Oakley Carlson, the missing 5-year-old Oakville girl declared deceased this past August, would be turning 9 on Saturday.
Four years after her disappearance, foster parents Jamie Jo and Erik Hiles continue to seek answers, according to a news release from Light the Way Missing Persons Advocacy Project.
The family is still awaiting the fatality report from the Office of the Family and Children’s Ombuds (OFCO), four months after a Pacific County judge made his legal ruling declaring Oakley deceased.
According to the release, Jamie Jo Hiles first filed a complaint with OFCO in 2022, requesting a review of Washington Department of Children, Youth, and Families’ (DCYF) handling of the case.
Oakley was officially declared missing in 2021. She had been living with her biological parents, Andrew Carlson and Jordan Bowers.
“In June 2022, Jamie Jo spoke with then-OFCO Director Patrick Dowd regarding Oakley’s case,” the release states. “At that time, he described the case as ‘unusual’ because it had not yet been officially declared a fatality.”
According to the release, Dowd “made it clear” that once Oakley was declared deceased, the department would be legally required to conduct a review, indicating the public was entitled to know if errors within the public welfare system had occurred.
Dowd reportedly added that records should be “fully reviewed and reported.”
The Hiles family is now requesting the OFCO complete the mandated fatality review, which is required by law and must be produced by the Fatality Review Team, according to Light the Way.
“Four months have passed since Oakley was legally declared deceased, and we are still waiting for the fatality review that should have begun immediately,” Jamie Jo Hiles stated. “That delay is not only unacceptable, it reflects a failure of the duty Washington State owes every child in its care. Oakley’s life mattered, and the truth about what happened to her will not be buried simply because it is uncomfortable or inconvenient for the system. We expect transparency as well as accountability. We will not step back or stay silent until the failures that allowed her to be lost are fully acknowledged.”
In November 2019, Oakley was removed from foster care and returned to Carlson and Bowers.
In December 2021, Oakley was discovered missing during a welfare check by the Tumwater Police Department, one day after Oakville Elementary School Principal Jessica Swift contacted the Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office with concerns about Oakley’s safety. At the time, Carlson and Bowers were staying at a hotel following a November fire at their house in Oakville.
The Chronicle previously reported that Carlson told dispatchers his 4-year-old, Oakley, had lit the couch on fire with a cigarette lighter. Investigators determined the fire likely started in the microwave.
Bowers and Carlson were booked into the Grays Harbor County Jail on Dec. 6, 2021, the day of the welfare check, but were never charged in connection to Oakley’s disappearance. Both were later convicted on charges related to their other young child.
In its release, Light the Way stated that subsequent investigations “revealed significant failures in DCYF’s handling of her case, including lapses in supervision, lack of timely action and inadequate follow-up on prior concerns.”
The advocacy organization added that critical errors contributed to Oakley’s disappearance.
On Sept. 23, Bowers was released from the Washington Corrections Center for Women in Gig Harbor after serving roughly two years for charges of theft and identity theft.
The following day, the Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office stated that Bowers and Oakley’s father, Andrew Carlson, remain persons of interest in the case.
“The Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office continues to actively investigate this case, and we are working closely with the Grays Harbor County Prosecutor’s Office looking into a no-body homicide prosecution,” the sheriff’s office stated.
To learn more about the Hiles family’s advocacy for independent review of the case and the release of the Fatality Review Team report, visit https://tinyurl.com/37sjpzep.
As of presstime, the online petition has garnered over 14,400 verified signatures.
