Missing Silverdale boy died from accidental drowning

The Pierce County medical examiner's office says 8-year-old Azriel Carver drowned and that his death was an accident.

His body was found Thursday on a south Puget Sound beach, and a search continues for his mother, 29-year-old Shantina Smiley.

The medical examiner's office said Friday that the boy has been positively identified, and that an autopsy found his death was an accident. A full toxicology test will be conducted, which is normal procedure on all autopsies, says the medical examiner.

The boy's body was reported about 2 p.m. by a local beachcomber on the south side of Fox Island, southwest of Tacoma and about 12 miles northeast of the remote Olympia beach where the boy and his mother apparently abandoned a minivan Saturday.

Azriel's father, Jay Carver, who had flown in from Buffalo, N.Y., this week, was at the beach but did not identify the body, Troyer said.

Watch an interview with Jay Carver from The Kitsap Sun

Update, 9:50 a.m., Mar. 19 The search for Smiley has resumed, according to The Associated Press.

Smiley is 5-foot-9, 145 pounds, with short dark hair. She has five tattoos, including a Roman symbol on the back of her neck and tattoos on each of her wrists. She was last seen wearing a red hooded sweat shirt and bluejeans, and wears glasses.

Family grieving

Smiley was on her way from her home in Silverdale, Kitsap County, to her stepfather's house in Southwest Washington when she and her son vanished Saturday night.

The 2005 Dodge Caravan she was driving was found Sunday in a remote area north of Olympia, partially submerged with its doors open. A wallet containing her driver's license, some cash and credit cards was found in the van, but neither she nor her son was anywhere in sight.

Two mismatched shoes, a partially full and corked wine bottle, an inhaler and an orange ball washed ashore after the van was found. Lt. Chris Mealy, of the Thurston County Sheriff's Office, said all the items apparently belonged to the boy or his mother.

People in boats, planes and on foot, as well as divers, had been searching the Boston Harbor area north of Olympia for the pair since Sunday.

Late Thursday after the boy's body was found, Simmons gave a statement to KING-TV: "We are grieving the loss of Azriel, and praying for Shantina," he said. "We are all severely hurting. We are getting the family together so we can grieve together, and so we can have some sort of peace right now."

Mealy said there was no indication that a crime had taken place inside the van Smiley was driving.

CPS complaints

Shantina Smiley's fiancé, Robb Simmons, told authorities this week that Smiley is a recovering alcoholic who had relapsed last week. But he said he was certain she would never do anything to endanger her son.

In the last five years, the state's Child Protective Services has investigated three of 10 complaints involving Smiley and her son, the most recent in April 2009.

In June 2005, someone reported that the boy suffered serious physical abuse, according to Sherry Hill, a spokeswoman for the agency. Smiley's ex-boyfriend was arrested for assault, but never prosecuted. After its investigation, CPS could not determine who had committed the abuse, Smiley or the ex-boyfriend. At that point, Smiley voluntarily sent the boy to live with relatives.

In March 2007, CPS investigated a complaint that Smiley had physically abused her son, but the complaint was deemed "unfounded."

In August 2007, the agency found that Smiley was negligent in caring for her son. "The child was left unsupervised after she had passed out from alcohol abuse," Hill said. The boy was placed with relatives while Smiley received substance abuse treatment.

The most recent complaint was considered "information only" and was not investigated.

CPS will now conduct an extensive "fatality review," which involves going over every aspect of the case to see if mistakes were made by any agency along the way. Such a review is required by law because the child died within one year of receiving CPS services.

Tidal system

The path apparently traveled by the boy's body is a zigzagging, seemingly improbable one, but consistent with currents of the Dana Passage, a tidal system between Olympia and Tacoma, authorities said.

"It's almost like a river within the ocean that just runs that way," Mealy said. His department conducted the search of the area where the minivan was found. "It all kind of funnels through the passage."

According to Earl Doan, of Bainbridge Island, who's published books on local tides and currents, an ebb current would go out Dana Passage, bend south around Devil's Head, then around either side of Anderson Island. At that point, everything is channeling north toward the Tacoma Narrows.

"Fox Island is practically in the way," Doan said.

Information from The Associated Press is included in this report.