Ranger recognized for response to Trotwood amber alert
DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) — After the safe retrieval of a previously missing 18-month-old in Trotwood, a local park ranger is receiving some well-deserved recognition.
Five Rivers MetroParks publicly recognized Ranger Johnson on social media Wednesday.
According to Five Rivers, Johnson played a pivotal role in locating the child, as he was in the area near Drew Way at the time of the Amber Alert. Johnson was off duty at that point, but upon receiving the alert, he began to search for the reported vehicle containing the child.
He eventually located the vehicle and the abandoned child. After conducting a welfare check, he contacted Trotwood police.
'We want to give a huge shout out to Ranger Johnson for his excellent work and to all our Rangers who do incredible things for the community – on and off duty,' Five Rivers MetroParks said in the post.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
Why wasn't an Amber Alert sent for the 3 sisters found dead in Washington?
Why wasn't an Amber Alert sent for the 3 sisters found dead in Washington? Show Caption Hide Caption New footage of Travis Decker released amid manhunt Travis Decker is wanted on first-degree murder charges in connection with deaths of his three daughters. The deaths of three girls in Washington state whose mother reported them missing after their father didn't return them from a custodial visit, has prompted cries for reform because an Amber Alert was never sent for the sisters. The bodies of Paityn Decker, 9; Evelyn Decker, 8; and Olivia Decker, 5, were discovered on June 2 – just days after they were reported missing by their mother, Whitney Decker. The three girls did not return home from a planned visitation with their father, Travis Decker, a former military member who is homeless and was living out of a pickup. Authorities found the girls' bodies about 75 to 100 yards away from their father's unoccupied vehicle near the Rock Island Campground in Chelan County, about 148 miles east of Seattle. The FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Marshals, and U.S. Border Patrol have joined the search for Travis Decker, whose whereabouts remain unknown. Now, Whitney Decker is calling for changes to Washington state's Amber Alert system and improvements in mental health care for veterans as the search for the man stretched into its sixth day on June 6, according to reports. Washington State Patrol was originally contacted on May 30 to request an Amber Alert, but the situation "did not meet the required criteria" at the time, Wenatchee police said. The agency instead issued a statewide Endangered Missing Person Alert (EMPA) for the girls on May 31. As authorities intensify the search for Travis Decker, 32, a family attorney told local media outlets that Whitney Decker believes her daughters might still be alive had an Amber Alert been issued in the hours after they were reported missing. "She really feels that the system let her children down," Attorney Arianna Cozart said in an interview with KING 5. "It was the inadequacies in the services for our veterans that killed those children." Court filings revealed that Travis Decker had exhibited mental health issues prior to the girls' deaths. Cozart told The Seattle Times that Travis Decker had been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and complex post-traumatic stress disorder after leaving active service. "They did not see him as an immediate physical danger to his children, despite the fact that he had a well established history of mental health issues," Cozart added. "And had they had seen it that way, those children might still be alive. And that's the thing that is so brutal, and the one thing she's really hoping can be changed in this tragedy." Cozart did not immediately respond to USA TODAY's request for comment on June 5. 'One too many': Death of 3 girls in Travis Decker's custody is a familiar tragedy Why wasn't an Amber Alert issued? Chris Loftis, spokesperson for the Washington State Patrol, reiterated to USA TODAY that the request for an Amber Alert did not meet the system's guidelines, which are set by the U.S. Department of Justice. He said that, similar to other states, Washington's system has "specific criteria" to ensure that features of the program are only used in instances where the standards have been met. According to Loftis, the criteria include: "The person(s) must be 17 or younger." "The incident must be investigated by a law enforcement agency, and the subject must be entered into the National Crime Information Center." "There must be enough descriptive information that activating the alert will assist in the recovery." "There must be reason to believe the person has been abducted." "The missing person(s) must be known to be in danger of imminent serious bodily injury or death." While the first three criteria were met, Loftis said Travis Decker had limited custodial rights, and there was not immediate legal presumption that the girls were abducted when the Amber Alert requests were submitted on May 30 and May 31. He added that law enforcement does not "automatically have clear indication that the children are in danger" in situations where a custodial parent is late returning children to another parent. Loftis noted that discussions with local law enforcement did not mention danger as a concern. Citing notes from the intake specialist for Washington State Patrol's Missing and Unidentified Persons Unit, Loftis said initial and follow-up reports from local police stated there was no threat of great bodily harm or death to the children at the time. The notes also showed that Travis Decker had previously "never diverted from the parenting plan in the past" and "no alarming mental health status" had been mentioned in the reports, other than "he may be 'going through a lot' after leaving the military and weathering housing and employment issues." 