Today is Friday, February 5th, 2021.

On this day in 2012, 5-year-old Brayden Powell and his brother Charlie were senselessly

murdered by their father, who then ended his own life with a bullet.

Welcome to Today in True Crime, a Spotify original from Parcast. Due to the graphic nature of this crime, listener discretion is advised.

This episode includes discussions of child abuse, suicide, and

homicide that some people may find offensive. We advise extreme caution for children under 13.

Today we're covering the double murder of the Powell Boys, who were attacked by their father

during a weekly three-hour custody visit, gone wrong. Let's go back to the

morning of February 5th, 2012, just as the two young boys rose from their beds for the last time.

Seven-year-old Charlie Powell and his younger brother, Braden, had endured a hard few years

for two children still making sense of the world. In 2009, their mom Susan mysteriously disappeared.

The police, Susan's family, and much of the general public believed her husband

was to blame. Naturally, this sudden loss and public scrutiny altered the boys' lives forever.

With their father deemed unfit to raise them himself, they were sent to Susan's parents' house

where they'd lived ever since.

But that fateful morning, Brayden and Charlie stirred in their respective beds.

Braden's sheets were decorated with graphics from the Disney movie Cars, while Charlie slept in a Spider-man-themed comforter. They tumbled out of bed and headed to the kitchen for breakfast.

With bellies soon full of cereal and fruit, the young boys prepared for an eventful Sunday.

They were always excited to spend time with their father, Joshua Powell. For their part,

Susan's parents, the Coxes, never liked their son-in-law.

But after Susan's disappearance, the animosity became unbearable.

The families had entered into a kind of cold war, with Joshua clinging to the weekly visitation time he had with Charlie and Brayden.

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