Five years after Oakley Carlson was last seen, the missing Washington state girl has been declared legally dead, though the investigation into her disappearance continues.
Oakley was just 5 years old when she was reported missing in December 2021. Following a petition filed this summer by legal representatives of her surviving siblings, the Pacific County Superior Court officially declared her deceased, according to The Olympian.
The Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office said the last known sighting of Oakley by anyone outside her family occurred in February 2021. Her parents, Andrew Carlson and Jordan Bowers, were immediately named persons of interest and taken into custody.
At the time, authorities reported that the parents could not explain Oakley’s whereabouts or provide any useful information. Before being reunited with her biological parents in 2019, Oakley had been living with a foster family, KING 5 reported.
Concerns about her disappearance arose when her school principal overheard a conversation between her own child and Oakley’s sister, who allegedly said, “Oakley is no more” and “there is no Oakley,” according to court documents.
Oakley’s sister also told police their mother forbade her from discussing Oakley and claimed the girl “had gone out into the woods and had been eaten by wolves,” the documents stated.
Court filings released in 2023 suggested Oakley suffered abuse at the hands of her parents. Investigators alleged one sibling said Oakley had been locked in a “cell” under the stairs, while another accused Bowers of physical abuse.
Bowers and Carlson were first charged with obstruction and second-degree abandonment in an unrelated case, but those charges were later dropped. In 2022, they were convicted of child endangerment involving a controlled substance.
Bowers was released from prison in January 2023 but was soon arrested again for identity theft in another case, leading to a 43-month prison sentence. She was released last month.
The Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that both Bowers and Carlson remain persons of interest, noting that investigators are now pursuing the case as a potential homicide.
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