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

[Beyond Belief]

the 911 caller also stated a neighbor saw the van earlier in the morning and said it was almost completely submerged.

 

[Allyne]

Washington has more serial killers than any other state, if I recall correctly.

This is a must-see graphic (PDF) that the SeattlePI did on serial killers in 2003. Even obscure ones are listed. VERY interesting read--worth the time to download.

http://www.seattlepi.com/dayart/pdf/20030220serialkillers.pdf

I've noticed that 1-2 times/ year people in Thurston/Mason/Lewis Counties have vanished with their cars later being found w/ the keys in them...spooky.

 

[pufnstuf]

Have you updated it with the safeway visit around 8:10?

Also, RS says he got a call from her at 6:45, do we know yet where she was at that time?

Thanks so much for the map.

ETA; it just doesn't look that difficult to get back to the freeway from the Handy mart at 7:50, and I hate to drive. She would have stayed on one road most of the way there, and turned onto only one other road to get to the freeway, and they both look like main roads.

How in the world could she have gotten so lost, and if she is that bad at it, why in the world didn't they go together. Man, this is wierd.

You know, she was so close to the freeway that the clerk could have just pointed toward it and said, "There it is."

But getting the map out? Makes me wonder if she was trying to find somewhere else, not the freeway.

 

[Allyne]

Low Tide: 10:37 PM 1.7 ft.

High Tide: 6:09 AM 14.1 ft.

Water reached the top of the seats at high tide.

The 911 call says it was almost completely submerged at one point. If they were knocking on the garage doors @ 1 a.m., then they were out before the water came in.

 

[Lipin One]

You know, if all the doors were open and the van was backed into the water - say deep enough to get out and leave - sounds like maybe someone wanted it to disappear? And that is only my thinking IF that is the case.

The curious thing is that the mud on the windshields can only be there if she (or whoever was driving) got stuck and wanted to back the van in the water.

If she (or whoever was driving) tried to drive forward, to get unstuck, the mud would fling forward and to the ground.

If she (or whoever the driver) tried to drive backwards, towards the water, the mud would fling up an into the air.

It was a windy, windy night that night. So the wind could've blown that mud onto the windshields.

But, why would the driver want to back into the water?

I wonder if it was a 4WD x 4WD.

Not accusing anyone, but if the wheels had not gotten stuck in the mud, the van would've been immersed all in if allowed to be backed up all the way.

Why would anyone want to do that?

Another thing is the doors that were open. The hatchback was left open, in this case the hatchback was supposedly facing towards the deepest part of the water.

Did anyone open it so the truck interior would flood easier and faster, and not float?

The side door was left open, which one? Was it the passenger?

Again, left open with intension of flooding the car, so it wouldn't float?

Just things to think about.

 

[pufnstuf]

The mud could have splashed on the windshield if she drove too fast into the mud puddles/tidal pools.

 

[90Nine]

The 911 call says it was almost completely submerged at one point. If they were knocking on the garage doors @ 1 a.m., then they were out before the water came in.

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.

IF she did go to the Grimmers, then she must have gone to another home. She would have had to walk for miles with her son to get to a public phone.

This raises another question with the timelines: If she left the home where she made the call at 10pm and she didn't get to the Grimmers home until 1am, then what was she doing for 3 hours?

 

[Allyne]

You know, she was so close to the freeway that the clerk could have just pointed toward it and said, "There it is."

But getting the map out? Makes me wonder if she was trying to find somewhere else, not the freeway.

I wondered that, too. Would have been a straight shot from the Handy Pantry to the freeway. At first it looked like the clerk was directing her North, but I see he turned the map around, and it does look like he's directing her to the interchange. (replayed it on full screen pausing several times).

She probably missed the exit (again) and ended up going onto Henderson & then East Bay. That's a divided road & you have to go quite a way before you can find a spot to turn around. Seems kind of remote, actually; more so after dark & not knowing the area.

 

[Allyne]

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. Wouldn't you be curious as to why? That is a quiet area. I'm sure they don't get many weird people out there doing ding dong ditch. I would have been freaking out if were me in that home.

Another thing...if it were me with a kid out freezing after that incident, I probably would have stood in the middle of the street screaming for help....

Ditto!

 

[lawlady84]

Another thing I just thought of that bothers me about the fiancee's story. He says:

"she called me at 6:45 from a phone. She asked me if I could grab her phone, because she had left. I let her know where I was at. She was in the Olympia area, but wasn’t quite sure of where, Azriel was hungry, so she pulled off. She made complaint of being in the traffic. She gave me the destination address and told me she would be there shortly."

If she supposedly left at 4:15, and calls at 6:45 from Olympia, wouldn't your first question be why the heck did it take you so long to get from home to Olympia? Mapquest says 1hr 18mins. HE adds in, "she complained of traffic." It was a SATURDAY, how much traffic could there possibly be?

