http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,580882,00.html?test=latestnewsTuesday, December 22, 2009
The husband of a missing Utah woman rented a car two days after his wife was reported to have disappeared, logging hundreds of miles on the vehicle as police try to determine where he traveled, the Deseret News reported.
Police in West Valley City, Utah, a suburb of Salt Lake City, say that Joshua Powell — a person of interest in his wife's disappearance — rented the car for 24 hours while police had his minivan in custody to process it for evidence.
Police are now looking into where Powell drove during that 24-hour period because the car lacked a GPS tracking device but had "several hundred" extra miles on it when he returned it to the rental car company, the Deseret News reported.
Police did not hear from the 34-year-old Powell during that period of time, the paper reported. His minivan has since been returned to him by police and he has not been named a suspect in his wife Susan's disappearance.
Susan Powell, 28, was last seen on Dec. 7, when her husband says he left their suburban home in West Valley City at about 12:30 a.m. to take their two boys, ages 2 and 4, camping in freezing conditions.
She was reported missing on the same day when she failed to show up for her stockbroker job and her children were not dropped off at day care.
Joshua Powell's father says his son is being vilified, telling The Salt Lake Tribune on Sunday from his home in Puyallup, Wash., that the investigation has turned his son into a scapegoat.
"The whole thing has just turned into a vilification of Josh and it will turn into a vilification of me, my ex-wife and my other kids," Steven Powell said through the partially open front door of his home. "I'm not making any statement because it doesn't matter how benign it is or how supportive it is. Somebody will twist it around."
On Monday, West Valley City Police Capt. Tom McLachlan said an anonymous donor is offering up to $10,000 for original information that may lead them to Susan Powell.
Investigators have grown increasingly suspicious of Josh Powell. On Sunday, he attended a candlelight vigil in Washington, although he did not speak to reporters or Susan Powell's family.
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Susan Powell's father, Charles Cox, wrote on a Facebook page for friends and family that he didn't understand why Josh was at the vigil.
"I heard that Joshua (the husband) had arrived," he wrote in the posting. "I saw this (sic) brother doing an interview, I couldn't really understand why Josh was there."
Cox and Josh Powell have barely spoken since Susan Powell was reported missing, although Cox has defended Josh Powell as a good father.