It’s been more than a year since 5-year-old Oakley Carlson, of Oakville, was last seen.

Oakley was first reported missing Dec. 6, 2021, the same day as her fifth birthday. Her last confirmed sighting was Feb. 10, 2021. A gathering on Saturday, Feb. 26, was the third gathering in support of Oakley. And like the first two — one in December 2021 and one in January — it was held outside Grays Harbor County Courthouse in Montesano.

About 100 people were outside the jail, according to the event’s organizer Jordan Wolfe, to rally in support of Oakley and against Jordan Bowers and Andrew Carlson, Oakley’s biological parents who are inmates at the jail.

Community members from Grays Harbor, and beyond the county, were angry on Saturday and the weather — 40 degrees with a steady drizzle — wasn’t going to stop them from making their voices heard during the nearly 90 minute rally.

Aberdeen resident Mckenzie Morrow wouldn’t let the rain or the cold get in her way of rallying for Oakley.

“My hands are freezing,” she said.

Morrow was there with the crowd, which included Oakley’s foster parents — Erik and Jamie Jo Hiles — from August 2017 until late November 2019, in the hopes of coaxing answers out of Bowers and Carlson. She joined in on chants, such as “Tell us where Oakley is,” “Answers for Oakley,” and “We Will Find Her,” which rang through the gray skies that hung over downtown Montesano.

Morrow, who said she was inspired by the event, also said she and the group need answers from Oakley’s biological parents.

“We need to get them to talk,” she said.

The inmates inside the jail helped the group’s effort to get louder. Some pounded their fists — in unison with the beat of the chants — on their cell windows. Most people who were there for the gathering shouted even louder when the inmates joined in.

Hundreds more tuned in to the livestream of the event, Wolfe said. There were thousands of views of the gathering.

From about 10:25 a.m. to about 11:50 a.m., the protesters yelled from two locations outside the jail — in the parking lot and then just north of the jail — and their fiery anger never extinguished.

Count Karisa Beerbower, from Snoqualmie, as one who wanted to put pressure on the couple.

“I hope (Carlson and Bowers) get justice and I hope we find (Oakley) alive,” she said.

While there are no charges levied against Bowers and Carlson regarding Oakley, there are charges against them regarding Oakley’s 6-year-old and 2-year-old siblings. The first charge — felony Abandonment of a Dependent Person — is for allegedly denying the 6-year old medication for 15 months. That charge put the couple in jail.

The other two charges are more serious felonies — child endangerment with a controlled substance, which are for the 6-year old and the 2-year old testing positive through hair follicle tests for methamphetamine back in December 2021, according to Grays Harbor Superior Court files.

On Dec. 10, 2021, four days after Bowers and Carlson were arrested on Dec. 6, the 2-year-old and the 6-year-old were tested for methamphetamine. The test results showed the 6-year-old’s hair follicle sample showed 5,186 picograms of meth, which is “extremely high and consistent with a child who has ingested methamphetamine, although they are not inconsistent with a child who has been pasively exposed to the drug,” according to the files.

The 2-year-old’s hair follicle lab results showed at least 10,000 picograms-per-miligrams, which are “more consistent with ingestion,” the files state.

But, again, Saturday was about Oakley. Wolfe said he’s always happy to see new faces at the gatherings.

“The more people, the louder we can be,” she said Monday, Feb. 28. Her hope is people keep showing up to future gatherings, like the one scheduled for Saturday, March 12.

“I hope the community continues to band together for justice for Oakley,” Wolfe said.

McCleary resident Ethan Cooperrider, Oakley’s foster uncle, wants to “Make it Make Sense,” which was another chant the crowd bellowed outside the jail.

Cooperrider is furious about the circumstances regarding Oakley. In addition to his sweatshirt, hat, and Seattle Supersonics gloves, the situation facing Oakley warmed him up on Saturday’s cold and dreary day.

“I’m not cold at all,” he said about standing outside in the weather Saturday. “I’m on fire. It could be 17 degrees and I’d still be out here because it’s not about me. It’s about Oakley and my sister (Jamie Jo Hiles) and her husband. This is what families do.”

In addition to the anger shown throughout the day’s events, Cooperrider shared a glimpse of the loving bond he shared with his foster niece.

On his cellphone, Cooperrider has two photographs where he’s holding Oakley and they look happy. He misses the joy of playing around with Oakley.

“I miss her every day,” he said. “Little things that I have forgotten, I’m starting to remember. I remember how she liked to play with my action figures on the living room floor. She let me hold her, and she’d just laugh. It’s things like that, that really make me miss her.”