Episode Transcript
[00:00:11] Speaker A: Hey there, all you true crime fans. I'm Amanda.
[00:00:15] Speaker B: And I'm Corey.
[00:00:17] Speaker A: And welcome back to our final part of our Susan Powell series.
Do you have anything you want to say before we get started?
[00:00:26] Speaker B: No, I don't think so. All right, jump right into it.
[00:00:29] Speaker A: Well, before we close this series, I just want to say something out loud, because nothing that we talk about next makes this okay. There is no resolution that balances this loss, but what comes after matters because it's where responsibility, memory, and change lives.
Corey, this is the part of the case where people often look for closure and instead they find consequences.
After Josh Powell murdered Charlie and Braden and took his own life, the focus shifted immediately from where is Susan? To how did this happen?
Multiple investigations were launched into child welfare decisions, family court process, and emergency response failures.
And one thing became very clear very quickly.
This wasn't the failure of one person.
It was the failure of systems.
[00:01:31] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:01:32] Speaker A: So I want to talk about something that's often misunderstood.
Susan Powell had life insurance policies.
And when people hear that, the next question is always, who got the money?
Josh Powell did not.
Because he was the primary suspect in Susan's disappearance, the law barred him from receiving any benefit connected to her presumed death.
Instead, the named beneficiary on the policy was Josh's brother, Michael Powell.
But that didn't mean that the money was simply handed over.
So the court stepped in on almost immediately.
[00:02:13] Speaker B: As they should.
[00:02:14] Speaker A: Right? Right. The funds were frozen, reviewed, and redirected because Susan's children were still alive.
Those proceeds were intended to support Charlie and Brayden, not Josh and not his estate.
[00:02:29] Speaker B: Good.
[00:02:30] Speaker A: After the boys were murdered, the courts once again intervened to ensure that no one connected to Susan's disappearance or the deaths of her children financially benefited.
[00:02:42] Speaker B: So where'd the money go?
[00:02:44] Speaker A: Susan's family ended up receiving her life insurance policy money.
[00:02:47] Speaker B: Oh, okay.
[00:02:48] Speaker A: But I do think it's. It goes back to, like, that final little bit of control that he had.
Why would she ever name his brother her beneficiary? But Susan's family did receive her life insurance money, and they would also go on to pursue legal action against all of the agencies involved.
And not for revenge, but for accountability. They wanted answers to why warning signs weren't acted on, why visitation safeguards failed, and why emergency response fell short.
So these actions led to policy reviews, changes in supervision practices, and increased scrutiny in high risk custody cases.
Those changes came too late for Charlie and Brayden, but they have since affected how similar cases are handled.
To this day, Susan Powell has never been found.
Her Disappearance remains officially unresolved. But law enforcement has been unwavering in their belief. They believe Susan was murdered and they believe that Josh Powell was responsible.
Without Susan's remains, there could be no criminal trial.
But the absence of a trial does not mean the absence of truth.
And the legacy of this case is not a mystery. It's a warning.
It's about what happens when danger is recognized but managed instead of stopped, when proof is required before protection, and when systems rely on process instead of prevention. Susan warned people she wasn't safe. Charlie tried to make sense of losing his mother.
Braden never had the chance to tell his side.
And all three of them deserved a whole hell of a lot better.
[00:04:41] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:04:42] Speaker A: So I want to take a quick little second to talk about what happened to Josh's side of the family.
Josh's father, Steve Powell, followed a very different path.
Obviously, he was very fixated on Susan even after her disappearance, and his behavior escalated. Eventually he was arrested, charged, but it had nothing to do with Susan. We talked about it earlier. He was convicted of voyeurism related crimes involving hundreds of images that he had secretly taken.
And he served prison time.
Steve Powell died in 2018.
He never acknowledged responsibility for his role in the environment that Susan lived in. And he never reconciled with those who believed that Josh was guilty.
So let's talk about the beneficiary, Michael Powell. Michael was Josh's brother, and he became entangled in the aftermath in a different way.
Michael was named the beneficiary of Susan's life insurance policies, a fact that led police, that led to police scrutiny and legal intervention.
He ultimately did not profit from Susan's disappearance, but his role definitely placed him under extreme examination and he remained publicly aligned with Josh's innocence.
Michael was often described as quiet, reserved and deeply private.
After Susan disappeared, and especially after the murders of Charlie and Braden, Michael remained publicly aligned with his family.
He never spoke out against Josh the way that his sister did.
He did not publicly question what happened.
Instead, he carried the weight of association.
Michael was repeatedly linked, whether fairly or not, to the case defined by suspicion, loss and public outrage.
In 2013, Michael Powell died by suicide.
He was not suspected of involvement in Susan's disappearance or or the deaths of the boys.
And there is no evidence tying him to those crimes.
His death was not presented by authorities as connected to wrongdoing, but it can't be separated from the gravity of what surrounded him.
Again, Michael did not break from the family narrative. And that divide those who questioned Josh and those who defended him never healed.
Which Leads us to a voice that we need to talk about because it's often overlooked.
From the time that Susan disappeared, Josh Powell's sister, Jennifer Powell, spoke out against him. And that took enormous courage.
Jennifer actually went public stating that she believed that her brother had murdered Susan.
She didn't protect family loyalty over truth. She said she believed Josh was responsible for Susan's disappearance.
And that decision came with consequences.
Instead of rallying around her, Jennifer was ostracized.
She was cut off from family members. She was criticized for speaking publicly, and she was treated like a traitor rather than someone raising concern, which is terrible. It's awful because Josh's family completely closed ranks around him.
And Jennifer has since spoken about how isolating that was to lose a sister in law, to fear for her nephews, and then to ultimately lose her family for telling the truth as she saw it.
And Jennifer's statements, they mattered because they showed something incredibly important.
The suspicion surrounding Josh did not just come from police or from Susan's family.
It existed within his own family.
Someone who grew up with him, someone who knew him, someone who saw his behavior and believed it pointed to something darker that matters.
And it matters because it reminds us of something uncomfortable.
Danger is often recognized long before it's stopped.
Sometimes by police, sometimes by friends, and sometimes by family members who are willing to risk everything to say it out loud.
Susan tried to warn people in writing. Jennifer tried to warn people with her voice.
Neither warning was enough to prevent what happened.
So when we ask why tragedies like this happen, the answer is rarely. No one saw it coming.
More often the answer is someone did.
And they weren't listened to.
[00:09:54] Speaker B: Someone did.
[00:09:56] Speaker A: So when people say that this case haunts them, I can completely understand why.
Not because we don't know what happened, but more so because we do.
And we know what the warning signs look like.
We know what risk sounds like, and we know what it costs when those warnings are not acted on.
Susan Powell was not a headline.
Charlie and Braden were not evidence.
They were people. And the series exists for one reason. To make sure that they're remembered. That way, if you or someone you love is experiencing control, fear, or isolation in a relationship, please know that help exists and that your voice matters and.
[00:10:41] Speaker B: That it always doesn't take the first time.
Sometimes it just takes the support of that person knowing you're there for them.
[00:10:49] Speaker A: Please know that help is available in the United States. You can contact the National Domestic violence hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE. That's 1-800-799-7233 or visit thehotline.org for chat and resources.
If you're outside of the U.S. local resources can be found through Hotline International or local crisis centers. And if you're a parent, caregiver or professional listening to this, cases like Susan's remind us that warnings matter, children's voices matter, and prevention must come before proof.
Thank you so much for joining us today.
And thank you so much for holding space for their story.
We'll be back soon with more cases.
I hope you have a beautiful day wherever you are.
[00:11:43] Speaker B: Have the day you deserve.
