Latest news with #WhitneyDecker
CBS News
17-07-2025
- CBS News
Police video shows Travis Decker, fugitive dad accused of killing 3 daughters, days before girls vanished
Newly released police dashcam video obtained by CBS News shows Travis Decker, the fugitive father who allegedly murdered his three young daughters, days before the girls disappeared. The video from the Wenatchee Police Department shows Decker interacting with a police officer and another person on May 27. CBS affiliate KREM reported that Decker had slammed into another car at a red light. The other person in the video was the driver of the second vehicle, KREM reported. During the nearly 20-minute video, Decker can be seen in a light-colored shirt and dark shorts with his arms crossed. He leans against his vehicle, a white truck, several times. He and the other driver appear to speak to the officer, and to each other. The police video does not include audio of the conversations. Towards the end of the footage, Decker and the other driver shake hands and return to their vehicles. Decker, 32, has been wanted since June 2, when a sheriff's deputy found his truck and the bodies of his three daughters — Paityn, 9, Evelyn, 8, and Olivia, 5 — at a campground outside of Leavenworth, Washington. Decker was meant to have returned the girls to their mother's home in Wenatchee following a scheduled visit three days earlier. In September 2024, Decker's ex-wife, Whitney Decker, filed to modify their custody agreement. In a petition, she wrote that Decker's mental health issues had worsened and that he had become increasingly unstable. She also said he was often living out of his truck. Decker, an Army infantryman from March 2013 to July 2021, has extensive training in navigation, survival and other survival skills, authorities said. He once spent more than two months living off the grid in backwoods country, and deployed to Afghanistan for four months in 2014. Police spent weeks searching the rugged wilderness for him, but in late June said they believe he may have died or left the area. "There is no certain evidence that Decker remains alive or in this area," the Kittitas County Sheriff's Office said in a social media post on June 23. "Seemingly strong early leads gave way to less convincing proofs over the last two weeks of searching. Still, we can't and won't quit this search; Paityn, Evelyn, and Olivia Decker deserve justice. And Decker remains a danger to the public as long as he's at large." Authorities have shared multiple photos of what Decker may look like now, as well as images showing him in the days before his disappearance. In early July, police launched a search of Idaho's Sawtooth Forest after a family reported seeing a man who looked like Decker. Police found the man and determined it was a case of mistaken identity. That man, identified only as Nick, told CBS affiliate KIRO that he had been camping in the forest with a friend to celebrate the Fourth of July but was walking alone when he was spotted by the family. His friend sent him an article about the incident, he said, and he didn't even recognize himself. "Your instinct isn't to think 'That was me,' so my first thought was 'Oh my god, we spent the night next to a murderer!'" Nick told KIRO. "In my opinion, I don't really look like the guy. Granted, they saw me from a distance. But, just be careful, because this has been a little bit tumultuous for me and people around me."
