OLYMPIA, Wash. — On the day marking two years since her disappearance, a silent gathering will be held in Olympia to show support for the Oakley Carlson Act.
HB 1397 would create more stringent requirements for a child to be returned to its birth parents who have lost custody. A silent gathering is planned on the north steps of the state legislative building at the Capitol in Olympia on Friday afternoon at 3:30 p.m.
The first public hearing for the bill is scheduled for next Friday, Feb. 17.
Carlson has been missing for more than a year and had just turned five when detectives first opened her missing person's case in December 2021.
Detectives now believe Carlson, from Oakville, Washington, was last seen alive in February of 2021. According to detectives, Jordan Bowers and Andrew Carlson, Oakley's parents, have not cooperated with the search for their daughter.
The couple was arrested and convicted on charges unrelated to Oakley Carlson’s case.
Prosecutors said high levels of meth were found in the bloodstreams of their other children.
Andrew Carlson served his sentence and was released in August. Bowers was released in January, and then almost instantly arrested and charged with identity fraud unrelated to Oakley's disappearance.
Detectives said Bowers fraudulently created four credit card accounts using personal information from friends and relatives.
Three cards were found clogging the toilet in a hotel room Bowers was staying in when police first started searching for Oakley in late 2021.
Bowers is accused of spending more than $40,000 with the cards, using the funds to shop at Walmart and eBay and getting cash to gamble at a casino.
Anyone with information on Oakley's case is asked to call the Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office at 360-964-1729.