Fatal Friends, Deadly Neighbors (18 page)

January 2002. Susan in the Temple Square in Salt Lake City. She was a faithful member of the Latter-day Saints (Mormon) Church. This was only eight months after she and Josh Powell were married. (
Cox family
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Susan in October 2002. She believed that her marriage to Josh would be forever, and she was happy to be with him, even though she was a little concerned that he changed jobs so often. (
Cox family
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Susan in an impish mood. One of her husband’s male relatives believed that she was secretly in love with him. He was totally besotted with her, and she was afraid of being alone with him. (
Cox family
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Susan right after Christmas 2001. It was her first Christmas married to Josh Powell. Even though many people didn’t care for him, she believed he was only shy and that she could make him happy. (
Cox family
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Steven Powell, left, and Josh at a trade show. Steve was never without a camera or two. After Josh and Susan were married, Josh talked to his father on the phone almost every day—for hours. That was one bone of contention between the newlyweds. Susan felt Steve interfered too much.

Susan plays cards and visits with members of Josh’s family. At first she enjoyed being with all of them, but later on she wanted to leave Washington State and move to Utah so she and Josh could concentrate on their own family.

Susan and her dad, Chuck Cox, are tired at the end of a western hoedown party. Chuck and his wife, Judy, did their best to look out for their four daughters, but the girls made their own choices. (
Cox family
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A holiday dinner at Chuck Cox’s parents’ home. Chuck sits at one end of the table, and his father at the other. Anne Cox, Chuck’s mother, is in the kitchen cooking. The elder Coxes lived in a log cabin house. (
Cox family
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The Powell and Cox families pose in Temple Square in Salt Lake City. Susan’s parents are to her left—Judy Cox, with Chuck behind her. Josh’s family are to his right. As bonded as they look here, the two extended families rarely saw each other. (
Cox family
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Author Ann Rule in Salt Lake City doing research on the Powell case. Standing in the same spot where the Coxes and Powells stood in happier days.

Chuck’s sister, Pam, adored her great-nephews, and they felt the same about her. When they visited their maternal grandparents, the boys began to feel safe again, although they missed their mother tremendously. Left to right: Charlie, five, Braden, three, and their aunt Pam in March 2010. Susan had been missing four months when this picture was taken. (
Cox family
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Charlie and Braden with their mother in a photo taken by Chuck Cox, their maternal grandfather.