Josh Powell House
Josh Powell's burnt out houseThe nightmare story of Washington dad Josh Powell has taken another strange and scary turn today. Elizabeth Griffn-Hall, the social worker who brought little Charlie and Braden Powell to their father's house last weekend, only to be locked out and forced to watch, horrified, as he exploded the structure, has come out to the news media to give more insight into what happened before she called 911.

The way she tells it, the little boys ran into the house because their father told them he had a "big surprise" for them. And suddenly, a lot of questions we've all had make a lot more sense.

I can't be the only parent who wondered why these boys would so willingly go to their father when they were allegedly telling their maternal grandparents that they did not want to go to Josh's house for their twice-weekly visits. Sure, they loved their dad, but these kids were obviously feeling confused about him. And when the attorney representing the parents of Josh's missing wife, Susan Powell, said the boys had reported that they remember Mommy being in the trunk of the family car on the night she disappeared two years ago, it sounded like the little boys might even be a little afraid of him.

So how quickly could the hand-off between Griffin-Hall and Powell have been? How could they have separated from the social worker in the very short amount of time it took for him to slam the door and lock her out, leaving her desperately dialing 911, begging someone to come help her?

Now we know. Because he tricked those poor innocent children. Josh Powell made it sound like there was something exciting and wonderful inside his house of horrors. In reality, he was forcing them to run to their death.

Griffin-Hall's story of little boys who loved their dad, who would light up around him, is awful to hear. Because it proves the man they so badly wanted to trust was the very person who would abuse that trust and betray their childlike innocence. And what the social worker told ABC is absolutely correct:

How this happened is that Josh Powell was really, really evil. I couldn't have stopped him.

No one could. Because if someone is willing to trick and betray children, hurt children, kill children, there is something so dark and twisted inside of them that normal people can't possibly foresee what they will do.

Does this clear up more questions you've had about this horrible case?

 

Image via Stephen Brashear/Getty Images