Three missing children found dead after vanishing on visit with homeless dad as cops slammed for not issuing Amber Alert

Scottish Sun

2 days ago

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THREE missing sisters have been found dead days after they were reported missing while visiting their dad.
Authorities are being accused of "failing" the sisters by not issuing an Amber Alert for them as cops launch a manhunt for their father, who is charged with kidnapping and killing them.
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Whitney Decker with her daughters Olivia, Evelyn, and Paityn Decker
Credit: GoFundMe
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Travis Decker, 32, who is accused of kidnapping and killing his daughters
Credit: Wenatchee Police Department
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Cops are still searching for Decker, a military veteran who is believed to be mentally unstable
Credit: Facebook
Paityn, 9, Evelyn, 8, and Olivia Decker, 5, were found dead on Monday night after cops swarmed Rock Island Campground, about an hour outside of Wenatchee, Washington, where the girls lived with their mother.
Cops are now searching for Travis Decker, 32, who the girls were last seen with on what was supposed to be a three-hour custody visit on Friday.
Decker, who cops say is homeless, didn't drop his daughters off at the end of the visit, prompting their mom to report them missing that night.
Washington State Patrol then issued an endangered missing persons alert for the siblings after Decker was seen leaving Wenatchee with the girls.
Cops decided not to send out an Amber Alert, designed to warn of child abductions, because they thought it was a custody issue.
'AMBER alerts involve more imminency, like we know something will happen, versus what we were dealing with over the weekend was more of an overdue child scenario,' Wenatchee Police Sergeant Joe Eaton told NCWLIFE.
Now, members of the public are lashing out at police for not doing more to alert people to the unfolding situation.
"This isn't just heartbreaking, it's infuriating," one Facebook user commented on WPD's Facebook post.
"These girls are gone because the system FAILED them. The police didn't take it seriously, and the court system let them down too.
"There was a predator out there and instead of protecting our community, you stayed silent. No alerts, no warnings nothing."
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Olivia Decker, 5, who was found dead on Monday night with her sisters
Credit: Wenatchee Police Department
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Evelyn Decker, 8, and her sisters were found about an hour outside their home in Wenatchee, Washington
Credit: Wenatchee Police Department
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Paityn Decker, 9, and her sisters were last seen with their father during a custody visit on Friday
Credit: Wenatchee Police Department
Another wrote, "How come an amber alert was not issued until it made national news? You failed this mother and her kids.
"The amber alert should have been issued the day he didn't come back and no contact could be made."
It's unclear how the three girls died, but Decker has been charged with their murders.
Cops warned members of the public not to approach Decker, a veteran who they believe is mentally unstable.
Timeline of the missing Decker girls
Paityn Decker, 9, Evelyn Decker, 8, and Olivia Decker, 5, were found dead at a campground after they were last seen on a custody visit to their dad.
Below is a timeline of events:
Friday, May 30
5 pm - The three girls are picked up from their mom's house by their dad, Travis Decker
9:45 pm - Whitney Decker calls the Wenatchee Police Department to report her daughters missing
Travis' truck is seen driving westbound on Highway 2.
Washington State Patrol is contacted for an Amber Alert but said the situation didn't match their criteria.
Saturday, May 31
WPD issues an Endangered Missing Persons Alert.
Monday, June 2
3:45 pm - Decker's truck is found empty at Rock Island Campground.
5 pm - Cops search the area and find the bodies of the three girls.
Tuesday, June 3
9:30 am - Cops notify the public that they are still searching for Decker.
Crime scene processing is expected to conclude.
"Decker is a former Military with extensive training," the Wenatchee Police Department said.
It's unclear if he is armed.
He was living out of his truck, which was found abandoned on the campground with the girls' bodies.
MOM'S CONCERNS
Decker's ex-wife, the girls' mom, previously shared that there were never any problems with their daughters visiting him in the past.
"Travis has really struggled since he left the military and his mental health can be hard sometimes," Whitney Decker told Seattle CBS affiliate KIRO on Monday, before the girls' bodies were found.
"I think this is an effect of that, and I don't personally think that he's dangerous."
She added, "I think that he is impulsive and he loves his children very much."
Wenatchee Police Department said in a press release on Saturday that Decker is homeless and lives in his truck, in hotels, or at campgrounds in the area.
"The visitation was part of a parenting plan, but he has since gone outside the parameters of it which is not normal and cause for the alarm," cops said at the time.
A GoFundMe to support Whitney has raised $50,000 of its $100,000 goal.
"These girls were true light in this world and and it is a darker place without them," the fundraiser's organizer wrote.
"I will miss seeing their sweet little faces."