Search for missing mom, son resumes
SEATTLE -- Authorities have resumed their search for the woman who abandoned a van on a remote Puget Sound beach over the weekend and disappeared with her 8-year-old son.
Lt. Chris Mealy of the Thurston County sheriff's office said on Wednesday a boat searched the Boston Harbor area with a bloodhound on board, to try to pick up the scent of 29-year-old Shantina "Kat" Smiley of Silverdale and her son Azriel Carver. Dogs also searched the roads and the area surrounding the beach.
The search resumed after investigators received a tip from an area resident, who said someone had knocked on this door late Saturday night or early Sunday morning. The resident said he did not answer the door and did not think the event was significant at the time.
"They didn't think much of it until later when they contacted the sheriff's office," said Mealy.
Investigators searched the beach on Wednesday and recovered several items that washed up on the beach overnight. Mealy said the items include two mismatched leather shoes, a half-full and corked wine bottle, an inhaler and an orange ball.
"They were on the tide line, you know, the water would come up and recede, come up and recede," Mealy said. "We don't want to put a whole lot of importance on this other than to recognize them as (whether) having come from the van."
Detectives are working with Smiley's fiance Robb Simmons to determine whether those items did, in fact, come from the van.
"If they, in fact, did come from the van, that doesn't help us in our investigation too much, because we know the van was at the beach," said Mealy.
The missing boy's father, Jay Carver, was on the scene of the search on Wednesday, hoping for any signs of his son. Carver flew in from Buffalo, N. Y. late Tuesday night in hopes of aiding searchers.
"Basically, I wanna see if I can help with any of the searches or what not that they're getting going to be doing in other areas. But basically, right now, I'm just getting the background and ... trying to find my boy," he said. "I'm not even really sure if I can add anything to the investigation. I'm not even sure if I can help with anything. But all I know is that I'm going to try."
Smiley and her son were headed to her stepfather's home when they disappeared over the weekend. The van Smiley drove was found Sunday abandoned and partially submerged in water on a remote Puget Sound beach.
"It's almost like she vanished out of thin air," said stepsister Chelsie Woodard, 32, of Castle Rock, whose father used to be married to Smiley's mother.
On Wednesday investigators obtained additional surveillance footage from a store in Olympia that captured Smiley looking at a map with the store's clerk at 8:02 p.m. Saturday.
Friends and family are befuddled, and authorities said the case baffles them, as well.
Earlier this week, Smiley's fiance said the woman had a drinking problem and relapsed last week. However, Robb Simmons doesn't believe Kat would do anything to endanger her son.
"To think that she would be drinking on the road with her son, that's an insane idea. I don't believe that would happen," he said.
Jay Carver agreed Smiley was a very caring mother to their son.
"You know, it's been too long, and we (my son and I) both have been missing out. But I know that he was in very, very loving and capable hands with Shantina," he said.
Mealy said Wednesday that Thurston County detectives were aware of Smiley's emotional state and her problems with alcohol. He said Simmons is not a suspect.
Lt. Chris Mealy of the Thurston County sheriff's office said on Wednesday a boat searched the Boston Harbor area with a bloodhound on board, to try to pick up the scent of 29-year-old Shantina "Kat" Smiley of Silverdale and her son Azriel Carver. Dogs also searched the roads and the area surrounding the beach.
The search resumed after investigators received a tip from an area resident, who said someone had knocked on this door late Saturday night or early Sunday morning. The resident said he did not answer the door and did not think the event was significant at the time.
"They didn't think much of it until later when they contacted the sheriff's office," said Mealy.
Investigators searched the beach on Wednesday and recovered several items that washed up on the beach overnight. Mealy said the items include two mismatched leather shoes, a half-full and corked wine bottle, an inhaler and an orange ball.
"They were on the tide line, you know, the water would come up and recede, come up and recede," Mealy said. "We don't want to put a whole lot of importance on this other than to recognize them as (whether) having come from the van."
Detectives are working with Smiley's fiance Robb Simmons to determine whether those items did, in fact, come from the van.
"If they, in fact, did come from the van, that doesn't help us in our investigation too much, because we know the van was at the beach," said Mealy.
The missing boy's father, Jay Carver, was on the scene of the search on Wednesday, hoping for any signs of his son. Carver flew in from Buffalo, N. Y. late Tuesday night in hopes of aiding searchers.
"Basically, I wanna see if I can help with any of the searches or what not that they're getting going to be doing in other areas. But basically, right now, I'm just getting the background and ... trying to find my boy," he said. "I'm not even really sure if I can add anything to the investigation. I'm not even sure if I can help with anything. But all I know is that I'm going to try."
Smiley and her son were headed to her stepfather's home when they disappeared over the weekend. The van Smiley drove was found Sunday abandoned and partially submerged in water on a remote Puget Sound beach.
"It's almost like she vanished out of thin air," said stepsister Chelsie Woodard, 32, of Castle Rock, whose father used to be married to Smiley's mother.
On Wednesday investigators obtained additional surveillance footage from a store in Olympia that captured Smiley looking at a map with the store's clerk at 8:02 p.m. Saturday.
Friends and family are befuddled, and authorities said the case baffles them, as well.
Earlier this week, Smiley's fiance said the woman had a drinking problem and relapsed last week. However, Robb Simmons doesn't believe Kat would do anything to endanger her son.
"To think that she would be drinking on the road with her son, that's an insane idea. I don't believe that would happen," he said.
Jay Carver agreed Smiley was a very caring mother to their son.
"You know, it's been too long, and we (my son and I) both have been missing out. But I know that he was in very, very loving and capable hands with Shantina," he said.
Mealy said Wednesday that Thurston County detectives were aware of Smiley's emotional state and her problems with alcohol. He said Simmons is not a suspect.
Learn about changes coming to commenting