The theory that Susan’s husband, Josh, might have deposited her in an abandoned mine rose from several sources.

On the day of Susan’s disappearance, Josh told detective Ellis Maxwell that he’d gone camping the night before near Simpson Springs with the couple’s two sons. Several abandoned mines sat in close proximity to Simpson Springs.

The next day, Josh and Susan’s 4-year-old son Charlie told another detective that his mommy had gone camping with them but stayed behind and slept where “the flowers and crystals grow.” Police believed that could’ve been a reference to a mine or to the Dugway Geode Beds, a popular rockhounding site near the Pony Express Trail.

The Powell family had visited the Dugway Geode Beds before.