If I Can't Have You: Susan Powell, Her Mysterious Disappearance, and the Murder of Her Children
In December 2009, Susan Powell, an attractive Utah wife and mother of two young sons, went missing. Local law enforcement and the FBI would spend three years in the largest missing-persons investigation in the nation and not find her, living or dead. But they had their suspicions from the first, when her husband, Josh, told a dubious story of a midnight camping trip in a snowstorm with two young boys, only to return to find his wife missing. Susan’s parents, Chuck and Judy Cox, and her friends in the Mormon church pressed the West Valley City police and helped uncover a trove of ugly secrets about the Powells. Josh’s father, Steve, had a sexual obsession with Susan; Josh’s brother, Mike, may have been involved in Susan’s disappearance; the entire family was so psychologically damaged that, with the exception of one sister, it represented a real threat to Susan and her sons. That threat was realized when Josh killed the boys and himself. Crime writer Olsen and investigative reporter Morris offer a behind-the-scenes look at a compelling true-crime mystery. --Vanessa Bush