Washington Department of Social and Health Services just released hundreds of pages of documents, including previously-confidential psychological evaluations of Josh Powell, the man authorities say blew up a house with himself and his two sons, Charlie and Braden, inside on February 5.
The evaluations, posted by the News Tribune, concluded that Powell suffered from an adjustment disorder and a narcissistic personality disorder.
A psychologist who interviewed Powell said there were approximately 400 images found on a computer in Powell’s home after his wife’s disappearance in 2009, including depictions of child pornography and incest. Dr. James Manley expressed "great concern" about the images and concluded that Powell may not be "a stable and appropriate resource for his children."
According to the documents, some of the images were of adult nude women, but others featured popular cartoon characters in sexually explicit situations. The psychologist also described 3-D computer-generated images of incestuous sex. While it was not confirmed that these photos and drawings belonged to Powell himself, the images, along with what Manley described as “a pattern of poor sexual boundaries between the family members” in Powell’s family, led the psychologist to recommend a psychosexual evaluation and a polygraph examination in his January 31 report.
The psychological evaluation details Powell’s version of the history of his relationship with Susan Cox-Powell. Manley wrote that Powell said he missed Susan, but claimed that “people do not want to know the truth about her.” He described Powell as being defensive and evasive when discussing his wife.
Manley provided extensive observations about Powell’s parenting, writing that he had an “excellent level of engagement with each son” and that he had a “positive loving bond” with them. Still, he recommended that Powell’s visits with the boys continue to be supervised “until he can omit emotional, controversial, and polarizing topics” from conversations with them.
Less than a week after the January evaluation was filed, police say Powell locked a social worker out of his house during what was supposed to be a supervised visit, attacked his sons with a hatchet and set the house on fire.
Meanwhile, the parents of Susan Cox Powell are reportedly considering filing a lawsuit over the Washington Department of Social and Health Services’ handling of the child custody case that ended with their grandsons’ deaths.
“We are doing what we can do deal with this situation legally and see that people are held accountable for their action or lack of action,” Chuck Cox, Susan's father, told ABC4.
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