'No set of standards can protect us from all evils and horrors' Though the case did not meet the Amber Alert threshold, Loftis said there was "ample concern" and State Patrol had enough information to issue the EMPA. Unlike an Amber Alert, the EMPA does not send a push notification or text message to all cell phones in the targeted area about missing children. According to Loftis, issuing an EMPA allows law enforcement to post electronic fliers, send text messages and emails to listservs of people who have requested notification on all alerts, post vehicle information on highway reader boards, and promote coverage by state broadcasters. "The State of Washington handled this incident no differently than any other state with the information they had available. But all of that said, nothing, no process, and no set of standards can protect us from all evils and horrors," Loftis said in a statement to USA TODAY. "We learn from every tragedy, and I'm sure we will review and learn from this set of tragedies, but the depth of this sorrow is beyond a learning opportunity right now, it is a tragedy first and forever." Community mourns amid manhunt: Who were Olivia, Evelyn and Paityn Decker? What happened to the three sisters? The three girls were found dead by apparent suffocation in a remote campground, according to the Wenatchee Police Department. Whitney Decker had reported the children missing on May 30 after they left their central Washington home to visit their father. On June 2, a Chelan County deputy found an unoccupied truck at about 3:45 p.m. local time near the Rock Island Campground. Officers found the bodies of the missing girls soon after, down a small embankment, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by USA TODAY. While Travis Decker was nowhere to be found, investigators traced his cell phone, which revealed that he visited the same campground the day before the kidnapping, the court documents show. Travis Decker is wanted on charges of kidnapping, first-degree murder, and custodial interference in connection with the deaths, according to the Wenatchee Police Department. In an update on June 4, Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison said Travis Decker may have scoped out a hiding location before going off the grid using his extensive military and outdoor survival training. Contributing: Natalie Neysa Alund, Anthony Robledo, and Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY
Newsweek
2 hours ago
- Newsweek
Travis Decker Update: Manhunt Continues as New Text Message Revealed
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Law enforcement officials in Washington continued the manhunt for Travis Decker, 32, wanted in connection with the deaths of his three daughters, as new information emerged Thursday about a text message the girls' mother sent after learning of their fate. The manhunt is ongoing, and officials are seeking public assistance to locate Decker, who is considered armed, dangerous, and highly skilled in wilderness survival. This undated photo provided by the Wenatchee Police Department shows Travis Caleb Decker who the police are asking the public for help in locating the Washington state father who is wanted for murder after his... This undated photo provided by the Wenatchee Police Department shows Travis Caleb Decker who the police are asking the public for help in locating the Washington state father who is wanted for murder after his three young daughters were reported missing and then found dead. More Wenatchee Police Department via AP The Context The incident reignited national concerns about missing persons protocols and parental visitation safety. The Wenatchee Police Department said Washington State Patrol was contacted to request an AMBER Alert, but "it did not meet the required criteria." The case underscored vulnerabilities in existing alert systems. What To Know Binh Nguyen, a neighbor of the girls' mother, Whitney Decker, told the Daily Mail he received a text from her after officials confirmed her daughters' deaths. "They found their bodies," Whitney wrote. "They can't find Travis." Nguyen told the outlet that Decker had a "sad look" when he picked up the children on May 30. "What was strange was that he kept asking me the same question at different points in our conversation," Nguyen said. "Like he wasn't remembering he already asked." Arianna Cozart, an attorney representing Whitney Decker, said her client did not notice any strange behavior from Travis Decker prior to the children's disappearance. "It saddens me that Mr. Nguyen felt it necessary to share Whitney's grief with the press in this way. I can tell you that despite the quotes from the Daily Mail, Whitney observed no unusual behavior from Travis when he came to pick up the girls on May 30," Cozart told Newsweek. The children, 9-year-old Paityn, 8-year-old Evelyn, and 