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It’s the most shocking crime around here in recent memory: the disappearance of former Puyallup resident Susan Powell and then the murder-suicide involving her husband and two sons.

On February 5, 2012, in a rental home in the rural Pierce County town of Graham, Josh Powell, the only suspect in the disappearance and murder of his wife in Utah, had just killed his two young sons and then himself.

It’s a story that demands a true crime book. Author Rebecca Morris couldn’t resist the elements, “Sex, religion, parenthood, children, tragedy, and a missing person.”

At least a few years before Susan Powell disappeared from her Utah home, Morris says Josh contemplated her death. The details come from a journal written by Josh’s father, Steven Powell.

“Steve wrote, in 2007, that Josh had been over to his house in Puyallup for a visit and was daydreaming about Susan being dead,” says Morris. “Josh liked to fantasize about someone knocking on the door and saying, ‘Your wife has been in a car accident and has died.'”

Susan Powell vanished from her home on December 6, 2009. At the time, Josh told police in West Valley City, Utah that he’d taken his kids camping and when he returned, Susan was gone.

Then, he clammed up and refused to talk to police or Susan’s family.

Susan’s parents, Chuck and Judy Cox, worked to keep their daughter’s disappearance in the news.

“I think Chuck did 40 interviews the first week that Susan was missing,” says Morris.

Morris, with co-author Gregg Olsen, in their book, “If I Can’t Have You,” developed a theory about the hours before Susan vanished.

“There is some chance that Josh had been poisoning her and she hadn’t felt well for a couple of weeks. Josh liked to fix her kind of elaborate, weird smoothies. Then we know on that day, on that Sunday, December 6, that completely out of character for Josh, he cooked a meal, he made a meal. Josh didn’t cook. Josh didn’t know how to cook. He says that he called his father for a recipe for pancakes,” says Morris. “Well, who needs a recipe for pancakes?”

Morris’ theory is that Susan might have given Josh a deadline for things in the marriage to get better, or she would leave.

After Susan’s disappearance, Josh quickly moved to Puyallup with the boys to live with Josh’s father, who wrote in his journal about his sexual obsession with Susan. Steven Powell was also later convicted of voyeurism involving neighbor children.

The boys did not do well in a sexually charged environment, misbehaving and acting aggressively.

“That is heartbreaking, to see the effect on those kids in those couple of years,” says Morris.

Chuck and Judy Cox won temporary custody of the boys in the fall of 2011. Josh had supervised visits.

Then, Josh suffered a setback in court. He would have to take a polygraph and submit to a psycho-sexual evaluation.

“Various people in the courtroom, including Chuck and Judy Cox, heard this wail from outside the courtroom. That was Josh hearing the bad news. He was not going to get his kids back that day,” says Morris.

Josh prepared for the end, sending text messages and leaving voicemails, like one where he said, “This is Josh and I’m calling to say goodbye. I am not able to live without my sons and I’m not able to go on anymore. I’m sorry to everyone I’ve hurt. Goodbye.”

Two days later, during a scheduled supervised visit, Josh Powell blew up a rental home in Graham. He and his two sons, then 5 and 7 years old, were inside.

Josh and the kids were dead.

Although Josh Powell was the only serious suspect in his wife’s 2009 murder, he was never arrested.

“I think that this is the thing that the West Valley City Police Department has to answer for,” says Morris. “They also told Chuck and Judy Cox for years that they were about to arrest Josh.”

But police didn’t have a body. Despite several searches, Susan could not be found and the case went nowhere.

“The day after the fire, the West Valley City police chief came to Puyallup to see where all of this had happened, and to go through Josh’s storage area,” says Morris. “And in the car, he called Chuck Cox and said ‘I want to talk to you.’ And they sat in the car and the police chief cried and said, ‘You were right. I’m sorry. You were right.’ Chuck Cox had warned them – Josh was going to do something evil.”

Last year, West Valley City Police closed the Susan Powell case. How did Josh Powell get away with it?

“I think it was pure luck because Josh wasn’t that smart,” says Morris. “I don’t think he was clever enough to really devise some in-depth plan. It just happened.”

Morris believes the states of Utah and Washington failed to communicate on the case and as a result, failed the Coxes and Braden and Charlie Powell, too.

“It made the case a little more complicated because she went missing in one state and then the person of interest moved back to another state, but they didn’t communicate well,” she says. “I think those boys might be alive today if they had communicated better.”

Morris says Josh’s father, Steven, holds the key to the mystery of Susan Powell, even though she no longer believes Steven Powell had anything to do with her disappearance.

“Steve is the only person living, I believe, who knows what happened, and knows where Susan is because everyone was living in his house. Everybody,” Morris says.

Morris speculates that Josh, with the help of his brother, Michael, who later killed himself, could have dumped Susan in one of thousands of abandoned mines in Utah or somewhere else in the middle of the vast Western wilderness.

The authors write that if anybody can find Susan, it’s her father, Chuck Cox, who has taken over the search.