SEATTLE (AP) — A Pierce County sheriff's spokesman says a child's body found Thursday on an island beach in Puget Sound is that of an 8-year-old boy who vanished last weekend with his mother.
Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer says the positive identification is based on Azriel Carver's clothing, mohawk haircut and "looking at pictures of him." The Pierce County medical examiner's office plans an autopsy Friday.
The body was found on Fox Island, southwest of Tacoma.
Troyer says a ground, water and air search in the Fox Island area produced no sign of the boy's mother, 29-year-old Shantina "Kat" Smiley of Silverdale, who disappeared with him on Saturday night. Her abandoned minivan was found on a remote Olympia-area beach about 12 miles south of Fox Island. Troyer says the search for Smiley may resume Friday, depending on weather.
