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A 4-year-old Washington state girl who has been missing since 2021 has been declared legally deceased.
Records filed in the Pacific County Superior Court indicated that Oakley was legally declared dead in August 2025.
KOMO News reports that no additional information has been provided and no “official press release was made.”
Court records, however, indicated that a lawyer for Oakley’s siblings made the filing. The records didn’t indicate the reason behind the filing.
“We were utterly shocked when we heard Oakley was declared deceased in Pacific County,” said Jamie Jo Hiles, Oakley’s former foster mother, in an interview with K5 News. “We can’t understand why it was done in Pacific County and what evidence they used to make this declaration.”
Hiles, who had Oakley from the time she was an infant to age three, reportedly said she had no idea that Oakley had been declared deceased.
According to previous reports from CrimeOnline, Oakley was reported missing after deputies responded to her family’s home in Oakville for a welfare check on December 6, 2021. This check was initiated by Jessica Swift, the principal of Oakville Elementary School.
Swift had sensed something unusual when she visited Oakley’s parents, Jordan Bowers and Andrew Carlson, in December 2021. She was delivering supplies following a fire that had destroyed many of their belongings.
Two weeks after her initial visit, Swift returned to the residence and noticed Oakley was still absent. Later, during a play date between Oakley’s sister and Swift’s daughter, Swift discovered Oakley hadn’t been seen for some time.
“During the play date with my daughter and Oakley’s sister, I started asking about Oakley,” Swift recounted to News Nation. “Throughout our conversation, it emerged that Oakley was no longer living with them. I can’t describe the feeling I had at that moment, sitting on that couch with that little girl, when she revealed this information.”
Swift promptly alerted the Grays Harbor police and filed a report. Upon searching the home, authorities found no indication that Oakley was ever there. Both of Oakley’s parents maintain they have no knowledge of her whereabouts.
Although both parents are considered suspects in Oakley’s disappearance, neither Bowers nor Carlson have been charged for her disappearance or death.
In 2022, they were convicted of unrelated child endangerment charges involving controlled substances.
In 2023, Bowers was sentenced Monday to a 43-month prison sentence after a “last minute” plea deal for identity theft, Fox 13 reports.
Meanwhile, Hiles added that attorneys for Oakley’s siblings contacted her over the summer, requesting her help in declaring Oakley dead, in an attempt to help them inherit her estate.
“No, I’m not interested in that, because we are working on the criminal case,” Hiles said, adding that the way the declaration had been handled was insensitive.
“Doing something like this behind closed doors, without involving those who truly loved Oakley, is not advocacy. It feels like opportunism.”
A lawyer for the guardian ad litem for Oakley Carlson’s siblings issued the following statement Monday:
“As counsel for Oakley and her surviving siblings, we made the difficult decision to have Oakley declared deceased, given the evidence we have reviewed thus far and the passage of time since she was reported missing.
“We made this decision in consultation and with the support of Oakley’s biological family. ”
Anyone with information on Oakley’s case should contact the Grays Harbor Sheriff’s Office at 360-533-8765, or send a tip to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
[Feature Photo: Oakley Carlson/Handout]
