The disappearance of Susan Powell

by Liv
Posted on February 21, 2022February 23, 2022
Podcast

Susan Powell has been missing since December 2009. This is her story.

Susan Marie Cox was born on October 16, 1981 in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Her parents are Chuck and Judy Cox. Susan has at least one sibling – a sister named Denise Cox-Ernest.

The other major player in this story is Joshua Powell. Joshua was born on January 20, 1976, to Steven and Terrica Powell in Puyallup, Washington. They had five children in total.

There is a lot of information about Josh’s early life available – there seems to be much less on Susan.

The marriage of Josh’s parents, Steven and Terrica, can be described as ‘dysfunctional’.

According to divorce filings by Terrica in 1992, Steven shared pornography with Joshua and his two brothers. He acted more like a friend than a father and he refused to discipline the boys. The three sons in the family lived with Steven following the divorce, while the two daughters went to live with Terrica.

As a teenager, Joshua allegedly killed gerbils belonging to one of his sisters and threatened his mother with a butcher knife.

Josh also threatened to take his life on multiple occasions growing up.

When he was 22, Josh was living in Seattle as a student at the University of Washington. His girlfriend at the time was a woman named Catherine Terry Everett. The two met at a local LDS Church congregation. They ended up moving into an apartment together, and that is when Josh became controlling towards Catherine. “He would have restrictions and limitations on what I could and couldn’t do when it came to my family,” she later recalled. “If I was going to go visit them, he had to come too. I couldn’t go by myself.”

Their relationship ended when Catherine went alone to visit a friend in Utah. She decided then to not return to Seattle and broke up with Josh over the phone.

Josh met Susan Cox in November 2000. He would have been around 24 and Susan would have been 19.

The two had been studying a LDS Church Institute of Religion course together. They got together following a dinner party at Josh’s apartment in Tacoma.

Their relationship moved very quickly and the pair were married in the Portland Oregon Temple in April 2001.

After their marriage, Josh had a business degree and he worked for different companies over the year. Susan was a trained cosmetologist.

The couple had two sons, Charles, born in 2005, and Braden, born in 2007.

For a brief period before they had children, Susan and Josh lived with Steven Powell in South Hill, Washington.

Since Susan disappeared, we have learned that Steven developed an infatuation with her, which became more intense while she was living in his house. He used to follow her around the house, filming her. He used a small mirror to spy on her while she used the bathroom. He stole her underwear, read her journals and even recorded love songs for her, which he posted online.

“”Waiting for You”

“I could be getting a mistaken impression/

Each time you seem to gaze at me/

You let me touch you softly. Why? Is the question/

And the effect amazes me.””

“You made my eyes pop out of their sockets/

You could empty all my pockets/

This flirtation isn’t rocket science/

You came along and really knocked my socks off/

Now you’re all I think and talk of/

So much for my former self-reliance.”

In 2003, Steven told Susan about his feelings. She was disgusted and repulsed. She and Josh moved out of state soon after this.

Steven wrote another song after they moved:

“I’m Missing You”

“I can love you in a secret way/

I can love you each and every day/

There is nothing I can’t see/

There is nothing you can’t be/

It’s not perfect, but I’m missing you.”

Susan and Josh ended up in Salt Lake City, Utah, where Susan took up a job with Wells Fargo Investments.

Things were not great in the couple’s marriage during their time in Utah.

In 2007,Josh Powell filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which was discharged six months later. It is said they were around $200k in debt at that time. Immediately after being cleared from bankruptcy, he headed to Home Depot where he opened a credit card in Susan Powell’s name. He immediately racked up more than $1k in debt on that card.

One of the purchases he made with the credit card was for a Ridgid brand 18-volt cordless tool-combo kit – this seems random now but remember this for later.

Some of Susan’s journal writings and emails from the time have been made public following her disappearance.

“I want him in counseling, on meds, I want my husband, friend, lover BACK no more crazy, outrageous, outlandish beliefs/opinions,” she wrote in an email to friends dated July 11, 2008, as she described stress and depression related to her crumbling marriage.

“I know everyone else will support me in whatever decisions, even if that means I crash anyone’s house in the middle of the night with my boys in tow. (Hope that never happens) or stay with him. But believe me, my bottom line is he WILL DO COUNSELING,” she added in another email, dated July 28, 2008.

