When Josh Powell blew up himself and his two young sons Sunday, he stunned his neighbors and many in the Northwest who had followed the saga of his life over the last two years.
It began with the disappearance of his wife Susan, something Powell was suspected in but never charged with and ended after he lost a custody battle for his boys.
"Oh I’m deeply saddened and shocked by it," said Portland psychologist Chris Huffine.
Huffine said he’s counseled thousands of abusive men over his 20 years in practice. He still runs support groups for abusers to help them learn new behaviors.
He says men who kill the ones they love think mostly about themselves.
“So the thought often of her being with anybody else or them calling anyone else daddy is so abhorrent that they feel the thing to do in their sense for the children's own good, is to take the children away," said Huffine.
Sadly, murder-suicide is not uncommon. Oregon suffered through one particularly deadly month in November 2009. It included three dead in a Forest Grove home, three dead in a Bethany home, two dead in Tualatin and three dead in Southeast Portland.
Huffine says abusers often believe everyone else is against them. Murder suicide evens the score.
“And so out of a sense of ego is an, 'I'll show them,'" Huffine said.
The psychologist says supervised visits outside the father's home would have been much safer.
Instead, detectives who continue to investigate the disappearance of Susan Powell will sift through the burned-out home searching for clues, while the rest of the community struggles with the reality of a father who killed his two little boys and himself.
Some companies offer to supervise visits in neutral settings for a fee.Innovative Services NW offers those services in the Vancouver area.
The Safety First Program is preparing to launch in Washington, Clackamas and Multnomah counties but is not serving clients yet. If you feel you are in danger call the Portland Women’s Crisis line at 503-235-5333.
