Susan, we love you and miss you!

Susan Powell, missing December 7, 2009.

Susan Powell went missing in West Valley City, Utah on December 7, 2009. It has been one year since she left and SusanPowell.org is now changing its focus to begin responding to the rumors surrounding Susan Powell and other individuals. The ongoing efforts to protect the children will remain paramount as Susan Powell's family corrects the record.

Correcting the record

SusanPowell.org remains the official source for information about Susan Powell and the family she loves. Susan Powell's family (the Powells) started SusanPowell.org as an effort to contact Susan and share some happy moments that were meant to be positive and uplifting. We have not responded directly to negative and defamatory comments until now because Josh and the rest of us expected Susan to return quickly and Josh didn't want to drive wedges between the Coxes (in-laws) and Josh's own family. Josh remains sympathetic toward them in spite of their total lack of sympathy toward him. All of us are sympathetic to the people who miss Susan as we do.

Unfortunately, the more we published on SusanPowell.org with nothing but love and uplifting comments, the nastier the Cox "Friends and Family" became toward Josh, Josh's supporters, this web site, and the children. Individuals professing support for the Cox "Friends and Family" continually belittle and silence anyone hinting of support or even neutrality toward Josh. To this date, fully a year later, the Cox "Friends and Family" supporters still behave this way, even shouting down those who raise legitimate questions and doubts about Susan and her parents.

The situation is not fair to anyone and we recognize this fact. Josh has grieved for the wife he loves, while the Coxes and their supporters continue to ridicule his suffering and that of everyone around him. For many months, Josh tried to forgive them - even as they set him up as their straw man. We remained silent in the public media to allow future healing of Josh's relationships with the Coxes and to allow the investigation to proceed unhindered. At this point, we recognize that we cannot remain silent forever in the face of rumors and lies being spread by individuals associated with the Cox "Friends and Family".

False claims about Josh and Susan Powell

Since December 2009 the Cox "Friends and Family" and Chuck Cox himself have repeatedly made claims intended to portray Josh as an all-around bad guy with absolutely no redeeming qualities. Even though the media has been one sided and highly sensationalized, the Coxes' extreme position has led many people to question the credibility of people in the Cox "Friends and Family" group. Every claim made against Josh comes with no witnesses, no evidence, and many contradictions in their own statements. Their claims are simply untrue.

The truth cannot be hidden forever. Many of their accusations about what they call "strange" behavior in Josh actually describe natural human individuality and even necessary responses to the Coxes' own actions. Further, with the exception of Chuck and Judy Cox, every person making such claims has had absolutely no contact with Josh's family after January 2010. Most of them had limited to no relationship prior to that.

The Coxes claim they have certain rights with Josh and his children, but from the beginning they have attempted to alienate Josh from everyone he has ever known. According to a Salt Lake Tribune article published on November 6, 2010, Chuck and Judy Cox even stated that they created a pseudonym for Susan Powell ("Susan Cox Powell") for the purpose of divorcing Susan from Josh because they say "their daughter would not want to remain married to Josh Powell if she knew how he has 'impeded' the investigation into her disappearance." In point of fact, the Coxes have actually impeded the investigation by attempting to silence alternative viewpoints, by hiding facts about Susan and their own family, and by grossly misleading people about Josh.

At the same time, the Coxes have constantly driven the idea that Susan is perfect in every way (in accordance with their own narrow viewpoint) and they have thus denied her humanity. Both Josh and Susan are multidimensional individuals with many qualities and characteristics. Both Josh and Susan are very misunderstood at this point because of the strange image the Cox "Friends and Family" have tried to portray surrounding the Coxes, Susan, Josh, and even the children.

Cyber-bullies on the Cox "Friends and Family" Facebook page

What the Cox "Friends and Family" supporters continually do is abusive. Some of their primary vehicles include Facebook and other social networking sites. Even if they desire to inflict abuse on an innocent person because of their own judgments, there is absolutely no justification for what they are doing to the children. Every time the children are mentioned, strangers associated with the Cox "Friends and Family" outright attack the children with claims that the children are psychologically disturbed and other defamations. Even if the Cox "Friends and Family" could stay focused, they cannot separate their abuse and cyber-bullying of Josh from its harmful effects on Susan and the children. The Coxes have acknowledged the destructive effects of their own actions on the children, and yet continue with their tactics. Their intention to destroy a loving father's emotional well-being with their rumors and lies is shameful and unproductive.

Some people claim that Josh has no right to respond to their accusations - some of which are the worst accusations possible. Cox "Friends and Family" supporters and the sensationalized media are shouting in a chorus that any response by us is just "Josh being mean" or Josh "trying to deflect law-enforcement attention from himself." Why? Because we have claimed that Susan is capable of doing things that the Coxes don't want to acknowledge to the world. We understand this is hard for them, but not as hard as what they are doing to the husband who will always love Susan and to the children from their marriage. But what hurts us most is that we know their rhetoric is hurting Susan. Therefore, we do intend to respond to some things at this point. We also think it will help Susan understand what her parents, Chuck and Judy Cox, have refused to acknowledge or accept over the years.

Protecting Susan and the children

Susan needs help. At this point, Susan Powell's family believes very strongly that the ongoing rhetoric of the Cox "Friends and Family" is having a tragic effect on Susan's emotional well-being as well as Josh's. Susan knows that she cannot return without having people of the same mentality as the Cox "Friends and Family" turn on her. As difficult as it has been for Josh to cope with this, we believe that in Susan's emotional state she will not be able to face it.

We are re-evaluating the best ways to protect the children in light of our family's total lack of privacy. We wish we could share happy family moments with Susan on SusanPowell.org without fear of the vocal minority encouraging predatory behavior against the children. However, SusanPowell.org will not be publishing private family moments at this time. Instead, SusanPowell.org will continue provide factual information.

Updated November 16, 2010