WA WA - Shantina Smiley, 29, & Azriel Carver, 8 (fnd deceased), Olympia, Mar 2010 - #2

[darlin gal]

Hard for me to say, as I can't really tell what is in the video. That looks like a man's shoe (not many women wear size 13, and that looks like it could be a men's 13, which would be equivalent to women's 15). I'd also like to know if Azriel used a spacer with his inhaler (that's what appears to be the blue and clear plastic item above the inhaler).

ETA: here's a photo of one similar to the one in the video:

http://www.medicaldepartmentstore.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=INVHC79510

One of the shoes was a size nine and it was confirmed to be hers.

About the blue tube thing/spacer.

That's what it looks like to me. My son used one also when he was Azreil's age. It's pretty standard with younger children. It helps them inhale it better.

 

[Mia]

Just finished reading the first thread - trying to catch up since yesterday morning. Unbelievable that now we have video of her actually buying wine at the store. First it was "no drug issues or problems" then it was "she is a recovering alcoholic" then "she is a recovering alcoholic but recently had a relapse" then we hear from the fiance that she is an alcoholic but there is no way in hell she would drink and drive with her son in the car, then a wine bottle washes up on shore and a short time later we have actual video of her buying a JUG of wine. What next?

I just wonder why her friends lied and said at the beginning that she has never had any drug issues. Alcohol is most certainly a "drug", and one of the most dangerous and addictive at that! Just because it is one of the legal ones, that does not make it a non-drug, nor does it make it any safer, less damaging physically and mentally, or less addictive than the illegal ones!

 

[Mia]

I kind of doubt that wine was bought as a gift (who buys jug wine as a gift?) She bought it to drink.

Agreed! Who buys a cheap jug of convenience store wine as a gift? No one I know. Plus, being lost and disoriented, I'm sure the last thing on her mind at that moment was buying a gift for he stepfather.

 

[90Nine]

A couple of things I'm thinking:

-It doesn't make sense to me that they would drown or get pulled out into the water. When reporting the news, they mention how shallow the water was. The tide was no more than 2 feet.

-If they drove up to the water and were able to turn the van around, they would not have been in deep or anything they couldn't have walked out from.

-I think she opened the back to grab the overnight bag She would have had to put down the seats to grab the bag. I would have done the same thing.

-I think she opened the side door to get the son out.

-If she didn't have a purse or overnight bag then she didn't plan on ever going. Every woman has a purse, especially if it is overnight. I often grab just my wallet only, but if I'm going anywhere for more than a couple of hours than I bring my purse. Where would she have the anti-anxiety meds - I assume her purse.

-It makes sense to me that she drove down to the beach to sleep. What doesn't make sense is that she didn't see the big house of the guy who found her car. The property is huge and lit and she would have had to have driven around it to get down the beach access path. Why didn't they just walk back up the road that was only a couple of hundred feet from the house? Why would they have walked almost a mile to the other house and knocked on the garage?

-they are either in the water (which is hard to imagine)
-in a neighbors home and not wanting to come out. some people get excited about being a part of these things and will not notify LE.
-somehow they got to a phone and a friend came and got them

There is no way they could have gone anywhere without being seen unless it was in a car with someone who was taking them or knew them.

-I have a hard time thinking foul play is a part of this. The neighborhood seems quiet and very nice with no issues before this.

*However, I did read that there is a registered sex offender within a couple of miles of where this happened. I have not checked.

-The guy who called in the van honestly acted like there was noway something bad could have happened. He said a couple of times that he didn't know why they didn't come up the door. The house was right there.

The only thing I can think of about this is that Az was somehow left by himself. Something happened to his mom. He likely would not see the house there and would not have seen driving by it if he was asleep. With that said, he would not have gotten the bag out of the trunk or taken his moms purse. The purse certainly would have washed up by now as would the bag...

I think those washed up items were in the trunk and were washed out of the trunk. Perhaps the coloring books, etc. were in the backseat and the water didn't rise enough to get them.

 

[Calliope]

One of the shoes was a size nine and it was confirmed to be hers.

About the blue tube thing/spacer.

That's what it looks like to me. My son used one also when he was Azreil's age. It's pretty standard with younger children. It helps them inhale it better.

I wondered about that; I don't work with kids but they're used in older folks or those with poorer lung function to help them get more medication into their lungs.