Yahoo
04-07-2025
- Yahoo
Did Travis Decker Bleed to Death in the Wilderness? Sheriff Says Infection From Injury is Possible (Exclusive)
Over a month after murder suspect Travis Decker vanished, the local sheriff has a new theory about what may have happened to him The U.S. Army veteran has been missing since he picked up his three daughters, Paityn, 9, Evelyn, 8, and Olivia, 5, for a three hour visit on May 30 in Wenatchee, Wash. "We're making sure to bring him in safe and care for him," Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison tells PEOPLE about Decker, the subject of an extensive manhuntAs the search continues for Travis Decker more than a month after the murder suspect vanished, a local sheriff has a new theory on what could have happened to him. Decker, a 32-year-old U.S. Army veteran, hasn't been seen since picking up his three daughters, Paityn, 9, Evelyn, 8, and Olivia, 5, for a three hour court-approved visit in Wenatchee, Wash., on May 30. He never returned the girls to their mother, Whitney Decker, who reported their daughters missing to police later that night, setting off a frantic search for the four. But on June 2, the girls were found asphyxiated near Travis' abandoned pickup truck in the remote Rock Island Campground — with the father nowhere to be found. He is wanted on first-degree murder and kidnapping charges. At the scene, investigators recovered blood at the scene and on the tailgate of Travis' truck, which matched the DNA profile they believe is the father's, the Chelan County Sheriff's Office said on Tuesday, July 1. Also found at the scene were his wallet, cellphone, and husky. Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison tells PEOPLE that investigators believe the "fingerprint" of blood found on the truck came from an injury, though the severity of that injury remains unclear. In regards to whether Decker is still alive, Morrison says "I would imagine most likely if he were to have died, it would've been from falling; an injury maybe got infected to the point where it did cause him, you know, some further issues or he drowned." He adds, "there's certainly a lot of possibilities and if we do find him deceased, of course we're going to do a full autopsy on him just to get confirmation on his cause of death." Travis was believed to have been spotted by another hiker on or about June 10 on a trail near Highway 97, but since then, investigators have suspected he is no longer alive or in the area. He has been described by authorities as a former military man trained in survival skills. Authorities have also previously said they believed Travis may have fled on foot and attempted to cross into Canada because he allegedly searched "how to relocate to Canada" online, according to a U.S. Marshals Service affidavit obtained by PEOPLE. Search teams have used human remains detection dogs and also searched nearby mountain areas and bodies of water. "I know that we've heard some accusations that we might be out looking to do harm to him," Sheriff Morrison tells PEOPLE. "I'm like, 'Yeah, that's not how we do law enforcement here in Washington state.' We're making sure to bring him in safe and care for him. If he is injured, we'll make sure he gets medical attention and if he's deceased, we're gonna investigate it and determine a cause of death." During a June 26 appearance on NewsNation's Banfield, Whitney's attorney said the grieving mother hopes Travis is found, "dead or alive." "That's a huge, a huge thing that she wants," attorney Arianna Cozart said. "It's very, very important to her so that she can have peace." Read the original article on People
CNN
28-06-2025
- CNN
Is Travis Decker alive? A fruitless 4-week manhunt has produced ‘no certain evidence'
CrimeFacebookTweetLink Follow The area of the rural Cascades near Leavenworth, Washington, is so majestic, they call it the Enchantments. Cold, clear water from the wilderness lakes flows into Icicle Creek, where it rushes over sparkling rocks. But the tranquil beauty that draws campers and hikers from across the country was shattered a month ago by the killings of three little girls just yards from the creek. 'I truly hope that the legacy of the girls' lives in everyone's heart forever. They were incredible,' said their mother, Whitney Decker, at a public memorial service last weekend. Travis Decker, the father of 5-year-old Olivia, 8-year-old Evelyn and 9-year-old Paityn, is charged with murdering his daughters by suffocating them with plastic bags near a makeshift campsite not long after he picked them up from their mother. What was supposed to be a three-hour joint custody visit on May 30 morphed into the discovery of a horrifying crime scene and frustrating manhunt that has now stretched for nearly a month. 