[see my blogbook The Flowers Cried in Texas: Battle to Save FLDS Childen]
Demons and Saints: Murder of Josh and Susan Powell Family
Here is html version of Steven Powell's "theory"/ fantasy from www.susanpowell.org which reads like a "9-11 truth" conspiracy theory website. Everybody should read it and save the site since the webmaster committed suicide with his boys for clues into the mind of Josh and Steve Powell. The press and even the crowd-sourced detectives have completely ignored this gem. The 9-11 conspiracy theories are very revealing about who would be behind such a massive disinformation campaign, and they give away their own tactics by the tactics they accuse others of doing. They all pointed blame away from Arab / Muslim hijackers and Al Queda and Iran, and they all place blame on Israel, United States and Britain and Mossad, CIA and MI6, which give away who these folks are working for - a classic "false flag attack", they fly the flag of the USA, but clearly are against it. Similarly Steven and Josh maintain they loved Susan (Yes, Steven we know how much you loved Susan) but spend a huge amount of time attacking Susan and the Cox family accusing them of character flaws and clever deception that are clearly manifested on the Powell side.
This story is unbelievably elaborate and reads like the average conspiracy theory which is carefully constructed to present the exact opposite of what actually happened to cover up a terrible crime and who did it, pointing blame to victims such US or Israel. Steve and Josh accuse other Susan Powell supporter websites of spreading "disinformation", just like conspiracy websites which blame 9-11 on US and Israel, and deflect blame on the obvious culprits. One of my sayings is that when somebody spends this much effort to craft made up nonsense, they are not stupid, they are not insane, they are UP TO SOMETHING. It is my belief that Steven Powell has been controlling Josh Powell, it is likely he helped Josh plan the murder of this wife, and he probably knows exactly what happened to Susan Powell and where if the authorities had the guts to confront him and ask him what what really happened, since he knows so much of what obviously did not happen. There is not one shred of evidence for any of the charges made by Steve. He even theorizes Susan had a passport (Josh says she did not have one) and was probably pregant. He hates the Mormon church but asks the Mormon church to do investigation work for him to lead investigators away from who actually did it.
The website susanpowell.org was put up by Josh Powell to defend his family against Susan's family. Steven is Josh Powell's father, and primary defender and apologist. He seems to know an awful lot about Susan's whereabouts, still in jail now that Josh has made his exit. Remarkable he was willing to share this with the FBI. I've never seen any mention of this from the mainstream press.
Disclaimer: there is a lot of dubious stuff here, presented to expose information of concern to the community:
http://susanpowell.org/Content/Download/2010-03-01-Steven-Koecher-Susan-Powell-brainstorm-by-Steve-Powell.pdf
Find out more at:
http://www.SusanPowell.org
Powell-Koecher Connection March 1, 2009
Page 1 of 9 Submitted by Steven Powell
http://www.SusanPowell.org
February 28, 2010
A preliminary copy of this report was prepared by Steven Powell, father-in-law of missing Utah
woman Susan Powell, for meeting with FBI agents [RAJ] and [GWF] in FBI Tacoma office, on February 24, 2010. This draft is being copied to Detective Gavin Cook of the West Valley City, UT
Police Dept.; Detective Adam Olmstead of the St. George, UT Police Dept.; and Detective Robert
McKay of the City of Henderson, NV Police Dept. [no shame at all, amazing]
This meeting with the FBI office in Tacoma was set up by Agent RAJ of the FBI office in Salt Lake
City.
To the above-mentioned agents and detectives:
I am sure you have connected the dots between Susan Powell and Steven Koecher, in spite of the
fact that, as one news article about the Koecher disappearance expressed it, "tips have come in.
Some seem unlikely, like the theory that Steven's disappearance is related to missing West Valley,
Utah mom Susan Powell." Contrary to what this quote says, I think it is extremely likely that the two
are connected. So I want to make sure you have some insights about Susan that I am aware of,
based on personal interactions with her. I think the basic connections between Koecher and Powell
are hard to miss when one looks at the Koecher timeline sites.google.com/site/parallelcooler/home/koecher-html), 2 but there are a few things that might help confirm that you are on the right track. So I would like to give my thoughts on where I think they are and where to look to find out how they arrived; why Susan would have abandoned her husband, children and parents; and how she may have paid for their abscondence. 3
I recognize that both Susan and Koecher would not break any laws by absconding, if both did so willingly, and may not be guilty of any infractions. And they can certainly stay where they are if found. That having been said, it is possible that Susan only wanted this disappearance to continue for a short time, and that ultimately Steven Koecher abducted her, and is holding her against her will, or that she is being subjected to human slavery/prostitution. It is also possible that they have broken laws by creating and continuing a scenario that suggests Susan's husband is responsible for her disappearance. 4
I would also like to point out that now that my initial shock and depression caused by Susan's disappearance have worn off, I believe I am thinking more clearly. Early on, notably in December 2009, it never occurred to me to even entertain the possibility that Susan may have absconded. However, having become 99.9% certain that my son is clueless as to Susan's fate and whereabouts, and having extreme difficulty coming up with any believable scenario in which she might have been abducted (she could have gone outside for her daily jog, and been abducted, but she usually used a treadmill in winter, and did that outside run in better weather), toward the end of January I began to wrap my mind around the possibility that her "disappearance" may have been an "abscondence." I gave that possibility at least a chance until February 12, the day I began looking at the Steven Koecher case.
1Nothing has been added to this document since March 1, 2010 except these footnotes. I read very little about Koecher's activities during the week Susan disappeared
2 This timeline was a revelation when I first saw in on February 12. Up to that time I had worried that Susan Powell might be a suicide, and even that she might have been kidnapped by an abductor, and was being held in a foreign country she would be unable to escape.
3 Susan had read every book by Mary Higgins Clark and many other books of the mystery genre. I have wondered if the scenario Susan created for her disappearance might be found in a book she’s read.
4 It was over a month later that someone mentioned the Bonnie Sweeten case to me and I looked it up on the internet. That was another revelation, and opened up a whole new range of possibilities.
5 On the evening of February 12 I was actually getting ready to look at the subject of sex slaves, because a friend at work had suggested there were predators involved in kidnapping young women in the American Southwest. But before I began that search I remembered before I said, "Bingo." The more I read about him, the more I learned about him, and the more I looked at the timeline for him during the week of Susan's disappearance, the more convinced I became that the Koecher and Powell disappearances were related. I also concluded that I was in denial when I refused to accept the possibility that Susan may have been involved in a love affair, and have run off with another man, something I should have accepted readily, given my above-average familiarity with her sexual proclivities. 6
SUSAN'S INTEREST IN PORTUGUESE AND CASUAL BELIEF IN MORMON CHURCH
First among personal tidbits about Susan, a few years ago she told me she wanted to learn Portuguese, because a line of her ancestors was traced to Portugal. For that reason, and based on hints in the attached timeline, I believe Susan Powell and Steven Koecher may be somewhere in Brazil, where he served a mission. On at least one occasion she expressed regret to me that she had not served a mission for the LDS Chu rch before getting married. Brazil and Portugal would have been mission destinations of interest to her. Below I will offer a possible trajectory from West Valley City, Utah to Brazil.
Koecher served his LDS mission in Fortaleza and Teresina, in northeastern Brazil. I would start there in a search for them, since Koecher would know people they might be able to stay with until they became established. However, Koecher knows Portuguese, 7 and could make his way anywhere in Brazil. He might avoid areas where people knew him as a missionary. Although Susan was a very casual Mormon and, in a Mormon testimony meeting last October at her West Valley City ward, specifically stated she did not truly believe in the church, she also stated she was appreciative of the support of the members who were trying to help her get a testimony.
It would seem that Susan likes being involved in the church despite her non-belief, and has been
able, throughout her life, to separate her risk-taking sexual mores from her beliefs in the moral
pronouncements of the church. For her it is very easy to do what makes her feel good, and repent
and confess to the bishop later. For that reason, even though a relationship with Koecher would
seem out of keeping with her beliefs, Susan would easily quash any cognitive dissonance. I believe
Susan and Koecher will continue to be active in the Mormon (Latter-day Saint) Church. I would
even venture a guess that they are likely to have arrived in Brazil claiming to be fiances and, since
both no doubt had current LDS temple recommends, moved forward to get married in a Mormon
temple. For that reason I would suggest checking marriage-license records in Brazil if other areas
of investigation do not locate them.
