of turning heads could be the signature of what -- who finds a killer? >> absolutely. >> because they couldn't take their eyes off of her? >> absolutely. >> meanwhile, the miami party goes on if clubs patrons don't seem to be worried about maybe a hunter in the midst, the police have done the warring for them. >> we do have a deranged, sadistic killer out there that is preying on vulnerable women and we need to locate this person a soon as possible. >> back in michigan polycystic cal employ from kevin have waited so many years for a call that so far hasn't come. 2010 was a very short year for paula sladewski, murdered at the age of 26. >> that's all for this edition of dateline, i'm andrea canning, thank you for joining us. u for joining us >> hello i'm andrea canning in

this is dateline. >> i just dropped off the children and he wouldn't let me in the door. >> it was horrible. we're normal people in the person you're dealing with is a psychopath. >> it's a story that haunted the country, the case of susan powell. >> i was like, this can't be real. and he professed to love them. >> could it have been prevented? >> he exploded the house. >> as you listen to it now what does it do to you? >> it's excruciating. >> the 9-1-1 dispatcher shares his story about that. >> i wish i had recognized the urgency of the situation. >> also, the startling details of a plot unfolding. >> nobody knew it was going on. >> and a father's unraveling. >> he just saw that there was no way out. >> intimate emails from susan

herself. the young mother's private fears in her own words. >> it's the genuine belief of a good many people that you killed her. >> her husband speaks of final eerie interview. >> i love my son's more than anything. i put them first. i put my family first. >> hello and welcome to dateline, the details are heartbreaking with the disappearance of a young mom in what befell her two little boys. you will hear from her loved ones searching for answers and justice, you will also hear from her husband josh powell in his last in-depth interview, words that are even more hunting now. here is keith morrison with a family's story. >> it is so sad to look at them

now, there's apparently normal family. a young father and his two young sons walking a postcard sure. skipping rocks across the surface. but under the surface, in the man's own skin, well, what was beneath the surface? how in the name of heaven did this come to this? >> hi my mom calling -- >> yes he exploded the house. >> do you know if anyone is in the house? >> yes, there was a man and two children. i just dropped off the children and he wouldn't let me in the door. >> you will hear an exclusive interview with the man who took that call, and who has been criticized for not getting help immediately. you find yourself vilified really what was i like? >> well, it is awful. part of the problem is i like most people, i think, i was aware of josh powell's story but i didn't associate his name with the story. >> we will retrace josh

powell's last step mysterious trips to gas station a storage locker where police said they found a quote with blood on it and the bank where the surveillance photo he has the look of a man on glued. >> nobody knew it was going on, he took more than substantial steps to -- >> the unfathomable. >> what is the motive for him killing his kids? is it that they started to know a little too much? >> in his last interview, we will hear from josh powell himself, who offered like the negative of the film of bizarre reversal of the truth. >> i love my son's more than anything, i put them first. i put my family first. >> i february 5th 2012 when the rest of the country was settling down to watch the super bowl, josh powell was setting a trap for his own young sons. what happened in there was really only the last chapter of

a very long, sad story. fathers and sons and husbands and wives sexual delusions, murders, suicide and secrets. some of the secrets no doubt were burned up in the fire, but some things we do know. they go to the darkest recesses of the human heart. >> the story begins years ago with a cheerful young woman called susan cox who fell for jobs, they are her parents as they spoke with us they can fence they were still in shock after the disaster that claimed their two young grandsons. they recall so clearly there early fears about their daughters -- i >> had a bad feeling every time i saw him. i even asked my daughter why are you marrying him? >> josh's sister jennifer graves told us that as a child she was wary of him to. >> when josh was a boy he was troubled in some ways, wasn't

he? >> there were some issues, yes. >> jennifer said much of the problems them for her problem josh's father she was a strange from him when we spoke with her the mother divorced years ago and in court papers alleged that he was abusive. >> i was about 14 when i woke up and realized my dad is a waco. he is just on a different, different trajectory and not a good one. >> she is talking about stephen powell. you're gonna learn much more about him later. what was it about his trajectory that bothered you are disturbed you? >> he just had a really negative outlook on life he was down on everything. >> and not lucky seem to have passed on to josh which paradoxically seem to attract susan. >> i think she felt sorry for him, he didn't have many friends. and i think she felt she could make him happy and that he

