His mother is not around to celebrate with him, but Susan Powell's oldest son, Charlie, turned 5 years old on Tuesday.
A Facebook page dedicated to the missing West Valley City woman was filled with birthday wishes for her son, Charlie, on Tuesday. Susan Powell's parents, Chuck and Judy Cox, tried to arrange a time for Charlie to come to their home for a party, said Shelby Gifford, a friend of and spokeswoman for the Coxes.
The boy's father, Joshua Powell, declined the request, but invited the Coxes to a birthday party at his father's home this weekend, Gifford said. She added that the Coxes have not seen the Powell boys since before Joshua Powell returned to Utah to move the weekend of Jan. 9.
"The Cox Family appreciates everybody's concern for Susan, Charlie and Braden," Gifford said in an e-mail to The Tribune . "We continue to be in contact with investigators and we are grateful for all their hard work and long hours. Additionally, we know friends and supporters of Susan continue to work hard to spread the word about her disappearance. We express our gratitude to them as well."
Charlie and his 2-year-old brother, Braden, are in Washington with their father, Joshua Powell. Joshua Powell turns 34 years old on Wednesday.
Susan Powell was reported missing Dec. 7. Police have said Joshua Powell told them he took their two sons camping at 12:30 a.m. that day, leaving his wife at the family's West Valley City home. Police have only named Joshua Powell a person of interest in the disappearance.
A spokeswoman for Facebook, Malorie Lucich, on Tuesday said a page discussing Susan Powell was removed last week due to "derogatory content." Lucich did not specify what was derogatory. The 6,000-member page, titled "Susan Powell," and a bigger page created by family of Susan Powell both had been deleting posts from someone posting sexually explicit comments about the missing woman. The removed page also had allowed people to speculate on why Susan Powell disappeared.
