'Prime Suspect' In Six-Year-Old Oakley Carlson's Disappearance Now In NCW
After the girl went missing in 2021 and her parents refused to cooperate with authorities, it garnered international attention. Now advocates say the girl's father is in the Wenatchee Valley.
Trigger warning: This piece includes details of a missing persons case involving a child, and of child abuse. Reader discretion is advised.
After Oakley Carlson was reported missing in Feb. 2021 and her parents refused to cooperate with investigators, the story got international media attention.
Oakley’s biological parents, Jordan Bowers and Andrew Carlson, became the main suspects and were initially arrested on suspicion of manslaughter in connection to the child’s disappearance.
“Detectives consider the circumstances surrounding the child’s disappearance as suspicious. The parents Jordan Bowers and Andrew Carlson of Oakville are considered persons of interest at this time. The parents are currently in custody at the Grays Harbor County Jail,” the Gray’s Harbor Sheriff’s Office wrote in a Dec. 7, 2021 Facebook post.
During the course of the investigation, Grays Harbor Undersheriff Brad Johansson interviewed Oakley’s older sister who reportedly told him she was not allowed to talk about Oakley and that she, “ran out into the woods and got eaten by wolves.”
Carlson, once an Aberdeen police officer, had reportedly developed substance-abuse issues and was terminated for making false statements to his employer, after which he was placed on the Brady List.
Because of methamphetamine use in the home, Oakley was taken from Bowers and Carlson as a baby and given to a foster family, Erik and Jamie Jo Hiles, in 2017.
Nearly 26 months later, in October 2019, the state agency overseeing Carlson’s case, the Department of Children, Youth, and Families, informed the Hiles the decision had been made to reunite Oakley with her biological parents. In November 2019, Oakley was returned to Bowers and Carlson.
In December 2020, Oakley’s grandmother called CPS (child protective services) and later reported she never heard back from them. According to court documents, Oakley’s grandmother told police the girl had dark circles under her eyes, pale skin, and that she had scratches or sores on her face.
Feb. 10, 2021, was the last time Oakley was seen alive by anyone other than Bowers and Carlson. On Nov. 6, 2021, Carlson called dispatch shortly before 5 p.m. to report a fire at the family home but said a response wasn’t needed because they had “fought the fire for about four hours” and got it out. He told dispatchers Oakley had started the fire with a cigarette lighter. According to King 5, fire investigators later confirmed there was a fire in the home but that it most likely started from the microwave on the kitchen counter.
On Dec. 4, 2021, Oakley’s sibling went over to Oakville Elementary School Principal Jessica Swift’s home for a playdate and sleepover with Swift’s children. Swift had been checking in on the Carlson and Bowers home since November and had not seen Oakley. When Swift asked the sibling about Oakley, the child got upset and said, “Oakley is no more,” according to court documents.
Swift requested a welfare check on the child and Tumwater Police officers went to the hotel the family was staying at after the fire. Oakley was not at the hotel, and Carlson told officers she was with his parents, but he didn’t know his father’s phone number or address.
Officers reached out to Carlson’s father, who said he had not seen Oakley since December 2020. According to the officers, this information didn’t seem to surprise Carlson. During later questioning, Carlson and Bowers were uncooperative but Carlson made statements “to the effect of Oakley being dead, or not coming back for a reunion,” according to court documents.
During a search of the family home, authorities located toys and clothes for all the children except Oakley and blood was found on the blinds and front door, as well as a handprint on the wall in the hallway downstairs.
The couple was arrested on charges of obstruction of law enforcement and first-degree manslaughter.
Authorities conducted a search and rescue operation in the weeks after, combing through more than 300 acres surrounding the couple’s home. No remains or evidence pointing to Oakley’s whereabouts were found.
By Dec. 9, Bowers and Carlson were no longer being held on charges of first-degree manslaughter, but they did face new charges of abandonment of a dependent person in the second degree stemming from the couple’s care, or lack thereof, of the other children.
