Mum claimed daughter, 5, had been eaten by wolves but truth was worse

A five-year-old girl from Washington who mysteriously vanished in 2021 has been declared legally dead four years on.

This follows a police investigation into the parents of Oakley Carlson after her disappearance. At just five, Oakley was reported missing from her home in Oakville, Washington, in December 2021, and despite extensive searches, she has never been found.

The tragic declaration of Oakley's legal death was made in Pacific County Superior Court after her surviving siblings filed a petition through their lawyers, as reported by The Olympian. The decision comes years after Oakley was reported missing in Greys Harbour County while under the care of her parents.

Both her father, Andrew Carlson, and mother, Jordan Bowers, were quickly identified as persons of interest and taken into custody. It was believed at the time the parents did not know the whereabouts of their child and could not provide any explanation for her disappearance.

It was also reported that Oakley had previously lived with foster parents before being reunited with her biological parents a few years earlier. Court documents reveal 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. It was further alleged that she was informed that her sister had "gone out into the woods and had been eaten by wolves", which only heightened suspicions about their parents.

Court documents later suggested Oakley had allegedly been a victim of parental abuse. 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, according to People.

In 2022, both parents were found guilty of child endangerment with a controlled substance in an entirely separate case not related to Oakley's disappearance but involving their two other children. Following Bowers' release, she was once again arrested on charges of identity theft, reports suggest.

Despite all this, Oakley's body has yet to be found and her whereabouts remain unknown. However, state law stipulates that a person can be declared dead based on clear and convincing evidence, even without a body.

The petition to declare Oakley legally 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.