*Maybe* she gave him the excuse that there was traffic - if they even spoke - but he just seems to have an answer for everything.


On a sadder note, I was wondering if maybe just Az knocked on the family's door at 1am? Would you be able to hear an 8 year old boy knocking? Or would a child be crying and screaming, so you'd hear something wrong? I was thinking maybe something happened to Shantina, passing out or hitting her head while on the beach, and Az ran to try to get help. If Shantina was knocking on doors, I feel like she would knock on houses until someone helped her - since she was helped already that night. A child might be more nervous and give up after trying once. Ah, this case is too weird.

 

[lawlady84]

I have no clue how the mud could have gotten on the windshield, but I am sure the windshield wipers were used BEFORE LE got to the van. No way would LE turn them on, even to get the van out, incase there's trace evidence on the windshield.

 

[anyoldtime48]

On CBW's (stepsister) facebook on March 13 at 7:16PM, she asked why she has to be related to crazy people.

Was Robb already at the step-father's house then? Had they concluded by 7:15 that Shantina was missing? Here's what Robb says on his web site:

I stopped in Toldeo-Vader to make quick repair, when she called me at 6:45 from a phone. She asked me if I could grab her phone, because she had left. I let her know where I was at. She was in the Olympia area, but wasn’t quite sure of where, Azriel was hungry, so she pulled off. She made complaint of being in the traffic. She gave me the destination address and told me she would be there shortly.

I arrived in Castle Rock around 7:40, and found her Step Father’s house. We started to get worried about 9:00pm...

Considering Chelsie's FB comment, they must have already known that SOMETHING was up. Very curious...

Since he did not arrive in Castle Rock until 7:40, it makes no sense to me that her 7:16 comment has any relation to this at all. If I had a FB page, I'd probably be spouting about my crazy family as well.

Since Smiley had called him about 6:45 to tell him she was stuck in traffic and stopping in Olympia, it was already pretty clear to them she was going to arrive in Castle Rock after him, and thus nobody would have been worried until sometime after that (i.e. 9pm).

 

[revampz]

I




Did she take an overnight bag with her???? Has anyone confirmed that she actually did take an overnight bag on that trip.......


Because if someone can confirm she DID then my chain of thought has been altered.....

As it was said above with both the purse AND the overnight bag missing there is a big probability that she did leave the car to go in search of safer ground.....

I do hope though that as have been mentioned a couple of times, one of them somehow in the dark ended up in deeper water and the other went to help......

 

[eyes4crime]

Updated map with timeline:

LINK

thank you pufnstuf - the time-line, along with the map, make much sense. Thanks for all the work!

I'm map and direction impaired so if this makes any sense at all to me, it has got to be great.

 

[Allyne]

Has anyone signed on as a 'friend' on his facebook page? He says he's updating there.

 

[LibraFire]

I'm starting to think that maybe she wanted out of this relationship with RS. Why??..I'm not so sure yet.

 

[revampz]

I really want to know what set her off to start her drinking again....

she has a deffered charge thingy which if she reoffends within five years she is charged with the original drink driving and hit and run charge...

this would have finished in april........and she wouldnt have that hanging over her head....
\
After four years and 11 months......one month to go and she starts drinking again......

something has set this lady off to take that risk after keeping out of trouble for such a long time........

also this had me thinking that if she had been drinking and was driving and knew what was at stake if she got caught this is why she may have avoided the freeway and was driving back roads and ended up where she did.....

I know if this was me and this could lead to serious trouble after such a long time I'd be scared stiff of getting caught......

 

[awakewriter]

Also, on this video, which doesn't show the wine purchase (but it's at the same store with the wine purchase), shows her kind of unsteady on her feet. Noticeably swaying at :39 to :44.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ccWD-mrYmM

Video of her buying Carlo Rossi white wine. As she left she ran over the curb. Obviously already drinking, if not drunk:

http://www.q13fox.com/news/kcpq-031410-missingmomandson,0,6651388.story

I don't see her as any more unsteady on her feet than her son. Also, I don't see a curb, but maybe it's the quality of the video.

 

[Calliope]

What I am confused with is why she stopped to make that 10pm call to let folks know she was running late, had been in or had some sort of accident, but was OK.

Unless she had some intent to do herself in, and just wanted to talk with her [step] grandfather one last time, but seems like she was genuinely checking in because at that point she had to have known people would be worried about them.

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

 

[Calliope]

all i can think of if she was in an emotional state...she wouldnt care if she didnt close the doors, or grab her wallet and keys....she didnt need the van anymore or the things in it

The wallet on the seat bugs me too. You can see in the videos she doesn't carry a purse inside, but pulls her wallet out of the pouch in front of her sweatshirt. It's as if it were left there on purpose.