 

[Mia]

If SS and Azriel are not in the water, where else could they be?
1) In the surrounding woods - they stumbled in, mom collapsed, and Azriel either stayed with her or left to go get help and got lost. But by this time SS would be more than sober and, it seems, able to find her way out of the woods.
2) In a vacant home nearby. If this is the case, however, how are they surviving without food? Without money to buy food?
3) Someone picked them up (a friend of SS's) and is hiding them in their home because she is embarrassed about what happened (best possibility, IMO).
4) They took off that night on foot, somehow found a ride hitchhiking or whatnot, and are now wandering around outside of the immediate area - but again, how would they survive without money for food and shelter? And you'd think someone would have seen them by now/remembered picking them up.
5) They left the area on foot and got a ride/some help from the 'wrong' person and now being held against their will or were killed by this person/people (very unlikely IMO).

Can anyone think of any other possibilities? For the record, I do think they are in the water, sadly enough.

 

[90Nine]

One of the shoes was a size nine and it was confirmed to be hers.

About the blue tube thing/spacer.

That's what it looks like to me. My son used one also when he was Azreil's age. It's pretty standard with younger children. It helps them inhale it better.

I think the shoes could have easily just been in the back of the car, stray. Especially if a ball came out with them, etc. The wine is heavy though. I think she threw the wine in the water as to not leave it with the car.

 

[Calliope]

http://www.mynorthwest.com/?nid=11&sid=299736

Link to their radio show here.

Interesting.

And I don't think she "relapsed" into drinking (if she indeed was an alcoholic) simply because RS diagnosed himself via The Google.

 

[Lipin One]

Does anyone know when RS filed a missing persons report with the police?

He didn't say on his webpage.

He says he was called by the Thurston Sheriff's department, while he was having lunch.

My question is... he spent half of the night and the morning looking for her from Olympia to Castle Rock.

YET, did he call her number at home, or cellphone... in case she went back home?

Did he drive back to Silverdale (at least once) to see if she got home and maybe was ill, or something was off at home?

Did he call anyone in Silverdale to see if she had made it there? After all, he drove around Olympia half the night and in the morning. That's just an hour from Silverdale. He could've bothered to check.

Has he been calling home to Silverdale to see if SOMEHOW she made it home?

 

[BeanE]

Fiance: Items found on beach belonged to missing woman, son
March 18, 2010 at 11:01 AM
Updated today at 11:12 AM

Lt. Chris Mealy of the Thurston County Sheriff's says the positive identification of the items does not change the direction of their investigation. Thurston County has a boat in the water scouring the shoreline for clues. Investigators also are examining Smiley's bank records and court and public records and talking to people.

http://www.king5.com/news/local/Fiance-Items-found-belonged-to-missing-woman-son-88432872.html

Includes video with items

BeanE

 

[90Nine]

What was she doing between 10pm and 1am.

She made the phone call at 10pm. It leave a large gap in time assuming they did knock on the garage at 1am.

 

[justme96]

Does anyone know when RS filed a missing persons report with the police?QUOTE]

He didn't say on his webpage.

He says he was called by the Thurston Sheriff's department, while he was having lunch.

My question is... he spent half of the night and the morning looking for her from Olympia to Castle Rock.

YET, did he call her number at home, or cellphone... in case she went back home?

Did he drive back to Silverdale (at least once) to see if she got home and maybe was ill, or something was off at home?

Did he call anyone in Silverdale to see if she had made it there? After all, he drove around Olympia half the night and in the morning. That's just an hour from Silverdale. He could've bothered to check.

Has he been calling home to Silverdale to see if SOMEHOW she made it home?

He has been in Seattle with the media. One night they stayed in a hotel and one night in the back of a car. He doesn't seem to smart to me. Maybe she found out he was a little off and didn't want to be with him anymore. The so called cancer scare (only researched on the internet) just after she actually was tested for cancer could have been a wake up call to her.

 

[reen]

Does anyone know when RS filed a missing persons report with the police?QUOTE]

He didn't say on his webpage.

He says he was called by the Thurston Sheriff's department, while he was having lunch.

My question is... he spent half of the night and the morning looking for her from Olympia to Castle Rock.

YET, did he call her number at home, or cellphone... in case she went back home?

Did he drive back to Silverdale (at least once) to see if she got home and maybe was ill, or something was off at home?

Did he call anyone in Silverdale to see if she had made it there? After all, he drove around Olympia half the night and in the morning. That's just an hour from Silverdale. He could've bothered to check.

Has he been calling home to Silverdale to see if SOMEHOW she made it home?

