When Susan Powell, wife of Josh Powell, disappeared from her house in Utah, her sister-in-law found Josh suspicious of being involved. Despite being family, she did not hesitate to help out the police in uncovering the case and finding out the truth. The entire case surrounding Susan’s disappearance and her children’s deaths is profiled in-depth in the episode titled ‘If Something Happens To Me’ of ABC’s ’20/20.’ Although it features interviews with several family members, friends, and officials, the sense of justice that Jennifer showcased during the investigation was one of the highlights of the case.
Jennifer Graves Called 911 When Josh and Susan Did Not Turn Up at the Daycare
Jennifer Graves was the sister of Josh Powell, who was suspected of being involved in the sudden disappearance of his wife, Susan Powell, from their home in December 2009. Being the family’s emergency contact, Jennifer had gotten concerned when her sister-in-law failed to show up with her kids at the daycare on December 7, 2009. Immediately, she went to the couple’s house on Sarah Circle in West Valley City and kept knocking on the locked door of the house. Worried about the well-being of her brother, his wife, and their kids, she informed the police. When the police arrived at the residence, they asked her if they should break in through the window, and she gave them the green light.
Image Credit: WTHR
While the officers scoured through the property looking for evidence, Josh returned home along with his two boys, but Jennifer noticed that there was no sign of his wife, Susan. From that day on, Jennifer was suspicious of her brother and believed that he was involved in the disappearance. When he abandoned his West Valley City house and went to live with his father, Steve Powell, in Puyallup, Washington, her suspicions grew stronger. All this while, she ensured to stay in contact with the authorities, convincing them of her stance in the case. Six weeks after Susan Powell vanished from her house, Jennifer told the authorities that she was certain that Josh was the culprit.
Jennifer Graves Went Against Her Family to Get Justice For Susan
Jennifer Graves agreed to wear a wire and head to her father’s house, where Josh and the kids were staying at the time. On January 22, 2010, the suspect’s sister and her husband, Kirk, made the trip to Washington and attended a family gathering at her father’s house. Wired up, she confronted him the moment she found him alone. Despite trying her best to get a confession out of him about his arguments with Susan before she disappeared and about his alibi, he kept denying his involvement in the case, and all she could get out of him was — “My attorney told me: just don’t talk about it. Don’t talk about specifics.” Their father, Steven, interrupted the conversation and reminded his son to pick up a cake for his sons for their birthdays.
Susan Powell//Image Credit: ABC News
After the gathering came to a close, Jennifer told her father that it was obvious that her brother had done something to Susan. Enraged by the accusation, Steven could be heard saying, “Excuse me? It’s not obvious to me. It may be obvious to you, but you might be imagining things Jenny. You’ve always had a hard time with reality.” As the argument became heated, he hurled insults at her, saying, “You are a goddamn f—ing b— is what you are to talk about your brother and my son that way, to make things up.” By the end, Steven ordered Jennifer and her husband to leave his property as he yelled, “I’m rejecting you out of my family. I’ve given up on you Jenny. Just leave. Don’t even bother. Don’t even bother coming back.”
Fast forward to a couple of years later, during a heated custody battle with Susan’s parents for the custody of Susan and Josh’s two sons, Charlie and Braden, Josh ended up setting his house on fire with himself and his sons inside in 2012. In the same year, she was a key witness against her father, Steven Powell, in his voyeurism trial. She admitted that her father used to capture photographs of two young girls in the neighborhood without their consent. After losing her brother and nephews, she lost his other brother, Michael, who allegedly helped Josh dispose of Susan’s body as he took his own life in 2013.
Jennifer is Now a Published Author Likely Residing in Utah
In June 2013, Jennifer Graves collaborated with Emily Clawson to publish a book titled ‘A Light In Dark Places,’ in which she recounts his experience with her brother and father in connection to Susan’s disappearance and the tragic death of her nephews. A year after his release from prison, Steven Powell died in a Tacoma hospital due to heart complications in July 2018. When Jennifer received the news, she admitted that she felt a sense of “relief.”
Several years later, in 2020, Susan’s parents sued the state Department of Social and Health Services for not doing enough to keep the two boys protected from their father, leading to their untimely demise. As a witness, Jennifer Graves claimed that she showcased her concerns about Josh’s relationship with his wife and their children to an official from the DSHS. On top of that, she also told the official that she was worried that he might hurt his sons.
On March 27, 2020, Jennifer Graves and her husband, Kirk Graves, had something to celebrate when their daughter, Kyla Graves, got married to the love of her life, John Newman. Formerly the owner of KRGIT Software alongside Kirk in West Jordan, Jennifer seems to have taken up responsibility as a stay-at-home mother. Originally from Spokane, Washington, Jennifer resides with her family in West Jordan, Utah.
Read More: Laurie Juedes: Where is Ken Juedes’ Sister Now?