would change. >> they married and the mormon church and certainly looked happy in those early photos but later the couple moved to utah moved and temporarily with jennifer and her husband kirk. what was the relationship like then as far as you can tell? >> it was a little rough. she would kind of order him around a little bit and he wanted to control her and not let her go to some activities with me. >> josh worked sometimes in real estate and as what designer, when susan went into labor with their first charles, josh working right there home said he was too busy to drop into the hospital. they did and when he finally arrived -- >> he sits in the back of the room working on his computer. >> while she is in labor? >> yes, it was an odd experience. >> they named the baby charlie, brayden followed two years later, having kids only seem to increase the friction between susan and josh. >> she would be wanting to put

them to bed, she would go so far as to get them in bed and then he would get mad and tell them to get out of bed and not to do what mom told him to do. >> where did josh get these parenting's ideas? >> from my dad. >> more and more influence from that, said jennifer. >> josh started talking on the phone with my dad a lot he would spend multiple hours, multiple times a week on the phone with him and susan we would complain to me about how josh would just become unbearable to live with. he was obvious to her that my dad was trying to drive a wedge between the. >> it seemed to be working, jennifer share something with us she has never made public before excerpts of emails from susan, did they contain hints of what was coming? and one of them she described her attempts to rekindle romance with josh, i've tried the dates thing with him and it goes to negative or no

conversation or it is an obligation to him that he seems to hate. >> i think it is easy to say that josh learned from his dad how to treat women. >> then there is another email that suggested susan was actually afraid of him. every moment i step back and take stock of what i'm dealing with it seems like a never-ending cycle, but i'm too afraid that the consequences, losing my kids. him kidnapping, divorce or actions worse on his part. >> why wouldn't he just get a divorce? leave? >> because she had an income, she was the mom, it was a very strong argument that the boys would've gone to her. >> and so, they believe, josh found another solution to his problem. >> coming up -- >> i sat on this feeling, this got sinking terrible feeling that he has done something to

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keith morrison: december 7, 2009, gray and cold >> december 7th 2009 green cold in salt lake city, a monday. in salt lake city a monday, josh and susan were both expected at work. >> neither one of them had shown up, and neither one of them have called. they were supposed to have dropped off their kids. >> drop them off at daycare, she means. so the daycare center people called the emergency contact jennifer, she went to josh in susan's house. it was empty. >> the feeling hits me very strongly that josh had done something to her. >> hindsight perhaps? or the inside of someone who

had grown up with josh powell. >> i said don't worry about this, this is just a couple and their kids they are off, they are adults, they will be fine. >> then the late afternoon josh suddenly showed up with the boys, without susan. >> and i remember the feeling i had at that time -- >> which was what? >> which is that josh has done something. >> josh told the story no one could believe that the previous night someday he decided to take the boys camping left around midnight, blew off work drove almost 100 miles slept in the family vans in temperatures well below freezing and drove back home to find susan go on. he said he had no idea what happened to her. >> when he came up with that story about going camping i just said no, i got a sick feeling, it's not good. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> and yet they did what they

felt like they thought they should do, they rallied around josh pleaded for suzanne safe return. within ten days police declared josh a person of interest and susan's disappearance he stopped talking to police and then, left town. packed up his possessions and his precious sons, left utah to live in washington with his father stephen. when we spoke to him in 2011, he told us he interrogated his son. >> josh, you know, the most abusive thing that a father could ever do is murder his wife. things like that. >> you are testing? and >> i was testing him, i wanted to see his reaction to this kind of stuff. >> and? >> it was good, i was satisfied with it. to me he passed with flying colors. >> us for susan, he said, she had just run off with another man most likely. >> susan was very open and i would say very aggressive in

male female relationships and she called the shots. >> how did he knew that? stephen claim susan had developed a long-standing crush on him. >> susan would come into my office after she waxed her legs and she would sit there and she would say, you know, feel my legs they are pretty smooth. yes, i know. >> josh wasn't concerned about this? >> i didn't talk to joe about it. you know, i enjoyed the moment. >> steven enjoyed quite a few moments with susan, he said. like when he would hand her the baby. >> she would come up and press herself against my hand and then i would have to pull my hands from between her and braden, you know, just to slip away that kind of thing. >> he said his only regret was not going a little further with her. >> i mean it's not like i didn't enjoy that kind of little thing. >> it was so easy for him to