An argument against the likelihood that they are involved in the LDS Church in Brazil is that as an
automatic course of action their new ward in Brazil would be requesting that their records be forwarded from their old ward in Utah. Those records would be transferred at church headquarters, I believe. However, with the right friends in ward leadership (and Koecher appears to have been close to his president, Greg Webb) 8 that one of my nieces had said something in December about a guy from Utah who had disappeared about the same time as Susan. I googled “missing man Utah,” and the case of Steven Koecher came up. there would certainly be ways to cover the abscondence, and 6 According to Susan, she was sexually active at a young age because sexual activity made her feel “loved”. Susan’s addiction to sex
grew stronger throughout her teenage years and never abated. As a child, Susan said there was almost a total lack of love in her parents’ home and there was constant anger and fighting. 7
I assume Koecher speaks Portuguese because Mormon missionaries are required to learn the language of their destination country in the Mormon Church’s missionary training center. 8 Greg Webb was the president of Koecher’s Mormon priesthood quorum. Steven Koecher was one of two "Counselors" in Webb's
quorum presidency. Both men were in the Las Vegas area on the morning Steven Koecher “disappeared” from the Anthem neighborhood of Henderson, NV. Some who were following the case early on blogged that it was very unusual for these two Mormon Priesthood leaders to be in Las Vegas on a Sunday morning (about two hours away from their church meeting house). However, Greg Webb later (documented March 4, 2010) said he had spent the weekend with friends in Las Vegas. Koecher's reason for being in Las Vegas is unknown. Both men skipped the Mormon Priesthood Executive Committee (PEC) meeting they were expected to attend that morning, because they were in Las Vegas.
to create bogus church records for Susan. Can anomalies in the church records of Koecher's St.
George ward be checked? If Webb did do something to help this along, one would expect that he
would cover his tracks.
I would check with Mormon ecclesiastical units throughout Brazil, visiting them personally with pictures of Susan and Koecher, beginning with the Fortaleza and Teresina metro areas. Perhaps the LDS Church can contact leaders throughout Brazil with pictures (although the church tends to turn a blind eye to scandals and likes to keep things like this hush hush). If the Mormon Church is willing to help, maybe they can urge church leaders to look at web sites with pictures of Susan and Koecher. One important thing to note is that I can show you 20 pictures of Susan, and you would not necessarily know you were looking at the same person. And this is before she plays with her makeup and hair color. I noted this years ago. Interestingly, we recently set up a web site called www.SusanPowell.org, and some of Josh Powell’s detractors said “he”
included pictures that did not even look like her. They are dead wrong. I noted to myself many years ago that Susan is a human chameleon. Koecher could also give himself a different look (all pictures of him show a clean-cut Mormon-missionary look) by simply growing a beard and mustache and/or donning a hat.
Please note that Susan is a trained cosmetologist, and worked in that field in a salon in Puyallup before she branched into other fields, including property management (she and Josh were co-managers at a number of retirement communities) and investment counseling. She could easily change her hair color and style. I don't even know what Susan's natural hair color is. I don't think I have ever seen her with the same hair color for more than a few weeks. When I first met her she was a bleached blonde. When I saw her last February, she was a brunette. I would venture a guess that she has now taken on the black-haired Latin look, if she is indeed in Brazil.
Susan spent a lot of money at beauty supply stores. If this investigation leads to Brazil, I would check such suppliers out. I would start in Brazil's northeast and check with on-line newspapers and other on-line publications, since Koecher's last two jobs in Utah were with such. It would be helpful to publish their pictures together in local newspapers (but does Susan look like any of the pictures we have on a given day?) I am sure there are so many newspapers that that would be difficult, and there is the possibility that
Koecher works at one of the papers. I also would expect him to consider working for a university or
a government agency.
9 Josh Powell (Susan's husband) says she did not have a passport. I would surmise that she did have one, and the date of acquisition of her passport may give us a clue as to when she hatched this alleged plan to go to Brazil.
10 I would check passport applications out under Susan Powell, Susan Cox and Susan Koecher. Other possibilities would be Susan Marie Cox and Susan Marie Powell (her legal name, and the name she has gone by since 2001). She likes her middle name, suggesting that Marie Cox, Marie Powell, or Marie Koecher could be used. I assume the FBI can check on passports without additional information.
News reports say that when Koecher absconded from Henderson, NV on December 13 he had his
passport with him. However, it would make sense that he would also use an assumed name. He
has that clean-cut Mormon-missionary appearance, but anyone who would stage a disappearance
in such a way that it might frame an innocent person will certainly not hesitate to apply for a
9 My research in February or March 2010 indicated that there were only about 25 major daily newspapers in Brazil
10 While it is certainly possible to leave the United States without a passport, it would be necessary to have one should one want to return.
passport under an assumed name. Appearances are deceiving. The Mormon bomber, Mark
Hoffman, began his forging career while on his mission in England. 11
WHERE THE ALLEGED TRIP TO BRAZIL BEGAN
In one news article Koecher's mother refers to him as an avid boater. I would check boat rentals
(and missing boats) in and around Boulder City, Nevada for December 12-13, 2009 (it was established by a cell-phone ping that Koecher was near Overton on Dec 12, the day before he absconded), for use below Hoover Dam. I would show Koecher's picture to boat rental agencies, along with Susan's, as well as a picture of his close friend and church leader Greg Webb, who was also in the Las Vegas area the day Koecher abandoned his vehicle in Henderson, NV. In the week prior to his disappearance Koecher made a number of small meal purchases (about $3.00 each) with his debit card, including in Mesquite, NV on December 12. Small purchases may have been a ruse to make investigators think he traveled alone.
Another possibility that occurred to me is that on December 12, Koecher and Powell could have
driven to Bullhead City International Airport to pay cash for plane tickets to another domestic airport.
They could have gone south from there. I guess it would be difficult at this late date to find any
airline personnel who might remember a cash transaction from December 12. The fact is, on
December 12 they could have driven all the way to Lake Havasu City to buy plane tickets with cash,
if that was their plan. It might be possible to examine cash transactions at these two airports for that
date.
If they took a rented boat south from Boulder City, I would guess they might have headed for
Mexico City or a coastal port to take a flight or a ship to Brazil. Could they have taken a bus to
Mexico City, possibly all the way from Bullhead City above Davis dam, or from Lake Havasu City,
above Parker Dam? There are also "international" airports in these cities. Is there a way to check
passport usage under their names? Of course, that is of no value if they used assumed names. I
don't think it likely that they took a boat rented in Boulder City all the way down the Colorado River,
since I understand it is not navigable all the way to the Gulf.
I would check flights from Mexico City to destinations in Brazil and passport usage for the same. If
they avoided flights, they may have taken other ground transportation, or traveled by ship through
the Panama Canal to reach Fortaleza, a coastal city of Brazil that Koecher would be familiar with.
Are there passenger ships that travel from points in Mexico to Fortaleza? Can passport activity be
traced at seaports?
I surmise that Susan and Koecher may have been together on December 13, the day he
absconded
12
11 See Salamander by Sillitoe and Roberts and Mormon Murders by Naifeh and Smith, two very readable and informative books on the subject. As a Mormon missionary Mark Hoffman spent time in the British Museum doing research and cutting blank end papers out of ancient books, papers that would later be used to create Hoffman’s forged documents. Top leaders in the Mormon-church hierarchy were duped by Hoffman into paying nearly $200,000 each for some of Hoffman’s forged documents. Hoffman eventually confessed pipe-bombing two innocent people to death to cover up his forgery activities. It is ironic that in the 1980s, local Mormons rallied around Mark Hoffman during over a year of investigation, until his confession. Mormons supported Hoffman because he fit the image of a believing Mormon. From the beginning after Susan’s abscondence, Jennifer Graves and Chuck Cox worked diligently to paint Josh as a
lukewarm Mormon because they knew how this would influence Mormon attitudes about Josh. Josh chose to stop attending meetings at the local Mormon Church because of the attitude of the vocal minority of Mormons. (that he absconded seems apparent from the surveillance video of Koecher walking
12 An interesting comment by Koecher’s landlady hints at Susan’s presence in Koecher’s St. George, Utah apartment: There were only two times I ever peeked into Steven’s room. It was after he started [having] trouble paying his rent and all I wanted to see was if his stuff was still there or if it was all gone. The first time I quickly peeked in was when we stayed overnight at the house on our way to visit family, in Nov. His stuff was still there but looked kind of messy, the bed was not made and I noticed there were piles of stuff on the floor . . . The second time I peeked into his room was just before he went missing. We stayed at the house overnight and I think it was the Monday of the 14th [December 14, 2009]. We were on our way back to Orem
briskly away from his car on Dec 13). He abandoned his car in a Henderson, NV neighborhood,
about a half hour from Boulder City. He may have been picked up by a waiting friend, who already
had Susan in his vehicle, for the short ride to Boulder City, where they picked up the rented boat.
Certainly they could have rented a car and driven south, but I would guess that Koecher would want
to enjoy his first opportunity to share his boating hobby with Susan. I would check to see if Susan's
DNA is in Koecher's car, and in the vehicles of specific friends. If a boat can be identified, perhaps
there is DNA in it. Perhaps my boat-rental theory does not hold water for those investigating this,
but maybe it will spur some other thoughts on what Koecher was doing near Overton on December
12.Susan had her own financial resources. Her parents said recently that they set up a separate
account for her.
