SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) – The county’s top prosecutor says West Valley police didn’t do anything wrong in their investigation of Josh Powell.
The police have come under fire from coast to coast following the release of a search warrant in Washington state.
“I’m not going to speculate at this stage,” says Salt Lake District Attorney Sim Gill responding to why his office never filed charges against Josh Powell.
It’s up to the Salt Lake District Attorney to decide whether a case moves forward or not. And prosecuting anyone for the disappearance of Susan Powell remained on hold while police gathered evidence.
“If there was any information they (police) had, they'd turn it over and they did,” Gill says. “They pursued everything.”
But it wasn't enough to elevate Josh Powell, Susan's husband as a suspect. To the end he remained a person of interest.
Yet new information found in a search warrant shows circumstantial evidence linking Josh to Susan's disappearance.
But there was no body. And when ABC 4 News asked Gill about that he answered this way.
“We have certainly discussed with them in terms of at times what was the strengths of particular evidence and weakness of certain evidence,” Gill responded.
So ABC 4 News asked again: “what about the body?”
“Again, we're not talking specifics of the case,” Gill answered. “This is an open investigation.”
And when ABC 4 asked whether West Valley police wanted charges filed with the evidence they had, Gill skirted the question.
“There is always back and forth with any investigation when our office is being asked,” he says.
And despite criticism of the West Valley police, Gill doesn't have a problem with their investigation.
“There's not a more hard working group of people,” Gill says. “They're working countless hours. They've devoted time and effort into it."
