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TACOMA, Wash. — A court commissioner in Washington state has issued an order that the husband and father of missing Utah mother Susan Cox Powell keep 500 feet away from each other.
Husband Josh Powell had alleged in a petition for a restraining order that his father-in-law Chuck Cox of Puyallup, Wash., had threatened him and stalked him and his sons. The commissioner said nothing in Powell's petition rose to the level of domestic violence but said she was issuing an anti-harassment order "to keep the peace."
In court Tuesday, Cox's lawyer said his client had never threatened Powell and had only tried to hug his grandchildren.
"I believed he would attack and try to kill me because he believes I am responsible for my wife's disappearance," Powell stated.
In addition to staying at least 500 feet away from each other, Cox cannot go to his grandchildren's school. If he wants to visit with the two boys, the judge said he would need to get all visits approved by family court.
“If that’s what’s allowable under the law, that’s fine,” Josh Powell said after the hearing.
Cox had no comment.
Tuesday's court battle was the latest chapter in an escalating feud between the Cox and Powell families.
Josh Powell claimed in a petition for protection that Cox "stalked me and my children" to a Lowes store in Puyallup, where both families live. Powell moved back to his hometown in Washington with his two children about a month after his wife, Susan Powell, disappeared in December 2009.
Powell has been considered a person of interest in the case, according to West Valley police, because of his refusal to cooperate.
The confrontation between Cox and Powell at Lowes happened in July when Powell was in the store with his two sons.
"Cox's tone and behavior became threatening when they startled me, and I turned to say 'goodbye.' They have previously been told not to approach us under any circumstance. Cox asked, 'Can't we hug our grandchildren now?' and I responded 'No you may not. Goodbye.' His words, behavior and tone were as if he was trying to pick a fight with me. Chuck Cox mouthed the words 'YOU'RE DEAD' and they refused to leave us alone for several minutes," Josh Powell contended in his petition.
Powell claimed he was "afraid for my life."
"I believed he would attack and try to kill me because he believes I am responsible for my wife's disappearance," Powell stated.
Powell also claimed in his petition that he feared Cox's "tendencies because he suppresses rage and explodes," and that Cox uses the media "as a weapon to engender fear and hatred of my family."
Monday, Cox filed a reply in Pierce County Superior Court in Tacoma, Wash.
"I want the court to know that under no circumstances have I ever threatened Joshua Powell, my son-in-law," he wrote. "Never have I stalked or threatened to do physical, emotional or other harm to Joshua or anyone in his family."
While Cox acknowledges "it is simply a fact" that Powell is a person of interest in his daughter's disappearance, he stated in court documents: "I have never accused Josh of being responsible for Susan's disappearance."
But Cox also noted that his son-in-law "has not cooperated with law enforcement as much as everyone who loves Susan had hoped he would or expected that he should."
He stated, "Josh has brought and continues to bring public condemnation upon himself by his words and actions. If Josh had cooperated with the police, he might be experiencing a different response from the communities not only in Utah but here locally."
Since Josh Powell moved back to Washington, Cox claimed he has had limited contact with his grandchildren.
Josh Powell claimed that Cox "stalked me and my children" to a Lowes store in Puyallup, Wash., where both families live.
"If it were not sad enough the boys' mother has disappeared and now Josh would like the grandparents to disappear," he wrote. "It has deeply saddened us as maternal grandparents that we have been denied access to our grandchildren."
Cox contended he never said or mouthed any threatening words to Josh Powell in the store. He stated it was Powell who told them he could not hug his grandchildren under any circumstances. Cox recounted that he then waved to his grandchildren and they waved back as they were hurried away.
"There is no basis for this protection order and it has been sought in bad faith and with full knowledge that Josh Powell has perjured himself with the Pierce County Superior Court," Cox wrote.
The dispute comes after authorities searched a network of abandoned mines over the weekend outside Ely, Nev., but didn't reveal any new evidence.
Contributing: Associated Press
Email:preavy@ksl.com