“I’m sure if he fixes himself, everyone else will see a much closer version of the guy I married. And it will be easy enough to forget the hell and turmoil he’s put me through.”

Susan recorded a video in July 2008 surveying property damage she attributed to Joshua, and wrote a secret will that included the statements, “I want it documented that there is extreme turmoil in our marriage” and, “If I die, it may not be an accident, even if it looks like one.”

Susan stored her secret will in a safe deposit box, away from Josh.

On December 6, 2009, Susan and her two sons attended church services. Josh’s refusal to goto church had been a sore point in their marriage for awhile.

The trio walked home from church with a friend – Kiirsi Hellewell.

A neighbor, JoVanna Owings, dropped into the Powell home to visit with Susan later on December 6. They ate pancakes and eggs. Susan told JoVanna at around 5pm that she was tired and that she wanted to nap.

JoVanna left the home at the same time as Josh did. Josh said he was taking Charlie and Braden sledding.

JoVanna has said that Susan seemed to be acting normally at the time.

A neighbour has reported that he saw Josh Powell drive back into his driveway and garage at around 8.30pm on December 6.

The next step in the timeline comes directly from Josh Powell. He said that at around midnight on December 6/7, he decided to take the two boys (then aged 2 and 4) camping. He said he took them to Simpson Springs Campground, about 25 miles west of Vernon in the remote west desert of Tooele County.

I had a look at the weather in the region for that date, and the low was -14c (around 6f) and the high was -6 c (around 21f). I have also seen the weather that day described as ‘blizzard like conditions’.

Seems like interesting weather to take two young kids camping in, with no preparation?

Later that day, December 7, the Powell’s daycare provider became worried when Braden and Charlie did not show up as scheduled.

She tried to call Josh and Susan, and could not get hold of either. She then called Josh Powell’s mother and sister who called the police.

Police broke into the Powells’ home as they feared they may have been victims of carbon monoxide poisoning and found no one but noticed two fans blowing on a wet spot on carpet in the home.

Susan’s purse, wallet and ID were all found in the home.

Josh returned back to their home at around 5pm on December 7. He was taken to the police station and was questioned.

His story was that Susan was sleeping when he left to take the boys camping. He said that she didn’t go on the trip because she felt sick.

Their older son Charles, who was then four or five (I have seen his age reported both ways at the time Susan disappeared), later told police their mother was also on the camping trip with them, according to The News Tribune.

He said “his mommy went camping with them although she did not come back home with them and he did not know why.”

Police did not search the Powell home on the night that Josh returned. Photo evidence showed after the police left the house, Josh stacked several pieces of fireproof sheetrock and placed them on the concrete garage floor.

Next, he placed an unknown metal object on top of the sheetrock, grabbed an oxyacetylene torch that he had only bought two weeks before and destroyed the object.

Josh admitted to police that he had been fighting with Susan, and he said he accused her of sleeping with another man.

Cellular data showed Josh Powell spoke with a neighbor around 3 p.m on December 7. He told the neighbor he was driving around town with his sons, and had no idea his wife was missing. He said he didn’t realize she had not gone to work. He then drove 20 miles out of town, and left a message on Susan Powell’s voicemail saying he was back from a camping trip.

In the Powell car,police found a generator, blanket, gas can, tarps and a shovel.

Susan’s phone was found in the family’s Chrysler Town & Country van when Josh returned from ‘camping’. I believe the family only had one vehicle, so there was no suggestion at the time that Susan had been able to take a vehicle and leave on her own.

Josh told police during this questioning session that he got confused about what day of the week it was, which is why he didn’t goto work on December 7 as scheduled.

During his interview with police, Josh was asked why he was not answering his cellphone. He told police he didn’t have a charger with him and he was trying to conserve the battery. However, a detective noticed that his phone was plugged into a charger on the center console of his vehicle. Josh had also removed the SIM card from his phone.

Josh called Susan’s parents on December 8 to let them know that Susan was missing.

By the end of the night of Dec. 8, Josh had invoked his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent.

On December 9, police obtained a warrant and searched the Powell home. They were seen removing boxes, bags and a computer from the premises.

What police found during the search was disturbing. They discovered a garbage bag in the minivan filled with heavily burned pieces of sheetrock, melted chunks of metal, three short strips of copper wire, three screws and a single broken Phillips head bit.