'There is nowhere that he's going to be able to go that we don't have units waiting for him,' Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison said in a news conference when the manhunt was still in its first week. 'Eventually he's going to tire. He's going to make a mistake.' But as days have turned to weeks, the roar of helicopter engines is a much less frequent sound over the natural serenity of Icicle Creek, and fewer people are scouring the woods for signs of Decker. 'At this time, there is no certain evidence that Decker remains alive or in this area,' the Kittitas County Sheriff's Office, which is assisting in the manhunt, said in a statement. 'Seemingly strong early leads gave way to less convincing proofs over the last two weeks of searching.' The lack of progress in the massive manhunt is painful for law enforcement, but especially wounding for Decker's ex-wife, Whitney, the mother of the children. 'I can say with all degrees of certainty that both Whitney and myself are very frustrated with the fact that Travis hasn't been found,' Whitney Decker's attorney, Arianna Cozart, told CNN. While officials are quick to say they have not given up on their efforts to find Decker, dead or alive, the combination of natural roadblocks and Decker's own history of spartan living have resulted in an extraordinarily difficult challenge for officers seeking justice for the three little girls. Investigators never thought the search for Decker – an Army veteran with survival training – would be an easy one. By June 2, federal authorities were already being brought into the manhunt. 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,' a deputy US Marshal said in a court affidavit. From his time serving in the military – including a tour in Afghanistan – Decker had 'training in navigation, woodland/mountainous terrain, long distance movements, survival and numerous other disciplines needed to be able to flee from the Eastern District of Washington,' the affidavit added. Despite frequently being homeless with movements that were increasingly hard to track, Decker did leave a few electronic breadcrumbs, Whitney Decker told investigators. His Google searches turned up queries for 'how does a person move to Canada' and similar phrases, four days before the kidnapping, the US Marshals said in their court filing. Marshals noted that Decker's campsite was less than a dozen miles from the Pacific Crest Trail, which 'leads directly to Canada,' the affidavit notes. 'We worked with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police,' Morrison told CNN. 'They were doing some follow-up on some leads we had up in Canada.' Back in Chelan County, Morrison said both tips and the resources needed for an intense physical search have waned in the past week. 'Other agencies that have come out to assist, which we appreciated, clearly have to go back to their home jurisdictions and continue to do what their taxpayers and citizens are requiring of them,' the sheriff said. The Marshals Service is now in charge of the manhunt while local and state authorities focus on examining the evidence they've been able to collect, an arrangement that Whitney Decker believes is not ideal, according to her attorney. One has to ask what law enforcement agencies are most familiar with the surrounding woods and mountains? Certainly not the US Marshals Service,' said Cozart. It's not the first time questions have been raised about how the case has been pursued. The Wenatchee Police Department – the first agency contacted by Whitney Decker – provided information to the Washington State Patrol about Travis Decker's failure to return the girls and the potential for an Amber Alert. The patrol declined to issue one because 'there was no current evidence to believe the children were at risk of serious bodily injury or death,' according to the police affidavit. The following day, when Decker and the girls did not show up to a running event scheduled at a local park, the Washington State Patrol issued an Endangered Missing Person Alert. That placed information about their disappearance on a state website – but did not send a push notification to the public the way an Amber Alert would. The wilderness beauty that draws more than a million visitors to the area each year also makes for an incredibly arduous search. Nearly 90% of the land in Chelan County is publicly owned, and much of that is not directly accessible by road. It is not the first time the dense Okanogan–Wenatchee National Forest has provided cover for a fleeing murder suspect. Five summers ago, Jorge Alcantara Gonzalez was on the run for 23 days – law enforcement officers frequently just minutes behind him in a foot chase – before he was found about 50 miles south of where Decker was last seen. A man walking his dog in the area spotted Alcantara in an empty house, the Seattle Times reported. He was sentenced to 96 months in prison on lesser charges in a plea agreement and remains in state custody. That kind of stroke of fortune is often what solves a missing fugitive case. A Kentucky man accused of shooting at cars on Interstate 75 from a nearby ledge evaded capture for more than a week in the Daniel Boone National Forest. A local couple – Fred and Sheila McCoy – joined the search for Joseph Couch on a whim. 