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WEST VALLEY CITY — The father of a West Valley City mother missing since 2009 says he was misquoted in a PEOPLE magazine article that claimed his daughter was buried by her brother-in-law, not her husband, as many have long suspected.
In a story posted on people.com at 4:45 p.m. Friday, Chuck Cox, Susan Powell's father, is said to have told PEOPLE that West Valley City police believe the woman's brother-in-law, Michael Powell, was an accomplice in her murder.
Michael Powell committed suicide in February by jumping off a Minneapolis parking ramp. Before his suicide, he had long maintained his brother's innocence, claiming West Valley police had failed to thoroughly vet other potential persons of interest.
PEOPLE claimed Cox "and other sources" said detectives believe Josh Powell "drove the couple's Town & Country van hundreds of miles northwest in a snowstorm in December 2009 as his and Susan's two young sons, Charlie and Braden, slept in the backseat. They believe Josh turned Susan's body over to Michael, who buried her."
Josh Powell had long been a person of interest in the Dec. 2009 disappearance of his wife, Susan Powell. He took his life and the life of the couple's two young sons, Charlie and Braden, in a fiery explosion in Feb. 2012, just days after he had been denied custody of the children and ordered to undergo a psycho-sexual evaluation.
PEOPLE also quoted Cox as saying Michael Powell "was more involved in the disposal of her body" and that he suspected police may soon be ready to discuss Powell's involvement in the disappearance, which Cox said was accurate. He would not discuss exact developments shared with him by police, but did say some bones had been found in the search this week of 180 acres of farmland in Oregon.
Related:
Police call off Ore. search for Susan Powell's remains
A search of a farm in Salem, Ore., for the remains of missing West Valley City mother Susan Cox Powell was called off Thursday after two days of searching yielded nothing of interest."We haven't found a specific gravesite or anything, and it hasn't been determined whether it's human or animal," Cox said.
Cox denied, however, claiming Michael Powell buried Susan Powell's body. He told KSL on Friday that he had been "misquoted a little bit."
Kathryn Brenner, a representative for PEOPLE, did not wish to comment beyond saying that "PEOPLE stands by our story."
Whether Michael Powell's potential involvement in his sister-in-law's disappearance had anything to do with police's search this week of 180 acres of farmland in Oregon has not been confirmed by the West Valley City Police Department.
The West Valley Police Department said Friday night "detailed updates" in the case would be provided at a press conference Monday at 3 p.m. Cox's attorney, Anne Bremner, said she expected the police department to release at that time 31,000 documents related to the Powell case.
Cox said Friday he agreed with Mike Powell's statement to PEOPLE that "any particular aspect of the investigation not coming from the (police) should be examined very cautiously."
He told KSL he does not believe the inaccuracies in the PEOPLE article will do irreparable harm to the investigation into his daughter's disappearance.
"We're going to continue searching for our daughter, and I think getting people aware of the situation, that things are changing a little bit, (there is) nothing wrong with that, really," he said. "But read this and realize this was put out fairly quickly and some of the stuff in here is not 100-percent accurate."
Contributing: Andrew Wittenberg and Dave Cawley
