'I wish I had not known' — the tragic details of the Powell case

Read an additional perspective from Tanya Vea here.

"I would rather not have known."

If you had been given the option to not know the horrific details of what Josh Powell did to his boys before they died from carbon monoxide poisoning, details I will not repeat here, would you have chosen that option? My question may be naive. I suppose you would likely have learned the gruesome details someday, but perhaps on a day of your choosing.

It may strike you as a strange question for a woman in the news business to be asking. I suppose it is.

I woke up Tuesday morning to an email describing what he had done to those precious boys, boys who by happenstance were the same ages as my own, and I wept sitting on the side of the bed until I feared I might have to call in sick. I was unsure if I could say the word "hatchet" over and over again for four hours.

When my shift was over, I searched my heart and mind to know if sharing those details was necessary. Then I asked some of the women who frequent "A Woman's View" for their opinion.

"Gruesome details are not only unnecessary but add to the desensitization that so pervades our culture. I have an immediate visceral response to the term 'hatchet' when connected to blows to young children." — Margo Provost, owner of Log Haven restaurant

"While I would have preferred not to know, that information is part of the story. Frankly, it confirms for me who was responsible for Susan Powell's disappearance." — Francine Giani, executive director of the Utah Department of Commerce

"Detailed information would have come out. It would have been unavoidable. I feel that KSL might have been the softest landing spot for that ugliness." — Sally Dietlein, executive producer Hale Center Theatre

"I personally did not need to know those details. It hurts my heart to know there is such evil in this world... as a journalist, I get it, but as a mom, I just can't handle it." —Jill Atwood, public affairs officer, VA Salt Lake City HCS

"It was too much information for me. I have two grandsons who are 5 and 7, and the images of what happened to these two boys have been haunting me, and will probably continue to do so." — former Salt Lake City Mayor Deedee Corradini

"I think stating the details so graphically, so immediately is information-sensory overload. Those gruesome facts, if released at all, could have been done much later." — Cecilia Mitchell, senior vice president, Zions Bank