Season 1 – The Disappearance of Susan Cox Powell

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stephen c @Bertaut 10/11/2022 A solid, if somewhat pedestrian, overview of a case involving psychological abuse, sexual obsession, and murder. Sometime between 5:00pm on December 6, 2009 and 8:00am on December 7, 28-year-old mother of two Susan Powell disappeared from the home she shared with her husband Josh and their children in West Valley City, Utah. She remains missing to this day, no one has ever been charged in connection with the crime, and although the case is still officially open, West Valley Police Department (WVPD) declared it cold in May 2013. It's generally assumed that Susan was murdered and disposed of by Josh (by 2009, their marriage was falling apart), but her exact fate is unknown. He was declared a person of interest within hours of her being reported missing and was the only suspect the police ever had, although he doggedly maintained his innocence despite a wealth of circumstantial evidence. Created by James Buddy Day and hosted by Stephanie Bauer, The Disappearance of Susan Cox Powell (Oxygen in North America; Sky Crime in the UK and Ireland), is a fine introduction to the subject, although it had the unfortunate luck of airing in the middle of Cold: Susan Powell Case Files - The Untold Story, an exhaustively researched podcast by Dave Cawley. And although I think comparisons between the show and the podcast are a little unfair (the two-part show is under four hours, whereas the podcast is over 20), certainly, if you've already listened to Cold, you'll find little of interest in Disappearance. On the other hand, if you know little about the case, Disappearance is a very decent overview and introduction. It's got some noticeable aesthetic problems and makes a few rather ridiculous claims, but it's comprehensive, clear, and inclusive. A person who appears here who isn't in Cold is Alina Powell, Josh's sister, who is convinced of her brother's innocence and maintains that the police painted her father Steve's actions in an overly negative light (Steve was obsessed with Susan to the point of filming her without her knowledge and literally going through her trash. In 2011, he was imprisoned on unrelated charges of voyeurism, and in 2014 of being in possession of child porn). Alina believes that Susan led Steve on, referring to "the version of Susan that the cops don't want the world to see" (a "version" which not a single other person corroborates), and she calls the police investigations into Susan's disappearance a "harassment campaign to damage our family that we'll never recover from". She has the second part right. On that subject, the show does a good job of establishing just how screwed up the Powell family was. One of the first things we hear Steve say is, "God, I worship her. She just turns me on. I'm in a perpetual state of turned on when she's around". Remember, this is a 58-year-old man talking about his then 26-year-old daughter-in-law as he secretly films her. As for Josh, he's depicted as a dangerous control freak unable to see any opinion but his own. Judy Cox, Susan's mother recalls a particular conversation with Susan prior to her marrying Josh; "I said, "go out and date like crazy for a couple of years and have fun." And she goes, "well, what about Josh?" I looked at her, and I said, "I'm sorry Susan, I look at Josh and I see darkness." We also examine the emotional fallout from Susan's disappearance, especially in relation to Tara Allred, Susan's best friend. Clearly missing her best friend, but also clearly blaming herself for not attempting to save her, in a story in which the Powells are almost pantomime villains, Allred's grief packs a real emotional wallop. In terms of problems, the show makes several inaccurate claims. For one, it claims that Alina's interview is the first time she has spoken publically about the case. It isn't – she's given numerous interviews over the years. The show also claims to have unearthed previously unknown evidence (an audio recording of Steve confessing his love to Susan). However, it wasn't unknown; Cawley discovered it during the making of Cold and made it public seven months before Disappearance aired. Elsewhere, there are some rather ill-advised aesthetic choices. For example, the show has the habit of repeating the same bit of information multiple times, and every time we return from an ad break, the show recaps what was said before the break, which is not only unnecessary, it's distracting and irritating. There is also an omnipresent generic soundtrack running throughout the entire show – as far as I can remember, the music never stops once. Problems notwithstanding, I enjoyed The Disappearance of Susan Cox Powell. Cold was designed to be exhaustive, Disappearance was designed to be introductory. And that's exactly what it is. It provides an excellent starting point for anyone interested in the case, and although, despite its claims, there's nothing revelatory here, it introduces the main characters and gives a solid overview of events. See more Read all reviews

The Disappearance of Susan Cox Powell — Season 1

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