Mothers of the Disappeared

Ugh.  I'm so bugged!  I did an awesome best-dressed post on the Golden Globe awards, and I was curious as to why I didn't get any feedback at all.  Well, I realized that it wasn't posted, so I published it.  Unfortunately, something happened during the creation of said post, and 90% of it was deleted.  So I tried to do it again (a shorter version), and it still won't upload.  Gah!  Sometimes I love Google, and sometimes I just want to kick them in the you-know-what.  Like the whole Google+ thing.  Personally, I think it's obnoxious, but they seem to be funneling everyone into being a member of it.  I am a member (friend me if you want, but I won't be offended if you don't), but it's just not that relevant to me.  Maybe it will be in the future, but right now it just irritates me.

Anyway, on to more serious stuff.  I want to write a bit about the drama here in Utah.  Actually, it's mostly in Washington, but it's all over Utah news, because it started here.  This is a good timeline of what happened.  Susan Cox Powell (no relation) disappeared from their home in West Valley City in December 2009.  From the beginning, the whole thing was suspicious.  Why would Josh Powell (her husband) take their kids for a "late night camping trip" in the cold desert in winter?  Those kids would have been ages 2 and 5 at the time.  How does that make sense to anyone? That was his story, and that's why he was the only real person-of-interest in the case.  Unfortunately, nothing could be pinned to him, so he was never officially charged with anything.

Then the drama started, between Susan's family and Josh's family.  There were nasty words exchanged, accusations, and even a confession on the part of Josh's father that he was in love with Susan (but that's a whole other story; the dad is currently in jail for voyeurism and possession of child pornography).  Josh took his kids and moved to Washington state to live with his creep-o father, but there was a raid on the house they lived in, which lead to the father's incarceration and the removal of his kids from his custody.  They were placed with Susan's parents here in Utah.

Last week, as Josh was still trying to regain custody of his children, a judge ordered him to undergo a "psychosexual evaluation."  I don't know what happened between that point and today, but his children were given a supervised visitation today (Sunday).  The social worker who brought the children to his house in Washington said that the kids left the car and ran up to the door before she could get there.  By the time she got to the front door, Josh had locked her out, and she said she smelled gas.  Shortly thereafter, the house blew up.    Apparently, he used some kind of accelerant to make the house burn faster, and ten minutes before the explosion, he sent an e-mail to his attorney, saying "I'm sorry, goodbye." 

How could you do that to your kids? I can't imagine the scrutiny Josh has gone through over the past couple of years, and having his kids taken away must have been terrible for him, but how can you feel bad for this guy?  How selfish and cowardly can a person be, to kill himself and his innocent children?  It breaks my heart.  Truly.  It sounds like a Lifetime movie, but one without a happy ending. 

I certainly don't know what was in Josh Powell's heart today, but I hope he suffers for what he has done.