tell stories, susan could not defend herself. >> what he says is not based on reality. >> josh's wrong sister was a confident of susan's and of course as his daughter she already knew all about stephen. >> he might have felt these things for her, he might have been sexually attracted to her, but she did not reciprocate. >> very few uncomfortable months, she said early in their marriage susan and josh lived with stephen. >> they were set up in the dining room so they put up sheets for the privacy and she had caught my dad spying on her. >> did she say how it made her feel? >> oh, she definitely was cooped out by it. he definitely mid her uncomfortable. there was one incident where they were in the car, he said would you be willing to share josh and i can share you. >> and now, susan was missing, josh was still a person of interest, stephen was telling

looted stories and these men had susan's children, the cox's grandchildren. >> they were being raised by the same person who had raised josh and my daughter was just 100 percent against them having anything to do with steve. >> and here they were in the house? >> here they were in his house. because josh what they're, you know. brings them there. >> but josh's actions brought other people to his father's house. namely the police, in august 2011 they rival with a search warrant. >> we got probable cause to believe that there are some items of evidentiary i didn't in the home of the polls. they found plenty. >> evidence that might have eventually helped turn the mystery into an incomprehensible tragedy. but back then, there was no way to know that. even as we sat down for an extraordinary conversation with the person of interest, josh powell himself, no way to know than that this conversation

would be the last one. >> coming up -- >> you just turn around in your cage? >> it seems. >> are you rattled? >> i'm kissed off. >> josh powell in his final television interview, were there hints of what was to come? >> when dateline continues. hen dateline continues new vibrant from air wick can truly elevate your living space. with two times the natural essential oil it's time to raise your fragrance expectations. vibrant from air wick. suffering from sinus congestion, especially at night? it's time to raise your fragrance expectations. try vicks sinex for instant relief that lasts up to 12 hours. vicks sinex targets congestion at the source, relieving nasal congestion, and sinus pressure by reducing swelling in the sinuses. try vicks sinex.

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a term policy? even a term policy! find out if you're sitting on a goldmine. call coventry direct today at the number on your screen, or visit coventrydirect.com. keith morrison: it was august 2011, still warm, >> it was august 2011, still the night josh powell came to see

warm, the night josh powell came to see us to break is known silence. >> you know everything? >> an extraordinary conversation at the time even more so in hindsight. as we spoke to police were searching for evidence at his father's house in washington. josh seem confident they wouldn't find anything. >> well according to my attorney the less they have won a person the more they basically harass a person. >> so what you're suggesting is that they're trying to rattle your cage? >> it would seem. >> are you rattled? >> i'm pretty pistol. >> josh claimed he knew things about susan's childhood that her parents were hiding. susan's adult behavior or at least stevens lewd suggestion of her behavior claimed josh were the result of childhood abuse and allegation the caucus have dismissed as ridiculous. >> i've known about things that she has told me about while she was growing up. >> you think that is the reason

why, according to your father, at least she would come on to him? >> i don't think people are characterizing that right. she is a flirtatious person. >> i had to tell you others who have seen that interview with your father have certain lead on that is certainly inappropriate. to behave that way, and to even talk about it. do you ever get that sense from hearing him describe these things? >> well, i haven't had any real deep conversations with him about any of that stuff. >> he hasn't told you those things, those stories? >> i mean, i was there to see you know susan was always proud of her legs being cleanly waxed, how smooth they were. she would ask people to feel them. i told her i thought it was pretty inappropriate. >> josh was siding with his father against just about

everyone else, a fateful choice it turned out. and what you are telling me is that story, or those stories rather as told by your dad or accurate and the stories told by jennifer graves and susan's friends that susan was horrified by this and wanted to get the heck away from this as much as she could, those stories are lies? >> that is right. >> so, on that night in december 2009, when you went out to the desert with the kids to go camping, what happened to susan? >> i think that susan simply left. >> simply left? i mean, midnight, 1:00 in the morning, i've had enough and i'm out of here? was she angry those days? >> no. >> was she distressed?

