3 Girls Were Suffocated During Visit With Dad, Police Say, Detailing New Evidence
Authorities in Washington state revealed new details on Monday about the killing of three young girls who were found dead after going to visit their father in late May.
According to an autopsy completed Friday, Paityn Decker, 9; Evelyn Decker, 8; and Olivia Decker, 5, died from suffocation. The manner of death is homicide, the Chelan County Sheriff's Office said.
The girls' father, Travis Decker, 32, remained wanted Monday on three counts of first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping.
The girls were found dead on June 2 with plastic bags over their heads and their hands zip-tied together. Their bodies were located near their father's truck, which had been abandoned at a campground in the North Cascades.
Authorities recovered 'a large amount of evidence' from Decker's vehicle, including blood samples and 'many of the suspect's personal items.' Decker's dog was also found and taken to the Humane Society for care, the sheriff's office said in a statement Monday.
'Blood samples taken from the scene have come back positive for belonging to a male, and another was not human blood. Further DNA and fingerprint analyses are still being conducted,' authorities said, while acknowledging that the new information 'creates more questions and information for investigators to continue to pursue.'
Federal authorities took over the investigation on Sunday to give local teams 'time off to rest and recuperate and be ready to rejoin the search for, and capture of, the suspect,' the sheriff's office said.
On Saturday, the sheriff's office released new photos of Decker showing him standing at various angles and with tattoos on his left ankle, right calf and arms.
It's not clear when the photos, which appear to have been captured by surveillance cameras, were taken. A sheriff's spokesperson did not immediately respond to HuffPost's request for comment Monday.
Decker was last seen wearing a light-colored shirt and dark shorts. Anyone who sees him should call 911 or submit information to the CCSO tip line at 509-667-6845 or https://www.co.chelan.wa.us/sheriff/forms/submit-a-tip.
Need help? In the U.S., call 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) for the National Domestic Violence Hotline.
'Those Children Might Still Be Alive': Mother Of Girls Allegedly Killed By Father Urges Amber Alert Reforms
3 Missing Sisters Found Dead At Campground After 'Planned Visitation' With Father: Police
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
3 Girls Were Suffocated During Visit With Dad, Police Say, Detailing New Evidence
Authorities in Washington state revealed new details on Monday about the killing of three young girls who were found dead after going to visit their father in late May. According to an autopsy completed Friday, Paityn Decker, 9; Evelyn Decker, 8; and Olivia Decker, 5, died from suffocation. The manner of death is homicide, the Chelan County Sheriff's Office said. The girls' father, Travis Decker, 32, remained wanted Monday on three counts of first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping. The girls were found dead on June 2 with plastic bags over their heads and their hands zip-tied together. Their bodies were located near their father's truck, which had been abandoned at a campground in the North Cascades. Authorities recovered 'a large amount of evidence' from Decker's vehicle, including blood samples and 'many of the suspect's personal items.' Decker's dog was also found and taken to the Humane Society for care, the sheriff's office said in a statement Monday. 'Blood samples taken from the scene have come back positive for belonging to a male, and another was not human blood. Further DNA and fingerprint analyses are still being conducted,' authorities said, while acknowledging that the new information 'creates more questions and information for investigators to continue to pursue.' Federal authorities took over the investigation on Sunday to give local teams 'time off to rest and recuperate and be ready to rejoin the search for, and capture of, the suspect,' the sheriff's office said. On Saturday, the sheriff's office released new photos of Decker showing him standing at various angles and with tattoos on his left ankle, right calf and arms. It's not clear when the photos, which appear to have been captured by surveillance cameras, were taken. A sheriff's spokesperson did not immediately respond to HuffPost's request for comment Monday. Decker was last seen wearing a light-colored shirt and dark shorts. Anyone who sees him should call 911 or submit information to the CCSO tip line at 509-667-6845 or Need help? In the U.S., call 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) for the National Domestic Violence Hotline. 'Those Children Might Still Be Alive': Mother Of Girls Allegedly Killed By Father Urges Amber Alert Reforms 3 Missing Sisters Found Dead At Campground After 'Planned Visitation' With Father: Police
Associated Press
3 hours ago
- Associated Press
Male blood found where 3 sisters in Washington were killed, while search for their father continues