'That started off as a date night, and turned into a six-day journey,' Fred McCoy told CNN. As they livestreamed their search, calling out Couch's name, the McCoys eventually found his decomposed body deep in the woods. He had killed himself. 'Sheila and I don't believe in luck,' McCoy said. 'We believe in being blessed.' The McCoys received a $35,000 reward for finding Couch's remains last fall and said they briefly considered joining the search for Decker, but decided the cross-country trip to an area they are unfamiliar with would not be productive. Like the man they were hunting, the McCoys say they would be surprised if Decker allowed himself to be captured alive. 'Him not being seen in so long makes me think he's no longer with us,' Fred McCoy said. A trail gone cold in a wooded area is not always a sign that the fugitive has completely given up. In one of the most prominent domestic terrorism cases in American history, it was only a sign of further determination. Eric Robert Rudolph, an anti-abortion extremist and White supremacist responsible for four deadly bombings over three years, managed to evade from a massive manhunt for five years by holing up in the woods of western North Carolina near where he grew up. With no bank account, investigators said Rudolph foraged at night for survival, taking cover in darkness and stealing vehicles to bring whatever provisions he could back to his isolated campsite. He also hid 250 pounds of nitroglycerine dynamite. 'Until last week, a part of western North Carolina was literally a hidden minefield,' then-US Attorney David Nahmias said at a news conference after Rudolph's capture. The FBI said Rudolph also managed to survive on his own by finding caves and unoccupied cabins he could use for temporary shelter. 'I think it is very likely that he not only had campsites and caves, but he was also spending some time in those cabins,' said Chris Swecker, former special agent in charge of the FBI field office in Charlotte. 'He knew exactly which cabins he could go into. He had them scouted out way ahead of time.' The capture of Rudolph was another case that turned on being in the right place at the right time. After unsuccessful searches of the woods that involved upwards of 200 agents, a police officer in Murphy, North Carolina, with less than a year on the force spotted Rudolph rummaging through garbage outside a grocery store and stopped him, thinking he had spotted someone planning an ordinary break-in. He gave up without a fight. After being caught, Rudolph confessed to the crimes that killed two people in a plea bargain that took the death penalty off the table. He is serving four life sentences at the 'supermax' prison in Florence, Colorado. Federal investigators never saw evidence that Rudolph was getting help during his crimes or his disappearance, and local authorities say there's no sign that anyone has been working with Travis Decker. 'If there was evidence to show there were additional people there or an unknown subject, we would have known about it, and right now what we're getting back is not showing anything like that,' Morrison said. 'All evidence continues to point to Travis.' But now, with reliable clues pointing to his whereabouts drying up, nearby trails that had been closed for safety reopened and fewer options for intensive searches, investigators hope that someone in the area will have their own unexpected encounter that could end a mystery they've been trying to solve for weeks. 'We'll continue to follow up on every lead that we're getting regarding travels,' said Morrison.' For Whitney Decker, the little girls' mother, getting those answers is critical to her effort to rebuild her life, her attorney said, especially if Travis is still on the run. 'The only message we have for Travis is please do the right thing and turn yourself in,' said Cozart. 'Whitney deserves peace.' CNN's Natasha Chen, Dayna Gainor, Alaa Elassar, Zoe Sottile and Alisha Ebrahimji contributed to this report.
