GRAHAM, Wash. (ABC 4 News) - The owners of the home that Josh Powell was renting in Graham, Washington are devastated that something this horrible could happen on their property. Patrick and Necia Small now live in Centralia, Washington about 50 miles South of Graham. The couple tells our sister station in Seattle - KOMO TV - they are still trying to understand how this could have happened and process the fact that it happened where they used to live.
Patrick Small says the incident is "Beyond belief." And he says his heart feels like it is in his throat right now. His wife, Necia Small simply describes the event as a "nightmare." Necia says they rented their home, through a rental company, to Josh during the fall. "We were told he wanted to live there and make a home for his children - to get custody of them."
Patrick says they knew about Josh and they knew about the disappearance of his wife, but they felt alright about renting to him. "We felt that if he was innocent of any wrongdoing or anything, he should have the opportunity to continue on with his life."
And everything was fine until Sunday - when they got phone call from a relative about their house. The relative told them to turn on the TV. And then said, "That's your house that I think is burning." They couldn't believe it. And now they're trying to deal with what happened on their property. Necia says "Looking at it and to know that that was my bedroom and those little babies died in it. It's just too much." As for the house - right now, Necia says they want nothing to do with a place they used to call home. "As far as I am concerned they can just bulldoze it down. I don't even want to rebuild there. To me it's just evil."
The Smalls say they feel sorry for all the families involved in this horrific ordeal and their concern now is for those families and not what is left of their old home.
----KOMO TV Reporter Keith Eldridge contributed to this report.
