Josh Powell melted something made of metal the night after his wife disappeared. Police and the FBI were never able to figure out what it was, but I have strong theory it was a Ridgid impact driver (Josh shown here using a different but similar tool).

This is based off of the FBI's metallurgical analysis, which showed the melted metal item was "predominantly steel" with traces of calcium and strontium, as well as a review of Josh's financials and photos.

Strontium is a significant clue. Ceramic strontium magnets are a key component in many small electric motors, like those used in handheld battery-powered tools.

Josh purchased a Ridgid tool kit in late 2007, using a credit card he obtained in Susan's name (right after he exited bankruptcy). A 2007-era Ridgid catalog available online shows there were two varieties of kits. One included an impact driver, the other did not.

On the day of Susan's disappearance, police photos showed Josh's Ridgid tool bag sitting on the freezer in the garage of the Powell family home, next to the door leading from the garage to the kitchen.

But on the following day, when West Valley police arrived to serve a search warrant at the house, the Ridgid tool bag was on the floor of the garage next to Josh's oxyacetylene torch, a fire extinguisher and a plastic gas can.

That same day (Dec. 8, 2009), detective Ellis Maxwell served a search warrant on Josh's minivan and found the melted object in a floorboard compartment. Also in the trash bag were burned sheetrock panels and three strands of copper wire.

The wires are another significant clue. The length and width of the wire match up to what one would expect to find in a power tool, connecting the motor to the switch and battery (see parts 5 and 6 in this exploded diagram).

I've been able to review the digital evidence from the Powell case and one interesting discovery I made was a log of files transferred between Josh's computer and his still-encrypted backup drive. The log shows he kept meticulous records of his tools.

But when police seized Josh's computers again in August 2011, all of his files relating to his Ridgid tool collection were absent. The rest of his tool files were present, suggesting Josh at some point after Susan's disappearance deleted records related to the Ridgid kit.

West Valley police had speculated back in 2010 that the melted item might have been a hard drive, cell phone or GPS unit. In an experiment for @thecoldpodcast in 2018, I ruled those out. https://www.ksl.com/article/46446336/cold-experiment-rules-out-possible-origins-of-mystery-evidence-in-susan-powell-case

This summer, I obtained a period-appropriate Ridgid impact driver. The only difference between mine and the one from the 2007 kit was mine had a small LED light above the trigger. That meant some extra circuitry inside.

Several weeks ago I enlisted the help of a friend who's an expert welder to melt the impact driver. He spent the better part of an hour on it. In that time, he was able to reduce it to this. Note the presence of the wire fragments.

Now, my melted object is still somewhat recognizable. It would have taken another 45 minutes to an hour of torching to get it completely obliterated, but we were running low on fuel. Josh had larger tanks, so that wouldn't have been a problem for him.

Interestingly, @WVCPD did seize the Ridgid tool bag, but not until Dec. 9, 2009. And their 2013-era evidence list suggests the bag itself was never tested for forensics. Probably a long shot... but it makes me wonder.

This is all pretty deep in the weeds, but I've done my best to summarize the evidence here.