CNN
28-06-2025
- CNN
Is Travis Decker alive? A fruitless 4-week manhunt has produced ‘no certain evidence'
The area of the rural Cascades near Leavenworth, Washington, is so majestic, they call it the Enchantments. Cold, clear water from the wilderness lakes flows into Icicle Creek, where it rushes over sparkling rocks. But the tranquil beauty that draws campers and hikers from across the country was shattered a month ago by the killings of three little girls just yards from the creek. 'I truly hope that the legacy of the girls' lives in everyone's heart forever. They were incredible,' said their mother, Whitney Decker, at a public memorial service last weekend. Travis Decker, the father of 5-year-old Olivia, 8-year-old Evelyn and 9-year-old Paityn, is charged with murdering his daughters by suffocating them with plastic bags near a makeshift campsite not long after he picked them up from their mother. What was supposed to be a three-hour joint custody visit on May 30 morphed into the discovery of a horrifying crime scene and frustrating manhunt that has now stretched for nearly a month. 'There is nowhere that he's going to be able to go that we don't have units waiting for him,' Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison said in a news conference when the manhunt was still in its first week. 'Eventually he's going to tire. He's going to make a mistake.' But as days have turned to weeks, the roar of helicopter engines is a much less frequent sound over the natural serenity of Icicle Creek, and fewer people are scouring the woods for signs of Decker. 'At this time, there is no certain evidence that Decker remains alive or in this area,' the Kittitas County Sheriff's Office, which is assisting in the manhunt, said in a statement. 'Seemingly strong early leads gave way to less convincing proofs over the last two weeks of searching.' The lack of progress in the massive manhunt is painful for law enforcement, but especially wounding for Decker's ex-wife, Whitney, the mother of the children. 'I can say with all degrees of certainty that both Whitney and myself are very frustrated with the fact that Travis hasn't been found,' Whitney Decker's attorney, Arianna Cozart, told CNN. While officials are quick to say they have not given up on their efforts to find Decker, dead or alive, the combination of natural roadblocks and Decker's own history of spartan living have resulted in an extraordinarily difficult challenge for officers seeking justice for the three little girls. Investigators never thought the search for Decker – an Army veteran with survival training – would be an easy one. By June 2, federal authorities were already being brought into the manhunt. 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,' a deputy US Marshal said in a court affidavit. From his time serving in the military – including a tour in Afghanistan – Decker had 'training in navigation, woodland/mountainous terrain, long distance movements, survival and numerous other disciplines needed to be able to flee from the Eastern District of Washington,' the affidavit added. Despite frequently being homeless with movements that were increasingly hard to track, Decker did leave a few electronic breadcrumbs, Whitney Decker told investigators. His Google searches turned up queries for 'how does a person move to Canada' and similar phrases, four days before the kidnapping, the US Marshals said in their court filing. Marshals noted that Decker's campsite was less than a dozen miles from the Pacific Crest Trail, which 'leads directly to Canada,' the affidavit notes. 'We worked with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police,' Morrison told CNN. 'They were doing some follow-up on some leads we had up in Canada.' Back in Chelan County, Morrison said both tips and the resources needed for an intense physical search have waned in the past week. 'Other agencies that have come out to assist, which we appreciated, clearly have to go back to their home jurisdictions and continue to do what their taxpayers and citizens are requiring of them,' the sheriff said. The Marshals Service is now in charge of the manhunt while local and state authorities focus on examining the evidence they've been able to collect, an arrangement that Whitney Decker believes is not ideal, according to her attorney. One has to ask what law enforcement agencies are most familiar with the surrounding woods and mountains? Certainly not the US Marshals Service,' said Cozart. It's not the first time questions have been raised about how the case has been pursued. The Wenatchee Police Department – the first agency contacted by Whitney Decker – provided information to the Washington State Patrol about Travis Decker's failure to return the girls and the potential for an Amber Alert. The patrol declined to issue one because 'there was no current evidence to believe the children were at risk of serious bodily injury or death,' according to the police affidavit. The following day, when Decker and the girls did not show up to a running event scheduled at a local park, the Washington State Patrol issued an Endangered Missing Person Alert. That placed information about their disappearance