PUYALLUP, Wash. - Long before Josh Powell killed himself and his 7- and 5-year-old sons in a Sunday fire, the pages of his parents' divorce file portrayed him as a seriously troubled teen who attempted suicide, killed pet gerbils, once threatened his mother with a butcher knife and early on adopted his father's allegedly disparaging view of women.
As an adult, Powell appears to have repeated in his own marriage to Susan Cox Powell some of the same emotionally abusive behavior he witnessed growing up.
In the years following his parents' 1994 divorce Josh repaired a frayed relationship with his mother. Last year, she defended him as a loving, caring father as he sought to regain custody of his sons from the state.
But Steve and Terrica Powell's troubled relationship, acrimonious divorce and his father's behavior may have left a lasting mark on their oldest son.
"A child living within the family dynamics described in the divorce filings often tries to appease a parent who terrifies them by, usually subconsciously, adopting their beliefs and thought patterns," said David Reiss, a California psychiatrist and expert in character and personality dynamics.
"On some level, the child is going to align himself with the person he sees as a threat," Reiss said.
And while the violence that unfolded here nearly a week ago is hard to predict, the most reliable predictor is previous violence -- and Josh's childhood history placed him in that statistically higher risk group, Reiss said.
The Salt Lake Tribune attempted to speak with several of Powell's siblings who supported him following his wife's disappearance, but they declined interviews as has Josh's mother in the past. His uncle and aunt also declined comment through their daughter.
The divorce of Powell's parents involved allegations of mental unfitness, pornography, polygamy and even witchcraft. There were serious conflicts over religion and parenting, and a tug-of-war ensued over the children, who at the time ranged in age from 18 to 7. Josh, the second oldest child, was 16.
Steve eventually was given custody of the three boys, while Terrica had custody of Alina, their youngest daughter -- though within a couple years she also went to live with her father.
In 1992 court filings, Steve claimed his wife, who studied herbs and natural healing, had mixed a New Age mysticism with Mormon beliefs in a way that amounted to practicing "witch craft and devil worship."
Terrica responded that it was Steve who collected books on the occult and claimed his interest in pornography, which he had shared with their sons, had corrupted him.
"A huge part of that case involved the pornographic interest of Steven Powell and the impact it was having on the children," said Tacoma attorney Steve Downing, who represents Powell's in-laws Chuck and Judy Cox.
Steve Powell was arrested last September on charges of voyeurism and child pornography based on images police found during a search of his Puyallup, Wash., home, a home which he then shared with Josh and his grandsons. That's when the state took custody of the boys and placed them with their maternal grandparents, Chuck and Judy Cox.
The couple were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when they married, but Steve had become disillusioned with the faith and it became a flashpoint in the marriage -- a pattern later repeated in Josh's own marriage.
Like his parents, Josh and Susan married in an LDS temple; like his father, Josh later became disaffected from the faith.
At one point, Terrica said, Steve proclaimed he had a "right" to take another wife and had his eye on a woman who was already married, writing a song about her and detailing sexual fantasies in his journal.
Steve's parenting was equally offbase, Terrica told the court. Her husband would ignore certain behaviors of their children and then suddenly turn on them "far more violently than was necessary or fair," which would result in yelling, name calling and spankings that were too forceful and too long.
Steve subjected Josh in particular to this overly harsh discipline, she said.
"For years, he pointedly attacked Josh very frequently, nearly every day for a time," she wrote.
Steve acknowledged Josh was a challenge.
"At times I have no idea how to handle Josh," he wrote. "He is very independent, and he is now a little taller than I, and may, with his regular weight-lifting, be a little stronger and bulkier than I. I cannot spank him. Spanking didn't even help when he was younger."
Terrica said Josh had become withdrawn as a teenager, "unwilling to interact, even to make eye contact for a year or two. He seemed to have a soul-deep hurt because of his dad's erratic and explosive behavior."
When he was 13 or 14, Josh tried to commit suicide by hanging himself.
Terrica said she believed her son's difficulties were due to "not knowing where the boundaries are -- what are the limits of acceptable behavior." And she claimed her husband steadily turned their sons against
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