Josh Powell Tried to Kill Sons With Hatchet Before Explosion

Josh Powell tried to kill his two young sons with a hatchet before the flames of the fiery explosion he had ignited engulfed them all, police said Monday.

Powell, 36, failed to kill his sons Charles, 7, and Braden, 5, but still wounded them horribly before they died — smoke in their lungs — in the gas-fueled explosion Sunday, according to police and the medical examiner.

Just days before he killed himself and his two boys when they came to his Graham, Wash., home for what was supposed to be a supervised visit, Powell gave away his children’s toys, police said Monday.

Powell also sent long emails detailing what to do with his money, house utilities, and other aspects of his life to cousins, his pastor, and friends just minutes before he ignited the explosion that killed himself and his children and left his house a charred ruin, Pierce County, Wash., Sheriff’s Department Det. Ed Troyer said.

In the emails, Powell said he could not live without his boys, Charles, 7, and Braden, 5, Troyer said.

He and the boys were found in the center of the home, next to one of two 10-gallon cans of gas in the house, Troyer said.

Investigators are trying to determine when Powell began planning the murder-suicide by finding out when and where he bought the materials for the explosion, Troyer said. The toys were donated to Goodwill days before the deaths occurred, he said.

The maternal grandparents of Powell’s two sons say the boys were playing happily Sunday and didn’t want to visit their father.

Charles and Judy Cox tell KIRO-TV that the grandmother talked them into a supervised child custody visit with their father.

When the boys arrived at Powell’s Washington state home, their father barred a social worker from entering and then lit the house on fire. All three died.

Charlie and Braden Powell shared a bedroom in the Cox’s Puyallup home since last fall, when they were removed from their father’s custody.

The Coxes are parents of Susan Powell, who has been missing since 2009. Josh Powell was a person of interest in her disappearance in Utah.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.