Inside the garage, police also uncovered a burn spot on the concrete. Near it sat the torch, a fire extinguisher, a red plastic gas can and the Ridgid tool bag – this is what Josh purchased in his $1k spending spree at Home Depot.

During this search investigators found traces of Susan’s blood on the floor, life insurance policies on Susan for US$1.5 million, and a handwritten letter from Susan expressing fear for her life.

On December 10, police visited the Simpson Springs Campground and found no evidence that Josh and the boys had been camping there on December 6/7.

On December 14, 2009, Josh hired a defense attorney, Scott C Williams. He had been scheduled to show up for a third interview with the West Valley City police and he failed to show up.

On December 15, Josh was officially named as a suspect in this case. His car was impounded by police and they said he had been uncooperative. He hired a rental car and essentially vanished for 18 hours. When he returned the rental car, it had an extra 807 miles on it. It is still unclear as to where Josh went as the car did not store GPS data.

A neighbor said Josh appeared at his home when it was time to return the rented car and get his van back from the police. The neighbor stated he was acting oddly, his hands were badly windburned and he kept putting lotion on them.

Following Susan’s disappearance, Josh began acting even more erratically.

He liquidated Susan’s retirement accounts, cancelled her regularly scheduled chiropractic sessions, and withdrew his children from daycare.

Some of Josh’s coworkers have since come forward and said that he had talked about how to hide a body in an abandoned mineshaft in the western Utah desert.

A few weeks after Susan disappeared and before the kids were removed from daycare, a teacher reported that Charlie told her that his mother was dead.

Braden also drew a picture of a van with three people in it and told carers that, “Mommy was in the trunk”.

I guess it’s no wonder that a nervous Josh took the kids out of care?

Josh took the boys to Puyallup, WA to stay with Steven for the holidays in December 2009.

On January 6, 2010, he returned to Utah with his brother, Michael, to pack the family’s belongings.

Some reports say that Josh moved back to Washington after he lost his job in Utah. He seemed to have been a bit of a loser on the employment front. He’d lost his job at Aspen Logistics, where he’d worked as a computer programmer, for repeatedly failing to show up for shifts or check in with his manager.

When Josh and the kids moved to Washington, they lived in a house with Steven Powell, Josh’s brothers Michael and Jonathan, and his sister Alina.

Soon after the move, a website ‘SusanPowell.Org’ was launched. The site has now been taken down but it is available to view on the wayback machine.

We need your help to find wife and mother Susan Powell, whom we all love. Susan went missing in West Valley, Utah on December 7, 2009.

This is the official site for information about this beautiful woman, her family, and other things she loves. You’ve seen a few photos of Susan on other sites, but this is the only source of new photos, videos, and even Susan’s own words. Be sure to bookmark this site for future reference.

Please remember Susan Powell is not just a name. Susan is a beautiful wife and mother. She has hobbies, interests, and beliefs. She loves her family and her friends; most of all she loves her children. This site will attempt to share some of the beautiful things that makes Susan who she is.

No doubt, people are concerned about the safety and welfare of Susan and Josh’s children. While the children deserve the utmost protection from the media and the public, this site will attempt to share general facts about the children’s happiness and progression. These sweet boys will need your support both in terms of prayers and in terms of any other support you would like to offer.

The children are happy and well adjusted in their new home. They are now living with their father and extended family. They receive love and hugs frequently throughout each day. They regularly play with their friends. And they get lots of personal attention to their education and other needs.

There is also an entire section of the website that was devoted to Josh:

Josh is a loving father and husband. He likes to take his wife out to dinner or watch movies with her. He regularly does activities with his beautiful wife and with his entire family. Josh is totally committed to his wife and children, continually finding new and engaging activities to do with them.

Josh loves to socialize with friends and family. He enjoys gardening, woodworking, and building construction projects. He knows a few songs on the piano and guitar. And he has been known to sing a song when the mood hits. He also loves photography, especially when the photos are of Susan and the boys. He enjoys problem solving and he is a computer programmer by trade. Josh is very involved in his children’s lives and every day he includes the children in many hobbies, educational events, and outdoor activities.

Josh would like you to include his family and friends in your prayers. In particular please remember Susan, Josh, the children and the Cox family. Also remember friends and extended family. God knows and loves each person and knows the intents of their hearts. For those who are filled with the holy spirit, please remember to include everyone in your prayers.

