# RIP (Rot in Perdition), Josh Powell **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 6, 2012, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-rot-in-perdition-josh-powell/611925 "2012-02-06T02:38:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-rot-in-perdition-josh-powell/611925/1 "2012-02-06T02:38:04Z")
Story [here](http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2017434073_powell06m.html) (linked to the Seattle paper because its editors have disabled comments, and some of the posts on the local rag’s website make me want to take razor blades to my eyes). I know I slept through parts of Dad Class, but I did pay attention enough to learn that one of a father’s paramount duties — perhaps _the_ paramount duty — is to protect his offspring. And I’m sorry\*, but I don’t care how many “stressors” you’re under: you do . . . not . . . blow . . . up . . . your . . . children! And while I tend to be a skeptic about the afterlife (at least as it was taught to me back in 1950-something Catholic school), this sort of thing makes me wish that version were true. Something like an eternity of having his 'nads gnawed daily by rabid wolverines with red-hot teeth, only to regenerate like Prometheus’s liver for the next day’s assault. \*Not really. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-rot-in-perdition-josh-powell/611925/2 "2012-02-06T02:56:41Z")
Jesus, what a fucking prick! ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-rot-in-perdition-josh-powell/611925/3 "2012-02-06T04:20:35Z")
I remember when his wife went “missing”. This guy was a world class asshole. I feel really sorry for his kids, but he won’t be missed. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-rot-in-perdition-josh-powell/611925/4 "2012-02-06T04:37:35Z")
Pop goes the weasel. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-rot-in-perdition-josh-powell/611925/5 "2012-02-06T04:51:29Z")
I am so disappointed. He didn’t blow them up. He burned them. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-rot-in-perdition-josh-powell/611925/6 "2012-02-06T07:49:42Z")
Wow, to be that caseworker. At least he didn’t kill her, too. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-rot-in-perdition-josh-powell/611925/7 "2012-02-06T15:59:55Z")
One of the Seattle TV stations reported that the children had been talking about the camping trip where their mother went missing, saying “Mommy rode in the trunk” on the way there, and then “Mommy got lost.” (They also used some weird euphemism for trying to interviewing people that made it sound like they were doing them a favor. I can’t remember what it was, but along the lines of “We tried to be there for the grieving family, but…” Creepy.) ---
**Author:** ![D.Fenestrator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aca169/32.png) [@D.Fenestrator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D.Fenestrator)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-rot-in-perdition-josh-powell/611925/8 "2012-02-07T15:01:37Z")
The latest stories say he hit the kids with a hatchet, then blew them up. ---
**Author:** ![Marconi\_N.Cheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Marconi\_N.Cheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marconi_N.Cheese)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-rot-in-perdition-josh-powell/611925/9 "2012-02-07T16:18:26Z")
> [@D.Fenestrator](#): > > The latest stories say he hit the kids with a hatchet, then blew them up. Yeah, but apparently they died from smoke inhalation. After he hacked them, but before he blew them up. His dad is quite a piece of work too, must run in the family. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-rot-in-perdition-josh-powell/611925/10 "2012-02-07T16:26:53Z")
> [@Marconi\_N.Cheese](#): > > Yeah, but apparently they died from smoke inhalation. After he hacked them, but before he blew them up. His dad is quite a piece of work too, must run in the family. Of course, if it really did run in the family, what does that say about the two boys? Obviously, I don’t think they were doomed to repeat the pattern, but I wonder if the father didn’t believe in tainted blood or some such nonsense, killing them while they can still go to heaven instead of being cursed like him and his father. Not that that would any way excuse it, just provide a possible explanation for the tragedy. ---
**Author:** ![Marconi\_N.Cheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Marconi\_N.Cheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marconi_N.Cheese)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-rot-in-perdition-josh-powell/611925/11 "2012-02-07T19:53:08Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Of course, if it really did run in the family, what does that say about the two boys? Obviously, I don’t think they were doomed to repeat the pattern, but I wonder if the father didn’t believe in tainted blood or some such nonsense, killing them while they can still go to heaven instead of being cursed like him and his father. > > Not that that would any way excuse it, just provide a possible explanation for the tragedy. That thought briefly crossed my mind, but I really think the kids knew too much and were starting to talk. “Mommy’s in the trunk”. Then later, “Mommy’s gone”. It’s certainly a fucked up mess. ---
**Author:** ![ballardfam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8797f3/32.png) [@ballardfam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ballardfam)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-rot-in-perdition-josh-powell/611925/12 "2012-02-07T20:05:31Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > … I wonder if the father didn’t believe in tainted blood or some such nonsense, killing them while they can still go to heaven instead of being cursed like him and his father. It’s possible maybe to wrap my mind around a mentally ill person killing their child(ren) to ‘save’ them. However, I just can’t see the manner in which he appears to have killed them (hit on head with hatchet, fire bombed the house) signifying anything but ownership