Police find remains in Susan Powell search

DELTA, Utah?? Police searching the Utah desert in connection with the 2009 disappearance of Susan Cox Powell found human remains Wednesday near Topaz Mountain, NBC station KSL reported.

Investigators with cadaver dogs found the remains in the deserted, high desert mountain area 130 miles southwest of Provo, said Sgt. Mike Powell of West Valley City, as authorities awaited the arrival of a medical examiner.

"It's a game of patience at this point," said Powell, who is not related to the missing woman. "We need to slow down a little bit and identify what it is we found."

There is no confirmation yet as to whether the remains are of Powell, but they were found in an area that authorities said is popular with rock hounds and where her husband, Josh Powell, liked to camp.

Susan Powell was last seen at her West Valley City home and at church on Dec. 6, 2009. She was reported missing the next day after she failed to show up for her stockbroker job.

Her husband told authorities that at 12:30 a.m. that morning, he took the couple's two young sons ? then 4 and 2 ? camping in single-digit temperatures in a remote part of Tooele County. He said that when he returned a day and a half later, his wife was gone.

Desolate, scrub-spotted Topaz Mountain is less than 30 miles from Simpson Springs, the area Josh Powell told investigators he went camping on the Pony Express Trail that night with his sons, then ages 2 and 4, KSL reported. The 4-year-old confirmed the trip to police.

Josh Powell, who now lives in Puyallup, Wash., with his father, Steve Powell, remains a person of interest in the case because he has been uncooperative, West Valley Police say.

Reached at his Puyallup home Wednesday afternoon, Josh Powell said he had not been contacted by Utah police regarding the discovery of human remains, NBC station KING reported. He said he had no comment about the discovery.

On Aug. 25, West Valley police detectives, with assistance from the Pierce County, Wash., Sheriff's Office went to Puyallup to serve a search warrant on the home of Steve Powell, Susan's father-in-law, and her husband. Authorities seized computers and journals during an extensive hours-long search.

Susan Powell's father, Chuck Cox, said he believes information from search warrants and interviews led authorities to search the Utah desert.

Cox said West Valley police called him earlier Wednesday at his Puyallup home, but he said the search area is pretty deserted anyone could be buried out there.

"They said they had found a place they were interested in," Cox said.

"This is not unexpected in that area that they would find something out there," he said. "I'm sure there are people who have died in the desert that nobody knows about. It could be a pioneer to who knows what."

He said he would wait for something definitive from the coroner or the police before he knows for sure that it is his daughter.

On Aug. 19 and 20, authorities searched abandoned mine shafts in the mountains outside of Ely, Nev.

The latest search is in an area popular for gem and rock hunters.

Beginning Monday, searchers covered about 12 square miles in and around Topaz Mountain west of Nephi and northwest of Delta, northeast of Highway 174. The area is 35 miles northwest of Delta and about 135 miles southwest of West Valley City, where the mother of two was last seen.

Families fight
The Cox and Powell families have been at odds over the search for Susan Powell.

The Powell family has throughout the investigation claimed they believe Susan Powell ran off with another man. Her family, however, has said they have just been praying she's still alive, and has pleaded with her husband to cooperate with authorities.

Steve Powell claimed in a nationally televised interview Aug. 25 that he had a flirtatious relationship with his daughter-in-law, that they were in love ? something her parents adamantly denied, saying Steve Powell initiated unwanted sexual advances toward her.

The Powell family has also offered as proof several diary pages from the missing woman's teenage years. Her family says the entries were written by a young girl and have no bearing on her disappearance. A Washington state court on Aug. 25 granted a temporary restraining order sought by her family, prohibiting the Powells from disseminating the journal entries.

Cox family attorney Anne Bremner at the time accused the Powells of making a terrible situation even worse.

1. Only on msnbc.com

   1. White House ignored risks in Solyndra deal
   2. Windows 8 tablet strategy still risky
   3. Perry on God: I was 'lost spiritually'
   4. Justice Ginsburg, other passengers evacuate plane
   5. European car show upbeat, despite economy
   6. Europe's woes raise global recession risk
   7. Ignore friends, stalk celebs with Facebook's Subscribe button

"What they're doing is adding such horrible angst to her parents that we have to stop this," Bremner said. "It's gone from just bizarre to just unbearable for the family."

On Aug. 23, a Washington state court commissioner ordered that Josh Powell and Chuck Cox stay 500 feet away from each other.

Josh Powell sought the restraining order, saying Cox had threatened him and stalked him and his sons. The most serious claim was that Cox showed up at a home-improvement store where Powell and the boys were attending a workshop last month and mouthed the words "You're dead" at Powell ? something Cox adamantly denied.

"He knew we would be there," Powell told the commissioner. "He has been stalking us to come into the places we would be to inject himself into our lives."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44524688/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

mike comrie mike comrie marco polo jessica alba jessica alba watkins glen watkins glen