13 They did not say how many years ago they did this. How much seed money did
they give her? Susan had control of the family's only debit card, and was certainly capable of
withdrawing cash at any time to deposit in the secret account set up by her parents. She may have
had investments of which Josh was unaware, since she worked for Fidelity Investments and later
Wells Fargo Investments. I believe she had a safe deposit box, for which she had the only key, and
may have stored cash in it, for all we know. Some time ago she urged Josh to withdraw cash from
their savings, to be placed in a "family preparedness" home storage area. A large amount of that
cash, which I understand started out in the $7-10,000 range, disappeared and was unaccounted
for.
Koecher presumably had savings, since he was out of work for several months before their
disappearance, and apparently put hundreds of miles on his car every month. In the three days
14
before his disappearance he is said to have put 1200 miles on his car, passing through West Valley
City during those travels. However he was used to getting bailed out financially by his parents and
a grandparent, and maybe by Susan Powell. He also stiffed his landlord for three to four months'
rent prior to their disappearance. He may have done so to conserve money for their
abscondence.
15
Susan also has parents who have habitually bailed out at least one of their daughters with huge
sums of money. Susan would have no worries about a possibility of getting stranded in Brazil,
should she have second thoughts about this alleged relationship, since plenty of money is there to
bring her back if she just calls home. Susan's mother inherited a lot of money, and the Coxes have
been in an above-average financial situation for many years. And speaking of second thoughts, I
am inclined to believe that Susan would be having second thoughts by now, and could be missing
her children terribly.
MOTIVE
Susan will have a difficult time being happy, no matter who she is with or where she goes,
and I again just wanted to make sure he hadn't up and moved out. This time his room looked cleaned up. The bed was made and the piles were gone/put away. Things looked neat and tidy but it still looked like everything was there and he was still living there.” (http://www.websleuths.com/, contributed 1/14/2010 by stillLooking). Cleaning one’s apartment can be a precursor to suicide. However, we also see it as another possible link between Susan Powell and Steven Koecher. Susan is obsessive-compulsive about cleaning, vacuuming, mowing the lawn, weeding the garden, etc. Susan would have preferred to see the apartment clean and may have even been the one who cleaned it.
13 Susan’s parents have stated in media interviews throughout 2010 that they helped Susan set up secret bank accounts. One certainly wonders why Susan, who worked for a bank and was quite intelligent and capable, would need their help to do that, unless they were perhaps helping her to establish new identities as well.
14 Correction: Koecher may have put 1200 miles on his car over six days leading up to his abscondence, not three days. 15 It would also make sense that Steven Koecher did not care about paying his rent, because he knew his abscondence was imminent. Koecher’s family reports that they advanced him enough money to pay the three months of back rent he owed, but it was not paid to the landlord.
principally due to life-long emotional abuse by her mother. She and Josh were seeing a counselor
for a few months prior to her disappearance. Josh is not the easiest person to get along with, but
Susan was the one with the true issues to deal with. Josh was very concerned about the way she
treated their children, and told the counselor that he believed Susan's occasional out-of-control
anger was a result of the severe emotional abuse suffered at the hands of her mother. This
emotional abuse by her mother continued into Susan's adulthood. I personally saw Susan reduced
to tears a number of times while she was talking to her mother on the phone, and was told by Susan
that "my mother was screaming at me."
16 Susan deeply resented her father for being totally spineless, and letting her mother's abuse
continue.
17 Susan's "disappearance" could be payback. These motivating factors might be verified
by speaking to Susan's parents and their friends (who have undoubtedly witnessed this emotional
abuse, but who are currently very sympathetic with the Coxes due to their loss of Susan), her
sisters (who probably also suffered similar treatment by their mother), and their ex-husbands and
boyfriends (and current ones) who, like Josh, seemed very careful to avoid Judy Cox (Susan's
mother). There is good reason that one of Coxes' daughters has lost custody of two children
produced with a boyfriend as a teenager, and has also lost custody of two children produced in a
marriage that recently ended. This older daughter's marriage ended about a year ago, partly due to
a work-place sexual affair that ended about two years ago.
18 I truly do not want to cast aspersions on Susan or her sister Denise, and would appreciate confidentiality for their sake.
19 I am makingthese comments about her family so that you may confirm this aspect of Susan's psychological profile by interviewing family members, etc. (not that they will be forthcoming or admit the
prevalence of emotional abuse in the Cox family).
Susan was having extreme difficulties dealing with her children. Josh at times had to "rescue" his
children from her wrath. Josh would remind Susan that she was treating the children as Judy Cox
(her mother) treated her. In recent weeks many blogs and commentaries on the internet have
advanced the idea that Susan "would never leave her children." On the contrary, I think she would
welcome a chance to start over, because she could not break the pattern, established for her by her
mother, of occasionally reacting to her boys with violent anger.
20
Susan may even already be pregnant, and under a doctor's care (check with OB-GYNs, perhaps
here as well as in Brazil), since she wanted to have at least one girl. This may have made her
abrupt departure necessary, if she was beginning to show the effects of pregnancy. Josh would
know that it was not his, since he was practicing "safe sex." Susan's parents made the comment
(this is hearsay, since I have only heard about this statement) in one news article or blog that Susan
planned to file for divorce in April 2010. Go figure. Supposedly, as the Coxes and others seem to
16
On one occasion I asked Susan why her mother screamed at her all the time. Susan explained that her mother wanted to go to medical school, but instead ended up on the “mommy track,” and was extremely frustrated with her life due to lack of fulfillment. Since I have personally witnessed episodes in which Susan’s mother Judy Cox acted out in ways reminiscent of psychotic episodes, I don’t buy the
simplistic explanation Susan gave me.
17
Susan also told Josh something I was not aware of when writing this. She said that her father Chuck Cox spent more time with his Mormon-Church-sponsored Boy Scout troop than with his family. During Susan’s most critical teen years, Chuck was a lay priesthood leader in the Mormon Church (Chuck Cox was 1
st counselor to the Bishop of the Puyallup Firgrove Ward which his family attended). Such Mormon callings typically demand a lot of time away from the family, since the Mormon Church has only an untrained part-time unpaid lay ministry. According to Susan, Chuck Cox’s career as a government employee consumed most of the rest of his time. 18
Susan told Josh in 2009 that her sister Denise had lost custody of her two children from her high-school boyfriend Rob Fowler as well as her two children from her marriage to Chad Gordon. The Pierce County Washington public record of Denise Gordon’s (formerly Denise Cox) divorce makes it appear that Denise may have regained custody of two of her four children. However Susan did say Denise had lost custody of all four of her children because according to Susan, Denise preferred to party. The aforementioned Pierce County public record may be found here: http://www.co.pierce.wa.us/cfapps/linx/calendar/GetCivilCase.cfm?cause_num=09-3-03572-4
19
I have decided this issue needs to become part of the public discussion because we want to encourage Susan and her family to seek psychological help. The cycle of abuse and its consequences must be stopped.
20
It is also possible that part of the reason Susan left was to protect the children because she knew she could not break her own behavior patterns which were learned from both of her parents. Susan was never witnessed physically abusing the children. However, her anger seems to overpower her own self control and this is frightening, especially when directed at a tiny toddler.
Find out more at:
http://www.SusanPowell.org
Powell-Koecher Connection March 1, 2009
Page 7 of 9 Submitted by Steven Powell
http://www.SusanPowell.org
be trying to paint the picture, she was in a failed marriage, and possibly was even afraid of Josh.
21
Sometime last summer or fall Susan urgently asked Josh to get her pregnant, but he did not feel they (she in particular) were ready for another child. At the time Josh told me about this urgency Susan seemed to have, I asked him if she might be so anxious to get him to take the condom off because she was already pregnant by someone else. 22
Was she trying to make it seem like Josh impregnated her? I was not inclined to believe she was having an affair, but it did cross my mind. Hence the question to Josh. Susan was also anxious to get pregnant because she had gained a massive amount of weight, particularly during her pregnancy with the second of two children (the weight was lost in drastic dietary and exercise measures).
23
She was anxious to have her "last" child, so that she might get a tummy tuck over with and move on with her life.
As for whether Susan might abandon her husband Josh, I don't think there is any question that she
would do so, and even frame him on the way out. She was being egged on by their daycare
provider, Debbie Caldwell, who was evidently abused as a child. Caldwell believed that all men are
abusers, and Josh's quirks were interpreted by her as being controlling, and therefore abusive.
Susan was frequently at Caldwell's house, helping her with chores and giving her food and money
24
(over and above the childcare expense Caldwell received from Josh and Susan) and even gave
Caldwell a key to the Powell house, something Josh did not know until after Susan disappeared.
Josh had a difficult time keeping Susan from joining Caldwell in her male-bashing fantasyland.
As for framing Josh, what better way could Susan have found to divert attention from an
abscondence, particularly to a foreign land, where she might cause herself to disappear
permanently? This has probably worked more perfectly than she expected. Until now there have
been no media reports connecting her with Koecher, and there has been a media circus around
Josh and the boys.
