This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2010, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Puyallup, Wash. • The home didn't use to have a fence.
A year ago, Steve Powell's home had an open backyard, like most in this community in suburban Seattle.
Then his daughter-in-law, Susan, disappeared from the West Valley City home she shared with Josh Powell and their two young sons. Josh Powell moved in with his father after being named by police as the only person of interest in his wife's disappearance.
The brown, wooden privacy fence went up not long afterward, said Brooke Thomas, a neighbor in the Silver Creek subdivision.
"When he's out," Thomas said of Josh Powell, "I watch to see what he's doing."
Such is life for the Powell family here. They have tried to maintain some privacy since Josh Powell moved and his wife's disappearance became the subject of national headlines — mostly, the family says, for the sake of the boys, ages 5 and 3. But when the family goes out, they are noticed.
"Josh built the fence to provide a safe place for his children to play outside because they are very young," Steve Powell said last week in an e-mail to The Salt Lake Tribune.
In a November interview, Steve and Josh Powell said they had received strong support from family, extended family and neighbors. Every weekend, Josh Powell said, he takes his sons on an activity.
One Powell supporter in Silver Creek has been neighbor Curt Dildine, who said he invited the Powells to his home after feeling that a flier campaign in the neighborhood was harassing Josh Powell when he had not been charged with a crime.
"I said, 'You know what? I don't know if you did it or not,' " Dildine recalled. " 'If you did it, I hope to hang you from the highest tree. If not, this ain't right.' "
Dildine said on the first visit to his home, Josh and Steve Powell described what they have claimed were Susan Powell's tendencies to quickly become angry or sad and to leave at odd hours of the day and night.
"I said, 'You know, from your story, it sounds like she got a boyfriend and decided to roll,' " Dildine said. His opinion of the neighbors or what might have happened to Susan Powell has not changed in the months since.
"I have no reason not to like [Josh Powell] so far," Dildine said.
Josh and Susan Powell are both from Puyallup. When Josh Powell moved back, it attracted the attention of a few residents in Silver Creek.
Colleen Russell saw the Susan Powell case on television and felt a connection to the missing woman because they both sold Mary Kay products.
"It was frightening for us," Russell said, referring to herself and her friends in the area. "We just decided since he's moving into the neighborhood, let's put some fliers up."
Josh Powell "should have been out there helping me hang them," Russell added.
Russell and her friends went around Silver Creek asking residents if they could hang the missing-person fliers in their windows and purple ribbons in their trees. But they also placed fliers and ribbons on light poles adjacent to sidewalks.
That drew the attention of the president of the homeowners association, who said the poles belong to the association and rules prohibit placing signs on them. Those signs and ribbons were gone within a few days. As of early November, a few ribbons and purple porch and garage lights were scattered through the neighborhood.
Danielle Hill helped hang the fliers and met Josh Powell at a neighbor's home not long after he moved into Silver Creek. Josh Powell hardly spoke and stood over his sons, she said.
"I think he had something to do with" Susan Powell's disappearance, Hill said, "whether he did it or had someone else take care of it."
Some parents complained when Josh Powell tried to join the Parent Teacher Association, though Josh Powell told The Tribune last month he has continued to attend meetings. Hill has young children, as well.
"He's supporting the school," Hill said, "but I just don't trust him."
Josh Powell also has received support from a pastor who lives in the neighborhood. Timothy Atkins, of Faith Bible Church, said he has known Steve Powell since he moved into Silver Creek. Steve Powell wanted his grandchildren and Atkins' children to play together.
Atkins said Josh Powell has come over to talk to him a few times, and he has tried to counsel Josh Powell as a neighbor rather than as a pastor.
"He was under some serious attacks with different people, and I was basically trying to counsel him with how he should respond to those attacks," Atkins said.
"Even with all these things going on," Atkins added, "he needed to turn to the Lord."
Thomas' home is across the street and three houses down from the Powells. On a warm November day, she looked at the Powell home as she sat on her porch smoking a cigarette.
Thomas said she has had a few interactions with Josh Powell and his family. Once, she said, after a family expedition for clams, Josh Powell walked across the street and offered some to the neighbors.
On the Fourth of July, Josh Powell's sons came outside and played in the subdivision's street with other children as their father watched. She said she felt "a little awkward" seeing the boys trying to have a normal day.
Thomas wonders who else in the neighborhood may be watching Josh Powell. Thomas counts four current or former police officers who live within a few blocks of her and the Powells.
"He kind of picked the wrong area of the neighborhood to move into if he's going to hide," Thomas said.
Susan Powell's disappearance
Josh Powell has told police he last saw his wife as he left her in their West Valley City home and took their sons, then ages 2 and 4, on a camping trip between midnight and 12:30 a.m. on Dec. 7.
Powell has said he took the children camping in the family's minivan to the Simpson Springs Campground, about 25 miles west of Vernon in the remote west desert of Tooele County, while Susan went to sleep at home.
Police have collected evidence from the Powell family home, including fibers and a computer, DNA from Josh Powell, and tracked the minivan in the months after Susan's disappearance. Josh Powell and his father say his wife ran away. But the case remains unsolved nearly one year later.