Authorities believe an explosion and fire at the home of Josh Powell has killed him and his two children.
Police are awaiting verification from the Medical Examiner’s Office, but they believe the three dead are the husband of missing Utah woman Susan Powell and their two children, said Ed Troyer of the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office.
The explosion occurred moments after a Child Protective Services worker brought the two boys to the home for a supervised visit, said Graham Fire and Rescue Chief Gary Franz.
Powell let the boys in the house, then blocked the social worker from entering. The social worker called her supervisors to report that she could smell gas, and the home exploded.
"Everything we know right now, this has become a crime scene," Franz said.
Last week, a judge ordered that Powell’s sons, Charlie, 7 and Braden, 5, remain in the custody of their grandparents, Chuck and Judy Cox.
The boys were removed from Josh Powell’s custody on Sept. 22, the same day Josh Powell’s father, Steve Powell, with whom the three were living, was arrested and charged for possessing child pornography.
Josh Powell has denied any role in his wife’s disappearance and recently asked the judge to move his sons to a neutral caretaker, claiming his missing wife’s parents — who have publicly implicated Josh Powell in their daughter’s disappearance — are turning their two sons against him.
Susan Powell was reported missing Dec. 7, 2009. Her husband told police he last saw his wife around midnight, when he put their sons in the family’s minivan and took them on a late-night camping trip in Utah’s west desert.
West Valley City Police Chief Buzz Nielson told Fox13 News he was sending a team of police officers up to Washington Sunday and he would go up on Monday.
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