Four-year-old Oakley Carlson lived in Oakville, Washington, with her parents and siblings. But young Oakley’s childhood was far from idyllic. She went missing in February 2021, after being reunited with her biological parents. She disappeared under unusual circumstances, and her parents didn’t report her missing for months. The authorities became suspicious about the girl’s whereabouts, and they began to investigate. The case of Oakley Carlson is a tragic one, as it is still unsolved to this day. Her whereabouts are unknown, and the authorities are uncertain if she is still alive. Supposing she is, Oakley would be seven years old.
Oakley was born on December 6, 2016. On August 22, 2017, Oakley Carlson had been removed from her biological family and placed with foster parents — Jamie Jo, and Erik Hiles. Oakley had been nearly seven months old at the time. The Hiles couple had been trying to conceive their own child, with zero success. When Jamie Joe Hiles received a text about a young baby who needed fostering, she jumped at the chance. It felt like the perfect opportunity, especially since they thought they might be able to adopt the young girl.
They began fostering Oakley through Washington’s DCYF (Department of Children, Youth, and Families). The department were intent on keeping children in foster care for as little time as possible, as they wanted to place them in permanent homes. This seemed perfect, because the Hiles couple wanted to provide young Oakley with a permanent home.
Her foster parents described Oakley as being a happy child, always laughing. She had been incredibly smart, and would speak in full sentences. Oakley’s foster mother, Jamie Jo, recalled how much Oakley had loved dance parties. She would dance more than a thousand times to the ‘Beach Boys’ song, ‘Barbara Ann’.
The couple had adored little Oakley, and they had bonded with their foster daughter over the years. They had become so close with Oakley, that they were considering adopting her. She was three years old by then, and they wanted to give her the best life possible. But unfortunately, Jamie Jo and Erik were given some bad news. The adoption would not be happening. In October 2019, they learned that Oakley was going to be returned to her biological parents (Jordan Bower, and Andrew Carlson).
The day after Thanksgiving, Oakley was removed from the Hiles home, and given back to her biological parents. The loss of their foster daughter devastated the young couple. They had been extremely attached to the young girl, and it was difficult to let her go. But they had no choice, as DCYF believed it was best that Oakley should be reunited with family members.
In December 2020, Oakley’s parents brought her to her paternal grandparents’ home. Kate and Fred Carlson had noticed that their granddaughter looked poorly. Oakley was pale, with dark circles under her eyes. She also had sores on her face. The grandparents had been concerned about Oakley’s health, and decided that they needed to report Oakley’s poor health to CPS. They believed that they were doing the right thing, but when they made the CPS report, it ended up having huge consequences. Their son, Andrew, became enraged that his parents had called CPS, and he decided to cut them off.
Despite the CPS report, Andrew and Jordan continued to have custody of their young daughter. This would unfortunately be the last time that Oakley’s grandparents would see her. She disappeared just a few weeks later, and is still considered a missing person to this day.
The last time that Oakley Carlson was seen alive, was on February 1oth, 2021. There was a ten-month gap, where Oakley was missing — but her parents failed to report her as missing.
On November 6th, 2021, there was a fire at the Carlson residence. Andrew Carlson tried to put out the fire on his own. He then reported the fire to the authorities once it was already put out. When they questioned Andrew as to why he didn’t call 911 immediately, he stated that neither him, nor his wife could find their cell phones during the fire. Instead, they decided that they’d spend four hours putting out the fire on their own — even as it spread from the ground level, to the second floor. Andrew told the police that Oakley had started the fire, because she’d been playing with a cigarette lighter. The fire, which originated on the living room couch, had quickly spread until it was out of control.
The police were bemused by Andrew’s story, and there were some red flags about the entire situation. They wanted to look further into the story, to determine if Andrew was telling the truth. During their investigation, they discovered that the fire had not started on the couch — but had actually originated in the microwave.
Jessica Swift, the principal of Oakville Elementary School, decided to drop by the Carlson residence. She brought over some items for the family, staying for about forty-five minutes. During her visit, Jessica wondered where Oakley was. She was told that the young girl was in her bedroom. Jessica Swift visited the Carlson residence on another occasion, and she didn’t see Oakley in person then, either. This time, her parents told Jessica that Oakley wasn’t there because she had gone to live with her foster parents.
On December 4th, 2021, Oakley’s six-year-old sister came over to Jessica Swift’s house, as she had a playdate with Jessica’s daughter. Jessica brought up Oakley in conversation, asking her how she was doing. But at the mention of Oakley, her sister became distraught. She told Jessica that ‘Oakley is no more’.
Jessica was concerned about the girl’s answer (and her reaction to the question), so she started asking her a few more questions. Oakley’s sister told her that Oakley had gone back to live with her foster parents. She was having a difficult time talking about the loss of her sister, and was clearly sad. Jessica was concerned about the girl, and her emotional state. She called the girl’s mother, and asked if Oakley’s sister could stay overnight for a sleepover.