>> no. >> did she continue to assert that she loved you? >> yes. >> and god knows she must of loved your children? >> yes. >> and yet, she at midnight or 1:00, 2:00 in the morning that night of december got up out of her bed and went downstairs and got on a bicycle, or something, or walked and simply left. that has never, you know, that she hasn't sent you a note that she is still alive. is that what has happened? >> i don't know what has happened to her. i don't know where she is. >> it's the genuine belief, obviously, of a good many people who have been following this strange saga that you killed her. >> that's the allegation that a lot of people believe, what can you say to them to make them

change their minds? >> i've never hurt my wife. i've never never heard her. >> and still, he claimed, students parent were out to get him, take his children away. >> they started to say that my sons are in an emotionally, some kind of emotional danger from being in my custody. and that is an unfair statement. >> that is why he did what he did he says one of the boys and countered them at a hardware store a few months after suzanne disappeared. >> he said that he wanted to hug my children, i said no you may not. >> those are his grandchildren, just as they are your children, i mean shouldn't a grandfather be able to hug his grandchildren? >> he should not be using them

as pawns in the media. i love my son's more than anything, i put them first i put my family first. >> words that now rain horribly falls of course, as do these about his missing wife, and their two young sons. >> what do you tell them about her? >> i just say that we don't know where she's at. >> do they understand? how much of a do they understand? >> i think they understand quite a bit. >> indeed it now seems like they did. that too would play a role in what was coming. do you worry that somebody will charge you with a crime that will prevent you from being with them? >> no. >> don't think that is going to happen? >> no. >> what makes you so sure? >> because, i never did

anything that someone would be able to charge me with. i never hurt susan. i have nothing to do with her disappearance. >> did he know how few believe them? in the end it hardly mattered because when police entered the secret places in his father's house they found evidence of crimes hole right. not the crimes they were looking for. but enough to push josh powell to the brink. >> coming up -- >> there are some videos and pictures of susan hiding, shooting through curtains. >> family secrets emerge, when dateline continues. teline continues

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the kentucky derby -- in recent months. the ceo of the track said the deaths were quote deeply upsetting an absolutely unacceptable top down review of the facility and protocol is underway, now back to dateline. o dateline o dateline >> charlie, there is a cape keith morrison: when we met josh powell in puyallup, over there. >> when we met josh powell in washington he and his dad steven invited us to join them and charlie and braden on a family outing, it was summer 2011. >> all right, come on! >> a casual observer might not have guessed the circumstances that brought these two strange men and two little boys together. the kids appeared normal, happy, but of course by then for more than a year and a half they had been missing someone very dear to them, their mother susan powell. and susan's parents were sure josh knew exactly what happened to her. when did you first think that

josh killed susan? >> probably when he came up with this i went camping routine. >> there was not yet enough evidence to charge him. and then, as josh and i talked that evening at the end of august the police raided his father's house looking for more. and they did find evidence, but not at all what they expected. >> we discovered a lot of computers and a lot of material. >> ed of the police department described what was seized from stephen peltz house. >> child pornography in there, so voyeuristic pictures and videos. >> and not just filth dug up from the internet, but rather materials someone had filmed himself, in secret. that's someone said the police was steven. >> pictures and videos that was taken from his house, little girls showering, shot right from his own window. >> stephen was arrested, hauled

off to jail and charged with 14 counts of voyeurism and one count of possessing child pornography, a felony. >> he's asked to plead not guilty related to all charges. >> this was the same stephen powell, remember, who claimed his daughter-in-law susan had a serious crush on him before she disappeared. when he said it, it sounded like an old fools fantasy. now it turns out there was evidence that the fantasy had a very dark undercurrent. because there was another face-off familiar one and stephen paul's homemade porn stash. tell me about the discovery of the videos involving susan powell. >> there are some videos and pictures of susan that were obviously taken without her consent or her knowledge. so somebody was hiding them shooting them to curtains indoors and taking pictures of. there >> it had to happen early in the marriage when susan and john strapped for cash moved in with even for a while. >> and, you know, even though he said that she was interested in him, we believe that's all one big fantasy and she

