WA WA - Shantina Smiley, 29, & Azriel Carver, 8 (fnd deceased), Olympia, Mar 2010 - #1

[coklat]

If she really is a relapsed alcoholic, maybe she got off the highway to find a place that sold alcohol? It would explain going to different stores - and we only know the ones she used her credit cards/owners stepped forward. Even though the diner waitress said SS didn't order a drink, maybe she went in, ordered the food, and then realized they didn't serve drinks - so she left? Then tried the other markets?

Or maybe the stress of getting lost in Olympia with a hungry kid on the way to a reunion with a family member she hadn't spoken with in a long time was enough to make her want a drink?

I do think the waitress said they serve alcohol at the diner. I haven't been in since they changed the name a few years ago, I don't remember if they do.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Azriel needs to be on NCMEC!

 

[trigger]

This case has always reminded me somewhat of the woman who drove her minivan filled with kids the wrong way on the highway in NY -- the erratic behavior, the lateness, the calls to family that didn't quite have enough information to provide the necessary help -- but this was not a similarity that I wanted to hear. I think we all hope that whatever caused her disorientation was something minor and fleeting, that she and Azriel are huddled in the woods somewhere, but this is not a good development. Sadly, it would explain her odd behavior that night.

Yes that was Diane Schuler. Had alot of alcohol and marijuana in her system. She killer 8 people in that crash. She also was acting very strange before the crash. I dont know what the outcome is in this case but now after hearing she relapsed a week ago makes me think could they have drowned?

 

[Calliope]

http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2010/03/shantina_smiley_and_son_azriel.php

I mean where are there any news reports of the couple saying she was disoriented? Not the blogger.

 

[Amster]

I'm afraid she was impaired enough to wander off into the water and her little boy tried to save her....

 

[Texas Mist]

:banghead:

Article snipped by me.

OK, I know I said I didn't suspect the fiance. However, WHY would he bring up the alcoholic issue in a forum where people are trying to find her IF he then turns around to say she would never drink and drive with her son?

If he wants LE/searchers to know that alcohol may have played a factor, then I understand him releasing the info. If he doesn't believe it played a factor, then why drag it out into the public domain that that?

I don't get it.

Dunno either....because originally it was reported by "friends" no drug use, and "Mealy said Shantina has no history of mental illness or any other known problem."

Maybe RS didn't wanna embarrass her initially or risk people wouldn't look for her.

It's not helping now that's for sure.

 

[ricquelle]

Elderly couple??? Not sure where that came from...the man from the house she stopped at was shown in one of the videos and I wouldn't classify him as elderly.

 

[lawlady84]

Another hinky thing about the website -

He lists the times he received calls from SS, what time he went where - and as someone said its pretty exact (4:30, 6:45, etc). But it's not exact ENOUGH - how does he remember what time she called him? If its from looking at his phone, he'd have the exact time - like 6:49pm. If this is for the purpose of being helpful, wouldn't it be MORE helpful to give the exact times?

Also on Fox, assuming everything in his favor, I thought he was too calm for someone whose fiancee and soon-to-be stepson have been missing, when he believes she's a relapsed alcoholic who was driving, lost, and acting erratically/disoriented. If I was him and had a loved one in that situation, I'd be a wreck thinking she was injured in a ditch somewhere.

 

[gibby207]

If she's had trouble with alcohol in the past, it's POSSIBLE that she was drinking to ease her nerves for her meeting in Castle Rock. It's possible that if she hasn't drank in a while she thought her tolerance was at the level prior to quitting and drank too much. It's possible she blacked out. I'm afraid they are both gone but I hope I am wrong.

 

[Mendara]

:banghead:

Article snipped by me.

OK, I know I said I didn't suspect the fiance. However, WHY would he bring up the alcoholic issue in a forum where people are trying to find her IF he then turns around to say she would never drink and drive with her son?

