Snow hampers investigation in case of missing West Valley mom

WEST VALLEY CITY — Police say weather hampered their search of the location where the husband of a missing West Valley woman says he took the couple's young sons camping on the night she was last seen.

Josh Powell told investigators he decided to take his sons, ages 2 and 4, camping in the Simpson Springs area of Tooele County about midnight on Sunday, said West Valley Police Capt. Tom McLachlan. Powell said that was the last time he saw his wife, Susan Powell.

"We went out that way to see if we could find any physical evidence that would indicate that he had been there, to verify his statement to us," McLachlan said Friday. "Unfortunately, the weather didn't really cooperate, and there's been a snowstorm between when he went out there and when we went out there.

"Tire tracks, evidence of recent use of a fire pit was all covered in snow," the captain said. "So we could not determine whether he had or had not been there."

Police are continuing to call the woman's disappearance "very suspicious." However, McLachlan declined to comment on Josh Powell's behavior during the past five days.

"He has been cooperative with us," the captain said. "I am not going to offer an opinion on what I think his conduct is."

McLachlan said detectives continue to process items collected when they served a search warrant late Wednesday on the Powell home, 6254 Sarah Circle. Those items include various pieces of furniture that police intend to submit for forensic testing.

While he wouldn't go into specifics, McLachlan said Susan Powell "left items at the house that you would normally associate if you were going on a trip or going somewhere." Susan Powell's father, Chuck Cox, said his daughter's purse and cell phone were still at the home.

Police have focused their efforts on the home because it was the last place Susan Powell was seen, McLachlan said. An endangered-person alert was issued Monday, but police have heard nothing as a result of the alert.

Josh Powell told the Deseret News he returned home Monday night after the trip to Tooele County to find a front window had been broken out. He said his wife wasn't home, but he didn't notice anything odd.

McLachlan confirmed that police had broken the window to enter the home, worried the Powells might have been poisoned by carbon monoxide. Officers had responded to the home after family members had reported that they could not reach the Powells and that Josh Powell and Susan Powell had both missed work Monday without calling their employers.