It is interesting to me that about a year ago Josh took the boys on a winter campout similar to the
one on December 7. After they returned Josh called me to tell me about it. They had left at about
10:00 p.m. and spent the night in the family van. Josh said it was pretty cold,
25
and that next time
they did a winter campout he would have a generator and a heater. I have no doubt Susan knew
about this plan to eventually buy a heater for camping. So Josh did buy one sometime in November
2009, and waited for a good night to go on a snow campout. If Susan actually did abscond, as I
believe she did, and did plan it in advance, the purchase of the generator and heater would have
been her cue that she would be able to implement the plan soon. Within days of buying the heater,
Josh took it out to a snowy campground for its maiden voyage and, like Steven Koecher, Susan
walked away "with a purpose."
WERE OTHERS INVOLVED? THOUGHTS ON WHO TO TALK TO
I am of the opinion that there are at least two people in Utah who know where Susan and Koecher
are. One is in West Valley City, and one is in St. George. Someone in WVC had to receive Susan
into their home when she left her home in the early hours of December 7. Josh created the perfect
21
Josh never gave Susan any reason to fear him, and she never expressed any fear of him.
22
Josh never believed Susan was cheating on him. Josh trusted Susan and never questioned her frequent activities with friends,
regardless of whether those friends were male or female.
23
Susan has described herself as “anorexic” during her teen years. Because of Susan’s crash diets and extreme exercise routines, Josh
has expressed concern about her health and self-image over the years.
24
Debbie Caldwell continually made Susan worry that Susan wasn't paying enough for Caldwell's childcare services. Although Josh
and Susan were paying well above Debbie Caldwell's daily rate for the three days their children were in daycare, Caldwell made frequent
comments about being underpaid. Debbie Caldwell made Susan feel guilty for not needing (and thus not paying for) five days of
childcare because Susan and Josh were able to be with their own children most of the week.
25
Josh’s exact words were, “We froze our asses off.”Find out more at:
http://www.SusanPowell.org
Powell-Koecher Connection March 1, 2009
Page 8 of 9 Submitted by Steven Powell
http://www.SusanPowell.org
disappearance-by-husband scenario for her by just being Josh. She knew it was a matter of time
before he repeated his regular pattern of leaving to camp with the boys late at night.
26
In what I view as the apparent timeline, Susan went to someone's house
27
(which I refer to "safe
house" in my timeline) in WVC, or was picked up and taken there, and waited until Koecher arrived,
which was probably by the evening of December 7 (December 7 and 8 appear to be undocumented
in the timeline that has been created around Koecher's disappearance).
28
Still in WVC on
December 8 they decided, as a ruse to cover Koecher's tracks in the WVC area, that Koecher
would drop in on his ex-girlfriend's parents in Ruby Valley, NV to feign interest in seeing her, which
he did on December 9. He headed back to West Valley City via Wendover, NV the evening of Dec
9 (evidenced by a food purchase in Wendover), and he and Susan headed for St. George on
Thursday Dec 10 (there are expenditures on his debit card in Springville and Nephi that day).
The "safe house" could have been that of Debbie Caldwell or Tim Peterson (both Susan's
confidantes
29
), but that would be too obvious, and they live within the boundaries of Susan's
Latter-day Saint ward. However, it might be well to show neighbors of these people pictures of
Koecher's vehicle, to see if they recognize it. Checking Koecher's cell-phone records in recent
months for calls to West Valley City, and for his presence in the Utah Valley area would also seem
productive, although pre-paid cell phones are plentiful, and are probably not traceable.
Susan's days off were Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, and it would be of interest to know if
Koecher's trips north targeted Wednesdays and Thursdays. She frequently claimed she was going
to the temple on those days, and usually drove Josh to work so as to retain their vehicle at home for
her own use. Josh never questioned mileage or gas consumption when Susan used the vehicle.
Josh's cell phone records should also be checked (I believe WVCPD already have them) for calls to
St. George or other numbers Koecher used (Bountiful?), since Susan frequently used his phone
due to the unlimited minutes available.
WHERE SUSAN POWELL AND STEVEN KOECHER MAY HAVE MET
Both worked in downtown Salt Lake City for a number of years. Susan worked at Fidelity
Investments, and Koecher worked as an intern in the office of the Governor's secretary. Susan
took a hiatus from work to have her first son, and later worked at Wells Fargo Investments, which
was further from the downtown core. Koecher worked for a while at the Salt Lake Tribune, which
appears to be about two blocks from Fidelity Investments, but I don't believe the time periods match.
They may have met at the temple.
26 Josh and Susan have both loved camping from childhood onward. Susan frequently recounted her excitement about “igloo camping”as a child as well as many other outdoor activities. It is well documented that Susan and Josh frequently camped as a family, in addition to Josh’s camping trips with only his children.
27 It is also possible that Susan was alone for several days. She could have stayed in a motel or a vacant home. For years, Josh and Susan carried keys to HUD foreclosure homes because both were involved in real estate sales. Susan’s HUD key may have allowed her access to hundreds of vacant homes throughout Utah with no electronic record of who was entering those homes.
28 The “Koecher Timeline,” (see link on page 1) has changed dramatically since I looked at it for the first time on February 12, 2010. The timeline was authored by a woman who calls herself “Laytonian” and she is apparently in contact with the Koecher family. To her credit, Laytonian documents the changes in her timeline, and gives reasons for the changes. The most troubling changes surround the events of the week of December 7. I have based my timeline on the version that was extant on February 12 when I “discovered” the Koecher case. Based on a careful review of Laytonian’s changes, it appears that some changes may be based on spurious or contradictory eye-witness accounts. People were connecting the two cases from the beginning and it appears that some of Steven Koecher’s friends may have wanted to distance him from Susan Powell. Regardless, their changes don’t preclude a possible connection to Susan Powell.
29 According to Tim Peterson’s early statements to the media, Susan was distancing herself from Peterson because he was pressuring her to divorce Josh. Debbie Caldwell was also meddling in Susan’s marriage. Debbie Caldwell has said that she has had no contact or relationship with her father since she was a teenager (Caldwell appears to be in her late 50s) and that it has affected her perceptions about men. Caldwell frequently made it clear to Susan and to Josh directly that she didn’t like Josh. Their personalities clashed.
Find out more at:
http://www.SusanPowell.org
Powell-Koecher Connection March 1, 2009
Page 9 of 9 Submitted by Steven Powell
http://www.SusanPowell.org
They may have been introduced by a mutual friend in West Valley City. It would appear that
Koecher has a connection there, since he spent Thanksgiving Day in WVC, November 26, 2009,
less than two weeks before Susan disappeared. His timeline says he played volleyball in WVC in
the morning of November 26, went to Bountiful for lunch (with his parents?), and returned to WVC
that evening for a "piece of pie."
30
Josh does not recall if Susan went out for errands on
Thanksgiving morning or evening.
31
They (the Powells) attended a Thanksgiving dinner at Josh's
uncle's house in Ogden. Did Koecher stay through the rest of the Thanksgiving weekend?
Possibly. He had no job.
32
He was free to come and go as he pleased.
I would check with Koecher's cousin in Layton, UT (K.C. Naegle) and a cousin in Las Vegas, NV
(Jeff Bradshaw), and ask some pointed questions, to determine if they were aware of Susan's and
Koecher's planned disappearance. Greg Webb, Koecher's church leader in St. George may be
aware of some plan. Koecher moved to St. George in April 2009. Why? Why St. George? Did he
know Webb prior to moving there? Koecher had a roommate up until about three months before his
disappearance. Can this former roommate be located for questioning? Was Koecher's move to St
George part of the plan for both him and Susan to disappear?
SOME OTHER COMMONALITIES
Susan's father plays guitar and sings, as do I. Susan loves singing, and has been in choirs
regularly since junior high school. She has recorded two music projects with me. Koecher's guitar
playing and singing would have been of interest to her. And of course there is the common interest
in Portuguese. Koecher's physical appearance would seem to fit the profile that would attract
Susan.
MY LEVEL OF CERTAINTY
I have no complete certainty about any of this. I hope what I have written offers some viable
possibilities for finding their trail. I am about 100% certain that Koecher absconded, and about 75%
certain that Susan did likewise. I am about 75% certain that if one is found the other will be with
them. I am not nearly that certain that they went to Brazil.
33
30
The phrase “piece of pie” was changed in later versions of Laytonian’s timeline.
However I can't think of a more fitting
place for a couple with their background to disappear without a trace.
31
I learned later that Susan had encouraged Josh to take advantage of Black Friday sales that night. Josh left on his first (and last, Josh
says) Black Friday adventure at 10:00 p.m. on November 26, 2009. Susan was “alone” all night.
32
I stand corrected, Koecher was apparently making money by handing out window-washing flyers. I am not convinced this “job”
would have restricted his schedule much.
33
The reality is, they would probably be less likely to be noticed in Alabama than in Brazil. Recently someone mentioned to me that as
far as that goes, Susan and Koecher could be in Provo, Utah, and live undetected. The Elizabeth Smart case is a disturbing example of a
recent missing person going unnoticed in very public places in Utah.
