LEAVENWORTH, Wash. (AP) — Authorities say they have found remains they believe are Travis Decker, an ex-soldier wanted in the deaths of his three daughters, in the mountains of Washington state.
The Chelan County Sheriff’s Office reported Thursday that a crime scene response team from the Washington State Patrol is processing the site. They will conduct DNA analysis to confirm the identification.
“While positive identification has not yet been confirmed, preliminary findings suggest the remains belong to Travis Decker,” the sheriff’s office stated.
Decker, 32, has been sought since June 2, when a sheriff’s deputy discovered his truck along with the bodies of his daughters — 9-year-old Paityn, 8-year-old Evelyn, and 5-year-old Olivia — at a campground nearby Leavenworth.
Three days prior, Decker failed to return the girls to their mother in Wenatchee after a scheduled visit.
Serving in the Army from March 2013 to July 2021 and deploying to Afghanistan in 2014, Decker had military training in survival and navigation. Authorities noted that he had once survived off the grid for over two months.
More than 100 officials from state and federal agencies participated in extensive searches across hundreds of square miles, involving land, water, and air resources. The U.S. Marshals Service had offered a reward of up to $20,000 for information leading to his capture.
Last September, Whitney Decker reported her ex-husband's declining mental health and instability in a court petition, citing his homelessness and a need for restricted visitation with their daughters. Tragically, an autopsy later confirmed that the girls died from suffocation, found with evidence of being bound and suffocated using zip ties and plastic bags.
The Chelan County Sheriff’s Office reported Thursday that a crime scene response team from the Washington State Patrol is processing the site. They will conduct DNA analysis to confirm the identification.
“While positive identification has not yet been confirmed, preliminary findings suggest the remains belong to Travis Decker,” the sheriff’s office stated.
Decker, 32, has been sought since June 2, when a sheriff’s deputy discovered his truck along with the bodies of his daughters — 9-year-old Paityn, 8-year-old Evelyn, and 5-year-old Olivia — at a campground nearby Leavenworth.
Three days prior, Decker failed to return the girls to their mother in Wenatchee after a scheduled visit.
Serving in the Army from March 2013 to July 2021 and deploying to Afghanistan in 2014, Decker had military training in survival and navigation. Authorities noted that he had once survived off the grid for over two months.
More than 100 officials from state and federal agencies participated in extensive searches across hundreds of square miles, involving land, water, and air resources. The U.S. Marshals Service had offered a reward of up to $20,000 for information leading to his capture.
Last September, Whitney Decker reported her ex-husband's declining mental health and instability in a court petition, citing his homelessness and a need for restricted visitation with their daughters. Tragically, an autopsy later confirmed that the girls died from suffocation, found with evidence of being bound and suffocated using zip ties and plastic bags.
