The murder of two men forces their families to wrestle with impossible questions.

Who is forgiveness for? Does everyone deserve a second chance? Follow season two of the letter,

ripple effect at the letterpodcast.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

This podcast includes discussion of domestic abuse and other forms of violence. While not explicit,

it's probably a good idea to use discretion when listening.

If you or someone you know is experiencing abuse at the hands of a loved one, help is available.

In the United States, you can visit the hotline.org to be connected with free resources in your area.

As a kid, growing up on the outskirts of Spokane, Washington, Josh Powell dreamed of

becoming a self-made millionaire. But achieving that goal proved more difficult than young Josh expected.

At the moment, I've only got a thousand bucks in savings.

His first attempt to make it big was a woodworking business he started in high school.

He bragged to his friends about spending thousands of dollars on tools.

He didn't have clients enough to justify the expense, but that hardly mattered.

If I spend $400 bucks on tools, it makes me frustrated in my own budgeting. And I feel like,

what the heck, I might as well spend another $400 on something else that I want.

Josh never made his million dollars. But he did take out a million dollar life insurance policy

on his wife, Susan Cox Powell.

Then, on December 6, 2009, Susan vanished.

That was 15 years ago, and she has still not been found.

There's a single piece of evidence in Susan's case that's confounded me for years.

It's a hunk of twisted metal police found in the back of Josh's minivan the day after Susan turned up missing.

The lead detective on the case, Ellis Maxwell, told me the metal object ended up with the FBI.

...