Jessica Swift was a mandated reporter, so once she had become aware that something was amiss, she had no choice but to act. The evening of the sleepover, Jessica immediately contacted CPS, and asked about Oakley. CPS told her that Oakley’s parents had custody of the young girl, not her former foster parents.
As soon as she learned that Oakley was supposed to be with her parents, she filed a report. Jessica requested that the Gray Harbor County Sheriff’s Office do a welfare check, to look in on Oakley Carlson.
It had been a few weeks since the fire had gutted the Carlson residence, and the family was staying in a hotel. Their temporary residence was outside of Gray Harbor’s jurisdiction — and so the Tumwater Police had to do the welfare check instead.
When the Tumwater police talked to the Carlsons, Andrew told them that his grandparents had taken temporary care of Oakley. But when the police pressed him for contact information for his parents, Andrew refused. Oakley’s mother, Jordan Bowers, refused to help the police with their investigation.
Andrew’s lack of cooperation only temporarily stalled them. The police were able to contact Andrew’s parents, and they asked them if the couple had Oakley. Andrew’s parents were confused, because they hadn’t seen their granddaughter since December 2020. This information lined up with the court records. The police noted that Andrew was not surprised in the slightest that Oakley was not with his parents. They believed that this was because his young daughter had never been with Andrew’s parents, and his story had been a poor excuse to explain his daughter’s disappearance.
Right after the police had spoken to Andrew, he called and reported Oakley as a missing person. The police immediately got a search warrant for Andrew and Jordan’s residence, so they could find out as much as they could about Oakley.
Oakley was four years old when she disappeared. She had been three feet tall, and weighed fifty pounds. Oakley had brown hair.
When they went inside, the police noted that there was plenty of children’s toys and clothing in the residence — although the items appeared to belong to all of the couple’s children, except for Oakley. There was blood found on the blinds, and the front door. And they also found a bloody handprint in the downstairs hallway. The police didn’t publicly announce whose blood had been found in the property, but it was believed to be a sign of foul play. Andrew Carlson and Jordan Bowers were both arrested. They were charged with first-degree manslaughter, and obstruction of law enforcement.
Although the authorities had both of Oakley’s parents in custody, they still didn’t know what had happened to the young girl. On December 7, 2021, they continued their search for her, asking the public to keep an eye out for Oakley. Someone out there might know some pertinent information about Oakley’s case.
On December 8th, the Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office announced that they were charging Oakley’s parents with an additional charge of abandonment of a dependent person in the second degree. The police had discovered that one of Oakley’s siblings required medication, and without it, they would be at risk of becoming extremely ill, or even dying. Andrew and Jordan had refused to give their child medication for fifteen months. The Sheriff’s Office also stated that they were dropping the first-degree manslaughter charges.
On February 7, 2022, Andrew and Jordan were charged with two counts of endangerment with a controlled substance, and one count of endangerment. They both pleaded not guilty. Andrew was given a twelve-month sentence, as he’d had no previous criminal record. The controlled substance that he’d been charged with exposing to his children, had been meth. Andrew was eligible for early release — and could be out by August 2022. Jordan had pled guilty to the endangerment with a controlled substance charge, and was given a twenty-month sentence. She was released in 2023, and as soon as she was released, Jordan was put behind bars again for identity fraud.
Oakley’s case is still considered unsolved to this day. Andrew and Jordan refused to talk about their daughter’s whereabouts, so it is unknown if the young girl is still alive out there somewhere. But the authorities believe that Oakley is dead.
When the authorities questioned Oakley’s six-year-old sister, she told them that Oakley had started the fire that had overtaken the Carlson residence. This had angered Jordan and Andrew, and they had taken it out on Oakley. She described the incident to the police, telling them how her parents beat Oakley, and ‘put her under mother’s bed, and in the woods’. Oakley’s sister was told by her mother that she was in no way allowed to talk about Oakley, and that her little sister ‘had gone out into the woods and had been eaten by wolves’. The police questioned the other siblings, and they confirmed that their mother beat Oakley. They also discovered that Jordan would often beat Oakley, and she would also force her to stay in a small ‘cell’ under the stairs.
The Hiles family, that had cared for Oakley while she was temporarily in care, had been extremely vocal about their extreme displeasure about how Oakley’s case had been handled. They believed that the Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families should’ve been more proactive, to ensure that Oakley was living in a safe home environment, and that social workers should’ve been routinely dropping by the home to look in on Oakley, and her siblings. She was returned to her parents’ care, which put the young girl in a highly dangerous situation.
In January 2023, the ‘Oakley Carlson Act’ (House Bill 1397) was introduced. This new bill would create a five-point system to ensure that the authorities continually checked in on foster children who were being reunited with their biological families. There would also be mandatory drug testing for the family members, in hopes that the children would be staying in safe home environments.
