OAKVILLE, Wash. — A report is revealing new details about the issues and concerns leading up to Oakley Carlson’s disappearance and presumed death.
Oakley, then 5-years-old when she was last seen around February 2021, was pronounced legally dead in July 2025.
Her parents, Andrew Carlson and Jordan Bowers, were never charged for her disappearance or death, but law enforcement have since maintained that they are persons of interest.
Because she was legally declared deceased, a Child Fatality Report was published by a committee of the Department of Child, Youth and Families (DCYF) and the agency’s partners.
The report does not list Oakley by name, but uses her initials. The dates and events described in the report are consistent with her case, and her foster mother, Jamie Jo Hiles, confirms that the report includes events she was a part of.
“She was such a good kid. She did dance, she did swim, she’s just happy, and that’s how I’ll always remember her,” Hiles said.
DCYF reports there were 14 reports taken by the agency in regard to Oakley’s family, including four that involved her mother, Jordan Bowers, and her previous relationship.
In 2013 and 2014 reports alleged “domestic violence, physical abuse and parental substance abuse” that led to two Child Protective Service investigations.
A child protection team recommended mental health and domestic violence services as well as urinalyses, noting the adults were “minimally compliant.” In 2014, responding to a report, Bowers violated a restraining mother.
“O.C’s mother and mother’s partner did not cooperate with the CPS investigation,” the report notes. The report also said that Bowers has “successful cooperation” in court-ordered services, leading to the case being dismissed. By that time, Bowers was with Oakley’s father, Andrew Carlson.
Oakley was born in December 2016. In the summer of 2017, several reports were made to DCYF about the family, including Bowers yelling profanities at Oakley’s sibling. Bowers was not accessing the medical services one child needed. The grandmother, who “had provided a significant amount of care,” was kicked out by Bowers. In July, a report alleged the parents were not feeding the older children and reported Carlson was using meth. At the same time, a report came in that Bowers was not accessing “necessary medical care for the sibling with disabilities.”
DCYF then filed to take custody of Oakley and her siblings. When Carlson and Bowers refused to hand over the kids, law enforcement took them into custody.
In January 2018, Bowers and Carlson missed a court hearing, leading the court to enter a default order of dependency, meaning the children were under the authority of DCYF. Bowers filed several appeals.
In August, DCYF petitioned to terminate parental rights due to the parents’ failure to make progress towards reunification."
In January 2019, a primary permanency plan for Oakley recommended adoption, with an alternative plan for her to be returned to her parents.
Over the next several months, Bowers and Carlson underwent several programs for parenting education, substance use treatment, domestic violence and psychological evaluations, over which DCYF and a court-appointed special advocate recommended adoption.
On May 14, 2019, Carlson was discharged from domestic violence treatment for not being compliant in March, April, and May. The report says both Bowers and Carlson provided negative urinalysis.
In July, the dependency case for Oakley’s sibling was dismissed, returning the child to the Bowers and Carlson’s custody. In the fall, the report notes both parents had been engaged in domestic violence and substance use programs, but the caseworker noted they “were concerned that if O.C’s mother had only participated in her treatment to avoid jail instead of being ready to become sober that she would struggle with long-term sobriety.”
The child protective team recommended moving to unsupervised visits and a plan to reunify the children with their parents."
In November, the court reversed the primary permanency plan, returning Oakley to Bowers and Carlson.
“My husband and I were over the moon excited to adopt Oakley, then months later, to be told, ‘just kidding, she’s returning home next month,’ blows my mind,” Hiles said.
“They still return the kids home even though the report says that he just wasn’t doing what he was supposed to be doing for his substance abuse classes and his domestic violence classes. Do we think that’s okay?” Hiles continued.
2021 became the year of tragedy. In January, DCYF received a report of scratches and bruises on Oakley around Christmas with the person reporting that they heard screaming from the home.
The next day, a DCYF caseworker went to the family’s home and noted that Bowers would not let them in because she ‘was afraid of CPS." The caseworker spotted Oakley wearing only a diaper, but noted she didn’t want to speak."
“In the report, it does say like, ‘We have no legal right to go in and search a house,’” Hiles said, “But, don’t you think you should have followed up a little bit more on that?”
Separate court documents say a school principal did a welfare check on February 10, 2021. On March 8, the DCYF caseworker checked again, but did not see Oakley and Bowers, who refused to provide access to the home, reiterating distrust of DCYF and she “would not answer any questions without an attorney present.”
Nine months later, Oakley was reported missing after not being seen by anyone besides her biological parents.
In November that year, Hiles reported the family’s home had caught fire. DCYF didn’t go to the home to check it out until December 7, one day after a principal reported the fire, noting that on three separate occasions she didn’t see Oakley at the home. Hiles is frustrated that her report wasn’t taken more seriously.
“I sent an email to Oakley’s caseworker and I said, ‘hey, this is not normal, this not safe, and I’m letting you know now that if something happens to these kids that you have been forewarned,” Hiles said. “When you send a child back from foster care and a mandated reporter calls, you listen to that call. You don’t screen that out.”
Bowers and Carlson remain persons of interest in the case, according the Greys County Sheriff’s office. The two have been arrested on separate crimes, but never in relation to Oakley.
The report notes areas for improvement, but a DCYF spokesperson says, “Any identified improvement opportunities are not intended to suggest a direct correlation with the presumed fatality in this case. Improvement opportunities are defined as the gap between what the family needed and what they received from the child welfare system.”
The report notes that there should have been better documentation, including of Bowers’ “tactics isolating and manipulating partners of the children and relatives.” It also says more effort should have been made in the January 2021 visit to interview Oakley’s siblings and relatives.
“This whole write-up to me felt like an applause for DCYF and how they handled everything like, ‘you know what, you did the best you could with what you had.’” Hiles said, “Like what a slap in the face to those kids.”
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