GRAYS HARBOR COUNTY, Wash. — Five-year-old Oakley Carlson has not been seen safe since February 2021, according to Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office detectives.
Carlson’s disappearance has generated community searches, a reward, and a new foundation.
“Oakley is our first big case,” said Shayna Richards, co-founder of the Light the Way Missing Persons Advocacy Project.
Richards, from Massachusetts, heard about Oakley’s case when Oakley’s parents were first named persons of interest in her disappearance in December 2021.
Her foundation, Light the Way Missing Person Advocacy Project, is holding a fundraiser for Oakley Carlson’s reward account Saturday night in McCleary. Richards said the reward for information leading to Oakley’s whereabouts is more than $25,000. She wants to double the amount offered by the end of the year, if not sooner.
Oakley’s parents, currently serving sentences for child endangerment linked to charges connected to their other children, are set to be released from custody within the coming months. Oakley's mother, Jordan Bowers, has a release date next January. Oakley’s father, Andrew Carlson, is going to be let out of the Grays Harbor County Jail August 3.
Detectives said they fear Andrew Carlson may leave the area, or even destroy evidence in Oakley’s case.
“Anger is the most prominent feeling I have,” said Jamie Jo Hiles, Oakley’s former foster parent.
Hiles hopes increasing the reward, as well as awareness about Oakley’s disappearance, could help bring justice in her case.
“It needs to be widespread,” said Hiles. “This little girl is missing and there were injustices that happened for her.”