absolutely despised him. >> the charges brought against steven paul in 2011 were ugly enough, but before long, they set in motion something much bigger, a full on battle for control of charlie and braden. >> we wanted to take the kid out of the residence until the investigation was done, kids were placed with susan's parents. >> susan's parents, chuck and judy cox, injunction stevens world the enemy. >> i had braden in the back, before preschool were driving and he says grandpa you need to change your name. why? my name is charles cox, he says yes, charles cox is a bad person, so you need to change your name. who says charles cox is a bad person? my daddy. >> josh did everything he could to keep chuck and judy away from his sons. now they had the upper hand. >> my clients believe it is very harmful for these children to have been in the hall of stephen powell who was deeply

involved with pornography. >> at this hearing that september, josh powell represented himself in family court denied any knowledge of his family elect crimes promised to keep the boys away from stephen, should the older powell make bail. but here you can almost see josh unraveling. >> i am a fifth and qualified father, i am the natural father, i love my sons. and the manner in which they, the manner in which they were behaving leads me to believe that the irreparable harm that is occurring to my sons is having taking them out of the stable and happy home -- >> but then the prosecutor told the judge that so far only a small portion of the evidence had been examined and while josh powell hadn't been charged yet he still might be. >> mr. paul is a subject of that investigation, and that is

the concern that the department has. >> josh lost that round, and lost the ones that followed, including the very last one, the final defeat came when the judge ordered that the boys could stay with the caucuses for at least six more months. >> so you got a favorable ruling. >> favorable ruling, very good day. except josh is still not arrested. our daughter still missing. >> but those facts might have changed to, with the second ruling from the judge that day she ordered josh powell to undergo a psycho sexual evaluation. why? because according to utah on vest a gator some images had been found on the computer in his home back in 2009 of the year susan disappeared. >> it was cartoons, cartoons and the animation are of adults and kids having sex. >> josh's evaluation, was to include a polygraph test, a lie detector. >> he had lost the custody of the kids, he had to undergo a

lie detector and what is he going to tell them, if they ask about susan with a lie detector? >> what they would have. >> which they would have, he won't be able to lie and i just saw that as this is going to be -- no way he will get through this. >> the trump is closing in. >> he is feeling really close then. >> and if that wasn't pressure enough there was this to, rumors that charlie and braden were getting pretty comfortable with their grandparents, that they started talking. about that midnight camping trip. >> coming up -- >> he was explaining mothers in the trunk. >> new information emerges about josh's past. >> there was a warning sign way early. >> when dateline continues. n dateline continues mildewy tiles? can-do - these? - yup, it's the can-do can. nothing kills more germs on more surfaces than lysol disinfectant spray. (smelling)

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keith morrison: i'steven powell wasof >> stephen powell was arrested arrested for child pornography in september 2011. for child pornography in september 2011. josh powell was under suspicion, and as autumn deepened into winter truck and judy cox heard again and again, the arrest of josh powell was next, could happen any day, so they waited, held their breaths and took indoor boys charlie and braden. how was it living with those boys for the months you had them? >> how about exhausting? >> yes, we went to bed exhausted every night. >> but it felt good to have the

kids there. >> they were much stricter disciplinary and then josh, enforce early bedtimes and regular meals and according to josh's sister and brother in law, the kids thrived. >> right after the custody hearing where they were finally in the cox's home we saw them that they, and they were withdrawn and angry and quiet, and then two months later they were sitting on laps, hugging and playing and listening will people read stories to them and they were acting more like a little boys. >> we're also very concerned for the welfare of our grandchildren. >> chuck and you were determined to keep them, and as they battle josh in family court, they began to turn up a new and disturbing information about the man who married their daughter. they found it in the divorce papers of his father, stephen. >> right after steve was arrested, we went over to spokane and pulled up the record. >> there were disturbing allegations and there that josh had attempted suicide by hanging as a teenager.