5-year-old Olivia, were last seen on May 30, leaving with Decker for a planned visitation. Cozart said Whitney and Travis were in frequent contact "as they always were" regarding the children, things happening in Travis' life and other topics. The two had been discussing Travis' dog Chinook and concerns about what to do with the dog as temperatures rose, as Travis was living in his car. Whitney offered to let the dog live with her. Travis then instructed the children to get their belongings and told Whitney they'd return at 8 p.m., according to Cozart. Cozart added that if her client had noticed any unusual behavior, "Whitney would not have allowed the visitation." She said Whitney is asking for "grace and privacy" at this time. Timeline and Discovery When the girls did not return that evening as scheduled, Whitney Decker reported them missing. Police tracked the father's white 2017 GMC Sierra pickup and found it unoccupied near the Rock Island Campground on Monday. The children's bodies were found nearby, down a wooded embankment. Each of the sisters was found with plastic bags placed over their heads and wrists zip-tied, according to court documents obtained by KOMO News. Preliminary autopsy results indicated asphyxiation as the cause of death. Local, state, and federal agencies, including the FBI and Homeland Security, intensified the search for Decker. Officials cited his background in mountaineering and Army survival school, and warned the public not to approach him. Authorities have offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to his arrest. Scrutiny Over Missing Persons Alerts The Washington State Patrol stated told KOMO News that standard Amber Alert criteria were not met at the outset of the disappearance due to the lack of initial evidence of imminent harm. The department instead issued an Endangered Missing Person Alert the following day. The chain of events has led to renewed debate about law enforcement procedures. Cozart said Whitney was "frustrated" during the search that an AMBER Alert was not issued. "However, she never imagined this would end as it has," Cozart said. What People Are Saying Cozart, speaking about her client Whitney Decker, in comments to Newsweek: "I think she is still reeling from losing her entire world. She is strong and kind and wants this tragedy to spur change and save lives. That is what is driving her right now. Wenatchee Police Department, on Facebook: "We want to express our sincere and deep heartfelt condolences to the family at this time." What Happens Next Authorities plan to continue coordinated search efforts with multiple agencies, maintain warnings to the public, and process new tips and evidence as the investigation progresses. The manhunt remains ongoing, and police urge anyone with information on Travis Decker's whereabouts to contact law enforcement immediately. Do you have a story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have any questions about this story? Contact LiveNews@
Miami Herald
3 hours ago
- Miami Herald
Student absences have surged since COVID-19. Some lawmakers say parents should be jailed
Student absences have surged since COVID-19. Some lawmakers say parents should be jailed As educators nationwide grapple with stubbornly high levels of student absences since the pandemic drove schools into disarray five years ago, Oklahoma prosecutor Erik Johnson says he has the solution. Throw parents in jail. Chronic absenteeism nearly doubled-to about 30%-the year after the pandemic shuttered classrooms, plunged families into poverty and led to the deaths of more than 1 million Americans. Student attendance rates have improved by just a few percentage points since the federal public health emergency expired nearly two years ago, a reality that's been dubbed "Education's long COVID." But Johnson, a Republican district attorney representing three counties in southeast Oklahoma, said the persistent absences have nothing to do with the pandemic and instead are because "we're going too easy on kids" and parents have been given "an excuse not to be accountable." Since Johnson was elected in 2022 on a campaign promise to enforce Oklahoma's compulsory education law, he's forced dozens of students and parents into hasty court appearances and, on several occasions, put parents behind bars in the hope it will compel their children to show up for class. Lawmakers nationwide have taken a similar approach, including in Indiana, Iowa and West Virginia, where new laws leverage the legal system to crack down on student absences. "We prosecute everything from murders to rape to financial crimes, but in my view, the ones that cause the most societal harm is when people do harm to children, either child neglect, child physical abuse, child sexual abuse, domestic violence in homes, and then you can add truancy to the list," Johnson said. "It's not as bad, in my opinion, as beating a child, but it's on the spectrum because you're not putting that child in a position to be successful," continued Johnson, who has dubbed 2025 the "Year of the Child." Since the pandemic, policymakers have taken on a heightened role in addressing persistent student absences, and lawmakers nationwide have proposed dozens of bills this year to combat chronic absenteeism, typically defined as missing 10% of school days in an academic year for any reason. Such efforts have fallen broadly into two camps: incentives