09-17-2011 Topaz Mountain Search Yields Charred Wood and Decomp

[BeanE]

RJENEWS Randall Jeppesen
My update on the search coming up on KSL Newsradio at 12:30
7 minutes ago

Chuck Cox says he's happy with the increased search effort taking place today. Says he's still hopeful something will turn up there
7 minutes ago

Susan Powell's father Chuck cox told me a few moments ago that He'll stay a few more days in Utah. He has to be back in Seattle by Friday.
8 minutes ago

WVC police saying they're grateful to all who want to help search, but they are keeping the search to trained law enforcement groups now now
9 minutes ago

The searchers come from various law enforcement search and rescue teams.
10 minutes ago

The number of searchers near Topaz Mountain looking for evidence of Susan Powell has gone up drastically today. Nearly 100 searchers
11 minutes ago

http://twitter.com/#!/RJENEWS

On the air on KSL NewsRadio, Utah's home for breaking news and the BYU Cougars. You can also catch me on KSL 5 TV

KSL Radio page with live link:
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=16

 

[dsntslp]

We have this model chipper shredder:
http://www.lowes.com/pd_189546-270-...br|0||p_product_qty_sales_dollar|1&facetInfo=

Although it says it will chip branches up to 2" thick the reality is that it only easily chips dried wood at 1 1/2" thick and green wood at 1" thick. The resulting chips are an inch to an inch and a half long, some even 4 or 5 inches occasionally. Even using the bag that it comes with allows chips and dust etc to spew everywhere. Had this method been used they would surely find chips and shreddings in the area. IMO HTH

ETA: Just as an additional...it is useless on palm tree branches. Clogs and boggs down and stops every time due to the fibrous nature of the fronds. This requires manually unjamming the cutting knives. The whole process is very messy and sends stuff flying everywhere, even with smaller dried wood.

 

[MsFacetious]

If they do not find her if I were LE I would take note of the weather at that time she was missing (a weeks worth) then watch the weather this fall winter for those exact weather conditions, and drive out there. Perhaps this will give LE a better perspective as to where he might have driven, walked, hiked, and other items of interest. They need to basically re-enact with what they know now.

I think this is a great idea.
I actually fully planned to do that during the winter of 2010/2011.
I had locations all figured out that I wanted to go to... Topaz Mountain, Eureka, a few others.
I fully intended to go out with a few friends/family and take pictures and then come back here and report.

I had the weather charted for all of those locations on the night Susan went missing.
The other days in question the weather was pretty clear so it wouldn't have been an issue.

I wanted to determine which mines and areas he could have driven to and then reasonable dragged/carried Susan to... keeping the van in sight.
It was my way of making up for for not seeing him the night she disappeared.

Then we had several medical "emergencies" (not life threatening but dislocated hips are also not something you can ignore) on the nights that the weather was comparable. I started to think it was a conspiracy... until her 5th dislocation this month. :banghead:

So I started thinking about trying to do it again this year.
Then it struck me how odd and suspicious and ironic that would be.
Taking my kids "camping" at midnight, in the winter, in a snowstorm... all because of Josh's story that he did the same. :floorlaugh:

 

[hollyblue]

Police increase resources in Topaz Mtn. search effort for Susan Cox Powell

http://www.examiner.com/missing-per...-topaz-mtn-search-effort-for-susan-cox-powell

(I haven't read this in MSM, last I knew they were scaling back)

snipped

A coordinated effort is underway that involves the assistance of the following Law Enforcement Agencies and their respective Search and Rescue Teams along with the West Valley City Police Department:

Juab County Sherrif's Office
Millard County Sheriff's Office
Iron County Sheriff's Office
Sevier County Sheriff's Office
Beaver County Sheriff's Office
Utah Department of Public Safety Air Burea

Change of plans for some reason. Let's hope it fruitful.

TOPAZ MOUNTAIN, Utah (Isabelle Zehnder reporting) -- On Monday morning the office of West Valley City Police Chief Thayle "Buzz" Nielsen issued a News Release stating their department is increasing resources and stepping up the search for missing West Valley City mom, Susan Cox Powell, in the Topaz Mountain area

 

[BeanE]

"We've been able to cover a little bit more ground today," said West Valley Police Lt. Bill Merritt. "We've got a lot more to cover still, and we are confident with the manpower that we have that we're just going to make really good headway today."

Searchers are walking through the area, riding ATVs and searching by air. They are being asked to report if they find bones that they can't determine to be animal bones, Merritt said. They are also asked to report if they find blankets, clothing, or any "impression in the ground that looks a little bit odd."

A cadaver dog is being dispatched to sites reported by searchers to see if there is anything of significance.

