SEATTLE — Sheriff’s officials say an anti-crime organization has purchased plots in a Washington state cemetery on either side of the Powell boys, to make sure their killer isn’t buried next to them.
Pierce County Sheriff’s Detective Ed Troyer, who is also the executive director of Crimestoppers, said Wednesday that his organization wanted to make sure that Josh Powell’s grave isn’t adjacent to that of his young sons, Charlie and Braden, whom he killed this month.
Powell’s relatives visited the public Woodbine Cemetery and selected a plot about 25 feet from the boys, Puyallup city manager Ralph Dannenberg told The Associated Press. They haven’t paid for it yet, and any sale is being put on hold because the parents of Powell’s missing wife have promised legal action.
“We don’t have any rules or procedures regarding refusing plots to anyone,” Dannenberg said. “We’re going to wait to see what the outcome is in court.”
Powell was a suspect in Susan Powell’s 2009 disappearance from their home in West Valley City, Utah. He attacked his sons with a hatchet and exploded his house, killing himself and the two boys on Feb. 5.
The boys were laid to rest at Woodbine on Saturday. Attorney Anne Bremner, who represents Susan Powell’s parents, Charles and Judy Cox, says she will seek a temporary restraining order to block Josh Powell from being buried there.
“For him to be buried near those kids is just unthinkable,” Bremner said. “For God’s sake, for them to lose Susan first, and then the boys, and now this? Just give these people a break.”
Powell’s sister Alina did not return an email from The Associated Press seeking comment.
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