this is "nightline." >> tonight, a young mother of two vanished. >> the phone rang. and the voice on the other end said, when was the last time you saw susan? i instantly kind of feld like dread. >> the clues she left behind. >> she even goes as far as to say, if i die, it may not be an accident. >> who they point to. >> let me ask you this before you go. how am i going to find your wife without your help? >> and the shocking twist. >> his father was there. and he ends up revealing the biggest bombshell. >> plus a heartbroken family searching for the truth while taking on the system. >> what i intend to do is use the award to try and help other

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tacoma. it's homie, it's growing. >> lots of children who live there, lots of families. >> susan was one of four daughters, born to chuck and judy cox. she got interested in boys as a teenager. she met josh when she was 18 at a social event for young mormons. and he was in his 20s. and she hadn't dated a lot. >> there are these incredible home movies taken by josh's dad, which were later released by police that show the couple's blossoming relationship. >> they quickly fell in love. >> josh and susan's relationship goes from not knowing each other at all in october, to being engaged by the end of december. >> those videos also captured josh and susan's wedding and the home life they built together after. >> let's see the ring.

let see that ring. hold your hand up, please. >> it's a young person's love story. that quickly becomes dark. >> susan actually was the financial provider. they moved to west valley city in utah because they were looking for a better life. they wanted to improve their economic situation. they buy a house and they start to have a family. >> monday morning. december 7th, 2009. they didn't show up. >> debbie caldwell. she is the day care provider for charley and braden powell. >> debbie tried to call susan on the phone, tried to call josh, couldn't reach anybody. >> so i got in the van and i went up the street to her house. and as i pulled into her circle, there was no tire tracks in the driveway. so i pounded on the door. and i got no answer. >> so debbie calls the emergency

contact, which is josh's sister, jennifer graves. and josh's mom, terri powell. >> 911, what is your emergency? >> my son and his wife and their two children are not responding to calls. >> and a couple of officers come out on a welfare check. >> the officers cleared the entire residence and found nobody inside the home. there was no sign of a disturbance, physical altercation, inside of the residence. >> i made a few phone calls asking other people in the congregation if anyone had seen susan. jo jovana says, i actually had dinner with them last night. >> susan asked jovana to come to the house and help her with knitting and crocheting. while she was there, josh, who never did anything domestic at all, offered to make people dinner. >> josh and the boys were in the kitchen cooking.

>> he made them one by one. he took a plate in to jovanna. he took a plate with different pancakes made in to susan. shortly after that, susan began to not feel well. susan laid down, and josh sort of suggested to jovanna that it was time for her to leave. >> he was going to take the boys sledding, and he and the boys actually drove out before i had finished putting on my seat belt. >> my brother finally called. right away asked about the kids. asked about susan. he was like, yeah, the kids are here, no, susan's not with me. i was like, where is she? he was like, i don't know, i have no idea. >> josh drives all the way way south to a place called point the mountain, and he places a phone call to susan's phone. >> hello, susan. we are on our way back. and -- i can't believe that -- i don't know where my brain is

today, i thought today was sunday. that was really, really stupid. i'll talk to you later, okay, bye. >> josh had taken the children on a middle of the night camping trip. it was freezing cold. none of this makes any sense. he said that he left susan in the house. she was sleeping. >> we really wanted to talk with josh, and we wanted to record it. he was adamant about taking the boys with him. >> when's the last time you've seen her? >> probably midnight of last night. we were finishing up a movie. >> what movie did you guys watch? >> josh is very evasive. and he uses the kids, who are in the room, to distract. >> we asked if we could search his minivan, and he agreed. the minivan was full of camping supplies, like there was a tarp, a generator, shovel, graham crackers. >> during that search of the minivan where they find susan's phone hidden in the center

console. it's this pink cell phone, clearly not josh's. >> he was kind of like a deer in the headlights, just kind of looked at us. it was determined, we didn't have enough probable cause to secure a search warrant for the residence. let alone book josh into jail. because we didn't have any physical evidence. >> the following morning, he is observed with the minivan pulled out of the garage, all the doors open, thoroughly cleaning it, wiping it down, vacuuming it. when josh goes in to talk to the police, in the tape you see him initially acting very emotional. >> i didn't -- i didn't even sink in yesterday -- >> as detective maxwell continues to push josh about what's going on, josh's demeanor changes. >> what places should we check to see if we can find her?

>> beauty supply? i don't think she would be there but she likes them. >> he offers no suggestions, really, about where they might look. >> let me ask you this before you go. >> go ahead and ask one last question. >> how am i going to find your wife without your help? >> while i'm interviewing him, another colleague conducted a child forensic interview. >> right there, yeah! >> they were able to interview charlie. braden really wouldn't talk to them. >> well, what did you do last night? >> go camping. >> you went camping? who were you camping with? >> um, my dad and my mom and my little brother. >> your children are telling our detectives that mom went with you guys last night. and that she didn't come back. >> she did not go with us.