Demons and Saints: Murder of Josh and Susan Powell Family
Here is html version of Steven Powell's "theory"/ fantasy from www.susanpowell.org which reads like a "9-11 truth" conspiracy theory website. Everybody should read it and save the site since the webmaster committed suicide with his boys for clues into the mind of Josh and Steve Powell. The press and even the crowd-sourced detectives have completely ignored this gem. The 9-11 conspiracy theories are very revealing about who would be behind such a massive disinformation campaign, and they give away their own tactics by the tactics they accuse others of doing. They all pointed blame away from Arab / Muslim hijackers and Al Queda and Iran, and they all place blame on Israel, United States and Britain and Mossad, CIA and MI6, which give away who these folks are working for - a classic "false flag attack", they fly the flag of the USA, but clearly are against it. Similarly Steven and Josh maintain they loved Susan (Yes, Steven we know how much you loved Susan) but spend a huge amount of time attacking Susan and the Cox family accusing them of character flaws and clever deception that are clearly manifested on the Powell side.
This story is unbelievably elaborate and reads like the average conspiracy theory which is carefully constructed to present the exact opposite of what actually happened to cover up a terrible crime and who did it, pointing blame to victims such US or Israel. Steve and Josh accuse other Susan Powell supporter websites of spreading "disinformation", just like conspiracy websites which blame 9-11 on US and Israel, and deflect blame on the obvious culprits. One of my sayings is that when somebody spends this much effort to craft made up nonsense, they are not stupid, they are not insane, they are UP TO SOMETHING. It is my belief that Steven Powell has been controlling Josh Powell, it is likely he helped Josh plan the murder of this wife, and he probably knows exactly what happened to Susan Powell and where if the authorities had the guts to confront him and ask him what what really happened, since he knows so much of what obviously did not happen. There is not one shred of evidence for any of the charges made by Steve. He even theorizes Susan had a passport (Josh says she did not have one) and was probably pregant. He hates the Mormon church but asks the Mormon church to do investigation work for him to lead investigators away from who actually did it.
The website susanpowell.org was put up by Josh Powell to defend his family against Susan's family. Steven is Josh Powell's father, and primary defender and apologist. He seems to know an awful lot about Susan's whereabouts, still in jail now that Josh has made his exit. Remarkable he was willing to share this with the FBI. I've never seen any mention of this from the mainstream press.
Disclaimer: there is a lot of dubious stuff here, presented to expose information of concern to the community:
http://susanpowell.org/Content/Download/2010-03-01-Steven-Koecher-Susan-Powell-brainstorm-by-Steve-Powell.pdf
Find out more at:
http://www.SusanPowell.org
Powell-Koecher Connection March 1, 2009
Page 1 of 9 Submitted by Steven Powell
http://www.SusanPowell.org
February 28, 2010
A preliminary copy of this report was prepared by Steven Powell, father-in-law of missing Utah
woman Susan Powell, for meeting with FBI agents [RAJ] and [GWF] in FBI Tacoma office, on February 24, 2010. This draft is being copied to Detective Gavin Cook of the West Valley City, UT
Police Dept.; Detective Adam Olmstead of the St. George, UT Police Dept.; and Detective Robert
McKay of the City of Henderson, NV Police Dept. [no shame at all, amazing]
This meeting with the FBI office in Tacoma was set up by Agent RAJ of the FBI office in Salt Lake
City.
To the above-mentioned agents and detectives:
I am sure you have connected the dots between Susan Powell and Steven Koecher, in spite of the
fact that, as one news article about the Koecher disappearance expressed it, "tips have come in.
Some seem unlikely, like the theory that Steven's disappearance is related to missing West Valley,
Utah mom Susan Powell." Contrary to what this quote says, I think it is extremely likely that the two
are connected. So I want to make sure you have some insights about Susan that I am aware of,
based on personal interactions with her. I think the basic connections between Koecher and Powell
are hard to miss when one looks at the Koecher timeline sites.google.com/site/parallelcooler/home/koecher-html), 2 but there are a few things that might help confirm that you are on the right track. So I would like to give my thoughts on where I think they are and where to look to find out how they arrived; why Susan would have abandoned her husband, children and parents; and how she may have paid for their abscondence. 3
I recognize that both Susan and Koecher would not break any laws by absconding, if both did so willingly, and may not be guilty of any infractions. And they can certainly stay where they are if found. That having been said, it is possible that Susan only wanted this disappearance to continue for a short time, and that ultimately Steven Koecher abducted her, and is holding her against her will, or that she is being subjected to human slavery/prostitution. It is also possible that they have broken laws by creating and continuing a scenario that suggests Susan's husband is responsible for her disappearance. 4
I would also like to point out that now that my initial shock and depression caused by Susan's disappearance have worn off, I believe I am thinking more clearly. Early on, notably in December 2009, it never occurred to me to even entertain the possibility that Susan may have absconded. However, having become 99.9% certain that my son is clueless as to Susan's fate and whereabouts, and having extreme difficulty coming up with any believable scenario in which she might have been abducted (she could have gone outside for her daily jog, and been abducted, but she usually used a treadmill in winter, and did that outside run in better weather), toward the end of January I began to wrap my mind around the possibility that her "disappearance" may have been an "abscondence." I gave that possibility at least a chance until February 12, the day I began looking at the Steven Koecher case.
1Nothing has been added to this document since March 1, 2010 except these footnotes. I read very little about Koecher's activities during the week Susan disappeared
2 This timeline was a revelation when I first saw in on February 12. Up to that time I had worried that Susan Powell might be a suicide, and even that she might have been kidnapped by an abductor, and was being held in a foreign country she would be unable to escape.
3 Susan had read every book by Mary Higgins Clark and many other books of the mystery genre. I have wondered if the scenario Susan created for her disappearance might be found in a book she’s read.
4 It was over a month later that someone mentioned the Bonnie Sweeten case to me and I looked it up on the internet. That was another revelation, and opened up a whole new range of possibilities.
5 On the evening of February 12 I was actually getting ready to look at the subject of sex slaves, because a friend at work had suggested there were predators involved in kidnapping young women in the American Southwest. But before I began that search I remembered before I said, "Bingo." The more I read about him, the more I learned about him, and the more I looked at the timeline for him during the week of Susan's disappearance, the more convinced I became that the Koecher and Powell disappearances were related. I also concluded that I was in denial when I refused to accept the possibility that Susan may have been involved in a love affair, and have run off with another man, something I should have accepted readily, given my above-average familiarity with her sexual proclivities. 6
SUSAN'S INTEREST IN PORTUGUESE AND CASUAL BELIEF IN MORMON CHURCH
First among personal tidbits about Susan, a few years ago she told me she wanted to learn Portuguese, because a line of her ancestors was traced to Portugal. For that reason, and based on hints in the attached timeline, I believe Susan Powell and Steven Koecher may be somewhere in Brazil, where he served a mission. On at least one occasion she expressed regret to me that she had not served a mission for the LDS Chu rch before getting married. Brazil and Portugal would have been mission destinations of interest to her. Below I will offer a possible trajectory from West Valley City, Utah to Brazil.
Koecher served his LDS mission in Fortaleza and Teresina, in northeastern Brazil. I would start there in a search for them, since Koecher would know people they might be able to stay with until they became established. However, Koecher knows Portuguese, 7 and could make his way anywhere in Brazil. He might avoid areas where people knew him as a missionary. Although Susan was a very casual Mormon and, in a Mormon testimony meeting last October at her West Valley City ward, specifically stated she did not truly believe in the church, she also stated she was appreciative of the support of the members who were trying to help her get a testimony.
It would seem that Susan likes being involved in the church despite her non-belief, and has been
able, throughout her life, to separate her risk-taking sexual mores from her beliefs in the moral
pronouncements of the church. For her it is very easy to do what makes her feel good, and repent
and confess to the bishop later. For that reason, even though a relationship with Koecher would
seem out of keeping with her beliefs, Susan would easily quash any cognitive dissonance. I believe
Susan and Koecher will continue to be active in the Mormon (Latter-day Saint) Church. I would
even venture a guess that they are likely to have arrived in Brazil claiming to be fiances and, since
both no doubt had current LDS temple recommends, moved forward to get married in a Mormon
temple. For that reason I would suggest checking marriage-license records in Brazil if other areas
of investigation do not locate them.