that he threatened his month or with a knife, and there was this story about josh and stephen. >> there's an incident where josh killed his younger sister linus hamster by smashing it in the cage, josh's mother was outraged and steve's response according to the papers there was that she does not understand teenage humor. >> teenage humor? >> teenage humor! and i was like what? what are you talking about? and one of the first things i heard about killers is that they abuse animals or kill animals. there was a warning sign way early. >> of course, they believed he was a killer that killed their daughter even though he hadn't been charged. and then they say that kids, they began to open up. >> they told me one time, i think it was charlie hoped mommy knew how to camp or something because she was out,

or she needed to know how to camp. >> and they heard about an earlier episode, where one of the boys drew a picture at his preschool. he drew a car, two boys and a dad, no mom, the teacher asked where she was. >> mom is in the trunk. and they knew who he was. >> all the while even though the boys lived with the cox's, they made court order visits to josh at the house he was renting, a house police now say he didn't really live in. >> we believe that the house was staged just for the purpose of the visitation, to make himself feel like a good dad with photos on the wall, kids stuff. mini van in the driveway in the garage. fortunately, it was everything but that. >> where did josh actually live? stephen's house. and now the josh seemed in danger of losing custody of the kids permanently, chuck said he worried not about the boys so much, but about the social worker who took them to see

josh. >> i was concerned that if she confronted josh in any way that he might hurt her. >> which brings us inexorably to that sunday. the first time the kids would visit josh after he was ordered to take a polygraph. >> i had a bad feeling about this, and i didn't get a bad feeling until saturday, i was thinking, you know, maybe i should ask somebody to have a little bit more security this time or maybe we should skip this visit. >> the kids were having fun, playing, didn't want to go. but of course, there wasn't a choice. they had to go. >> i thought, i have to get them to go or i'm breaking a law. and we will get in trouble for it. >> and so, she jollytown into it. >> i said you will do something fun, you know daddy will have a project. you will get to eat with daddy, you will have fun. >> no idea, of course about the

careful plans josh had been making for that visit. >> coming up -- >> you listen to that tape and it is almost painful? >> it's excruciating. i wish i had recognize the urgency of the situation. >> when dateline continues. when dateline continues been waiting for. the first fda-cleared at-home skin tag remover clinically proven to remove skin tags safely in as little as one treatment. music (i swear) jaycee tried gain flings for the first time the other day...and forgot where she was. you can always spot a first timer. gain flings with oxi boost and febreze. protect your dog from fleas and ticks with nexgard chews. the protection that's #1 with dogs.

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welcome back to "dateline." >> welcome back to dateline, i'm andrea canning. i'm andrea canning. time was running out for josh powell, little charlie and

braden were starting to open up about the night their mother disappeared. meanwhile, a judge ordered josh to take a polygraph. but first, he planned to see his boys, and who could have predicted what a dark turn those plans would take? now to keith morrison with the conclusion of a family story. >> he was a person of interest in susan powell's disappearance. the target of a relentless police investigation, his contacts with his two sons had been reduced by a court order to a few hours twice a week. rumors of an imminent arrest swirled around and josh powell was prepared to strike by, here is what police have peace together of his final days. in february for 2012 he deposited his children's toys and clothing at a chardy, at 11:32 am he walking to a bank where he withdrew $7,000 intra -- to his sister, who is still close to heaven. at 1:30 pm he arrived at this

storage unit, here police said he spent an hour and a half, going through susan's belongings. then, back in his mini van he drove ten miles out of town to this landfill where he dumped a bundle of material from the storage unit. that evening, he walked into this department store purchased 25 gallon of gas can, and stir no, things you used to keep food hot. and then he filled those gas cans, then he composed emails to family members mostly just said i'm sorry, goodbye. at 10:30 he called his sister alina's cell phone. >> hello, this is josh. and i'm -- i'm calling to say goodbye. i am not able to live without my sons. and i'm not able to go on anymore.

i'm sorry to everyone i have hurt. goodbye. >> his alarm sister called 9-1-1. >> i think my brother might be in trouble or something. >> what's going on with your brother? >> he is -- i don't know, he sending weird emails. he saying good bye and stuff. >> and then josh doubts the house with gasoline, prepared the acts he would use on the boys before he lit the match. around noon the social worker brought charlie and braden to the court ordered visitation. josh grabbed the boy brought them inside locked her out, 12:08 she made her first call to 9-1-1. >> hey, i'm on the supervised visitation for a court ordered visit. and something really weird has happened. the kids went into the house and the parent -- the biological parent, his name is josh powell will not let me in the door. what should i do? >> the operator kept around the line, answering questions for nearly seven minutes. >> date of birth? >> i don't know, he's about 39. >> how tall?

