Autopsy results conducted on the bodies of Josh Powell and his sons, Braden, 5 and Charlie, 7, show that there were chop marks on both the children.
The grisly results show that even though the primary cause of death of both the boys was smoke inhalation, they were struck with a hatchet before the house explosion happened. Braden had marks on his skull and neck, while Charles had marks on his neck. All three bodies were discovered in the center of the house with a big gasoline canister next to their remains.
Authorities and acquaintances of Josh have concluded that he had been planning all this for some time. In the past few weeks, Josh had donated his boys’ toys and books. And minutes before his children came to see him, he sent emails to acquaintances as well as his cousin and pastor on how to find his money and switch off his utilities. In none of the emails that he sent, did Josh admit to being responsible for his wife’s disappearance.
But in recent times, the boys had started verbalizing about the night that their mother disappeared and one of them, Charlie, drew a picture in school – of the family in a car and saying “Mommy’s in the trunk”.
The boys were also interacting with their grandparents and other relatives more normally. Earlier, they would not talk about their mother at all, being instructed not to do so by their father.
The boys’ grandparents, the Coxes, who had custody of them, were not happy about the fact that the boys had to visit Josh under a supervised visit and had already warned that he was capable of doing something drastic if he felt cornered.
Cops say that the case about Susan Cox-Powell’s disappearance will stay open as it still has several unanswered questions. There will be three investigations into the murder-double homicide as well.
One will be by the local law enforcement authorities; which will be a criminal investigation. Another will be by the social and health services which will be an internal investigation and a state mandated child fatality review.