An argument against the likelihood that they are involved in the LDS Church in Brazil is that as an
automatic course of action their new ward in Brazil would be requesting that their records be forwarded from their old ward in Utah. Those records would be transferred at church headquarters, I believe. However, with the right friends in ward leadership (and Koecher appears to have been close to his president, Greg Webb) 8 that one of my nieces had said something in December about a guy from Utah who had disappeared about the same time as Susan. I googled “missing man Utah,” and the case of Steven Koecher came up. there would certainly be ways to cover the abscondence, and 6 According to Susan, she was sexually active at a young age because sexual activity made her feel “loved”. Susan’s addiction to sex
grew stronger throughout her teenage years and never abated. As a child, Susan said there was almost a total lack of love in her parents’ home and there was constant anger and fighting. 7
I assume Koecher speaks Portuguese because Mormon missionaries are required to learn the language of their destination country in the Mormon Church’s missionary training center. 8 Greg Webb was the president of Koecher’s Mormon priesthood quorum. Steven Koecher was one of two "Counselors" in Webb's
quorum presidency. Both men were in the Las Vegas area on the morning Steven Koecher “disappeared” from the Anthem neighborhood of Henderson, NV. Some who were following the case early on blogged that it was very unusual for these two Mormon Priesthood leaders to be in Las Vegas on a Sunday morning (about two hours away from their church meeting house). However, Greg Webb later (documented March 4, 2010) said he had spent the weekend with friends in Las Vegas. Koecher's reason for being in Las Vegas is unknown. Both men skipped the Mormon Priesthood Executive Committee (PEC) meeting they were expected to attend that morning, because they were in Las Vegas.
to create bogus church records for Susan. Can anomalies in the church records of Koecher's St.
George ward be checked? If Webb did do something to help this along, one would expect that he
would cover his tracks.
I would check with Mormon ecclesiastical units throughout Brazil, visiting them personally with pictures of Susan and Koecher, beginning with the Fortaleza and Teresina metro areas. Perhaps the LDS Church can contact leaders throughout Brazil with pictures (although the church tends to turn a blind eye to scandals and likes to keep things like this hush hush). If the Mormon Church is willing to help, maybe they can urge church leaders to look at web sites with pictures of Susan and Koecher. One important thing to note is that I can show you 20 pictures of Susan, and you would not necessarily know you were looking at the same person. And this is before she plays with her makeup and hair color. I noted this years ago. Interestingly, we recently set up a web site called www.SusanPowell.org, and some of Josh Powell’s detractors said “he”
included pictures that did not even look like her. They are dead wrong. I noted to myself many years ago that Susan is a human chameleon. Koecher could also give himself a different look (all pictures of him show a clean-cut Mormon-missionary look) by simply growing a beard and mustache and/or donning a hat.
Please note that Susan is a trained cosmetologist, and worked in that field in a salon in Puyallup before she branched into other fields, including property management (she and Josh were co-managers at a number of retirement communities) and investment counseling. She could easily change her hair color and style. I don't even know what Susan's natural hair color is. I don't think I have ever seen her with the same hair color for more than a few weeks. When I first met her she was a bleached blonde. When I saw her last February, she was a brunette. I would venture a guess that she has now taken on the black-haired Latin look, if she is indeed in Brazil.
Susan spent a lot of money at beauty supply stores. If this investigation leads to Brazil, I would check such suppliers out. I would start in Brazil's northeast and check with on-line newspapers and other on-line publications, since Koecher's last two jobs in Utah were with such. It would be helpful to publish their pictures together in local newspapers (but does Susan look like any of the pictures we have on a given day?) I am sure there are so many newspapers that that would be difficult, and there is the possibility that
Koecher works at one of the papers. I also would expect him to consider working for a university or
a government agency.
9 Josh Powell (Susan's husband) says she did not have a passport. I would surmise that she did have one, and the date of acquisition of her passport may give us a clue as to when she hatched this alleged plan to go to Brazil.
10 I would check passport applications out under Susan Powell, Susan Cox and Susan Koecher. Other possibilities would be Susan Marie Cox and Susan Marie Powell (her legal name, and the name she has gone by since 2001). She likes her middle name, suggesting that Marie Cox, Marie Powell, or Marie Koecher could be used. I assume the FBI can check on passports without additional information.
News reports say that when Koecher absconded from Henderson, NV on December 13 he had his
passport with him. However, it would make sense that he would also use an assumed name. He
has that clean-cut Mormon-missionary appearance, but anyone who would stage a disappearance
in such a way that it might frame an innocent person will certainly not hesitate to apply for a
9 My research in February or March 2010 indicated that there were only about 25 major daily newspapers in Brazil
10 While it is certainly possible to leave the United States without a passport, it would be necessary to have one should one want to return.
passport under an assumed name. Appearances are deceiving. The Mormon bomber, Mark
Hoffman, began his forging career while on his mission in England. 11
WHERE THE ALLEGED TRIP TO BRAZIL BEGAN
In one news article Koecher's mother refers to him as an avid boater. I would check boat rentals
(and missing boats) in and around Boulder City, Nevada for December 12-13, 2009 (it was established by a cell-phone ping that Koecher was near Overton on Dec 12, the day before he absconded), for use below Hoover Dam. I would show Koecher's picture to boat rental agencies, along with Susan's, as well as a picture of his close friend and church leader Greg Webb, who was also in the Las Vegas area the day Koecher abandoned his vehicle in Henderson, NV. In the week prior to his disappearance Koecher made a number of small meal purchases (about $3.00 each) with his debit card, including in Mesquite, NV on December 12. Small purchases may have been a ruse to make investigators think he traveled alone.
Another possibility that occurred to me is that on December 12, Koecher and Powell could have
driven to Bullhead City International Airport to pay cash for plane tickets to another domestic airport.
They could have gone south from there. I guess it would be difficult at this late date to find any
airline personnel who might remember a cash transaction from December 12. The fact is, on
December 12 they could have driven all the way to Lake Havasu City to buy plane tickets with cash,
if that was their plan. It might be possible to examine cash transactions at these two airports for that
date.
If they took a rented boat south from Boulder City, I would guess they might have headed for
Mexico City or a coastal port to take a flight or a ship to Brazil. Could they have taken a bus to
Mexico City, possibly all the way from Bullhead City above Davis dam, or from Lake Havasu City,
above Parker Dam? There are also "international" airports in these cities. Is there a way to check
passport usage under their names? Of course, that is of no value if they used assumed names. I
don't think it likely that they took a boat rented in Boulder City all the way down the Colorado River,
since I understand it is not navigable all the way to the Gulf.
I would check flights from Mexico City to destinations in Brazil and passport usage for the same. If
they avoided flights, they may have taken other ground transportation, or traveled by ship through
the Panama Canal to reach Fortaleza, a coastal city of Brazil that Koecher would be familiar with.
Are there passenger ships that travel from points in Mexico to Fortaleza? Can passport activity be
traced at seaports?
I surmise that Susan and Koecher may have been together on December 13, the day he
absconded
12
11 See Salamander by Sillitoe and Roberts and Mormon Murders by Naifeh and Smith, two very readable and informative books on the subject. As a Mormon missionary Mark Hoffman spent time in the British Museum doing research and cutting blank end papers out of ancient books, papers that would later be used to create Hoffman’s forged documents. Top leaders in the Mormon-church hierarchy were duped by Hoffman into paying nearly $200,000 each for some of Hoffman’s forged documents. Hoffman eventually confessed pipe-bombing two innocent people to death to cover up his forgery activities. It is ironic that in the 1980s, local Mormons rallied around Mark Hoffman during over a year of investigation, until his confession. Mormons supported Hoffman because he fit the image of a believing Mormon. From the beginning after Susan’s abscondence, Jennifer Graves and Chuck Cox worked diligently to paint Josh as a
lukewarm Mormon because they knew how this would influence Mormon attitudes about Josh. Josh chose to stop attending meetings at the local Mormon Church because of the attitude of the vocal minority of Mormons. (that he absconded seems apparent from the surveillance video of Koecher walking
12 An interesting comment by Koecher’s landlady hints at Susan’s presence in Koecher’s St. George, Utah apartment: There were only two times I ever peeked into Steven’s room. It was after he started [having] trouble paying his rent and all I wanted to see was if his stuff was still there or if it was all gone. The first time I quickly peeked in was when we stayed overnight at the house on our way to visit family, in Nov. His stuff was still there but looked kind of messy, the bed was not made and I noticed there were piles of stuff on the floor . . . The second time I peeked into his room was just before he went missing. We stayed at the house overnight and I think it was the Monday of the 14th [December 14, 2009]. We were on our way back to Orem
briskly away from his car on Dec 13). He abandoned his car in a Henderson, NV neighborhood,
about a half hour from Boulder City. He may have been picked up by a waiting friend, who already
had Susan in his vehicle, for the short ride to Boulder City, where they picked up the rented boat.
Certainly they could have rented a car and driven south, but I would guess that Koecher would want
to enjoy his first opportunity to share his boating hobby with Susan. I would check to see if Susan's
DNA is in Koecher's car, and in the vehicles of specific friends. If a boat can be identified, perhaps
there is DNA in it. Perhaps my boat-rental theory does not hold water for those investigating this,
but maybe it will spur some other thoughts on what Koecher was doing near Overton on December
12.Susan had her own financial resources. Her parents said recently that they set up a separate
account for her.
