Grays Harbor County Undersheriff Brad Johansson told the press, "We are hoping for the absolute best but, unfortunately, preparing for the worst." He was referring to 5-year-old Oakley Carlson, who is missing. Her parents have been arrested for not cooperating with investigators.
Oakley Carlson was just 8 months old when foster parents Jamie-Jo and Eric Hiles took her in. Over the next two years, she became part of their family. However, during Thanksgiving, Washington's Department of Children, Youth, and Families reunited Oakley with her biological parents, Jordan Bowers and Andrew Carlson. Nine months later, Oakley was missing, but no one realized it immediately.
After a fire at the home of Bowers and Carlson, Oakville Elementary School Principal Jessica Swift visited to bring supplies for the family. During her 45-minute visit, she did not see Oakley. When she asked about the child, Bowers and Carlson claimed Oakley was in her room.
Later, Oakley's sister attended a sleepover at Swift's home. When Swift inquired about Oakley, the girl became upset and said, "Oakley is no more." Pressing further, Swift was told that Oakley had returned to her former foster parents. Concerned, Principal Swift contacted the Grays Harbor County Sheriff's Office to request a welfare check.
Officers located the family in a hotel room, where they were staying due to the fire damage. Oakley was not with them.
The parents provided inconsistent accounts of Oakley's whereabouts and eventually stopped cooperating. A search of their home revealed no signs that Oakley had lived there recently, as well as a bloody handprint on a wall in a downstairs hallway
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