and accountability. States like Indiana have taken a similar approach to Johnson's, imposing fines and jail stints for missed seat time. Other efforts have focused on addressing the root causes of chronic absenteeism, like homelessness, and have sought to draw kids to campuses with rewards. In Hawaii, for example, pending legislation seeks to entice student attendance with the promise of free ice cream. In Detroit, where 75% of students were chronically absent last year, the district employs both the carrot and the stick: handing out $200 gift cards to 5,000 students with perfect attendance while warning those with an extremely high number of absences that they can be held back a grade in K-8 or made to repeat classes in high school. In Oklahoma, where parents can be jailed for up to five days and fined $50 each day their child is absent from school without an excuse, proposed legislation would let schools off the hook. For years, Oklahoma schools have received poor grades for chronic absenteeism, one metric the state uses to gauge school performance. If approved, the bipartisan bills would strike chronic absenteeism from the state accountability system, a change officials said is necessary because it's the responsibility of parents-not principals and teachers-to get kids to class. Schools in Oklahoma "have very little control over whether or not a kid gets to school," Rep. Ronny Johns, a Republican from Ada, told The 74. Ada, the county seat of Pontotoc County, is ground zero for Johnson's truancy initiative, an effort that Johns, a former school principal, said should be replicated statewide. "We can encourage them to get their kids to school and everything," Johns said. "But in the end, parents have got to get their kid up and get them to school." 'A shared responsibility' The latest national data on chronic absenteeism, collected by the U.S. Department of Education for the 2022-23 school year, found that some 13.4 million students-nearly 28%-missed 10% or more of the academic year. In a majority of states, chronic absenteeism has shown marginal improvements since its peak. Nationally, chronic absenteeism reached an all-time high in the 2021-22 school year of nearly 30%. Pre-pandemic, the national rate was about 15%. Some states like Colorado and Connecticut have seen substantial improvements in absenteeism, the data show. In others, including Oklahoma, absenteeism has gotten worse since 2021-22. In 2023, nearly a quarter of Oklahoma students were chronically absent, according to the federal data. Chronic absenteeism is particularly acute among Native American, Pacific Islander, Black and Hispanic students, as well as those who are English learners, in special education or live in low-income households. Hedy Chang, the founder and executive director of the nonprofit Attendance Works, said the key to solving chronic absenteeism is to address the underlying problems that make kids absent in the first place. The California-based nonprofit focused solely on improving student attendance identifies a range of "root causes", including student disengagement, boredom and unwelcoming school climates. Caregivers' negative education experiences are a factor, according to the nonprofit. So, too, is homelessness and community violence. Last year, lawmakers in 28 states proposed at least 71 bills focused on identifying, preventing and addressing chronic absenteeism, according to analyses by the nonprofit FutureEd. This year, legislators in 20 states are weighing at least 49 bills focused on chronic absences, including efforts to improve data collection and create early interventions. The Oklahoma legislation seeks to replace chronic absenteeism in its school accountability system with an alternative, such as a climate survey, a softer measure that would gauge students', parents' and educators' opinions about their schools. The move would require approval from the U.S. Department of Education. States have been required to collect chronic absenteeism rates since the passage of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015. Since then, chronic absenteeism has been included as one of six school performance indicators on Oklahoma's annual A-F report cards from the state education department. Currently, 38 states use chronic absenteeism to grade school performance, Chang said. For schools in Oklahoma, the measurement has proven to be a hurdle. In 2022-23, the state's schools received an F grade in chronic absenteeism. Last year, the state grade ticked up slightly-to a D. Removing chronic absenteeism from the state accountability system, Johns, the state lawmaker, said, could allow schools across Oklahoma to receive better grades. Meanwhile, he supports initiatives to handle student absences through the courts, arguing that "parents need to have some skin in the game." "Chronic absenteeism is driving our report card down," Johns said. "Without the chronic absenteeism [measurement], our report card is not going to look as bad as it is because our public schools are doing some really good things, so why shouldn't the report card be a reflection of that?" Chang argued the move is misguided. She pointed to a growing body of research that has found schools can combat absenteeism if they form meaningful relationships with parents and partner with social services agencies that address underlying barriers to attendance, like food insecurity. There's little