13 They did not say how many years ago they did this. How much seed money did
they give her? Susan had control of the family's only debit card, and was certainly capable of
withdrawing cash at any time to deposit in the secret account set up by her parents. She may have
had investments of which Josh was unaware, since she worked for Fidelity Investments and later
Wells Fargo Investments. I believe she had a safe deposit box, for which she had the only key, and
may have stored cash in it, for all we know. Some time ago she urged Josh to withdraw cash from
their savings, to be placed in a "family preparedness" home storage area. A large amount of that
cash, which I understand started out in the $7-10,000 range, disappeared and was unaccounted
for.
Koecher presumably had savings, since he was out of work for several months before their
disappearance, and apparently put hundreds of miles on his car every month. In the three days
14
before his disappearance he is said to have put 1200 miles on his car, passing through West Valley
City during those travels. However he was used to getting bailed out financially by his parents and
a grandparent, and maybe by Susan Powell. He also stiffed his landlord for three to four months'
rent prior to their disappearance. He may have done so to conserve money for their
abscondence.
15
Susan also has parents who have habitually bailed out at least one of their daughters with huge
sums of money. Susan would have no worries about a possibility of getting stranded in Brazil,
should she have second thoughts about this alleged relationship, since plenty of money is there to
bring her back if she just calls home. Susan's mother inherited a lot of money, and the Coxes have
been in an above-average financial situation for many years. And speaking of second thoughts, I
am inclined to believe that Susan would be having second thoughts by now, and could be missing
her children terribly.
MOTIVE
Susan will have a difficult time being happy, no matter who she is with or where she goes,
and I again just wanted to make sure he hadn't up and moved out. This time his room looked cleaned up. The bed was made and the piles were gone/put away. Things looked neat and tidy but it still looked like everything was there and he was still living there.” (http://www.websleuths.com/, contributed 1/14/2010 by stillLooking). Cleaning one’s apartment can be a precursor to suicide. However, we also see it as another possible link between Susan Powell and Steven Koecher. Susan is obsessive-compulsive about cleaning, vacuuming, mowing the lawn, weeding the garden, etc. Susan would have preferred to see the apartment clean and may have even been the one who cleaned it.
13 Susan’s parents have stated in media interviews throughout 2010 that they helped Susan set up secret bank accounts. One certainly wonders why Susan, who worked for a bank and was quite intelligent and capable, would need their help to do that, unless they were perhaps helping her to establish new identities as well.
14 Correction: Koecher may have put 1200 miles on his car over six days leading up to his abscondence, not three days. 15 It would also make sense that Steven Koecher did not care about paying his rent, because he knew his abscondence was imminent. Koecher’s family reports that they advanced him enough money to pay the three months of back rent he owed, but it was not paid to the landlord.
principally due to life-long emotional abuse by her mother. She and Josh were seeing a counselor
for a few months prior to her disappearance. Josh is not the easiest person to get along with, but
Susan was the one with the true issues to deal with. Josh was very concerned about the way she
treated their children, and told the counselor that he believed Susan's occasional out-of-control
anger was a result of the severe emotional abuse suffered at the hands of her mother. This
emotional abuse by her mother continued into Susan's adulthood. I personally saw Susan reduced
to tears a number of times while she was talking to her mother on the phone, and was told by Susan
that "my mother was screaming at me."
16 Susan deeply resented her father for being totally spineless, and letting her mother's abuse
continue.
17 Susan's "disappearance" could be payback. These motivating factors might be verified
by speaking to Susan's parents and their friends (who have undoubtedly witnessed this emotional
abuse, but who are currently very sympathetic with the Coxes due to their loss of Susan), her
sisters (who probably also suffered similar treatment by their mother), and their ex-husbands and
boyfriends (and current ones) who, like Josh, seemed very careful to avoid Judy Cox (Susan's
mother). There is good reason that one of Coxes' daughters has lost custody of two children
produced with a boyfriend as a teenager, and has also lost custody of two children produced in a
marriage that recently ended. This older daughter's marriage ended about a year ago, partly due to
a work-place sexual affair that ended about two years ago.
18 I truly do not want to cast aspersions on Susan or her sister Denise, and would appreciate confidentiality for their sake.
19 I am makingthese comments about her family so that you may confirm this aspect of Susan's psychological profile by interviewing family members, etc. (not that they will be forthcoming or admit the
prevalence of emotional abuse in the Cox family).
Susan was having extreme difficulties dealing with her children. Josh at times had to "rescue" his
children from her wrath. Josh would remind Susan that she was treating the children as Judy Cox
(her mother) treated her. In recent weeks many blogs and commentaries on the internet have
advanced the idea that Susan "would never leave her children." On the contrary, I think she would
welcome a chance to start over, because she could not break the pattern, established for her by her
mother, of occasionally reacting to her boys with violent anger.
20
Susan may even already be pregnant, and under a doctor's care (check with OB-GYNs, perhaps
here as well as in Brazil), since she wanted to have at least one girl. This may have made her
abrupt departure necessary, if she was beginning to show the effects of pregnancy. Josh would
know that it was not his, since he was practicing "safe sex." Susan's parents made the comment
(this is hearsay, since I have only heard about this statement) in one news article or blog that Susan
planned to file for divorce in April 2010. Go figure. Supposedly, as the Coxes and others seem to
16
On one occasion I asked Susan why her mother screamed at her all the time. Susan explained that her mother wanted to go to medical school, but instead ended up on the “mommy track,” and was extremely frustrated with her life due to lack of fulfillment. Since I have personally witnessed episodes in which Susan’s mother Judy Cox acted out in ways reminiscent of psychotic episodes, I don’t buy the
simplistic explanation Susan gave me.
17
Susan also told Josh something I was not aware of when writing this. She said that her father Chuck Cox spent more time with his Mormon-Church-sponsored Boy Scout troop than with his family. During Susan’s most critical teen years, Chuck was a lay priesthood leader in the Mormon Church (Chuck Cox was 1
st counselor to the Bishop of the Puyallup Firgrove Ward which his family attended). Such Mormon callings typically demand a lot of time away from the family, since the Mormon Church has only an untrained part-time unpaid lay ministry. According to Susan, Chuck Cox’s career as a government employee consumed most of the rest of his time. 18
Susan told Josh in 2009 that her sister Denise had lost custody of her two children from her high-school boyfriend Rob Fowler as well as her two children from her marriage to Chad Gordon. The Pierce County Washington public record of Denise Gordon’s (formerly Denise Cox) divorce makes it appear that Denise may have regained custody of two of her four children. However Susan did say Denise had lost custody of all four of her children because according to Susan, Denise preferred to party. The aforementioned Pierce County public record may be found here: http://www.co.pierce.wa.us/cfapps/linx/calendar/GetCivilCase.cfm?cause_num=09-3-03572-4
19
I have decided this issue needs to become part of the public discussion because we want to encourage Susan and her family to seek psychological help. The cycle of abuse and its consequences must be stopped.
20
It is also possible that part of the reason Susan left was to protect the children because she knew she could not break her own behavior patterns which were learned from both of her parents. Susan was never witnessed physically abusing the children. However, her anger seems to overpower her own self control and this is frightening, especially when directed at a tiny toddler.
Find out more at:
http://www.SusanPowell.org
Powell-Koecher Connection March 1, 2009
Page 7 of 9 Submitted by Steven Powell
http://www.SusanPowell.org
be trying to paint the picture, she was in a failed marriage, and possibly was even afraid of Josh.
21
Sometime last summer or fall Susan urgently asked Josh to get her pregnant, but he did not feel they (she in particular) were ready for another child. At the time Josh told me about this urgency Susan seemed to have, I asked him if she might be so anxious to get him to take the condom off because she was already pregnant by someone else. 22
Was she trying to make it seem like Josh impregnated her? I was not inclined to believe she was having an affair, but it did cross my mind. Hence the question to Josh. Susan was also anxious to get pregnant because she had gained a massive amount of weight, particularly during her pregnancy with the second of two children (the weight was lost in drastic dietary and exercise measures).
23
She was anxious to have her "last" child, so that she might get a tummy tuck over with and move on with her life.
As for whether Susan might abandon her husband Josh, I don't think there is any question that she
would do so, and even frame him on the way out. She was being egged on by their daycare
provider, Debbie Caldwell, who was evidently abused as a child. Caldwell believed that all men are
abusers, and Josh's quirks were interpreted by her as being controlling, and therefore abusive.
Susan was frequently at Caldwell's house, helping her with chores and giving her food and money
24
(over and above the childcare expense Caldwell received from Josh and Susan) and even gave
Caldwell a key to the Powell house, something Josh did not know until after Susan disappeared.
Josh had a difficult time keeping Susan from joining Caldwell in her male-bashing fantasyland.
As for framing Josh, what better way could Susan have found to divert attention from an
abscondence, particularly to a foreign land, where she might cause herself to disappear
permanently? This has probably worked more perfectly than she expected. Until now there have
been no media reports connecting her with Koecher, and there has been a media circus around
Josh and the boys.
