GRAYS HARBOR COUNTY, Wash. — The parents of Oakley Carlson, a missing 5-year-old girl from Grays Harbor County, now each face two counts of endangerment with a controlled substance in addition to one count of abandonment.
Jordan Bowers and Andrew Carlson were charged with the two counts of endangerment on Monday after having already been charged with second-degree abandonment of a dependent person.
The endangerment charge came after investigators found they were not providing Oakley’s 6-year-old sibling with the medication necessary for the child’s health for 15 months.
Carlson and Bowers have both pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Both Carlson and Bowers will head to trial on April 19 for the abandonment charge after a judge joined their cases. The trial is scheduled to last four days.
It is unclear still if the new charges are related to the investigation of the disappearance of Oakley, who was last seen alive on Feb. 10, 2021.
“A lot of our deputies and detectives that are handling the case have small children at home and it hits home and it’s personal to them and personal to me,” said Chief Criminal Deputy Kevin Schrader of the Grays Harbor Sheriff’s Office.
“We’re just looking for anybody and everybody who has any kind of information as to whether they saw her, or Jordan, or Andrew with or with her,” he continued.
Police started looking for her in December 2021 when a school principal called and requested a welfare check. The Oakville Elementary School principal called police after one of Oakley’s siblings told her at a sleepover that “Oakley is no more,” according to court documents.
Investigators said Oakley wasn’t seen during the welfare check and both Bowers and Carlson were uncooperative. During a search of the family’s 300-acre property, toys and clothes were found for all of the children except Oakley as well as blood on window shades and the front door of the house. However, officers did not find Oakley.
“This is my child, maybe I didn’t give birth to her but, like, I was there for her first step, her first words, her first dance recital. She means a lot to me and I just don’t want her to be forgotten,” said Jamie Jo Hiles, Oakley’s former foster mother.
Though Oakley spent most of her life in foster care, she was returned to the custody of her biological parents in 2019 and would be reported missing more than a year later.
“I view myself as her parent and my role is to make sure people know about Oakley, that they know about what has gone on with the parents and DCYS (Washington State Department of Children, Youth and Families) and that people make sure that they know that there were multiple failures in Oakley and her siblings," Hiles said.
Anyone with information about Oakley's disappearance is asked to contact the Grays Harbor County Sheriff's Office non-emergency number at 360-533-8765 or contact Detective Sgt. Paul Logan at 360-964-1729 or by email at sodetectives@co.grays-harbor.wa.us.