Authorities say a shoe that washed up on a Puget Sound beach over the weekend probably belonged to the Silverdale woman who appears to have abandoned a van on the beach and disappeared with her 8-year-old son.

Lt. Chris Mealy of the Thurston County Sheriff’s office says other items that washed up on the beach also appear to be connected with 29-year-old Shantina “Kat” Smiley of Silverdale and her son Azriel Carver disappeared.

Mealy says the positive identification of the items does not change the direction of their investigation. Thurston County has a boat in the water scouring the shoreline for clues. Investigators also are examining Smiley’s bank records and court and public records and talking to people.

Shantina “Kat” Smiley, 29, had a brush with the law in 2005, when she was charged with hit-and-run and DUI in Cowlitz County.

Around the same time, she took out a protection order against a Cowlitz County man with whom she had a “very abusive relationship,” law enforcement said.

But despite the incidents in her past, her life in Kitsap County — where she moved to be with a man she met on MySpace —had much positive momentum, family members and acquaintances said. She had established a career and a family of which she was proud.

“Everything seemed normal,” said Chelsie Woodard, a stepsister to Smiley who lives in Castle Rock.

New clues emerged on Wednesday in the weekend disappearance of Smiley and her 8 year-old-son, Azriel Carver.

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