If he wants LE/searchers to know that alcohol may have played a factor, then I understand him releasing the info. If he doesn't believe it played a factor, then why drag it out into the public domain that that?

I don't get it.

This REALLY bothers me. So he is saying she was having emotional issues, she was drinkiing again, but WOULD not drink and drive because she loves her son so much. He has medical problems and this is what caused her to go back to drinking?

I am getting really concerned and reading between the lines. Was she leaving him because of these medical problems? I want to hear from friends and family now. I am done with this guy.

Sorry something is not right - no reason for him to bring up the alcohol unless he wants us to think she was drunka nd drove into the water herself. IMHO

 

[RubyRed]

coming up on HLN

 

[marcyjoy]

Martin Way Diner serves alcohol.

IMO, this info doesn't deter people from looking. Regardless of what condition SHE was in, there is still a little boy missing.

 

[trigger]

HLN is having video of her. She looks drunk to me.

 

[gibby207]

I'm a local who has seen the BF on the news, and that was a man in panic and despair over his girlfriend and her son missing. In no way would I say he has been calm on our local news but that IMO.

 

[kai]

According to the fiance's website I am gathering that Shantina has been estranged from her stepfather for some time. Maybe she agreed to meet with her SF and then as she got closer to his home she rethought it and decided not to go. Got cold feet, decided it wasn't the best for her, etc... Hence the reason she was driving from place to place without really seeming to want to get to where she was supposed to be headed. She knew that her fiance would probably be at the SF's house so she wasn't too worried about showing up "late" if she did decide to change her mind again and show up.

I think the above theory posted about maybe someone getting in the van when she was at the last house making the phone call is a very good one. It would explain the wrong turn taken against the directions she just received.

Anyone know WHERE this neighborhood was where she used the phone? Any RSO's living "next door" ?

 

[Calliope]

Local LE who knows the area responds to 911 call and has trouble finding the road. RS gets call and goes immediately there and takes pictures of the van. RS asks why would she go down a dead end road. Is the road marked as a dead end.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Is there a link to see the surveillance footage online? TIA!

ETA: Nevermind! Found it! http://www.king5.com/video/featured...e-video-shows-missing-mom-child-87710817.html

 

[impatientredhead]

So she was reuniting with her step father after an estrangement of some sort?
Relapses in the days leading up to this event?
And never arrives at the step father's house?

 

[southern_scout]

I have a friend who has seizures. She didn't start having them until she was in her late 30's. Watching that tape, coupled with her being confused but alert, reminds me so much of how my friend is right after she has one. If you hadn't witnessed the actual event, you might think she was drunk, too. It sometimes takes my friend upwards of a half-hour to really click back to reality. She will know some things, like where she is, but be confused/strange acting. I could see where this woman could have had a seizure and that caused all of her strange actions.

As for her son being missing from the car, he looks like a big kid and she looks like a petite woman. I don't know that she could have lifted his sleeping-weight. My 8 year old is heavy enough that I would have to really struggle to lift her (I am 5'2'') and would almost surely wake her up if I had to move her any distance. Could it be that she had some kind of mental episode (seizure/stroke) and because he's young, he didn't realize it? Maybe she got the car stuck and then said "hey, let's walk over here and get help" or "lets walk to a house" and they either got into someone's car or wandered away to an unpopulated area?

 

[anyoldtime48]

Approx 125 mile trip. Perhaps running late getting out the door, perhaps a bit flustered over the reunion with her step-father, as was reported she was a little nervous about that since she hadn't seen him in several years.

I've blown out the door without something important more than once when in a hurry and distracted, and do not live and breathe with a dang cell attached to my ear. We know she didn't have the phone. Why else stop at the first store and use the pay phone? And then again at a private residence to use their phone to let her grandfather know she was running (very) late getting to Castle Rock, had had some sort of accident as was OK, but was lost?

No indication she had her cell. If she did, and it was fully charged, I suspect they would not now be missing. She left without it. Why doesn't seem to be overly important at this juncture.

Finding them does.