The search is expected to continue at least through Wednesday. Merritt said police will make a determination every day as to how much longer they'll be searching the area.

"So long as we've got these people coming, these are fresh volunteers from the search and rescue, we figure there is no point in wrapping things up yet," Merritt said. "We've got a lot more ground to cover, and we can get it done with these people."

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/...n-Cox-Powell-investigation.html?s_cid=t_share

 

[hollyblue]

I'm visual and don't know the counties:
Juab County Sherrif's Office
Millard County Sheriff's Office
Iron County Sheriff's Office
Sevier County Sheriff's Office
Beaver County Sheriff's Office
Utah Department of Public Safety Air Burea

http://www.onlineutah.com/counties3.shtml

 

[HatesSociopaths]

I am just wondering if this "wood" is a stick (think broom handle) that was used to beat someone. I can see how this would have human DNA on it if someone were beat to death with it.

It bothers me that the dogs did not hit on the soil, just the wood. That to me may indicate that a body was never in that hole. Only the wood. Only the "DNA" on the wood. That would change the senario that JP moved her recently.

Another possibility is that the wood chip story is a "face saver" for LE. They were calling it a shallow grave up until Saturday - 3 days. They had already dug a couple of feet on Wednesday, and didn't dig much further than that on the proceeding days. So the fact they felt comfortable calling it a shallow grave for a few days is telling. There were also numerous reports of the dogs hitting on the soil for a few days.

Then, on Satuday, the story changed to having found wood chips and no longer was the site called a shallow grave. There appeared to be an inference to the idea it could have just been a buried campfire.

Speculating, they may have wanted to avoid the follow-up questions to them revealing that a body had likely been removed from the shallow grave. Perhaps they personally feel like they slipped up in not keeping an eye on JP during the time he could have moved it, namely in late August on his "camping trip."

MOO.

 

[HatesSociopaths]

I'm going back and reviewing the media reports again. Just wanted to make note of a few things stated:

Susan disappeared after attending church. --This makes it appear she disappeared early in the afternoon...and leaves much of the day and it's activites out of the picture

LE took both Steven and JP's journals from the WA search. This is the first time I have seen this mentioned. Did they infact take JP's journals also???

Josh sold his house and moved to WA. (He rented it)

Merritt clearly states they found bones.

Merritt said a Juab County forensics team and a Utah state medical examiner have been dispatched to the scene. But he conceded they may not have answers right away.

"He (medical examiner) will be able to confirm that these are human bones, but that's about it," he said

http://www.abc4.com/content/news/top_stories/story/Human-remains-found-in-Susan-Cox-Powell-search/dR_5Vk7CyUa0S33hxP1TcA.cspx

That's an interesting article. The fact Merritt is named as the source is important IMO as it makes the veracity of the article that much more likely.

Merritt said a Juab County forensics team and a Utah state medical examiner have been dispatched to the scene. But he conceded they may not have answers right away.

"He (medical examiner) will be able to confirm that these are human bones, but that's about it," he said.

The fact he says they found bones here is another sign that their story changed as things moved forward. We know no bones were found.

MOO.

 

[hollyblue]

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=17306187

A cadaver dog is being dispatched to sites reported by searchers to see if there is anything of significance.

Glad they still have at least one dog on hand.

 

[cocomod]

Thinking about Susan and her boys today. I still feel such an energized search for her. I wish that TES was out there too. Someone with horses and other resources that have looked for missing people previously. If I am not mistaken, they have enormous resources that could be tapped.

 

[mysteriew]

Myself I wonder if perhaps they had found what they thought was charred bone in the area of the dig. Then after talking about it at the PC they realized it wasn't a good idea to say it was bone until it was verified by the lab, so they backed off.

One thing I am sure of is that the believe they have really good info. They don't do this extensive a search unless they believe their info is very credible.

 

[cocomod]

Myself I wonder if perhaps they had found what they thought was charred bone in the area of the dig. Then after talking about it at the PC they realized it wasn't a good idea to say it was bone until it was verified by the lab, so they backed off.

One thing I am sure of is that the believe they have really good info. They don't do this extensive a search unless they believe their info is very credible.

I completely agree! I do NOT believe that they would be out there with the resources that they have, spending the time that they are, and creating the fuss that they did UNLESS they have some incredibly convincing evidence that they are on the right track! I still have hope that there was or will be a break in Susan's case!

 

[HatesSociopaths]

Myself I wonder if perhaps they had found what they thought was charred bone in the area of the dig. Then after talking about it at the PC they realized it wasn't a good idea to say it was bone until it was verified by the lab, so they backed off.

One thing I am sure of is that the believe they have really good info. They don't do this extensive a search unless they believe their info is very credible.