In March 2022, Carlson received the maximum sentence of 12 months for child endangerment with a controlled substance for exposing his other children to methamphetamine. Prosecutor Jason Walker said Carlson was “the most responsible” of the two parents.
Bowers was also convicted of child endangerment relating to the treatment of her other biological children, and last week also plead guilty to four counts of identity theft in Grays Harbor County Superior Court, as part of a plea deal.
Neither Bowers nor Carlson have faced charges relating to Oakley’s disappearance, yet.
But Oakley’s case has garnered a following of devoted advocates who call themselves “Oakley’s Angels,” and they won’t rest until justice, as they see it, is served. Oakley’s case also inspired a bill in Olympia with the goal to “increase oversight of the reunification process for children whose parents have substance use disorders,” according to Oregon Public Broadcasting.
That bill failed to make it out of committee.
One of Oakley’s most vocal advocates is her former foster mother, Jamie Jo Hiles. After Carlson and Bowers, Hiles blames the Department of Children, Youth, and Families for Oakley’s fate.
“My daughter is missing and DCYF played a part in failing to protect her,” she told OPB.
Hiles and others want the Wenatchee Valley community to know that Carlson is in the area, and he is still refusing to cooperate with authorities on what is still an active investigation to find out what happened to Oakley.
“I don’t feel good about knowing that Andrew’s free. He’s out in Wenatchee just living his best life,” she said. “And Jordan is going to serve some time but then she’s out and she’s free. So where does that put Oakley?”
The reward for helping find Oakley is currently $85,000 and anyone with any information regarding the case is asked to call the Grays Harbor Sheriff’s Office at (360) 964-1729.
If you or anyone you know has any information about Oakley’s case, please reach out to the authorities.
Advocates for Oakley have also started a Facebook group to share info about her case and any developments in it.
My Two Cents
Any human being with a shred of empathy and sense of justice is rightly appalled at what Oakley and her siblings must have been subjected to at the hands of their own parents. And anyone with a conscience must shudder when they consider what happened to Oakley.
Hiles told KOMO News she holds out hope that Oakley will be found alive, and I, like many, earnestly share that hope. In my heart of hearts, I hope that she is found safe and sound and is happy and healthy.
Being a father myself and raising three daughters doesn’t give me any sort of special insight or extra qualifications to feel a keen sense of injustice more than anyone else. I, like so many, feel a palpable sense of injustice in this case and I hope at some point there is a resolution and the Hiles and anyone else who cared for that little girl are able to gain a sense of peace, and the knowledge that justice has been served.
I decided to cover this story not just to inform Wenatchee Valley residents that Carlson is now residing in our community, but also to highlight an issue that is worthy of a deep-dive examination.
And that is the Washington state foster system.
Recently I have had foster parents reaching out to me to express concern over newly-passed legislation they say is only going to make a “broken” system worse. They point to HB 1227, titled the “Keeping Families Together Act,” as a step in the wrong direction.
The goal of the legislation, which was billed as “foster care reform” is to promote family reunification and remove poverty, disability, and homelessness as sole reasons to take children away from their biological parents.
One foster parent, who requested to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation by the state, said she worries this new legislation will only make cases like Oakley’s more commonplace.
“It makes me sick to my stomach knowing children will suffer while parents try to get their act together. Our foster system is so broken and I don’t know how to make it better. It’s almost as though parents’ rights override the rights of the children, especially if they are infants and toddlers,” she wrote. “I have a feeling we will see more missing foster children and accidental/intentional deaths from being placed back into a bio parents care.”
I intend to look into this issue and pitch a story about HB 1227 and its impacts on Washington’s foster families to my editors at Crosscut. So look for more reporting on this subject coming soon.
Thank you for making sure this story keeps seeing the light of day. What a tragedy when the Hines were ready to parent this child. I am sorry to read of new legislation that worsens this issue for the child.
Love your writing style, Dominick. No embellishment, understandable. Prayers for Oakley.