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'I'm Afraid for Their Lives': Social Worker's Frantic 9-1-1 Calls Released

By KSEE News

Credit: Pierce County Sheriff's Department

And investigator searches through the rubble of Josh Powell's burned down home on Monday.

February 8, 2012 Updated Feb 8, 2012 at 2:43 PM PDT

(NEW YORK DAILY NEWS) Washington police have released the frantic 9-1-1 calls made by a social worker moments before crazed dad Josh Powell blew up his house on Sunday, killing himself and his two young children.

"He won't let me in the house," said Elizabeth Griffin-Hall, who was supposed to monitor Powell's visit with the boys at his home in Puyallup, moments after Powell slammed the door in her face.

"He's got the kids in the house and he won't let me in."

Smelling gasoline, Hall begs the dispatcher to send help and says she can hear one of the boys crying. But the dispatcher says cops can only respond to life-threatening situations.

"But I think I need help right away," she pleads. "And this is the craziest thing. He looked right at me, and closed the door... I smell gasoline, and he won't let me in.

"This could be life threatening," she insists. "I'm afraid for their lives."

Moments after the six minute call, Powell's home erupted into a massive fireball, killing him and his two boys, Charlie, 7, and Braden, 5.

Authorities have said that Powell planned the fiery murder-suicide, dousing the home in gas before the boys arrived and then hacking at them with a hatchet before igniting the massive blaze.

In the chaos after the eruption, Hall told Pierce County Sheriff's dispatchers that Powell set the fire intentionally.

"There's two little boys in the house, they are 5 and 7, and there's an adult man, he has supervised visitation, and he blew up the house and the kids!" she says.

"He exploded the house!" she cries.

In a separate call released by police on Tuesday, Powell's sister, Alina, sobs as she reports receiving a chilling message from her brother saying he couldn't live without his boys and "goodbye."

"I'm terrified to drive over there," Alina Powell said. "I'm afraid of seeing something I don't want to see."

For two years before Sunday's tragedy, police had been investigating Powell in connection with the disappearance of his wife, Susan. Josh Powell had claimed that his wife vanished from their Utah home in Dec. 2009 after he and the boys left for a midnight camping trip.

Last Wednesday, a judge denied Powell custody of his boys pending a psychosexual exam.

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