BRINNON — The life of Shantina Smiley, a Silverdale woman who has been missing since March 13, will be remembered in services set April 17 in Brinnon, where she once lived.
“Right now, I would love to see her walk back into our lives,” said Smiley’s grandmother, Dolly Smith of Brinnon.
“But I don’t think we will see her again. She would never leave her son.”
Service slated
The service is scheduled for 1 p.m. at the Brinnon Community Church, 52 Church Road, with the Rev. Bill Reid officiating.
On March 13, Smiley, 29, was traveling with her 8-year-old son, Azriel Carver, to a family gathering in Castle Rock, in southwest Washington.
The next day, her minivan was found partially submerged in the Puget Sound near Olympia the next day. No one was inside.
Her son’s body was found on a Fox Island beach, near Gig Harbor, on March 18.
The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office said Friday investigators have no new leads to follow.
“If she were alive, she would have called me by now,” Smith said.
“She would let me know she was OK because she didn’t like to worry her grandma. That’s the kind of woman she was.”
See it realistically
Like Smith, Smiley’s fiancé Robb Simmons is using the service to reach closure.
“I hope that she will come back every damn day,” Simmons said. “She could be in somebody’s basement or someplace where we can’t reach her.
“But we have to look at it realistically.”
A memorial service was held for Azriel in March at the Brinnon Community Church.
Smith said she expected about 20 people to attend but about 90 showed up.
Smith anticipates a large crowd will gather for the service April 17.
Six years in Brinnon
Smith said she “partly raised” Smiley, who lived in Brinnon for six years prior to her 18th birthday.
Smiley graduated from Castle Rock High School in 1998 and earned a degree from Bremerton’s Olympic College in medical coding and billing in 2009, Smith said.
She was scheduled to begin a new job on March 15.
Smiley met Simmons, a Silverdale photographer, on MySpace three years ago.
She had won the hearts of Simmons’ two children, ages 11 and 15, Smith and Simmons said.
“Those two kids adored her, ” Smith said. “It says a lot about her, that her future stepkids called her ‘Mom’ but called their own mother by her real name.”
“My daughter started to call her ‘Mom’ totally on her own,” Simmons said.
Many questions about Smiley’s disappearance and her son’s death, which captured national media attention, may never be answered, investigators have said.
Simmons told KING-TV that Smiley is a recovering alcoholic who relapsed just before she disappeared. He also said he doesn’t believe the relapse played any role in her disappearance, The Associated Press said.
Smiley apparently took a haphazard route north of Olympia before parking on a remote beach. Surveillance cameras recorded her buying a bottle of wine at a store. A half-empty bottle with the cork in it washed up on the beach along with Azriel’s ball, shoe and asthma inhaler.
Smith said that Smiley succeeded in spite of adversity, including an alcoholic and abusive mother.
“We both went through a lot in our lives,” Simmons said. “When we met, I wasn’t looking for someone, but we hit it right off.”
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