LEAVENWORTH, Wash. (AP) — Blood discovered at a campsite where three young Washington state sisters were found dead last week belonged to a male, authorities said Monday as the search continued for their father, a former soldier with extensive survival skills. Investigators have been looking for Travis Caleb Decker, 32, since the night of May 30, when he failed to return the girls to their mother's home in Wenatchee, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) east of Seattle, after a scheduled visit. Three days later, a sheriff's deputy discovered the bodies of 9-year-old Paityn Decker, 8-year-old Evelyn Decker and 5-year-old Olivia Decker down an embankment at a campsite in the Cascade Mountains. The campsite, west of Leavenworth, is about 11 miles (18 km) from the Pacific Crest Trail, which runs from the U.S.-Mexico border to the U.S.-Canada border. Decker has been charged with murder and kidnapping. According to a probable cause statement filed in Chelan County Superior Court last week, Decker's truck was left at the campsite, and it had two bloody handprints on the tailgate. In a news release Monday, the Chelan County Sheriff's Office said tests revealed that one blood sample taken from the scene belonged to a male, and another turned out to be from an animal. The sheriff's office did not say whether the tested samples had been taken from the tailgate. DNA and fingerprint analyses are pending, the news release said. Decker's dog was also found alive at the scene and turned over to the humane society for care. The sheriff's office said that while it is retaining command of the criminal investigation, it had turned over control of the search efforts to federal authorities to give its personnel time to rest. Officials have searched hundreds of square miles, much of it mountainous and remote, by land, water and air. Decker has also been charged in federal court with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. According to an affidavit filed by deputy U.S. marshal Keegan Stanley in that case, Decker has training in navigation, survival and other skills that make him 'a very avid and well-versed outdoorsman.' Decker once spent 2.5 months in the backwoods living off the grid, Stanley wrote, and in the days before he took the girls, he searched online for how to relocate to and find a job in Canada. Decker was an infantryman in the Army from March 2013 to July 2021 and deployed to Afghanistan for four months in 2014, according to Army spokesperson Lt. Col. Ruth Castro. From 2014 to 2016, he was an automatic rifleman with the 75th Ranger Regiment at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington. Last September his ex-wife, Whitney Decker, wrote in a petition to modify their parenting plan that his mental health issues had worsened and that he had become increasingly unstable, often living out of his truck. She sought to restrict him from having overnight visits with the girls until he found housing. An autopsy on Friday determined the cause of death to be suffocation, the sheriff's office said. The girls had been bound with zip ties and had plastic bags placed over their heads. Authorities have reopened popular camping and backpacking areas in the Icicle Creek area, near where the girls were discovered. Other trails in the Lake Chelan National Recreation Area have reopened for day use but not camping.
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
3 Girls Were Suffocated During Visit With Dad, Police Say, Detailing New Evidence
Authorities in Washington state revealed new details on Monday about the killing of three young girls who were found dead after going to visit their father in late May. According to an autopsy completed Friday, Paityn Decker, 9; Evelyn Decker, 8; and Olivia Decker, 5, died from suffocation. The manner of death is homicide, the Chelan County Sheriff's Office said. The girls' father, Travis Decker, 32, remained wanted Monday on three counts of first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping. The girls were found dead on June 2 with plastic bags over their heads and their hands zip-tied together. Their bodies were located near their father's truck, which had been abandoned at a campground in the North Cascades. Authorities recovered 'a large amount of evidence' from Decker's vehicle, including blood samples and 'many of the suspect's personal items.' Decker's dog was also found and taken to the Humane Society for care, the sheriff's office said in a statement Monday. 'Blood samples taken from the scene have come back positive for belonging to a male, and another was not human blood. Further DNA and fingerprint analyses are still being conducted,' authorities said, while acknowledging that the new information 'creates more questions and information for investigators to continue to pursue.' Federal authorities took over the investigation on Sunday to give local teams 'time off to rest and recuperate and be ready to rejoin the search for, and capture of, the suspect,' the sheriff's office said. On Saturday, the sheriff's office released new photos of Decker showing him standing at various angles and with tattoos on his left ankle, right calf and arms. It's not clear when the photos, which appear to have been captured by surveillance cameras, were taken. A sheriff's spokesperson did not immediately respond to HuffPost's request for comment Monday. Decker was last seen wearing a light-colored shirt and dark shorts. Anyone who sees him should call 911 or submit information to the CCSO tip line at 509-667-6845 or Need help? In the U.S., call 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) for the National Domestic Violence Hotline. 'Those Children Might Still Be Alive': Mother Of Girls Allegedly Killed By Father Urges Amber Alert Reforms 3 Missing Sisters Found Dead At Campground After 'Planned Visitation' With Father: Police
