SALT LAKE CITY -- The parents of Susan Cox Powell are in Utah, raising money for a memorial to the missing West Valley City mom and her murdered children.
They're working with Utah's famed Osmond family to solicit donations for a sculpture of Susan and her sons, Charlie and Braden.
"What we have in mind is her, standing in a park-like setting, and kind of bent over a little bit reaching out to the boys," Susan's father, Chuck Cox, said in an interview Monday with FOX 13. "And the boys are running to her arms."
Chuck and Judy Cox said they want the memorial to reflect what many remember about Susan -- a caring mother. They also hope it will speak out against domestic violence.
"I'm hoping it will make them thing of others, because they might know someone who is in an abusive relationship," said Susan's mother, Judy Cox. "Or I think it could be, some might even come up, that are in such a relationship, that would feel a strength that would make them get the help they need."
They're also still hoping for answers in Susan's 2009 disappearance, going through her old home in West Valley City. Chuck Cox told FOX 13 he spoke briefly with West Valley City police on Monday. Detectives would only tell him the case remains "under investigation."
"Realistically, she's probably gone," Chuck Cox said. "Our grandchildren are dead and Josh is gone. So the primary person of interest is gone, and yet they are still working on the case. They never arrested Josh. That's very frustrating. What are they working on?"
The Cox family is contemplating a lawsuit against West Valley City over the police department's handling of the missing persons case.
"We're not on their Christmas card list anymore, I don't think," Chuck Cox joked, but added he still refers tips and leads he receives to police in hopes of solving the case.
The Cox family hoped they might get some answers about Susan's disappearance from her father-in-law, Steven Powell. He was convicted in Tacoma, Wash., of voyeurism for taking inappropriate pictures of two neighbor girls. With good behavior and time served, he is expected to be released from prison in May.
The Coxes said they do have some concerns about their safety once Steven Powell is released from prison.
Pierce County prosecutors recently filed a cross-appeal, asking an appellate court to reinstate a child porn charge that a judge dismissed against Steven Powell before he went on trial. The judge ruled the images Powell took did not rise to the level of child pornography under Washington law.
"He's just a very sick person," Judy Cox said. "We wanted him to have more jail time."
Donations will be accepted for the memorial at the "Ride the Brainwave" event on July 28 at the Draper Spectrum. They can also be made at SusanCoxPowellFoundation.org.
"I believe we'll eventually find her," Chuck Cox said. "I don't know when. I think there's some intervention from a higher power that at some point, when the time is right, we will find her."
