Small, dedicated groups hand out fliers on anniversary of Susan Cox Powell's disappearance

WEST VALLEY CITY — "Hi, my friend Susan has been missing for one year today. Do you think we could hang a flier in your window?"

For four hours, Kiirsi Hellewell goes from business to business in West Valley City, trailed by three of her children, armed with tape and fliers and the sheer determination of someone who has been searching for a full year since Susan Cox Powell went missing from her West Valley home.

All but once, the response was something along the lines of:

"Give us four."

"We've seen you on TV."

"We hope you find her."

"We're sorry she's still missing."

So is Hellewell. Since the day last December when Powell was reported missing, Hellewell has carried the torch, organizing search efforts, ribbon-tying events and flier campaigns. When asked if Powell's disappearance is always at the back of her mind, the response is immediate.

"More like the front of my mind," she said. "It is always, always there."

She pauses, and then she continues.

"It's really not fair to my family, but I try to balance it all so they don't feel like their mom was lost, too."

There has been no sign of Susan Powell since she went missing at about midnight on Dec. 7, 2009, when her husband, Joshua Powell, said he saw her getting ready for bed. He said he then took the couple's two boys, then ages 2 and 4 , camping in the family's van in a remote part of Tooele County. It was initially believed the whole family was gone, but Joshua Powell and the boys returned the next day. West Valley police have identified him a person of interest in the case.

But there are no real answers. Back at the Hunter Library, three women who lived in Susan Cox Powell's neighborhood and attended church services alongside her, man tables covered in bracelets, ribbons and maps.

"It's frustrating not knowing," Barbara Anderson said. "The not-knowing is the worst part. We just want answers."

She and the two others speak affectionately of their friend, reiterating what everyone who knows the woman has said for a year — that she never would have left her children. They are the latest to squelch Joshua Powell's theory that she ran off with a boyfriend, abandoning him and the pair's two young boys.