Missing Oakley Carlson Declared Legally Dead| Crime Alert 12PM 10.07.25

More than four years after her disappearance, Oakley Carlson, a missing girl from Washington has been quietly declared legally dead. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Crime Alert hourly update, breaking crime news. Now, I'm Nicole Pardon.
It's been more than four years since the disappearance of
young Oakley Carlson. She went missing from Oakville. She has
been now declared legally dead by a Washington state court.
According to court records, Oakley was officially declared dead in

(00:21):
October of twenty twenty five. The probate case was entered
on August twelve and names Oakley as deceased. No official
press release was made or no updates were given, and
the court has not released additional details regarding the ruling
or the reason behind this filing. Four year old Oakley
has not been seen since her disappearance and was last

(00:43):
seen in February twenty twenty one. There was an extensive investigation,
but no remains were ever found, and no one has
been charged in connection with her disappearance. Police and officials
continued to classify her case as an open and active
investigation and have stated that Oakley's parents, Jordan Bowers and

(01:03):
Andrew Carlson, remain persons of interests. Oakley's case drew significant
public attention after she had previously been in foster care
and was returned to her biological parents in twenty nineteen.
Concerns about her safety were raised in late twenty twenty one,
when she was reported missing, nearly a year after she

(01:25):
was last seen. Investigators with the Gray's Harbor County Sheriff's
Office have said that both Bowers and Carlson gave conflicting
and false details about their daughter's whereabouts. Although both parents
were convicted of child abuse in an unrelated case, no
charges related to Oakley's disappearance have been filed. Oakley's former

(01:48):
foster parents have spoke publicly about their concerns. When Oakley
was given back to her parents, un blows my mind.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
How how Yeah, I don't know how that happens. Like
we've we heard the same and it was just like,
how is it possible that no adults other than her
parents that we know of have seen her in over
twelve months? They said six months. They were going to
check for six months, and that's that is not enough time.
We had her for, you know, well over two years.

(02:17):
And the six months they were able to check a
couple of boxes and they were okay to within six months,
we're done. Never checked her again.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
Representative Jill Walsh of the nineteenth District proposed House Bill
thirteen ninety seven in twenty twenty three, called the Oakley
Carlson Act. It was aimed to maintain the safety of
children who have been removed from a parent based on abuse, neglect,
or abandonment. If passed, the act would have tightened the

(02:46):
requirements for foster children to be returned to their biological parents.
The bill stalled out in the committee in February twenty three,
but was reintroduced in January twenty four. Bowers was released
from the Water, Washington State Correctional Center for Women in
September twenty five after serving just a one year prison
sentence for unrelated charges of identity theft. She remains under

(03:10):
community supervision for a year following her release. Oakley would
have been eight years old this year. A one hundred
thousand dollar reward remains offered for any information leading to
the recovery or resolution of the case concerning little Young
Oakley or crime and justice news after this and now

(03:36):
to Indiana, where a man has admitted that he strangled
his ex wife and their teenage son and then buried
the bodies in a shallow grave near a coal mine.
That man has been sentenced to more than a century
behind bars. Thirty six year old Joshua Pennock was ordered
to serve two sixty year sentences for the murder of

(03:58):
his ex wife, forty six year old Samantha Gerald, and
their fourteen year old son, Colton. Pinnick murdered them in
October last year and tried to conceal their bodies near
the Bare Run Mine in Sullivan County. That's about one
hundred miles southwest of Indianapolis. I just put my hands
around her neck and I didn't let go, he said.

(04:20):
I did the same to my son, and then I
buried them. I was trying to get rid of them,
he told police. Friends and family had raised concerns about
the victims and had asked police to do a welfare
check when the mother didn't show up for work and
the sun didn't report to school. They were last seen
on Sunday, October thirteen, twenty four. Their bodies were discovered

(04:41):
days later on October seventeen, when cadaver dogs found the graves.
Witnesses report of that Pinnic had previously acted violently toward
the victims. The suspect had left a letter, according to
family members, saying sorry. I don't know what is wrong
with me. I don't have much of a life left. Well,
this is what I'm going to do. Let's go okay now, breathe, live, laugh, prosper.

(05:06):
I'm out, The letter reportedly said. He also reportedly called
his dad after killing his son and the mother of
his child, saying it went south. I can't talk about
it on the phone. They're not here anymore. Court records
show that Pennick pleaded guilty in July to two counts
of murder. As part of that plea agreement, the charges
of obstruction of justice, battery against public safety officials, and

(05:30):
resisting arrests were dropped. In his sentencing, Green Circuit Court
Judge Eric Allen laid out the crime in stark terms,
saying the defendant killed his ex wife and current significant
other and his own child. He made great efforts to
conceal his actions by trying to bury them in a
remote area. The judge noted the deliberate nature of both

(05:54):
the murders and the crime scene that took time. It
took time to strangle a woman and a four fourteen
year old child. The judge observed time to reflect he
had time to stop but he continued. Judge Allen ordered
the sentences to be served consecutively or one after the other.
Pinnack will receive credit for three hundred and forty eight

(06:14):
days of time served, but will spend the rest of
his life behind bars. For the latest crime insice news,
follow Crime Alert hourly update on your favorite podcasting app
with this crime Alert. I'm Nichol Carton.