Authorities stop searching water, woods for Washington mom who vanished with son

Search of woods, water for Wash. mom and son ends

SEATTLE — Authorities in Washington state called off ground and water searches for the woman who abandoned a van on a remote Puget Sound beach over the weekend and disappeared with her 8-year-old son.

Detectives have failed to turn up any solid leads in the disappearance of Shantina “Kat” Smiley, 29, of Silverdale, and her son Azriel Carver. They’re still working on the case, but have given up the search and rescue operation for now, said Lt. Chris Mealy of the Thurston County Sheriff’s office.

“We’re working on a bunch of different theories. We really haven’t closed any possibilities yet,” Mealy said. “We’re not leaning toward one theory or another right now.”

It’s still possible the woman and her son went into the water of Puget Sound, but if they did, Mealy said, they could be anywhere in the region because of the ferocity of the current.

“We will find her,” he said. “I hope we find her alive and well.”

Meanwhile, the boy’s father has arrived in Washington to look for them.

Jay Carver arrived at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport from New York late Tuesday and said he planned to rent a car and drive to Olympia, where his former partner and their son were last seen Saturday night.

Carver told Seattle television stations he’s frazzled and wants to get out in the woods and start looking for Smiley and their son.

Smiley was en route from her Kitsap County home to her stepfather’s house in southwest Washington when they vanished Saturday night. Silverdale is about 16 miles west of Seattle, across the Puget Sound.

The van Smiley drove was found Sunday, abandoned and partially submerged in water on a remote Puget Sound beach in the Olympia area.

Investigators were looking at phone records and talking to people who know Smiley or her son and those who may have met her as she drove through the back roads of Washington state on Saturday night. Her fiance, Robb Simmons said Tuesday that Smiley is a recovering alcoholic who relapsed last week, KING-TV reported.

Simmons said she had been under stress lately. He had been having health issues and fears he might have cancer, and suggested this past week that they get married, he said.

But he said he doesn’t believe the relapse played any role in her disappearance.

“The idea she would stop and drink is not a realistic thing,” he told the television station. “I do not see her doing that, I don’t see her doing that, putting herself at risk, getting in trouble with the law, putting her son at risk.”

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.