Posts on the website insinuated that Susan may have run off with another missing man Steven Koecher – both disappeared in December 2009. Police have refuted there is any connection between the two disappearances.

Many people speculate that Steven and Josh were the people behind these posts on the website.

Josh went back to West Valley City to make some repairs to the Powell home on January 28, 2010. While he was there, police seized the minivan again to conduct further investigation on it.

On February 15, 2010, Susan’s family held a news conference in Puyallup, Washington. They said that Susan had endured physical abuse from Josh. They also spoke in detail about the couple’s marriage problems which they said stemmed from Josh being controlling. Susan had apparently told family and friends she would leave the marriage by their April 6 wedding anniversary if their relationship did not improve.

Police began looking more into the rest of the Powell family.

They seized computers from Steven Powell and found 4,500 images of Susan taken without her knowledge, including close-ups of specific body parts.

Police also turned their attention to Michael Powell (Josh’s brother) after learning that he had sold his broken-down Ford Taurus to a wrecking yard in Pendleton, Oregon, shortly after Susan’s disappearance. He also later apparently ordered and paid for satellite images of the wrecking yard lot. When police found the car, a sniffer dog indicated that a decomposing human body had been in the trunk. DNA tests on the car proved inconclusive.

The relationship between Susan’s family and the Powell family became increasingly strained as the months went on.

Josh and Steven spoke to media outlets and said that Susan had wanted a relationship with Steven. Steven claimed that he and Susan had been falling in love prior to her disappearance, and he cited the content of the journals (written when Susan was a teenager) as evidence to support his theory that she was mentally unstable and could have run away with another man.

Steven also told ABC at one point that he and Susan engaged in”father-in-law, daughter-in-law flirting with each other, maybe some sexual touching or whatever. And, I enjoyed it, frankly.”

The Cox family told the media Josh alienated their children against Susan and limited her access to the family’s bank account, even though she was the primary earner. They said that he would not give her enough money to buy food for the children, so she was forced to start growing her own vegetables.

On September 22, 2010, Steven was arrested on charges of voyeurism and child pornography.

John Long, assistant attorney general for Washington State, said that Joshua was a “subject” in the child pornography investigation.

A friend of Steven claimed that he was preoccupied with pornography and “was hung up on [Susan] sexually”.

Chuck Cox filed for custody of Susan’s children the day after Steven was arrested. He was granted temporary custody. The court stipulated that if Josh wanted to regain custody, he would have to move out of Steven’s home. Josh rented a house in South Hill but police now allege that he never moved in there and that the rental was a ruse to make the court believe he was following instructions.

Jennifer Graves is Josh’s sister and she is estranged from the family.

In January 2010, Jennifer wore a microphone and worked with police under “Operation Puyallup.” It was a fail though. Josh refused to discuss his Susan’s disappearance with Jennifer, citing advice from his attorney. Jennifer and her father soon got into an argument and Steven threw her and her husband, Kirk Graves, out of the house and told them they weren’t welcome back.

Jennifer spoke to the media and said she believed that Josh was “responsible for his wife Susan Powell’s disappearance”.

Josh’s other sister Alina has said that she was also suspicious of Josh, but changed her mind after she observed his behaviour.

“I scrutinized him pretty deeply. I watched him when he would talk, when he would interact with anyone else. I had my doubts,” Alina Powell said. But, she said, “I never, ever heard anything that was remotely suspicious in I don’t know how many months.”

In November 2010, Josh spoke to the Salt Lake Tribune. He said that his wife was “extremely unstable” and would be “chewed up like hamburger” when she returned.

In 2011, Josh underwent a series of court-ordered evaluations.

The evaluations determined that Joshua had adequate parenting skills, a steady employment history and no criminal record or history of domestic violence. However, there were some issues raised. These issues concerned the ongoing criminal investigations, Joshua’s failure to admit normal personal shortcomings, his overbearing behavior with his sons, and his persistent defensiveness and paranoia (attributed to the police and media attention in conjunction with underlying narcissistic traits). The initial recommendation following the evaluations was for Joshua to have visitation with his sons several times a week, supervised by a social worker.

On August 9, 2011, a Washington judge granted Josh’s request for a temporary restraining order against Chuck Cox following an altercation between the two at a Lowe’s store; the two are later given mutual anti-harassment orders, requiring them to stay 500 feet apart.

