WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- Police searched the home of a missing Utah mom Thursday while her family said they were not surprised her husband is considered a person of interest.
West Valley City police, armed with a search warrant, blocked off the home of Susan and Josh Powell while investigators combed it for evidence of what happened to the mother of two who has been missing for 10 days, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.
Susan Powell's parents, siblings and friends held a news conference in Puyallop, Wash., urging people to keep looking for her, the Deseret News reported.
"The fact that Joshua has been named a person of interest in this case deeply saddens the family, but it is not a surprise given the events and his reaction to them in the past week," Shelby Gifford, a friend of the family, said in a statement to reporters.
The family acknowledged concern that Josh Powell said he had taken the couple's sons, ages 2 and 4, camping the night Susan disappeared.
"She would not have tolerated her children being taken out of the home after midnight to go camping in dangerously cold conditions," Gifford said. "That's a huge red flag for us."
Earlier, Kirk Graves, the husband of Josh Powell's sister, told ABC News he "wouldn't be surprised if he (Josh) gets arrested in the next seven days."
"Even if he's innocent, there's more than he's telling us," Graves said.
West Valley police expressed surprise at Graves's comments.
"We don't know why, what basis he's using to make that comment," Capt. Tom McLachlan said, noting Josh Powell was only a person of interest in the case, not a suspect.
