Investigators found the blood of Susan Powell, the mother of two who went missing in 2009, inside the family's Utah home and a handwritten will saying she feared for her life at the hands of her husband, court documents show.
The documents, unsealed late Friday, offer a glimpse of the evidence authorities collected that put Powell's husband at the center of the investigation into her December 2009, disappearance.
They also raise questions about why he was not arrested prior to killing himself and his two sons in a murder-suicide in February.
If he had been in jail, our grandchildren would still be alive," Chuck Cox, the father of Susan Powell, told Seattle-based CNN affiliate KOMO.
Authorities say Josh Powell snatched the two boys -- Braden and Charlie -- from a social worker, who was delivering them for a supervised visit. He locked the doors and killed them and himself moments before his Puyallup, Washington, home exploded.
"Despite these events, Susan Powell is still missing. Her whereabouts, we haven't solved that yet. What happened to her, we still need to work on that," West Valley City Police Chief Thayle "Buzz" Nielsen told reporters, according to CNN affiliate KSL of Salt Lake City.
"My department is committed to locating Susan and bringing a resolution to this case. That's why it's still active."
The documents used as part of an affidavit to request a search warrant of Josh Powell's Washington home are also tied to a criminal case involving his father, Steven Powell.
Josh Powell maintained his innocence in his wife's disappearance until his death.
He had said he last saw her on December 6, 2009, after he and his two sons left after midnight to go camping in below-freezing weather in a desert area in Tooele County, Utah. Susan Powell's sister reported her missing.
A month later, Powell and his children moved from Utah to Washington where he moved in with his father.
But the documents paint a picture of a man uncooperative with authorities whose story about the night his wife disappeared changed several times.
They also reveal that one of the sons, Charlie, told a police investigator that "his mommy went camping with them, although she did not come back with them and he did not know why," the documents said.
Weeks later in Washington, Charlie told a teacher that "my mom is dead."
In the hours after Susan Powell was reported missing, authorities said they found two fans inside the living room sofa that appeared to have just been cleaned.