New documents show Josh Powell planned to take psychosexual exam

Josh Powell had agreed to take a highly intrusive psychosexual evaluation in order to regain custody of his two boys, according to emails released by the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services Friday.

The emails were among 1,699 pages of new documents related to Powell’s ongoing custody case obtained through a public disclosure request. It is the second installment of documents released after Powell killed himself and his two sons on Feb. 5.

In an entry dated Feb. 2, just a day after a court psychologist ordered Powell take the exam, to include a polygraph, a DSHS worked indicated he had received approval from Powell’s attorney, Jeffrey Basset, to schedule the exam with Dr. Vincent Gollogly.

“Spoke briefly on phone with Dr. Gollogly to ensure he was ok to renew his contract and provide this service to Mr. Powell,” wrote Forest Jacobson, the CPS social worker assigned to Powell’s case. “He indicated yes to both.”

A psychosexual exam is typically conducted by a psychologist, licensed by the state as a sexual offender treatment provider. Bellevue criminal defense attorney Robert Perez said the exam is invasive, embarrassing and unpleasant.

“A person who goes through one of these experiences is asked about virtually every development in their life, their childhood history, their family history, their educational history and, of course, every intimate detail of their sexual history,” Perez said.

The goal is to find out if the subject is a sexual deviant, if they’re dangerous and if they are amenable to treatment.

There had been speculation that Powell murdered his children to avoid taking the exam, and the polygraph, which some believed would implicate him in his wife’s disappearance. It was ordered after authorities in Utah sent a file containing 400 images of computer-generated incest to authorities in Washington state. Based on those images, Powell was told he could not regain custody of his sons, Charlie and Braden, until he agreed to undergo the exam.

Powell’s wife, Susan Cox Powell, went missing from their West Valley City home in Dec. 2009. Powell, who moved to Puyallup after her disappearance, has been a person of interest in the case.

The new documents also shined an eerie light on Powell’s state of mind before the explosion at his rental home in Graham, Wash, on Feb. 5.

“Have a great day!” Powell wrote to Jacobsen in an email of Feb. 2, three days before the murders. “Thank you for working on the visitation and other services. I’ll hope to see you this week at the visitation.”

It was at that visitation that Powell struck his two boys, 5 and 7, with a hatchet before lighting the home they were in on fire. Powell also died in the blaze.

97.3 KIRO FM continues to comb through the hundreds of pages of documents, and will update this story as new information is uncovered.