Shock turns to anger, then to grief and solitude with news of Josh Powell, deaths

KEARNS — The despair that spread among those knew Susan Cox Powell and her two boys only from images in the news was manifest quietly at a candlelight vigil Sunday night in the empty parking lot of a grade school in Kearns.

Prayer. A few words. The singing of the hymn "I am a Child of God."

Vigil organizer Cheyenne Miller put out an invitation on Facebook but was afraid a day owned by the Super Bowl would keep people from coming. But about 50 people came, some offering candles to those arriving without one.

The boys were in the temporary custody of Susan Cox Powell's parents, Chuck and Judy Cox. "I've never met any of the Powells or the Coxes," Miller said. But when she ">heard about the explosion in which Josh Powell and both of his sons perished, "I sat down and lost it."

"Any time a child dies they deserve to be remembered for who they were. To gather the community, even if we never knew them, it shows, it sends a message that we will not let these children be forgotten," she said.

Several spoke to the gathering at Miller's invitation, including 13-year-old Stormee Ryan. "I remember when I was a little girl and I saw her on the news, and that she was so pretty, and that she had gone missing," she said, calling the way the children died "selfish."

West Valley City Mayor Mike Winder and City Councilman Don Christensen heard about the vigil on a newscast and were among the crowd. Winder said city officials were among those shedding tears during the day, especially in the police department, which has spent the past two years investigating Susan Cox Powell's death — and was narrowing in on charges against Josh Powell.

Winder said Josh Powell may have known the "noose was tightening" and plotted to kill himself and his two children.

Not all at the vigil were strangers to the Powells and Coxes. Also there to thank the others attending was Kiirshi Hellewell, one of Susan's dear friends from the West Valley City neighborhood where Josh and Susan and the boys lived when at the time Susan disappeared.

"Now that they have been murdered," she said of Charlie and Braden, "It's hard to believe there is so much hate in the world."