In January 2012, the family of Josh Powell launched a website that alleged Chuck and Judy Cox either abused the two boys or allowed them to come to harm. The website was created just days before a custody hearing was due to appear before the courts.

The website was disabled by the end of January.

In the last week of January, Utah police discovered about 400 images of simulated child pornography, bestiality and incest on a computer seized from the Powell family home. The pornography had been cached when viewed by the previous owner of the computer, which had been purchased by Susan secondhand. The images, while not illegal due to their being in a hand-drawn or cartoonish 3-D format, were cause for “great concern” to the appointed psychologists, particularly given Joshua’s earlier denial of possessing any such material. Joshua was recommended to receive more thorough testing.

On February 1, 2012, a Judge ordered that the Powell children should remain in custody of Susan’s parents, Chuck and Judy.

I believe that that the court decided Josh was allowed to see the children during scheduled visits that were to be supervised by a social worker.

Josh began to carry out his final evil plan on February 4, 2012. During this time, he gave away the kids toys and books and made a series of goodbyes through phone calls and letters. He also filled two five-gallon gas cans with gasoline, according to The News Tribune.

One of his last phone calls was to his sister. He left a voicemail, saying, “This is Josh. I’m calling to say goodbye. I am not able to live without my sons, and I’m not able to go on anymore. I’m sorry to everyone I’ve hurt. Goodbye.”

One such supervised visit was scheduled for a few days later, February 5, 2012.

Chuck Cox has spoken about the day before the visit – he said that Braden was tucked into his bed with pillow sheets from the Disney movie “Cars.” Charlie was sleeping underneath a Spiderman themed bedspread. The boys were worn out after a day of watching their older cousin play basketball and then playing in their grandparents’ large backyard full of dirt piles, trees and lots of mud and water. They seemed happy and content.

The following day, Sunday morning, the boys had a breakfast of fruit and cereal. Chuck Cox then went to church. Josh had insisted that the boys not be allowed to attend church, so they stayed at home and were picked up at 11.30am by a social worker, Elizabeth Griffin Hall. Elizabeth was planning to take them to Josh for a scheduled three hour visit.

Elizabeth took the children to Josh’s home. She has said that when he opened the door, that he pulled the children into the house before slamming the door in her face.

She called 911 and you can hear the clip here:

When Josh pulled the kids into the home, he attacked them both with a hatchet. He then sent off emails detailing what to do with his money, house utilities, and other aspects of his life to cousins, his pastor, and friends.

Elizabeth said she pounded on the door until she smelled gas. She then moved away from the house and it exploded into a fireball.

Josh, Charlie and Braden were dead.

Autopsy findings revealed that Braden suffered ‘chop injuries’ from the hatchet to his head and neck. Charlie had a chop injury to the neck. Horrifyingly, the cause for the boys was carbon monoxide poisoning, which means they were still alive when Josh set the house on fire.

Josh had filled 2 5 gallon can with gasoline into the home. “One (can) was found with the bodies. The other one, we believe, was spread throughout the house. There were accelerants throughout the entire house,” Pierce County Sheriff’s Sgt. Ed Troyer said.

Troyer also spoke about some of the emails that Josh sent. Some of them simply said, “I’m sorry, goodbye.” Others dictated what he wanted people to do with his money, utilities and “certain aspects of his life,” Troyer said.

“None of these emails arrived anywhere where anyone could do anything about it, but they do show that he was intending to do this before this occurred and he planned this event out,” he said. “This is something he planned on doing no matter who was hurt.

Josh’s lawyer, Jeffrey Bassett, said he received an email right before the explosion that said “I’m sorry, goodbye,” but he didn’t see it until two hours later, when he was informed of the blast.

Josh did not mention Susan in any of the emails he sent.

His cause of death was ruled a suicide.

Chuck Cox spoke about the situation and what he believed Josh had been thinking:

“He lost control of the children. He was sure he was going to get them back by just claiming to take care of the issues … When he realized he really didn’t, and those pictures came out from his computer … I think that was it. He knew that it was over,.”

It was losing control of the situation that likely sent Josh over the edge, Chuck said.

