OAKVILLE, Wash. — December 6, 2025 marks four years since 5-year-old Grays Harbor County girl Oakley Carlson was reported missing. She would be nine years old today.
Her case garnered national attention, as her biological parents were and are considered people of interest in her disappearance. No one outside of Oakley’s biological parents had seen her since February 10, 2021-- 10 months before she was reported missing.
What happened?
The search for Oakley began on Dec. 6, 2021 after her school principal requested a welfare check on the child. The reason? Court documents state the principal hadn’t seen the girl for a while and heard some troubling statements from her then-six-year-old sister.
The Carlson family had just been displaced from their home after a fire in November 2021. The principal said in court documents that she had near-daily contact with the family at the time of the fire, but did not physically see Oakley. She told investigators that there was always some excuse when she visited as to why Oakley was not there.
According to court documents filed at the time, the principal heard Oakley’s older sister say things “her mother (Jordan Bowers) had told her not to talk about Oakley” and that “Oakley was ‘no more.’” The sister also allegedly told a child advocate during an interview that she was told that Oakley had gone out into the woods and was eaten by wolves, according to court documents.
The sister and Oakley’s brother also told interviewers of instances of physical abuse against Oakley by her parents in the past, according to court documents filed in 2021.
At the time of her disappearance, Oakley was living with her biological parents-- Jordan Bowers and Andrew Carlson.
She had previously been removed from their home by the Department of Children, Youth and Family Services (DCYF) and was placed into the care of foster parents Jamie Jo Hiles and Erik Hiles.
Oakley was with the Hiles’ from seven months old to just shy of her third birthday, according to the Light The Way Missing Persons Advocacy Project.
At the time of her disappearance, neither Jordan nor Andrew could account for where she was or point detectives to a trusted adult who may have had her.
“When contacted, Oakley’s parents, Andrew Carlson and Jordan Bowers, gave conflicting and ultimately false statements about her whereabouts,” the Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office wrote on Facebook in September of 2025.
Looking at Andrew and Jordan
During the welfare check, Andrew and Jordan were taken into custody for manslaughter.
Since she was reported missing, the Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office said the circumstances of her disappearance were “suspicious” and that her parents were persons of interest.
However, there was insufficient evidence to charge them for anything connected to Oakley.
According to the Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office in 2021, Jordan and Andrew
The pair was charged and later sentenced for endangerment of a child. These charges also were not related to Oakley. Jordan and Andrew pleaded guilty to withholding necessary medication from their other daughter for over a year.
There were also allegations that possibly both parents used meth around the kids, according to court documents.
When Jordan was released from prison, she was arrested again for a different crime-- identity theft and fraud-- and sentenced for that.
Both have since served their time and have been released.
Where does the case stand?
In a Facebook post from September, the Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office wrote: “We want to remind the public that Jordan Bowers and Andrew Carlson (Oakley’s mother and father) remain persons of interest in Oakley’s disappearance.”
In July of this year, Oakley was legally declared deceased by a Washington court.
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“We are working with the Grays Harbor County Prosecutor’s Office into potentially looking into a no-body homicide prosecution,” Jeremy Holmes, Chief of Special Services for the Grays Harbor Sheriff’s Office, told KIRO Newsradio in October.
A $100,000 reward is being offered for information that leads to the location and recovery of Oakley. If you have any information, call the Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office at 360-964-1770 or email sodetectives@grayshabor.us.
According to Light The Way Missing Persons Advocacy Project, if the reward is not claimed or extended, the funds will be used at the discretion of Jamie Jo and Erik Hiles. “Potential uses include a service and headstone (if necessary), a college fund, a scholarship in Oakley’s name, or a trust fund for Oakley’s siblings,” Light the Way wrote on its website.