo
Tory Sandoval
Amy Lake
Monica Lake
Cote Lake
Steven Lake
Alfredo Pimienta
Priscilla
Emily
Georgina
Sean Fuchs
Kyle Fuchs
Thomas Fuchs,
Mary Alvarez
Angelica Alvarez
Hamid Alvarez
Elijah Criado
Isaac Criado
Andrew Criado
Aurora Criado
Madeline Layla Samaan-Fay
Tammy Teagarden
Madison Teagarden
Kevin Tegarden Jr.
Kevin Tegarden
Michelle Fournier
Randy Lee Fannin
Christy Lynn Wilson
Michelle Dashbach Fast
Victoia Ann Buzzo
Lucia Bernice Kondas
Laura Lee Elody
David Cauette
Amy Friedlander
Molly Friedlander
Gregory Freidlander
Sam Friedlander

[lodkia]

07:17 PM on 02/09/2012

Child Protective Services has bad karma; for years they are like the little boy who could cried wolf that is what this story reminds me of and then when it really does happen "imminent danger"; they don't even know what to do or how to respond!

[jimbo123]

04:43 PM on 02/09/2012

Society drove this man to act as he did, especially the media, and yet they continue to demonize him! He has given his life, Folks; is that not enough for you or do you want to pick your teeth with his bones?!

[zen477]

06:51 PM on 02/09/2012

So what your saying is that society could drive YOU to give away your children's toys, make your financial arrangements, buy the gasoline, pour the gasoline, wait for the kids, coerce the kids that you have a "surprise" for them, ax each one of them till dead or near dead, then light your match and burn your rental house down along with yourself and your kids? I think people are angry and unapologetic on this board because it was premeditated and planned. Maybe if it was in a moment of insanity you would find more understanding people here. There is a disgusting sense of rage, entitlement and selfishness to this act. Pure and simple - he cared for no one in the end. (and probably didnt care prior to that either) The act itself far outweighs any tribulations Josh Powell might have gone through when he was living.

[elsquibbs]

08:39 PM on 02/09/2012

You sound like someone who should be investigated by the police.

[logic63]

09:29 AM on 02/09/2012

I guess I should have compassion for his anguish that must have caused hin to think this way because I've had a couple of people close to me commit suicide and I know what dispair looks like but to take the childrens lives is beyond dispair. He could have done this before they came home and he would never have to worry about paying for whatever he did to his wife and he would have solved the probelm. These poor boys had been through so much already and the terror of watching your dad come at you to end your life is beyond anything I can imagine

[GaryNOVA]

02:36 AM on 02/09/2012

I'm speechless. This story brought a tear to my eyes. i don't feel like posting anything else after reading this.

[skantea]

12:58 AM on 02/09/2012

A hatchet? IMO the choice of weapon cancels out any lame apologies. He butchered his kids.

[jimbo123]

04:56 PM on 02/09/2012

You sanctimonious fool! I hope you find your sniveling back as against the wall as he did then, just possibly, you'll gain some compassion for somebody as hurting as he was although I doubt it. You don't have the delicacy of spirit to do that!

[Jo McSweeney]

06:03 PM on 02/09/2012

Jimbo, you seem to be such an angry person with more than an average amount of sympathy for a man who may well have murdered his wife (thus depriving his sons of their mother) and now you are attacking anyone who sees his killing his little boys as something awful. Maybe you have personal issues regarding this. But this man killed his children, who weren't living him as an act of vengeance not despair-and you would admit this if you didn't have some kind of personal, angry axe to grind.

[ravensquawk]

11:51 PM on 02/08/2012

This makes Josh Powell a serial killer, having met the criteria of three murders!

[Wing OfEagle]

10:34 PM on 02/08/2012

The senior Powell is a pedophile monster, and he groomed his son to become a monster in his own image. Pray that we can find adequate evidence to keep him caged forever, as we do with dangerous animals.

Josh Powell's ultimate selfishness was expressed in his final, horrific act.

It was never a case of "not being able to live without my sons," but rather NOT BEING ABLE TO LIVE WITH THE TRUTH.

Poor Susan was dead the minute she said "I do."

[jimbo123]

05:08 PM on 02/09/2012

Lord deliver us from the "duck-billed platitudes" of a fool like you! And I guess you must be right: it is meaningless that Powell said, just moments before he died : "I can't live with out my sons!" Of course, you, the intellectual castrati, have a much clearer view of it! Words cannot describe my disgust with you!