Yes, my opinion is that they feel re-energized and hot on the trail. A big clue to this was bringing Mr. Cox out there. They wouldn't do that unless they were really onto something.

 

[mysteriew]

Sadly though even if their info is very good, very credible that is a huge area to examine and would be very easy to miss something. Gah I hope not!

 

[HatesSociopaths]

Another possibility is that the wood chip story is a "face saver" for LE. They were calling it a shallow grave up until Saturday - 3 days. They had already dug a couple of feet on Wednesday, and didn't dig much further than that on the proceeding days. So the fact they felt comfortable calling it a shallow grave for a few days is telling. There were also numerous reports of the dogs hitting on the soil for a few days.

Then, on Satuday, the story changed to having found wood chips and no longer was the site called a shallow grave. There appeared to be an inference to the idea it could have just been a buried campfire.

Speculating, they may have wanted to avoid the follow-up questions to them revealing that a body had likely been removed from the shallow grave. Perhaps they personally feel like they slipped up in not keeping an eye on JP during the time he could have moved it, namely in late August on his "camping trip."

MOO.

I want to add onto this. The Conrad Murray defense team is currently saying that they cannot get a fair trial because of the media like HLN coverage on their case. LE may just be trying to avoid this legal attack on what the news is reporting. They can't reveal their evidence as JP would be heavily accused by the media, etc. and they don't want their statements to be linked to that.

MOO.

 

[Lera213]

Why do I have a gut feeling he disposed of Susan at Baker's hot springs! Over time what would this do to the bones?

 

[HatesSociopaths]

Does anyone know if JP hunted for rocks at these other locations:

Although unique and interesting rocks are available throughout the state, there are several areas of Utah that attract rock hounders from around the world. For more information on these and other rock hounding locations, we recommend A Collector's Guide to Rock, Mineral, and Fossil Localities of Utah by James R. Wilson and published by the Utah Geological Survey, from which some of the information below has been taken.

Wheeler Amphitheater (Antelope Springs)
Type of rocks/minerals: Trilobites
Location: West of Delta off of Highway 6

Ibex-Fossil Mountain Area
Types of rocks/minerals: Brachiopods, trilobites, echinoderms, cephalopods
Location: Roughly 54 miles west of Delta off of Highway 6

Sunstone Knoll
Types of rocks/minerals: Sunstone (yellow labradorite), aragonite
Location: Southwest of Delta off of Highway 257

Dugway Geode Beds
Types of rocks/minerals: Geodes
Location: Take the Pony Express Road off of Utah Highway 36 near Vernon

Tooele County

Stansbury Island
Types of rocks/minerals: gypsum, oolitic sand
Location: West of Salt Lake City, off of I-80

Wayne County

Caineville Area
Types of rocks/minerals: Agate, jasper, chert, petrified wood, oysters
Location: All around the Caineville, Utah, area (between Capitol Reef National Park and Hanksville, Utah on Highway 24)

http://www.utah.com/hike/rock_hounding_areas.htm

 

[dsntslp]

Why do I have a gut feeling he disposed of Susan at Baker's hot springs! Over time what would this do to the bones?

Possibly help to preserve the remains?


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warm_Mineral_Springs_(spring)

"The spring has been in use for thousands of years. This was shown when 10,000 year old human remains were discovered near the bottom, including a skull with intact brain matter, and the skeletal remains of a Mastodon and Saber tooth tiger.
Scientists anticipate that future excavations may reveal findings that may date as far back as 30,000 years, to a time when Warm Mineral Springs was a dry cave."

Me: Intact brain matter. Hmmm, impressive!

ETA: Neat article with more on the above mentioned spring.
http://www.advanceddivermagazine.com/articles/WMS/WMS.html

 

[HatesSociopaths]

Can anyone point me to an earlier similar case with these factors:

1. A spontaneous murder committed in a disorganized fashion, with a dubious story, conflicting statements, etc.
2. A parent or other family member very involved in the subsequent cover-up of the murder. This person will be of above average intelligence and the "mind" of the cover-up operation. Their involvement will include the hiding of the body, the subsequent manufactured story, presenting alternate theories, bashing the victim, etc.

TIA.

 

[raeann]

Can anyone point me to an earlier similar case with these factors:

1. A spontaneous murder committed in a disorganized fashion, with a dubious story, conflicting statements, etc.
2. A parent or other family member very involved in the subsequent cover-up of the murder. This person will be of above average intelligence and the "mind" of the cover-up operation. Their involvement will include the hiding of the body, the subsequent manufactured story, presenting alternate theories, bashing the victim, etc.

TIA.

Haleigh Cummings??????