Police and prosecutors don't want the public to know what they took from Susan Powell's house and husband.
State court clerks on Monday confirmed search warrants in the Powell case have been sealed. A lawyer for The Salt Lake Tribune said Monday the newspaper plans to file a motion today to have those warrants disclosed.
"Public access helps ensure accuracy, accountability and fairness in the court systems simply because it is a lot easier for abuses to occur in secret than in the light of day," Tribune attorney Michael O'Brien said Monday. "Access is especially important in prominent cases, such as the Powell case, because the public is paying more attention to how well the court and law enforcement systems work in such cases."
West Valley City police referred comment to prosecutors. A spokesman for the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office declined to comment.
Police have said they executed three search warrants in the Powell case. Two warrants were to search the Powell home and van; one warrant was to draw blood and other biological samples from her husband, Joshua Powell.
Search warrants in Utah typically include written statements by police officers explaining why they have cause to search. After a search warrant is executed, it is returned to a courthouse with an inventory of what police seized. The warrant and inventory log are made public 20 days later.
Brian Barnard, a Salt Lake City attorney who in 2004 sued the state court system over its handling of search warrants, said law enforcement can only seal a search warrant by showing a judge disclosure would harm an investigation. That might mean tipping off coconspirators or identifying a police informant, Barnard said.
But Barnard said it's rare for law enforcement to seek such seals because word of the search usually spreads.
"The proverbial cat is out of the bag to someone," Barnard said.
Susan Powell was reported missing on Dec. 7. Joshua Powell said he took their two sons, Charlie, 4, and Braden, 2, on a camping trip in Utah's snowy west desert the previous night. Susan »Powell's friends and family have acknowledged their marital problems, but have also said she would never leave her children.
Family spokeswoman Shelby Gifford said Chuck and Judy Cox, Susan Powell's parents, spoke with police investigators Monday and were told there were no new developments in the three-week-old case.
The Coxes, who live in Pullayup, Wash., were able to see their grandsons on Christmas and hope to have another visit soon, Gifford said. Joshua Powell traveled to Washington before Christmas with the boys and is staying with his father, who also lives there.
Gifford said Chuck Cox will stay in Pullayup to care for his wife Judy, who is not in good health, until there is a "reason or role" for him to fill by returning to Utah.
Gifford said that West Valley City police are receiving dozens of leads a day and are devoting "unfathomable" hours to running those tips down.
"We feel like we're trying to put together a puzzle without all the pieces," Gifford said. "Until we get all that information, we are going to proceed and take actions as though Susan is being held some place against her will, and doing whatever we can to help the police department."
She said many individuals and groups have offered to help search or loan equipment that could be used in a search. Gifford said the family is asking that such efforts be coordinated with the West Valley City Police Department so as to not jeopardize any future court case.
Kiirsi Hellewell, one of Susan Powell's best friends, responded in a post on her personal blog Monday to criticism that there has been no coordinated search for the missing mother.
"There are things the general public has never even thought of about this investigation," Hellewell wrote.
Hellewell said in her post she has reasons for believing that Susan "has been taken against her will and is most likely not in the state of Utah. This is why I personally am not out searching the desert or mountains with my three little kids. I won't waste my time or resources fruitlessly looking for someone who may not even be in the state. Instead, what I believe to be the greatest help here is the vast power of the Internet."
Hellewell also helps run a Facebook page dedicated to the effort to find Susan Powell.
"I believe and hope that Susan is still alive," she wrote. "And even if she isn't, I also believe that someone, somewhere, knows or has seen something that will help us find her. So yes, I believe I am not wasting my time by doing everything I can do -- especially online -- to spread her name and picture to the far corners of the globe."
The Friends and Family of Susan Powell site is organizing a social media blitz Jan. 4-6 to spread word about the missing woman.
