Powell’s in-laws: He knew ‘there was no way out’

Video: Grandparents knew Powell ‘was capable of this’

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   >> cox, now joining frus seattle. good morning to you both. we are so, so sorry about this news.

   >> good morning.

   >> good morning.

   >> i want to first give you a chance to say whatever you wish about your grandsons, charlie and braden. what can you tell us about them?

   >> it was great to have them with us. they were becoming more and more happy and more just loving children. we're missing them.

   >> i understand they were becoming more playful and they were becoming more talkative. what were they revealing about the night that your daughter, susan, their mother, disappeared. judy ?

   >> they basically kept saying how they went on a vacation in the desert camping and mommy and daddy, they stopped at some place and mommy and daddy left and then only daddy came back.

   >> there was some discussion about mommy being in the trunk of the car. is that right?

   >> yes.

   >> that was based on a picture drawn by braden at preschool. he drew a picture of the minivan. the day care providers asked him who the people were. he said that was his daddy, charlie and himself and that mommy was in the trunk.

   >> you had feared, chuck, that josh could hurt the boys. did you fear more for them and their safety when these details started to emerge and also after josh lost custody?

   >> we felt that they were safe as long as they were with us, but we were concerned about the visitation. i was concerned about how this first visitation would go, especially after he had lost custody for six months.

   >> you were also concerned there was just one supervisor. is that right?

   >> oh, absolutely. we knew if he was cornered and felt like there was no way out that he was capable of this. we had made that known to the police, all of law enforcement involved in social health services and things. they were aware of our concerns. i don't know. that's the way it went was that one person was all they had. he had several visitations before with no problems. so i can understand why they would think they were okay. but we knew what he was capable of.

   >> not much time has passed. i want to ask you, judy , do you think the lives of your grandchildren were taken because of this custody issue or because josh may have felt they were revealing too much about what happened to your daughter?

   >> i think both. he was feeling cornered. it was basically -- he didn't like us and he just wanted to get the kids away from us so much. it really bothered him that the boys were showing such affection to chuck and there are pictures of that. but i think it was both.

   >> given what you have been feeling and your warning to authorities about josh, do you think they should have, could have done something more to protect these young boys ?

   >> i don't think the visitation should take place in their home, but i understand they have a lot of people and they deal with a lot of people that exaggerate the threat or cry wolf of, if you will. when we get lumped into the mass of people they have to deal with. but this was such an extraordinary circumstance that we felt they should have taken more care.

   >> that morning when the social worker came to pick up the boys, judy , how did the boys seem to you? did they want to go?

   >> no. they didn't want to go. they were having fun playing with their cousin patrick who is 2 years old. they didn't want to go see their dad. i was kind of surprised because sometimes they really looked forward to it. keep asking what day it is. but it was definitely, "i don't want to go" and i know because of the laws they had to go. and i really didn't want them -- the way -- you know -- didn't want to go.

   >> and so that must be difficult to know they had to go when they didn't want to go, judy .

   >> yeah. i just feel a part of me and i wish i could have argued, but i knew.

   >> just makes you wonder should you have told them, okay, you don't have to go. it would have been different obviously.

   >> what's remarkable listening to the two of you and you have been remarkable every time we have talked to you is how strong you have been. how really strong and generous you have been. what has given you peace? what has allowed you to be strong through all of this.

   >> our faith.

   >> we know where our daughter is. we know that she's not here on this earth and that she's safe. we know that the boys are now back with their mother and that gives us a lot of strength -- our faith does.

   >> well, i know everyone listening sends you their deepest condolences. chuck and judy cox, thank you so much for speaking to us.

   >> thank you, ann.

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