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A five-year-old girl from Washington suddenly disappeared in 2021 and now, four years later she has been pronounced legally dead. It comes after police launched an investigation into Oakley Carlson's parents following her disappearance. Aged just five Oakley was reported missing from her home in Oakville, Washington, in December 2021, and police have never been able to find her. Little Oakley was tragically pronounced as legally deceased in Pacific County Superior Court after her remaining siblings filed a petition through their legal representatives, The Olympian reported. The decision came years after Oakley was reported missing in Greys Harbour County while under the custody and care of her parents. Both her father and mother, Andrew Carlson and Jordan Bowers, were immediately identified as persons of interest and taken into custody. It was thought at the time the parents did not know where their child was, and they were not able to offer an explanation as to where she could be. Although, it was reported Oakley had previously lived with foster parents before reuniting with her biological parents a few years earlier. Court documents state Oakley's sister was overheard at school telling another child that "Oakley is no more" and "there is no Oakley". She also allegedly told officers investigating the case her mother had 'forbidden' her to speak about her missing sister. She claimed she was told her sister had "gone out into the woods and had been eaten by wolves". Although, this led to further suspicion of her parents. Court documents later claimed Oakley had allegedly suffered abuse by her parents. One of her two siblings claimed their little sister had been 'locked in a cell' beneath the stairs, while another accused the mother of physical abuse, People reports . In 2022, both parents were convicted of child endangerment with a controlled substance in an entirely different case unrelated to Oakley’s disappearance but involving their two other children. Then, following the release of Bowers, she was once again arrested on identity theft charges, according to reports. Throughout all of this, Oakley's body still remains unfound and her whereabouts unknown. Although state law states a person can be determined to be dead by clear and convincing evidence, in the absence of a body. The petition to declare Oakley legally deceased reads: "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 .
