Autopsy Confirms Body is Azriel Carver; Cause of Death, Drowning

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Police Find Boy's Body, Mom Still Missing

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Update:  Autopsy confirms body is Azriel Carver;  cause of death was drowning 

Police believe a body that washed to shore is that of missing 8 year old boy Azriel Carver. Carver had been missing since Saturday night, when he and his mother, Shantina “Kat” Smiley, 29, last were seen north of Olympia.

The  body was found yesterday  afternoon on the southern tip of Fox Island of Puget Sound.  Sheriff’s officials received a call just before 2 p.m. that a body was found by a woman walking along Pebble Beach, below a steep bluff off Paiute Trail road.

County officials had to comfort the boy's father, who had come from New York state to help in the search. 

Thurston County Sheriff's office officials say the body will be taken to the Pierce County medical examiner's office where an autopsy will be performed, but because the body has the same clothing, Mohawk haircut, and is the size and age of Azriel Carver, they have little doubt that they have found one of the missing persons. 

Water Search for Shantina Smiley Continues

The search for Shantina Smiley continues.  The two had been en route from Siverdale to Castlerock for a family visit when they disappeared Saturday.  Surveillance cameras caught them involved in erratic and restless movement until they were last seen 10 pm Saturday in Olympia.  

They had sought assistance by knocking on a couple's door and saying they were lost. Smiley's fiance, Robert Simmons, had told police that Smiley was a recovering alcoholic who may have relapsed due to stress.  

A water search resumed when items belonging to Smiley and her son  -  a ball, an asthma inhaler, a bottle of wine, and a child's shoe  -  washed to shore at the beach where Smiley's partly-submerged minivan was found abandoned. The boy's body was found some 16 nautical miles from the van.  Crews will continue to search the beach as the tide goes up and down.