Terrifying Google search 'killer dad' Travis Decker made before allegedly murdering his three daughters

Daily Mail​

6 hours ago

The dad accused of murdering his three daughters in Washington State searched how to move to Canada just days before they were found dead.
Authorities started searching for Travis Decker's children, Paityn, nine, Evelyn, eight, and Olivia, five, after they failed to return home from a scheduled visit with him on May 30.
On Monday, the sisters' lifeless bodies were discovered at a campsite in Leavenworth - about 20 miles from their home. Their wrists had been bound with zip ties and each of them had been suffocated with a plastic bag.
After finding the girls, investigators 'obtained and served multiple search warrants for records contained in Decker's Google accounts,' leading them to discover that the 32-year-old appeared to be planning how to relocate to Canada, according to an affidavit reviewed by the Independent.
In the affidavit, Deputy U.S. Marshal Keegan Stanley wrote that Decker made several searches on May 26, including: 'how does a person move to Canada,' 'how to relocate to Canada' and 'jobs Canada.'
The father, who remains on the run, then visited the website 'Find a job - Canada.ca,' Stanley detailed.
His daughters' remains were also found 'relatively close to the Canadian border and approximately 11 miles from the Pacific Crest Trail, a well-established trail that leads directly to Canada,' per the affidavit.
Decker, who is wanted on three counts each of first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping, also 'has training in navigation, woodland/mountainous terrain, long distance movements, survival and numerous other disciplines needed to be able to flee,' the affidavit continued.
'Prior to the above alleged crimes, Decker frequently recreated in outdoor, woodland and mountainous areas throughout the Eastern District of Washington and surrounding states,' it read.
'Amongst other outdoorsman activities, Decker frequently engaged in hiking, camping, survival skill practice, hunting and even lived off the grid in the backwoods for approximately 2.5 months on one occasion.'
Decker is also facing an additional federal charge of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.
The charges against him 'are all very serious violent felonies which all carry significant prison sentences if convicted,' the affidavit stated.
The legal statement also noted that 'those facing significant prison sentences have a propensity' to run.
There is currently a 'very public national campaign to locate Decker' and 'it is publicly known there is a warrant for his arrest,' the affidavit stated.
He is considered very dangerous given his extensive military training and propensity for violence.
Whitney Decker, the fugitive father's ex-wife and mom of their late daughters, never imagined he might have been on the verge of carrying out a heinous act after he arrived to pick up their girls for a scheduled three-hour visitation last week.
To Whitney, it was a routine handoff. But those around Decker expressed to the grieving mother after her daughters did not return home that they had seen the warning signs.
According to Whitney's attorney Arianna Cozart, a supervisor at his construction job told Whitney shortly after Travis vanished that he had seemed 'on the brink of something extreme' earlier that day while on the job.
Even her ever-reliable neighbor, who Whitney trusted with the messy details of their divorce, recalled that Travis appeared 'very sad' during a brief exchange outside the house just before he abducted them.
Yet, as Whitney's lawyer told Daily Mail in an exclusive interview on Thursday, there was nothing in Travis's behavior at the time of the 5pm pickup that raised any red flags. 'She had no reason to suspect anything was wrong,' the attorney said.
Whitney did know, however, that he was having a hard week, having crashed his uninsured vehicle days earlier.
Travis, who was living in his truck at the time, spent about 15 minutes talking with her, mostly about what to do with his pet dog for the hot summer, wondering if she'd take care of the animal, as she had in the past, or whether he should just give it to the Humane Society.
It was only after Travis failed to return with the kids that night did she learn that he'd had some sort of mental health breakdown at his construction job earlier in the day.
'The supervisor told her he was acting like he was on the brink of something extreme on Friday,' Whitney's lawyer said, but said Whitney still doesn't know the specifics Decker did to raise such alarm in his higher-ups.
After her daughters were found, Whitney said through her lawyer that she initially begged police to issue an Amber Alert for them but was told the case did not meet the requirements.
The grieving mother alleged it 'was a tragedy that could've been completely' avoided had officials intervened.
She believes 'something broke inside' of her ex-husband and that he 'would not have done what he did if he was himself', Cozart revealed in a heartbreaking statement early Thursday morning.
'He clearly had some sort of break and everything that he had been living with, everything that had been bottled up inside of him for so long as far as trauma, just won out,' Cozart told the Seattle Times.
Following their tragic deaths, a GoFundMe campaign, created by Whitney's friend, has gone on to raise more than $1 million.
'Their light touched so many, and the pain of this loss is immeasurable,' Amy Edwards wrote.
Authorities are offering a $20,000 reward for any information leading to Decker's arrest.
Police believe he is hiding out in the woods along the Canadian border. Officers have urged locals, specifically those in remote areas of Okanogan County, to lock all doors and windows while he remains at large.