The more of this that comes out, the more I wonder what on earth Susan expected to have changed by a month from now. All he had to do was sit down shut up and tithe regularly for her to again see a glimmer of the shining armor of the man she married? She might have not agreed to the bankruptcy, and so he went ahead with it on his own since he had that option? That would be a splinter that would surely fester.
Susan, I believe, wanted out of the marriage for a long time but was raised to believe she should stay in her marriage and follow whatever avenue seemed appropriate to make it work.
Susan, I believe, knew full well Josh Powell would never change but felt she had to follow a particular path to arrive at a point where she would not feel guilty about ending her marriage.
Josh totally resented Susan for setting goals (laying down ultimatums) because he was accustomed to being in charge and did not like being told what to do.
Susan knew Josh would not like the fact she set goals for him but felt she must follow the advice of her church appointed counselor so did in fact do just that.
Because Susan feared for her life, she wrote the note at work stating if she were ever found dead, that it wouldn't be by suicide.
Knowing her life was in danger, Susan still felt the need to follow church protocol, something which lead to her demise.
Susan was afraid to stay and afraid to leave. Josh had her in a tough spot. Because of the past history regarding her father-in-law taking the children away from Josh's mother, and the fact Steve Powell's father tricked his wife into going away for a weekend visit during which he and his parents left town and moved to Weed, California without telling Steve's mother where they were going, Susan had every right to fear what would happen if she tried to divorce Josh.
The night of December 6, 2009, I believe Josh totally lost his temper and struck or shoved Susan, causing a severe enough injury that she either attempted or threatened to call the police. When Josh realized he would be charged with assault and battery and that Susan could file for a domestic violence restraining order which would include a move out order, he decided that he would not allow her to get away with that and killed her!
Tim Peterson reported Josh Powell allegedly said to his (Tim's) wife, "It isn't like I stabbed her or anything." To me, Josh was saying, "When I killed her, I used my bare hands. It wasn't like I went into the kitchen, got a butcher knife and stabbed her. There wasn't blood everywhere."
There is no doubt in my mind Josh Powell killed Susan and I believe it had everything to do with the fact that he knew she was going to divorce him because he had not been meeting any of the goals she had set for him. With the Powell's wedding anniversary, the date Susan had set for Josh to accomplish the goals, rapidly approaching, and knowing full well he had no intention or desire to make the required changes, Josh was becoming more and more resentful as each day passed until he finally lost it.
I believe Susan was embarrassed of her husband's peculiar behavior and the fact that none of her friends liked him. Telling her friends more bad things about Josh than they already knew from hearing stories from others or witnessing his peculiar behavior first hand would make Susan feel even less confident about herself for doing so would make her look like a fool for marrying the guy to begin with. Because of this, I think she kept a lot of what was really going on to herself.
Considering all she was going through, and we only have bits and pieces, I am surprised Susan managed to maintain her job. Surely there had to be signs of her unhappiness. Yet, we see "tons" of photos of her smiling looking as though she was on top of the world, something which has me totally confused.