on a state website – but did not send a push notification to the public the way an Amber Alert would. The wilderness beauty that draws more than a million visitors to the area each year also makes for an incredibly arduous search. Nearly 90% of the land in Chelan County is publicly owned, and much of that is not directly accessible by road. It is not the first time the dense Okanogan–Wenatchee National Forest has provided cover for a fleeing murder suspect. Five summers ago, Jorge Alcantara Gonzalez was on the run for 23 days – law enforcement officers frequently just minutes behind him in a foot chase – before he was found about 50 miles south of where Decker was last seen. A man walking his dog in the area spotted Alcantara in an empty house, the Seattle Times reported. He was sentenced to 96 months in prison on lesser charges in a plea agreement and remains in state custody. That kind of stroke of fortune is often what solves a missing fugitive case. A Kentucky man accused of shooting at cars on Interstate 75 from a nearby ledge evaded capture for more than a week in the Daniel Boone National Forest. A local couple – Fred and Sheila McCoy – joined the search for Joseph Couch on a whim. 'That started off as a date night, and turned into a six-day journey,' Fred McCoy told CNN. As they livestreamed their search, calling out Couch's name, the McCoys eventually found his decomposed body deep in the woods. He had killed himself. 'Sheila and I don't believe in luck,' McCoy said. 'We believe in being blessed.' The McCoys received a $35,000 reward for finding Couch's remains last fall and said they briefly considered joining the search for Decker, but decided the cross-country trip to an area they are unfamiliar with would not be productive. Like the man they were hunting, the McCoys say they would be surprised if Decker allowed himself to be captured alive. 'Him not being seen in so long makes me think he's no longer with us,' Fred McCoy said. A trail gone cold in a wooded area is not always a sign that the fugitive has completely given up. In one of the most prominent domestic terrorism cases in American history, it was only a sign of further determination. Eric Robert Rudolph, an anti-abortion extremist and White supremacist responsible for four deadly bombings over three years, managed to evade from a massive manhunt for five years by holing up in the woods of western North Carolina near where he grew up. With no bank account, investigators said Rudolph foraged at night for survival, taking cover in darkness and stealing vehicles to bring whatever provisions he could back to his isolated campsite. He also hid 250 pounds of nitroglycerine dynamite. 'Until last week, a part of western North Carolina was literally a hidden minefield,' then-US Attorney David Nahmias said at a news conference after Rudolph's capture. The FBI said Rudolph also managed to survive on his own by finding caves and unoccupied cabins he could use for temporary shelter. 'I think it is very likely that he not only had campsites and caves, but he was also spending some time in those cabins,' said Chris Swecker, former special agent in charge of the FBI field office in Charlotte. 'He knew exactly which cabins he could go into. He had them scouted out way ahead of time.' The capture of Rudolph was another case that turned on being in the right place at the right time. After unsuccessful searches of the woods that involved upwards of 200 agents, a police officer in Murphy, North Carolina, with less than a year on the force spotted Rudolph rummaging through garbage outside a grocery store and stopped him, thinking he had spotted someone planning an ordinary break-in. He gave up without a fight. After being caught, Rudolph confessed to the crimes that killed two people in a plea bargain that took the death penalty off the table. He is serving four life sentences at the 'supermax' prison in Florence, Colorado. Federal investigators never saw evidence that Rudolph was getting help during his crimes or his disappearance, and local authorities say there's no sign that anyone has been working with Travis Decker. 'If there was evidence to show there were additional people there or an unknown subject, we would have known about it, and right now what we're getting back is not showing anything like that,' Morrison said. 'All evidence continues to point to Travis.' But now, with reliable clues pointing to his whereabouts drying up, nearby trails that had been closed for safety reopened and fewer options for intensive searches, investigators hope that someone in the area will have their own unexpected encounter that could end a mystery they've been trying to solve for weeks. 'We'll continue to follow up on every lead that we're getting regarding travels,' said Morrison.' For Whitney Decker, the little girls' mother, getting those answers is critical to her effort to rebuild her life, her attorney said, especially if Travis is still on the run. 'The only message we have for Travis is please do the right thing and turn yourself in,' said Cozart. 'Whitney deserves peace.' CNN's Natasha Chen, Dayna Gainor, Alaa Elassar, Zoe Sottile and Alisha Ebrahimji contributed to this report.
