Police in Washington state say Josh Powell and his two young children have been killed in a massive explosion inside Powell's home.

Investigators say Powell's children had just been dropped off at Josh's residence for a supervised in-home visit when Powell locked the door on the case worker who'd delivered them to his home.

According to KING 5 TV in Seattle, the case worker reported smelling gas fumes and was on the phone to a supervisor when the house exploded.

Three bodies have been recovered from inside the home, although the medical examiner has yet to officially confirm their identities.

Just last week, Powell, a person of interest in the 2009 disappearance of his wife, Susan Powell, was ordered to undergo a psycho-sexual evaluation in connection with an ongoing child pornography investigation involving Josh's father, Steve Powell. Steve Powell was arrested after investigators discovered hundreds of lurid images stored on computers during a police raid back on September 22, 2011. Josh Powell and his sons were living in the home at the time.

Seattle TV station KOMO reports that Powell's attorney received an e-mail from Josh Sunday shortly after noon simply saying, "I'm sorry, goodbye." The attorney told the Associated Press he did not see the e-mail until after hearing reports of the blast.  

King 5 says the explosion took place in Powell's Pierce County, Washington home just before 1 pm. Powell had moved there shortly after his father's arrest last fall. 

Powell has been attempting to regain custody of his children, Charlie, age 7 and Braden, age 5. The children had been staying with Susan Powell's parents, Chuck and Judy Cox, since the child porn and voyeurism investigation began.

The judge in the case had agreed to continue Powell's twice weekly supervised visits with the boys.
  
Susan Powell vanished in December 2009 at age 28. Her body has never been found.

(DEVELOPING)

Photo Courtesy: KING 5 Seattle

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