TACOMA, Washington — The Washington Department of Corrections rescinded its plan to release Steve Powell from prison next month.
The decision, announced in a statement to FOX 13, said the property owner of the Tacoma home that Powell would have been staying at had withdrawn the offer to let him stay there.
“Powell… can submit another release plan for the Department of Corrections to review. In order to be approved, the release plan must have a safety plan for victims, a suitable address, a plan for the offender to participate in treatment and a plan for the offender to support himself,” the statement said.
If Powell cannot provide a new plan, the Department of Corrections said he would be released in March 2014.
He was originally slated to be released on Nov. 4. Members of Susan Cox Powell’s family had expressed concern about his release, as did neighbors of the home he would have been released to.
Powell is the father-in-law of Susan Cox Powell, who vanished from her West Valley City home in 2009. He admitted an obsession with her, and it was during a search of his Puyallup home for evidence related to her disappearance that police uncovered evidence of voyeurism involving other women and girls.
Powell was convicted of voyeurism and sentenced to prison.