research to suggest that fines and other forms of punishment improve attendance. Even as some states ramp up truancy rules, others have scaled them back as studies report that punitive measures can backfire. In South Carolina schools, for example, students placed on probation for truancy wound up with even worse school attendance than they had before the courts got involved, according to a 2020 report by the nonprofit Council of State Governments Justice Center. In a report published last year, the Oklahoma State Department of Education highlighted school districts that have made "impressive strides in reducing" chronic absenteeism and that "offer valuable lessons on how schools can re-engage students." Among them is a 24% drop in absenteeism at Dahlonegah Public Schools, which hired a school-based police officer to visit the homes of students who failed to attend school. The district also credited improvements to "a welcoming and engaging school environment." The state education department didn't respond to requests for comment. "Families have to be involved and they have to be partners and they have to take responsibility for getting kids to school, but it's not solely about what families do or don't do," Chang said. "I think it's a mistake to assume it's only one group's responsibility. This is a shared responsibility." 'Broken families, no economic opportunity, no education' Johnson, the district attorney, said his office has stepped up to address a problem that state education leaders have failed to solve. He took particular aim at the state's high-profile education secretary, Ryan Walters, who has become an outspoken champion of conservative education causes. Yet, as far as chronic absenteeism goes, Johnson said the state schools chief "has no interest in talking about" the topic except "when he could get a soundbite on Fox News." The state education department did not respond to Johnson's comments. The 51-year-old father of four also pinned persistent chronic absenteeism on parents-those living in poverty, in particular. Children in his district who most often miss school, he said, are "kind of feral." "My friends generally don't have children that are in crisis because, just economically speaking, they're on the higher end of the spectrum," Johnson told The 74. Johnson said there are about 7,500 K-12 children in the counties that make up his district and estimated that at least 30% contend with "economic poverty, multigenerational drug abuse, domestic abuse in the home, broken families, no economic opportunity, no education." "If you live in a school district where there is a real high poverty level and a real high incarceration rate, then a lot of times you're going to get kids that have been raised in those environments," Johnson said. "So you're going to have a lot more challenges with that group than you would if every person had a four-wheel drive vehicle and a bass boat in their driveway and everybody has a good industrial job and is making a good living and providing for their families." Johnson said schools should play a role in encouraging students to go to school, but when that doesn't work, threats of jail are needed. In Pontotoc County, just two truancy charges were filed against parents in 2023, according to data provided to The 74 by Johnson's office. That number jumped to 20 last year and, so far this year, there have already been eight. David Blatt, the director of research and strategic impact at the nonprofit Oklahoma Appleseed, questioned the accuracy of the data and said it could be an undercount. He said he attended a truancy court case in Ada last year where as many as 30 parents and students made appearances before a judge that lasted just 60 to 90 seconds each. In a report last year, Blatt found that truancy laws were enforced inconsistently across the state and urged policymakers to adopt interventions and supports for families to address chronic absenteeism rather than criminalize them. Blatt backs the legislation to remove chronic absenteeism as a school accountability measure, acknowledging that certain attendance barriers are outside of educators' direct control. But he said Johnson's characterization of the problem is "rather harsh and one-sided." Rather than being apathetic toward their children's education, he said many parents struggle with work responsibilities and transportation while children wrestle with in-school factors that can discourage attendance, such as persistent bullying. "There may be cases where being called before a judge will help convince them of the seriousness of things, but for other cases, it's just going to compound their problems," Blatt said. "Adding court appearances and fees and fines doesn't solve their problems. It just adds to them." Yet for Johnson, the issue stems from a lack of repercussions. By enforcing truancy cases, he said schools have "a little bit of a weapon" against parents whose children are missing school and can threaten them with jail time. Most of the time, he said, threats alone improve student attendance and in many cases the charges wind up getting dismissed. In fewer than a dozen instances, he said, his truancy crackdown has led to parents serving time behind bars. "Generally, they'll go in for about four hours," Johnson said. "We'll give them the taste of it." This story was produced by The 74 and reviewed and distributed by Stacker. © Stacker Media, LLC.