When LE was quoted in one article as saying "He has been extremely cooperative," they also said he's been "shuttling back and forth from county to county on his motorcycle getting materials to help with the investigation." I'd think he must have been home at least once, if only to get items for scent purposes.

 

[Jules71]

I have been reading and trying to catch up with this thread. There are a lot of posts. These are some things I jotted down while trying to catch up:

1. Going to see step-dad, whom she had not seen in 4 years since her mother committed suicide

2. I don’t think the van was backed into the water. Can someone provide a link where that was stated? It looks like from the tracks she could have been trying to turn around; front tires got stuck in mud, so they exited the van from the rear hatch.

3. It was said earlier on the inside of the van was wet. The tide was out around the time she would have been there. Tide could have come in after they vacated the van causing the inside to get wet and items to go into the water.

4. Seen on surveillance purchasing wine from Safeway – same wine that washed up on shore. She could have been looking for somewhere to park and drink or sober up, which is why the van was where it was found. Half the bottle was gone.

5. Is there an updated timeline and map like was done here earlier on, to include the 1 am banging on the house (and location)
Silverdale, WA
B- Handy Pantry Market 7:50 PM
C- Martin Way Diner (corn Dog) 9:00 PM
D- Gull Harbor Merchantile 9:55 PM
E- Dennis Williams House (used phone)-10:10 PM
F- Home of Jim Pribbenow- guy who found car on his beach 10:00 AM Sunday
G- New Castle WA, home of her step-father

6. It seems she was disoriented before the first stop at Handy Pantry Market. That was out of the way if she was traveling south on I-5. Maybe an accident prior to stopping. I don't think it was with another vehicle because the other party probably would have come forward by now. I believe she could have hit/run into something and hit her head on the steering wheel. Her son said she hit her head.
7. She made purchases throughout the night so it seems she had her wallet with her the entire time. I think when they exited the van (because it was stuck), she grabbed her purse and her wallet fell out.
8. I think I read she purchased the wine just before 8, and the waitress at the diner said she seemed drunk at around 9 pm.

 

[anyoldtime48]

But why call him? That didn't make sense to me.

Because she knew his number and per early story, she had tried her fiance first, but since his phone was dead by then....you go to whatever number you know and call frequently.

 

[darlin gal]

Grimmer said he activated the home's alarm system, then went to front door and looked outside, but he could see no one. After his wife called the sheriff's office, investigators came to the home with bloodhounds. Mealy confirmed that a search dog failed to pick up a scent at the home."
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/TheLaw/sh...ewes-evidence-washes-ashore/story?id=10134521



I don't think they were at the home at 1:00 am. The dogs failed to pick up any scent.

 

[belimom]

I'm not super convinced that she was knocking on the garage of that home. She had plenty of other homes to go to. They took the dogs out there and they didn't pick up a scent of them - 2 times. If it were my house out there I would have called the police and not just blown it off. It's pretty serious when someone is pounding on your garage door at 1am. ...(snipped)...

Reminds me of Shaniya and the neighbor hearing the "banging" sound in the middle of the night... Why not check these things out or call LE?!?

 

[90Nine]

Fiance: Items found on beach belonged to missing woman, son
March 18, 2010 at 11:01 AM
Updated today at 11:12 AM

Lt. Chris Mealy of the Thurston County Sheriff's says the positive identification of the items does not change the direction of their investigation. Thurston County has a boat in the water scouring the shoreline for clues. Investigators also are examining Smiley's bank records and court and public records and talking to people.

http://www.king5.com/news/local/Fiance-Items-found-belonged-to-missing-woman-son-88432872.html

Includes video with items

BeanE

How many times have we heard a husband say that his wife would 'never do that' involving children. Obviously she did do it so I think he needs to start accepting that.

 

[belimom]

When LE was quoted in one article as saying "He has been extremely cooperative," they also said he's been "shuttling back and forth from county to county on his motorcycle getting materials to help with the investigation." I'd think he must have been home at least once, if only to get items for scent purposes.

I would think that LE would assist with this process, to ensure that the items being returned actually had her (or her son's) scent. Theoretically, if you don't want someone found, you can give them a random item without that person's scent at all.

 

[eyes4crime]

I wondered about that; I don't work with kids but they're used in older folks or those with poorer lung function to help them get more medication into their lungs.

Usually spacers are used with inhalers to give a more accurate dose and for those who have a difficult time getting the drug into their lungs. Children and the elderly are the most important populations to be concerned about.

Also, Smiley was on benzodiazapines, wonder if she took the pills with her in the overnight bag. Withdrawal would start to set in after about a day.