FOX ISLAND, Wash. -- The body of a boy that washed ashore on a Fox Island beach Thursday is that of a missing 8-year-old child who disappeared with his mother over the weekend, the medical examiner says.

The father of 8-year-old Azriel Carver has been told his son is dead, authorities told KIRO 7 Eyewitness News.

Azriel disappeared on Saturday with his mother, 29-year-old Shantina Smiley.

The child's body was discovered about 12 miles from an Olympia beach, where Smiley's van was found partially submerged on Sunday.

The discovery caused authorities to focus their search for Smiley near Fox Island, where a Coast Guard helicopter hovered overhead Thursday afternoon.

KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reporter Kevin McCarty said the body of the 8-year-old was first discovered on the beach by a child and then an adult, in a remote area near Paiute Trail at 11th Avenue on the southwestern corner of the island.

UNCUT: Beach Where Body Found

Police said there was a T-shirt around the boy's head.

Due to the remote location, a Tacoma police boat took officers to the scene. The body is being recovered by the Pierce County sheriff's boat Reliance, McCarty said.

On Saturday, Smiley had been driving with Azriel in a van from their home in Silverdale to visit relatives in Castle Rock, where she grew up, police said. Since then, they have been the subjects of an intense search.

Investigators said Smiley and her son left Silverdale at about 5 p.m. on Saturday and that surveillance video showed the two at a West Olympia mini-mart at 7:50 p.m. She told clerks there that she was lost and video showed her looking at a map of downtown Olympia.

Surveillance video later obtained from the store showed Smiley buying a jug of wine, with her son by her side. Her finance said Smiley was a recovering alcoholic who had a recent relapse.

Police said her next known stop was the Martin Way Diner on Fourth Avenue East in Olympia. She stopped there at about 9 p.m., ordered food, but left without taking it. Workers said she appeared to have trouble staying awake and she fell in the parking lot.

Police then tracked Smiley to a grocery store in Boston Harbor at 9:50 p.m., and then she stopped at the home of Dennis Williams in the 1400 block of 46th Avenue Northeast at about 10 p.m.

On Sunday morning, a homeowner near the beach called 911 when he saw a van partially submerged in the water of Dana Passage. Sheriff's investigators said somehow the Dodge Caravan ended up in the water with its doors open. To get there, investigators said, the driver had to take a dead-end road, go down a winding driveway and onto the beach.

Police on Wednesday confirmed to KIRO 7 that a wine bottle, like the one Smiley purchased, was found washed up on the beach overnight. It was capped, unbroken and half empty.

Also found on the beach were two mismatched leather shoes, an inhaler that may have belonged to Azriel, a baseball and water bottles. The items may have come from the van.

On Thursday, authorities said one of the shoes and other items found most likely belonged to Smiley.

Dana Passage is about 12 miles from Fox Island.