[Sammi Jo Thielen]

10:18 PM on 02/08/2012

Only one word describes this. . . TRAGIC!

[jimbo123]

05:08 PM on 02/09/2012

Agreed

[sanfran55]

10:16 AM on 02/10/2012

Or I can think of two words: murderous psychopath.

[Dee Amschler]

10:00 PM on 02/08/2012

One thing that's been haunting me since this story first broke on the local news here in WA, is why on the face of this earth was the supervised visit at HIS HOME?!? In other places where I've lived, supervised visits are held in neutral territory set up similar to counseling offices or child care center except for the observation room. This is done SPECIFICALLY to help protect the children. If a parent is enough of a danger to warrant supervised visits, it seems to me that allowing the visits to take place in his home was risky even without knowing about the emails and other messages he'd sent not long before the visit. Maybe a change can happen in this practice if for no other reason than to prevent a repeat.

[Dale McLerran]

03:53 PM on 02/09/2012

This is a very good policy question, one for which I have no good answer. Others have questioned how someone who is the only suspect in his wife's disappearance could be allowed visitation rights at all.

Local news coverage (KOMO) has included interviews with child psychologists who said that breaking off contact with the father entirely could be damaging to the children because the children may turn the broken contact inward and blame themselves for the severed relationship. I don't know if there is a similar belief that it is best to keep as much normalcy as possible in the parent/child interactions so that holding the visits in some neutral place may not be in the best interest of the children (except, of course, when the parent uses the opportunity provided by being on their own turf to plan a murder/suicide).

I trust that your question will prompt thorough review of what is in the best interests of the children.

[jimbo123]

05:10 PM on 02/09/2012

Like the dolts who'll be doing the review will have a clue!

[Dee Amschler]

07:29 PM on 02/09/2012

That's the whole point of a neutral place. It's set up to allow the children to feel more or less at home but to also keep them safe. At a non-neutral place like the questioned parent's home, the children may feel more at home, but there's not really any way to guarantee their safety. This was an example (though extreme one) of EXACTLY why the neutral places are used - reasons like security being in place should the parent try anything that puts the child(ren) in danger.

I just hope that, for once, there is an honest review and not the typical DSHS scapegoating.

[shellyq1]

07:08 PM on 02/08/2012

A narcissist right to the very end. Sick.

[jimbo123]

05:13 PM on 02/09/2012

About the best that can be said for you, Shelly . is that your knowledge of the DSM is, at best, fragmentary and inane.

[shellyq1]

09:06 PM on 02/09/2012

You don't need to be a psychiatrist to spot a narcissist.

[me32]

06:23 PM on 02/08/2012

please stop calling the case worker a social worker. she was not a social worker.

[cellarette]

05:55 PM on 02/08/2012

It's impossible not to hate this guy even though it's probable that he was destroyed by his own upbringing. I really hope they lean on the pornographer father while he's in prison because I'd bet he has a pretty good idea where the first body is. I feel like I have to say something else that probably won't be popular. I'm sure Josh Powell didn't turn into a nut case overnight sometime after his marriage. From the short interviews I've seen with him I can't imagine anyone talking to the guy for more than a few minutes and not at least thinking he was decidedly odd in his speech and his manner (and Dad is just about as obviously odd). I wish that women would think longer and harder before they have children with these damaged men. Yeah, it's fine to have compassion, it's fine to think maybe you can make a difference in their lives and who knows, maybe you can and that's wonderful, but don't pass that risk to children! She had to at least see her father-in-law was a long way from normal-why bring children into that kind of situation? A tragedy for everyone.

[jimbo123]

05:15 PM on 02/09/2012

A breath of sanity for which we should all be thankful.

[Elisabeth Lake]

06:36 PM on 02/11/2012

Don't blame the victim. If you know this case she moved to get away from the father in-law.

[athiesttoo]

04:12 PM on 02/08/2012

If there was any doubt about this self centered pig and his ability to kill someone he certainly removed all doubt. His family is trying to blame his actions on the media and the courts. They are actually trying to make people feel sorry for him. Those boys had a right to life and he brutally took it from them. There is no way they can excuse what this man did to them and probably their mother. They are as sick as he was.

[jimbo123]

05:17 PM on 02/09/2012

Blah!, Blah!, Blah!

[gmb007]

12:42 PM on 02/08/2012

"He was not a danger as long as his kids was with him." - Fenrir Lokison

He hacked and blew up his kids. Apparently he WAS.