Father of missing Utah mom spends Christmas with her sons, but says holiday felt empty

Grandpa: Kids of missing Utah mom in good spirits

SALT LAKE CITY — The parents of a missing Utah woman spent an unhappy Christmas together with her two young children, the woman’s father said Saturday.

Chuck Cox said he and his wife were with the boys, ages 4 and 2, for several hours on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Both boys were in good health and spirits, Cox said in a posting to a Facebook page dedicated to the disappearance of his daughter, Susan Powell.

“We went through the motions of Christmas, but it didn’t fill the emptiness,” he said.

Powell, 28, has been missing since Dec. 7. Her husband, Josh Powell, has told police he last saw her at 12:30 a.m. on that day as he left their suburban Salt Lake City home with the two boys for a camping trip.

Josh Powell failed to show up at work that day. Police consider him to be the sole person of interest in her disappearance.

Cox, of Puyallup, Wash., said the last few days have been very difficult. But his grandsons seem to be unaffected by their mother’s disappearance and the national attention it has brought, he wrote.

“We have pictures of Susan and her family up, so I was a little concerned,” Cox said. “But the boys just went on playing, so I feel they are doing well.”

Josh Powell traveled with his sons to Puyallup a week ago to spend the holiday with family. Susan Powell grew up in the city south of Seattle and met her husband there.

There were no new major developments in the case Saturday, said Tom McLachlan, a police captain in West Valley City, the Utah town where the Powells live.