AP: 2cd17f54-9b83-42f9-b33a-6f08a35dc89f
Josh Powell told his 7-year-old son he had a "surprise" for him moments before attacking and killing him and his 5-year-old brother, according to the state social worker who was supposed to supervise a visit between Powell and his sons. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

SEATTLE (AP) - Josh Powell told his 7-year-old son he had a "surprise" for him moments before attacking and killing him and his 5-year-old brother, according to the state social worker who was supposed to supervise a visit between Powell and his sons.

In an interview to air Friday on ABC's "20/20," Elizabeth Griffin-Hall said that Powell slammed the door on her after the children were inside the house on Sunday. Hall said she banged on the door and heard Powell tell his son Charlie: "I've got a big surprise for you."

She also heard Braden, Charlie's younger brother, crying.

Authorities said Powell used a hatchet on his children then set a house fire that killed them all.

Powell's wife, Susan, vanished in Utah two years ago. Powell had long been a person of interest in the case but maintained that he had taken his sons _ then 2 and 4 _ on a midnight camping trip in freezing temperatures when she disappeared from their home.

Late Thursday, authorities told The Associated Press a computer in Powell's Utah home two years ago had computer-animated images that depicted "incestuous" sex. Pierce County Sheriff's Detective Ed Troyer said the images collected by investigators were realistic computer-generated depictions of incestuous parent-child relations.

The images were disconcerting enough that they prompted a psychologist to recommend last week that Powell undergo an intensive psychosexual evaluation.

An attorney for Powell's in-laws wasn't invited to see the materials before a custody hearing last week. Lawyer Steve Downing said he might have asked the court to change the terms of Powell's supervised visitation with the boys _ if he had seen the images.

On Sunday, the social worker drove the boys from their maternal grandparents' home to their father's house outside Puyallup, about 35 miles from Seattle. Josh Powell lost custody of the boys last fall, after his father, with whom they lived, was arrested in a child pornography and voyeurism investigation.

Griffin-Hall said Charlie and Braden loved being with their father.

"One of them said what he wanted to do was go home and live with his daddy," she told ABC, adding that the boys would "light up" during visits with Josh Powell.

After Powell locked her out of the house, Griffin-Hall called 911 and her supervisor. Logs show deputies weren't dispatched until eight minutes after Griffin-Hall's initial contact with authorities, though police say any delay would not have stopped what ultimately happened to the boys.

The 911 dispatcher's handling of that call has been criticized, and an investigation has been launched into the emergency response.

The social worker said she told her boss "something terrible is happening here, and I was on the phone with ... when the house exploded.

"I wanted to get to the kids," she said. "I wanted to get to the kids. I would have broken in if I could."

But Griffin-Hall told ABC she doesn't think she could have saved them.

"How this happened is that Josh Powell was really, really evil. I couldn't have stopped him," she said. "I did everything I was supposed to do. I did everything right and the boys are still dead."

She said she loved the boys and was like a "grandma" to them.

"They are not going to grow up," Griffin-Hall said. "The world lost two beautiful boys to a monster."


(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

share this story:
facebook
email





Proposal to rename Soap Lake is deferred

There won't be a quick decision on a strongly debated proposal to change the name of central Washington's Soap Lake to Lake Smokiam.


Radke

What rhymes with marijuana?

Bill Radke rhymes the news... from Monday to Friday it's the week in a nutshell.




Debating the merits of the Seahawks' QB approach

Mike Salk explains why he disagrees with a national writer's contention that Pete Carroll and the Seahawks have gone about their search for a quarterback the wrong way.


Feds say Colorado wildfire started on camp stove

Hundreds of firefighters are battling a blaze fueled by warm, dry weather in northern Colorado that federal officials say started with a camp stove.


Probation for builder of Calif.'s Phonehenge West

The man who built an eccentric Mojave Desert compound known as Phonehenge West was placed on five years' probation on Friday and ordered to serve 63 days community service, five of them at the county morgue.

most popular

  1. 'Top Gun' request highlights absurdity in child rape case
    Weldon Marc Gilbert, the millionaire Lake Tapps, Wash., pilot and convicted pedophile...
  2. Unions question trustworthiness of Wal-Mart ahead of Bellevue opening
    The Wal-Mart grocery store that has planned to move into the Kelsey Creek Center...
  3. Seattle billionaires' car and home for sale
    The News Chick: A fictional Seattle billionaire's penthouse, a real local billionaire's...
  4. What motorists don't know about cyclists
    Thousands of extra wheels will be on roads in the Northwest for bike-to-work day...
  5. Mother's boyfriend arrested in beating of infant son and 3-year-old
    An 18-month-old and his 3-year-old brother are in the hospital after allegedly being...




mynorthwest.com
Copyright © 2012 Bonneville International. All rights reserved.