“They were his property and he wanted them back. They were his. And that’s all it was. He wasn’t really interested in them,” he said. “I believe that he knew it was coming down to the point that his stories, his wild accusations and stuff, he was going to have to answer to them and come with facts and he didn’t have any facts, and so he saw no way out.”

Michael, Josh’s brother, had been named as the main beneficiary in Josh’s life insurance policies.

Authorities notified Steven of the deaths. They said he “didn’t seem very upset by the news, but was angry towards authorities who notified him”.

Despite his lack of emotion, he was placed on suicide watch.

After the tragic explosion, the search for Susan carried on, but things were quiet.

One year after the explosion, on February 11, 2013, Michael Powell jumped to his death from a parking garage in Minnesota.

This info is from the Salt Lake Tribune:

The Salt Lake Tribune confirmed that Michael C. Powell, 30, died after he jumped around 2:25 p.m. from the multi-story Centre Village, a complex that consists of a seven-story parking structure and additional floors dedicated to a hotel and condominiums. Powell lived on the block.

Four people apparently witnessed the fall, according to a police report obtained by the Tribune. Powell landed on a sidewalk next to the building and died immediately. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed Powell’s death.

Police have said that Michael was ‘evasive’ in his communications with police and that they believe Josh and Michael worked together in the murder and consequent disappearance of Susan.

In February 2013, James Manley, who had conducted the court-ordered evaluations of Josh, told the media that he believed Josh was involved in Susan’s disappearance. He has said that he did not mention these suspicions in his report because they were beyond the scope of his duties and because Joshua had not been charged with any wrongdoing in relation to Susan’s case.

On May 21, 2013, West Valley City police closed the active investigation into Susan’s disappearance although police administrators and the city manager said detectives would investigate any new leads.

They revealed at this time that they had obtained a wiretap order, which they used to monitor communication between Josh and Michael. The wiretapping began in August 2011 and continued until October.

But Michael and Josh used sophisticated computer encryption to communicate. Investigators have been unable to decipher much of that encrypted communication.

Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said West Valley Police and prosecutors were working toward formally screening the case when Josh killed himself and the boys.

During the screening process, prosecutors look at all the evidence to determine what, if any, charges are appropriate.

“We unfortunately never got to that,” Gill said.

There was an arduous legal battle about control of Susan’s estate. In March 2015, Chuck won the battle against Terrica and Alina. The women had wanted to have Susan declared dead so they could collect life insurance, but Chuck was awarded full control of the estate.

The Cox family also sued Washington’s Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) and its social workers, claiming that the agency prioritized Joshua’s parental rights over the safety of the boys and facilitated their deaths. In 2015, a federal court granted summary judgement to the defendants, ruling that the social workers had immunity and DSHS was not negligent.

In 2019, an appeals court partially overturned that decision, ruling that the social workers did have immunity but the question of DSHS’s negligence could proceed to trial.

At trial, a jury ruled that DSHS was negligent and awarded $98 million to the estates of Susan’s 2 sons.

Susan’s family also pressured state lawmakers in Washington and Utah to pass bills that would restrict or block visitation rights for parents being investigated for murder.

Steven Powell was released from prison on July 11, 2017, after serving a total of seven years following his voyeurism and child pornography convictions. He died from complications of heart problems in Tacoma, Washington, on July 23, 2018.

Steven never revealed what he knew about Susan’s disappearance and many people believe that he took secrets to the grave.

Jennifer spoke about Steven’s death to 2News:

‘It’s more of an emotion of not sad that he’s gone, but sad that he lived such a poor life.’

So that was about it for Susan’s case. There were still occasional searches, and there is a great podcast series called ‘Cold’ which goes into so much detail about the case.

I really thought this case was totally cold and that Susan would likely never be found. Up there with the Maura Murray case.
In February 2022, the YouTube channel HeavyDSparks (owned by Dave Sparks, Producer of the Discovery Channel show Diesel Brothers) posted four videos filmed over 11 days documenting their excavation of a 225 feet (69 m) deep mine shaft. Its location is in the vicinity of the area her husband claimed to have gone camping the night his wife disappeared. The headframe had been torched and fallen or pushed into the vertical shaft near the time of Susan’s disappearance. Additional dirt and debris was found in the shaft. Sparks and his team excavated about 40,000 pounds of dirt and debris. They found bones of unknown origin and pieces of clothing which they plan to have analyzed by forensic scientists.