Copyright dailystar
A five-year-old girl from Washington in the US vanished without a trace in 2021 and now, four years on, she has been declared legally dead. Police launched a probe into Oakley Carlson's mum and dad after she went missing. Oakley was reported missing from her home in Oakville, Washington, in December 2021, and officers have never managed to locate her. Tragically, little Oakley was officially declared deceased in Pacific County Superior Court after her surviving brothers and sisters submitted a petition through their solicitors, The Olympian reported. The ruling came years after Oakley was reported missing in Greys Harbour County whilst in the care and custody of her parents, reports the Mirror . Both her dad and mum, Andrew Carlson and Jordan Bowers, were immediately flagged as persons of interest and arrested. At the time, it was believed the parents had no idea where their daughter was and couldn't provide any explanation for her whereabouts. However, it emerged that Oakley had previously been placed with foster carers before being reunited with her birth parents several years earlier. Court papers reveal Oakley's sister was allegedly overheard at school telling another pupil that "Oakley is no more" and "there is no Oakley". She also reportedly told investigating officers that her mum had 'banned' her from discussing her missing sister. She claimed she was told her sister had "gone out into the woods and had been eaten by wolves". However, this only deepened suspicions surrounding her parents. Court papers later alleged Oakley had supposedly endured mistreatment at the hands of her mum and dad. One sibling claimed their younger sister had been 'confined in a cell' under the staircase, whilst another accused the mother of physical violence, according to People. In 2022, both parents were found guilty of child endangerment involving a controlled substance in a completely separate case unconnected to Oakley's vanishing, but concerning their two other youngsters. Subsequently, after Bowers' release, she found herself behind bars once more on identity theft allegations, reports suggest. Despite all this, Oakley's remains are still missing and her location remains a mystery. Though state legislation allows for someone to be declared dead through clear and convincing evidence, even without recovering a body. The application to have Oakley officially pronounced deceased states: "There is no circumstance in which Oakley could still be alive after having not been seen in over four years and having last been seen at only 5 years old. There is no suspicion that she has been kidnapped, and law enforcement suspects that Bowers and Carlson are to blame for her disappearance. There is no other explanation as to why this young girl could not be located in over four years, and it is because she is, sadly, deceased," The Olympian reports.