It is interesting to me that about a year ago Josh took the boys on a winter campout similar to the
one on December 7. After they returned Josh called me to tell me about it. They had left at about
10:00 p.m. and spent the night in the family van. Josh said it was pretty cold,
25
and that next time
they did a winter campout he would have a generator and a heater. I have no doubt Susan knew
about this plan to eventually buy a heater for camping. So Josh did buy one sometime in November
2009, and waited for a good night to go on a snow campout. If Susan actually did abscond, as I
believe she did, and did plan it in advance, the purchase of the generator and heater would have
been her cue that she would be able to implement the plan soon. Within days of buying the heater,
Josh took it out to a snowy campground for its maiden voyage and, like Steven Koecher, Susan
walked away "with a purpose."
WERE OTHERS INVOLVED? THOUGHTS ON WHO TO TALK TO
I am of the opinion that there are at least two people in Utah who know where Susan and Koecher
are. One is in West Valley City, and one is in St. George. Someone in WVC had to receive Susan
into their home when she left her home in the early hours of December 7. Josh created the perfect
21
Josh never gave Susan any reason to fear him, and she never expressed any fear of him.
22
Josh never believed Susan was cheating on him. Josh trusted Susan and never questioned her frequent activities with friends,
regardless of whether those friends were male or female.
23
Susan has described herself as “anorexic” during her teen years. Because of Susan’s crash diets and extreme exercise routines, Josh
has expressed concern about her health and self-image over the years.
24
Debbie Caldwell continually made Susan worry that Susan wasn't paying enough for Caldwell's childcare services. Although Josh
and Susan were paying well above Debbie Caldwell's daily rate for the three days their children were in daycare, Caldwell made frequent
comments about being underpaid. Debbie Caldwell made Susan feel guilty for not needing (and thus not paying for) five days of
childcare because Susan and Josh were able to be with their own children most of the week.
25
Josh’s exact words were, “We froze our asses off.”Find out more at:
http://www.SusanPowell.org
Powell-Koecher Connection March 1, 2009
Page 8 of 9 Submitted by Steven Powell
http://www.SusanPowell.org
disappearance-by-husband scenario for her by just being Josh. She knew it was a matter of time
before he repeated his regular pattern of leaving to camp with the boys late at night.
26
In what I view as the apparent timeline, Susan went to someone's house
27
(which I refer to "safe
house" in my timeline) in WVC, or was picked up and taken there, and waited until Koecher arrived,
which was probably by the evening of December 7 (December 7 and 8 appear to be undocumented
in the timeline that has been created around Koecher's disappearance).
28
Still in WVC on
December 8 they decided, as a ruse to cover Koecher's tracks in the WVC area, that Koecher
would drop in on his ex-girlfriend's parents in Ruby Valley, NV to feign interest in seeing her, which
he did on December 9. He headed back to West Valley City via Wendover, NV the evening of Dec
9 (evidenced by a food purchase in Wendover), and he and Susan headed for St. George on
Thursday Dec 10 (there are expenditures on his debit card in Springville and Nephi that day).
The "safe house" could have been that of Debbie Caldwell or Tim Peterson (both Susan's
confidantes
29
), but that would be too obvious, and they live within the boundaries of Susan's
Latter-day Saint ward. However, it might be well to show neighbors of these people pictures of
Koecher's vehicle, to see if they recognize it. Checking Koecher's cell-phone records in recent
months for calls to West Valley City, and for his presence in the Utah Valley area would also seem
productive, although pre-paid cell phones are plentiful, and are probably not traceable.
Susan's days off were Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, and it would be of interest to know if
Koecher's trips north targeted Wednesdays and Thursdays. She frequently claimed she was going
to the temple on those days, and usually drove Josh to work so as to retain their vehicle at home for
her own use. Josh never questioned mileage or gas consumption when Susan used the vehicle.
Josh's cell phone records should also be checked (I believe WVCPD already have them) for calls to
St. George or other numbers Koecher used (Bountiful?), since Susan frequently used his phone
due to the unlimited minutes available.
WHERE SUSAN POWELL AND STEVEN KOECHER MAY HAVE MET
Both worked in downtown Salt Lake City for a number of years. Susan worked at Fidelity
Investments, and Koecher worked as an intern in the office of the Governor's secretary. Susan
took a hiatus from work to have her first son, and later worked at Wells Fargo Investments, which
was further from the downtown core. Koecher worked for a while at the Salt Lake Tribune, which
appears to be about two blocks from Fidelity Investments, but I don't believe the time periods match.
They may have met at the temple.
26 Josh and Susan have both loved camping from childhood onward. Susan frequently recounted her excitement about “igloo camping”as a child as well as many other outdoor activities. It is well documented that Susan and Josh frequently camped as a family, in addition to Josh’s camping trips with only his children.
27 It is also possible that Susan was alone for several days. She could have stayed in a motel or a vacant home. For years, Josh and Susan carried keys to HUD foreclosure homes because both were involved in real estate sales. Susan’s HUD key may have allowed her access to hundreds of vacant homes throughout Utah with no electronic record of who was entering those homes.
28 The “Koecher Timeline,” (see link on page 1) has changed dramatically since I looked at it for the first time on February 12, 2010. The timeline was authored by a woman who calls herself “Laytonian” and she is apparently in contact with the Koecher family. To her credit, Laytonian documents the changes in her timeline, and gives reasons for the changes. The most troubling changes surround the events of the week of December 7. I have based my timeline on the version that was extant on February 12 when I “discovered” the Koecher case. Based on a careful review of Laytonian’s changes, it appears that some changes may be based on spurious or contradictory eye-witness accounts. People were connecting the two cases from the beginning and it appears that some of Steven Koecher’s friends may have wanted to distance him from Susan Powell. Regardless, their changes don’t preclude a possible connection to Susan Powell.
29 According to Tim Peterson’s early statements to the media, Susan was distancing herself from Peterson because he was pressuring her to divorce Josh. Debbie Caldwell was also meddling in Susan’s marriage. Debbie Caldwell has said that she has had no contact or relationship with her father since she was a teenager (Caldwell appears to be in her late 50s) and that it has affected her perceptions about men. Caldwell frequently made it clear to Susan and to Josh directly that she didn’t like Josh. Their personalities clashed.
Find out more at:
http://www.SusanPowell.org
Powell-Koecher Connection March 1, 2009
Page 9 of 9 Submitted by Steven Powell
http://www.SusanPowell.org
They may have been introduced by a mutual friend in West Valley City. It would appear that
Koecher has a connection there, since he spent Thanksgiving Day in WVC, November 26, 2009,
less than two weeks before Susan disappeared. His timeline says he played volleyball in WVC in
the morning of November 26, went to Bountiful for lunch (with his parents?), and returned to WVC
that evening for a "piece of pie."
30
Josh does not recall if Susan went out for errands on
Thanksgiving morning or evening.
31
They (the Powells) attended a Thanksgiving dinner at Josh's
uncle's house in Ogden. Did Koecher stay through the rest of the Thanksgiving weekend?
Possibly. He had no job.
32
He was free to come and go as he pleased.
I would check with Koecher's cousin in Layton, UT (K.C. Naegle) and a cousin in Las Vegas, NV
(Jeff Bradshaw), and ask some pointed questions, to determine if they were aware of Susan's and
Koecher's planned disappearance. Greg Webb, Koecher's church leader in St. George may be
aware of some plan. Koecher moved to St. George in April 2009. Why? Why St. George? Did he
know Webb prior to moving there? Koecher had a roommate up until about three months before his
disappearance. Can this former roommate be located for questioning? Was Koecher's move to St
George part of the plan for both him and Susan to disappear?
SOME OTHER COMMONALITIES
Susan's father plays guitar and sings, as do I. Susan loves singing, and has been in choirs
regularly since junior high school. She has recorded two music projects with me. Koecher's guitar
playing and singing would have been of interest to her. And of course there is the common interest
in Portuguese. Koecher's physical appearance would seem to fit the profile that would attract
Susan.
MY LEVEL OF CERTAINTY
I have no complete certainty about any of this. I hope what I have written offers some viable
possibilities for finding their trail. I am about 100% certain that Koecher absconded, and about 75%
certain that Susan did likewise. I am about 75% certain that if one is found the other will be with
them. I am not nearly that certain that they went to Brazil.
33
30
The phrase “piece of pie” was changed in later versions of Laytonian’s timeline.
However I can't think of a more fitting
place for a couple with their background to disappear without a trace.
31
I learned later that Susan had encouraged Josh to take advantage of Black Friday sales that night. Josh left on his first (and last, Josh
says) Black Friday adventure at 10:00 p.m. on November 26, 2009. Susan was “alone” all night.
32
I stand corrected, Koecher was apparently making money by handing out window-washing flyers. I am not convinced this “job”
would have restricted his schedule much.
33
The reality is, they would probably be less likely to be noticed in Alabama than in Brazil. Recently someone mentioned to me that as
far as that goes, Susan and Koecher could be in Provo, Utah, and live undetected. The Elizabeth Smart case is a disturbing example of a
recent missing person going unnoticed in very public places in Utah.
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