>> 5:10, 150 pounds. >> hair color? >> brown. >> do you know what he was wearing? >> no, i didn't notice what he was wearing. >> and finally. >> all right we'll have somebody there? >> how long will it be? >> i don't know man they have to respond to emergency life-threatening situations first. the first available deputy -- >> this could be life-threatening, he went to court on wednesday and he didn't get his kids back. and this is really -- i'm afraid for their lives. >> deputies were alerted by this patch of 12:16 pm, it was flagged as a routine call. and at that moment, 9-1-1 little pit multiple reports of an explosion and fire. >> 9-1-1, what are you reporting? >> i just had a house explode. >> the house just blew up and it's on fire! >> what are you reporting? >> i believe, fire. >> where? >> social worker who delivered

the boys to josh was back on the phone. >> he exploded the house. >> do you know if anyone was in the house? >> yes! there was a man, and two children. i just dropped off the children and he wouldn't let me in the door. >> chuck cox heard the news from a friend who had seen it on facebook. >> and when i got there there were police cars, fire trucks and the house was smoldering. and i still didn't believe it. >> with the horror and disbelief came questions. could this have been foreseen? could josh's evil plan somehow been derailed? >> i feel strongly that the judge did everything possible to protect the boys. josh did it and i truly believe that when someone is committed to doing something this horrific there is nothing anybody can do to stop them. he was going to do it. >> but could the children have been rescued in those final moments? it's someone to blame? >> it was horrible. i mean, this has been a nightmare. >> fingers have been pointed to this man. dave, he's a 9-1-1 dispatcher

who caught the initial call that day. >> what is the address? >> just 1000 in his 18 years in the job. >> to hear how clumsy and faltering i sounded. >> the visit is with josh powell. he is the husband that i supervise. >> so you supervise and you're doing to visit? >> when i supervise -- the >> you supervise yourself? >> i'm the supervisor here. >> wait a minute, if it's a supervised visit you can supervise yourself. >> it's painful because you know what is going to happen when you listen to it. at the time you don't know what was going to happen. as you listen to it now, what does it do to you? >> it's excruciating. it is painful to listen to. >> the dad's last name? >> powell. >> i was aware of josh powell story but i didn't associate his name and so his name was not resonating with me. >> to else at the end of powell? >> yes. >> realizing what we know now i wish i would've recognize the urgency of the situation.

>> you're in a position that nobody could've imagined -- >> right? you don't automatically default to the notion that the person you're dealing with is a psychopath. it's difficult when one goes south on you like this one did. >> the cox is don't blame david, not at all. and they've worked hard to stay calm, even after the loss of their grandsons, along with josh and whatever he may have known about susan. >> i think he was very selfish. and that is why he took the kids. if he couldn't have them, no one could have some. >> i would've appreciated it if he could have left a note and told us we're susan was, something. >> maybe the point was not to tell anyone. >> yeah. >> yeah. i'm sure he wants for us to never find her. >> he is still matted us, you know? matt it does because we won't give up on our daughter. on finding our daughter. >> investigators have not given up either.

they searched that storage unit at josh's and recovered a comforter. preliminary tests indicated bloodstains on it, and chuck cox believes there is still one person who can answer his questions. >> >> his dad knows something, his dad had some part in this. >> police have named stephen paul a person of interest, though he was far away when susan disappeared, they have questions. did he go to josh into something? the device or cyst to hide something, did his words help cause something? a police source say they grilled season stephen relentlessly. his response was silence. as -- authorities were not done with stephen in 2012 he was convicted of those voyeurism charges, and three years later found guilty of possession of child pornography. he was paroled in 2017, and then died of a heart attack a year later. >> the parents of the sunny

girl at the center of this mystery, there is no end to their hurt. and yet -- >> we can be mad to josh, we can be mad at steve, it's not anger is sadness. but there is hope, we believe that they are safe in another life with heavenly father. and it will all be better. so, we have that hope. >> chucking judy cox want a civil suit against the state of washington's -- claiming negligence. the jury awarded the states of charlie and braden 98 point $5 million to police in utah halted the search for susan, and the case remains open. >> that is all for this edition of dateline, i'm adriana canning, thanks for watching. nks for watching hello, andrea canning. this is dateline