Focus returns to Powell children today

Josh Powell's father, Steven Powell, was not expected to attend the funeral. Powell is currently in the Pierce County Jail on charges of child pornography and voyeurism. The sheriff's office said Powell had not made any special requests to attend the funeral, nor would they honor such a request unless they received a court order.

Originally, protesters from the controversial Westboro Church said they wold protest the funeral. That was followed by members of Occupy Seattle saying they would protest the protesters. But Friday, Westboro representatives said they would not be attending. Nevertheless, Pierce County Sheriff's Sgt. Ed Troyer said a plan was in place.

"We don't want a confrontation. That's not what tomorrow's about," he said Friday.

Meanwhile, more details of the investigation into Josh Powell's final days continued to emerge Friday.

The return on the search warrant served on Powell's storage shed showed that investigators recovered a pink comforter with a blood stain on it. Troyer said preliminary tests confirm the stain is blood. But detectives don't know if it's human or animal blood.

Troyer said he was told by his detectives that "it wasn't a large amount" of blood.

Josh Powell visited the storage shed the day before the inferno at his house.

The search warrant released Friday said in addition to accelerants being poured throughout the house, accelerant "was apparently used on the bodies." Earlier it was reported that Braden and Charlie also suffered "chop" wounds on the head and neck from a hatchet.

Also recovered from the shed was a white garbage bag filled with toys, another white garbage bag with kids clothes and linens, a green and yellow box filled with blocks, framed pictures and a plastic bin of miscellaneous items, according to the warrant.

Troyer said some of the items recovered appeared to have been some of Susan Cox Powell's personal items, but he could not elaborate on what those items were.

More information about the pornographic images seized from Josh Powell's computer during the investigation to his wife's disappearance was also released Friday. Investigators said it was animation depicting an incestuous encounter.

Steve Downing, the attorney for the Cox family, said he had not seen the animation. But if he had, he would have asked even tighter restrictions be placed on Josh Powell's court-ordered visitation.

"My concern was at the first hearing the complete and total denying that he knew anything about the images on his computers at home," Downing said. "It’s troubling that those existed in light of the overall involvement of this family and the historical nature the extent to which pornography played in Joshua Powell’s life."

Downing said he had actually been authorized to see the images, but was never given the opportunity to do so.

"Someone dropped the ball if I was authorized to view that material and never given the courtesy to tell me about it," he said.

Troyer said efforts to determine the final days and movements of Josh Powell have turned up only a single photo, a surveillance image of Josh Powell withdrawing $6,500 from his bank.

"We can't even confirm which gas station he bought his gas from," Troyer said.

As for Sunday's planned search of a recycling facility in Puyallup, Troyer said investigators received a "very vague tip he might have been there and dropped some things off. There's a possibility we might not find anything."

E-mail: preavy@desnews.com, Twitter: DNewsCrimeTeam