of the kids and a desire to screw his in-laws. You do wonder, or at least I do, how much effect growing up with his creepy pedophile father had to do with how he turned out. Probably a whole lot. ---
**Author:** ![ballardfam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8797f3/32.png) [@ballardfam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ballardfam)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-rot-in-perdition-josh-powell/611925/13 "2012-02-07T20:11:30Z")
> [@Marconi\_N.Cheese](#): > > That thought briefly crossed my mind, but I really think the kids knew too much and were starting to talk. “Mommy’s in the trunk”. Then later, “Mommy’s gone”. It’s certainly a fucked up mess. I read where one child drew a picture in school, unprompted, at the beginning of the year which showed their minivan with dad driving, boys in back seat & mom in trunk. I don’t know the kid’s testimony could have led to his conviction. Memory, especially repressed/recovered memory, can be wildly inaccurate & it’s likely they’ve heard talk around them that could have influenced it. Just to be clear, I believe he was guilty. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-rot-in-perdition-josh-powell/611925/14 "2012-02-07T20:27:21Z")
The TV news here reported on the fire, the deaths, then cut to a recorded interview where the dad is saying “I would never hurt my kids…” O rly? Yeah. It’s a damn shame about the kids, but good riddance to the father. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2012, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-rot-in-perdition-josh-powell/611925/15 "2012-02-07T20:56:51Z")
Doesn’t anyone just drown their kids in a bathtub anymore these days? ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-rot-in-perdition-josh-powell/611925/16 "2012-02-09T06:36:12Z")
Guess who’s coming to the funeral? [You guessed!](http://www.thenewstribune.com/2012/02/08/2018371/westboro-church-to-picket-powell.html) (Of course, it’s quite likely they won’t show. Just in case they do, in the couple of hours since the announcement there have been at least two counter-demonstrations announced.) ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-rot-in-perdition-josh-powell/611925/17 "2012-02-10T07:39:54Z")
[ > [@](#): > > Before Josh Powell was going to try to win back custody of his children last week, Washington state authorities received materials from Utah police that had been discovered on a computer in Powell’s home two years ago. Authorities say the images depicted “incestuous” sex and were disconcerting enough that they prompted a psychologist to recommend that Powell undergo an intensive psychosexual evaluation. > > But a lawyer for Powell’s in-laws, who had custody of the boys, wasn’t invited to see the computer-generated materials before the custody hearing - even though a Utah judge had specified in a sealed court order that he was one of the few people allowed to see them. > > Had he seen the images, attorney Steve Downing said, he might have asked the court to change the terms of Powell’s supervised visitation with the boys, such as by asking for the visits to be in a public place. Instead, Downing said he didn’t learn until Thursday morning - four days after Powell killed himself and the boys in a house fire - that he was allowed to see them. ]([http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US\_MISSING\_MOM\_IMAGES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-02-10-00-56-43](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MISSING_MOM_IMAGES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-02-10-00-56-43)) I’m curious about this comment tho: > [@](#): > > Troyer said **the images couldn’t be legally defined as pornography because they don’t involve real people**. Troyer said the judge in last week’s custody hearing was apprised of the images at the proceeding. I thought that didn’t matter, that they don’t have to have real people or even photographs to be child pornography (or just regular old adult pornography, for that matter). Wasn’t there a Florida case where a person with a sex offender past was found guilty of possessing child porn because he had drawn pictures of such himself? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-rot-in-perdition-josh-powell/611925/18 "2012-02-15T03:56:19Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > I thought that didn’t matter, that they don’t have to have real people or even photographs to be child pornography (or just regular old adult pornography, for that matter). Wasn’t there a Florida case where a person with a sex offender past was found guilty of possessing child porn because he had drawn pictures of such himself? IIRC, the Supreme Court struck down that law a few years back. The Florida case you remember was likely from before that. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-rot-in-perdition-josh-powell/611925/19 "2012-02-15T04:25:31Z")
Moreover, I don’t think that pornographic (or other types of) materials have to be actually illegal in order to justify recommendations of psychological evaluations or affect assessments of parental fitness. Similarly, there’s nothing illegal about hearing voices in your head and saying you have to sleep lying under your bed because the voices tell you to, but it could definitely affect your psychological competence rating. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-rot-in-perdition-josh-powell/611925/20 "2012-02-15T18:21:27Z")
> [@OttoDaFe](#): > > Guess who’s coming to the funeral? > [You guessed!](http://www.thenewstribune.com/2012/02/08/2018371/westboro-church-to-picket-powell.html) > > (Of course, it’s quite likely they won’t show. Just in case they do, in the couple of hours since the announcement there have been at least two counter-demonstrations announced.) So did they show? I live in Topeka, where the rock they live under is located, and I know that most of the time, these days, they don’t show for most out of state picketings. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-rot-in-perdition-josh-powell/611925.md?page=2)