they know that she didn't go with us. >> so your kids lie, then? do your kids lie? >> sometimes they do. >> it seemed like initially josh and susan were pretty conservative couple, loving family, couple of kids. we learned that there was a lot of distress. >> josh and susan's marriage reaches rock bottom in the summer of 2008. josh and susan are constantly fighting. >> she went to see a divorce lawyer one time for a free consultation at my advice. and he told her to make a videotape of everything in your house. >> this is me. july 29th, 2008. covering all my bases. making sure that if something happens to me or my family or all of us that our assets are documented. >> police ended up discovering the safety deposit box that susan kept secretly from josh at the bank where she worked. in it they found a dvd, savings bonds. and there was a makeshift will and testament. she wrote about how bad the

marriage had become. she talked about a million-dollar life insurance policy that josh had taken out on her. and she told her boys she would never leave them. >> she even goes so far as to say, if i die, it may not be an accident. >> that is our biggest piece of evidence. it's her last words. there was no doubt that this document was authored by susan. >> police have officially named joshua powell a person of interest in the disappearance of his wife susan. >> there's a pile of circumstantial evidence. is there enough there to arrest him and book him into jail and hold him accountable? absolutely there is. could we? no. the district attorney's office would not file any charges. they were very specific and told us that we needed to wait 12 months with no body. >> abc news reached out to the d.a. at the time, who declined to respond to this claim and refused to comment on the case. >> within days of susan's

disappearance, he had closed their bank accounts, cashed out her retirement fund, took the boys to puyallup. >> josh's dad takes control. he shields josh from the media and becomes his most ardent defender. >> are you okay? >> sure, that's all right. >> i get a call from josh. we were telling josh, are you going to do this interview or not? and he finally said yes. >> do you still love her? >> yeah. >> he seemed very distant when i spoke to him. >> josh did you kill your wife? >> no. >> his father was there. and his father really wanted to be interviewed. he ends up revealing the biggest bombshell. >> we were watching this on tv >> we were watching this on tv and our jaws just dropped.

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♪ susan powell was a young, beautiful mother of two adorable children. she just one night vanished. >> detectives have named josh powell a person of interest in the case. >> he did some local news, but he never really sat down and talked about what happened. >> are we rolling? i know that you've told police that you were camping. you brought your 2-year-old and your 4-year-old camping. is that where you were? >> i'm not going to talk about anything that my attorney has specifically told me not to. >> okay. why not just answer where you were when she disappeared?

>> his father was from. and his father really wanted to be interviewed. which was odd. >> susan was very -- very sexual with me. she was very flirtatious. i mean, she was just -- she did it, i did it, we interacted in a lot of sexual ways because susan enjoys doing that. i enjoy doing that. >> susan had often referred to her father-in-law as creepy. but she, i don't think, had any idea how creepy the man truly was. >> when josh moved in with his father shortly after his wife's disappearance, he took some things from his utah home, including susan's journals. >> susan powell's diaries have taken center stage, according to the search warrant. >> they went through everything in the house, including all of steve's files, journals, computers. >> they also find steve powell's collection of voyeur videos.

steve powell is doing things like sliding mirrors under the bathroom door, attempting to get images of susan while she's undressed. >> police say inside powell's bedroom, they found thousands of images of mostly young girls, many naked, being videotaped without their knowledge. >> steven powell was eventually convicted and sentenced to five years in prison for possession of child pornography. >> the best part that came out of the search warrant was steve's house was child family services of washington stepped in and shared with us that they would take custody of the children. >> so the boys are living with grandma and grandpa. and josh is getting supervised visitation with the boys. >> josh, is there anything you care to say on your way in?

>> that means that josh is going to have to do he's avoided doing from the very first days after susan disappeared, which is take a lie detector test. >> they rushed to the front door, which is what they always did. i was one or two steps in back of them. and the kids just rushed in. i saw josh for just one second. his eyes caught mine. and then -- he had a look in his eyes. >> she looks him straight in the face. he slams the door in her face and locks it. >> i knocked and i knocked and i rang the doorbell and i started yelling, josh, let me in. i heard him say, charlie, i've got a big surprise for you. >> and immediately she smelled gasoline.

and she knew it was an emergency situation. >> i'm on a supervised visitation for a court-ordered visit. and something really weird has happened. i think i need help right away. he looked right at me and closed the door. >> all right, we'll have somebody look for you there. >> okay, how long will it be? >> i don't know, ma'am. they have to respond to emergencies, life-threatening situations first. the first available deputy -- >> this could be life-threatening. >> i'll have the first available deputy contact you. >> we are interrupting your programming for some breaking news. there has been a fatal explosion at the home of josh powell. >> i couldn't believe it. i couldn't believe it. i went screaming to the neighbors and said, there's two children in there, there's two children in there. >> police say there's clear evidence josh planned out this house explosion and meant to kill himself and his children. >> the morning of the 5th, he

sent a couple of text messages and voice mails to people, essentially saying good-bye. his sister alina found one when it was too late to intervene, after the explosion. >> i am not able to live without my sons and i'm not able to go on anymore. i'm sorry to everyone i've hurt. good-bye. >> i don't know anything else i could have done. and they're still dead. my daughter's still missing. and now the children are dead. >> the coxes have filed a lawsuit against the state of washington on behalf of braden and charlie. it's a wolf death lawsuit. and -- a wrongful death lawsuit. are in position is the state of washington put josh's parental rights before the welfare of these boys. >> the cox family lawsuit didn't

include elizabeth griffin hall or anybody else as defendants. >> to a certain extent she's lucky she's alive, and she's a victim along with it too. >> was the state of washington negligent? answer i why. >> answer, yes. >> what i intend to do is use the award to try and help other people and that, so we can save more children. >> jury members told abc news they didn't believe any one individual at child protective services was responsible for what happened. they believe in a systemic failure for the tragedy. "20/20" reached out to several agencies in both states and they declined to comment or referred us to other departments. >> my heart absolutely breaks for chuck and sxruddy cox. think about what this couple has gone through. they lost their daughter. both of their grand babies were horrifically butchered. and the only thing people that

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