Daily Mail
27-06-2025
- Daily Mail
Killer dad Travis Decker's ex-wife issues blistering statement after standing by him: 'Wanted dead or alive'
The ex-wife of alleged killer dad Travis Decker hopes he'll be found 'dead or alive', after a three week hunt for the fugitive accused of slaughtering his daughters. Decker, 33, is accused of suffocating his three daughters, Paityn, 9, Evelyn, 8, and Olivia, 5, who were found at a campsite on June 2 in Leavenworth, Washington. Decker failed to return the girls home to their heartbroken mom Whitney after a short custody visit. He is suspected of killing the three and has not been seen since, with speculation growing that he may have taken his own life in a remote location. Speaking with Ashley Banfield on NewsNation, Whitney Decker's attorney Arianna Cozart said she was praying for a conclusion to the search for her ex-husband. She said: 'She's just trying to cherish the memories of her babies and do what she can to advocate for change.' When asked what a resolution looks like for Whitney, Cozart added: 'That he is found, dead or alive. 'That's a huge thing that she wants, that's very important to her. So she can have peace. 'She knows that if he is found alive, he'll never be able to answer the questions that she might have to a point where it would give her any peace.' Decker, seen here, is suspected of murdering his three daughters and is on the run Speaking at a memorial service for her girls last week, Whitney said: 'I know that Evie would have loved to ooh and ah over all of your outfits. 'She would have been amazed by all the color out there and just thought you guys look fantastic,' Whitney told the crowd who had gathered for the emotional service. 'Paityn would have sought each and every one of you out to try to find something to give you a compliment for.' 'Thank you everyone for being here tonight and the outpouring of love that you have shown me and my family over the past few weeks,' she said. 'I truly hope that the legacy of the girls lives in everyone's heart forever. They were incredible.' On Monday night, the Kittitas County Sheriff's Office released a statement saying there was no evidence that he remains in the area or that he is alive at all. A statement said: 'Seemingly strong early leads gave way to less convincing proofs over the last two weeks of searching. 'Still, we can't and won't quit this search; Paityn, Evelyn, and Olivia Decker deserve justice. And Decker remains a danger to the public as long as he's at large.' Authorities are still focusing their efforts in the Teanaway Valley, Liberty, Lauderdale and Blewett Pass areas. The U.S. Marshals Service is working to track down Decker if he managed to escape the region, the sheriff's office said, and extra patrols have been on duty. The killings occurred in neighboring Chelan County, but backcountry trails link the area to Kittitas and to the Pacific Crest Trail, which runs from Canada to Mexico. It would not be unprecedented for Decker to evade a search in the rugged, remote region for three weeks. He has survival skills - although searchers have conceded he may have committed suicide in a remote area of wilderness that has not yet been searched. The area is dotted with abandoned buildings as well as unoccupied vacation homes in which he might find shelter, as well as caves and former mines. At the time of his disappearance and his daughters' deaths, Decker was living out of a white 2017 GMC Sierra pickup truck, police said. On June 2, a search party led to the chilling discovery of the sisters' dead bodies near Rock Island Campground in Chelan County along with Decker's truck. Deputies found the girls' bodies about 75 to 100 yards from Decker's truck. An autopsy revealed the girls died from suffocation and police reported their wrists were zip-tied and plastic bags were over their heads when they were found, court documents said. Police collected 'a large amount of evidence' from the truck, including male blood and non-human blood. The alleged-killer's dog was found nearby as well and taken to an animal humane society, Fox 8 reported. Chilling audio from just months before the harrowing murders captured the fugitive father begging for more custody time to go camping with his daughters. In the recording from a September 2024 custody hearing, Decker makes an eerie promise that no harm would come to the girls if he's given more time to take them camping in Washington's wilderness. With an extensive combat background, authorities and locals have been concerned about Decker being on the loose. He joined the Army in 2013 and served in Afghanistan before transferring to the Washington National Guard in 2021. He was a full-time member of the Guard until 2023 or 2024, when he switched to part-time. Decker stopped attending mandatory monthly drills a little over a year ago, and the Guard was in the process of a disciplinary discharge. He likely has advanced combat training and was an airborne paratrooper who earned the elite rank of 'Ranger,' indicating he would have excellent wilderness and survival skills, Fox 13 Seattle reported, citing social media posts. Decker is charged with three counts of first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping.
