Human remains believed to be Travis Decker, a fugitive who was wanted in the deaths of his three daughters, were discovered in a remote wooded area in Washington state, authorities said on Sept. 18.
The remains were found in an area south of Leavenworth, a village located in the Cascade Mountains of central Washington state, according to the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office. Multiple law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Marshals Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Border Patrol, Forest Service, and Washington State Patrol, were involved in the search.
The sheriff’s office noted that it was currently processing the scene with the assistance of the Washington State Patrol’s crime scene response team. DNA analysis will be conducted after the scene is processed, the sheriff’s office added.
“While positive identification has not yet been confirmed, preliminary findings suggest the remains belong to Travis Decker,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement, adding that more information will be revealed after further investigation and forensic examination.
The discovery of the human remains follows an over three-month search for Decker, who was 32 years old when he disappeared. He had been wanted on charges of first-degree murder and kidnapping in connection with the suffocation deaths of Paityn Decker, 9; Evelyn Decker, 8, and Olivia Decker, 5, of Wenatchee in Chelan County, about 150 miles east of Seattle.
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The bodies of the three Decker children were discovered just days after they were reported missing by their mother on May 30. The girls did not return home from a planned visitation with their father, a former U.S. Army member who had been homeless and was living out of a pickup.
On June 2, a sheriff’s deputy found an unoccupied truck at about 3:45 p.m. local time near the Rock Island Campground in Chelan County, about 148 miles east of Seattle. Officers found the bodies of the missing girls soon after, down a small embankment, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by USA TODAY.
Authorities said the girls’ bodies had been located about 75 to 100 yards away from their father’s unoccupied vehicle near the Rock Island Campground. The girls died as a result of homicide from suffocation, a preliminary report from a medical examiner stated.
Their bodies were found with plastic bags over their heads and evidence that their hands had been zip-tied near their father’s truck, court documents obtained by USA TODAY showed. Decker was nowhere to be found at the scene, and a search of his cell phone revealed that he visited the same campground the day before the kidnapping, according to court documents.
Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison previously said Decker may have scoped out a hiding location before going off the grid using his extensive military and outdoor survival training. Investigators said Decker also exhibited mental health issues before the girls’ killings.
During the months-long manhunt, federal and state agencies searched hundreds of square miles, looking through remote and mountainous terrain. The search was taken over by the U.S. Marshals Service, which deployed personnel and oversaw interviews and assessments.
Decker was last seen alive with his three daughters on May 30, according to authorities. Morrison previously told USA TODAY that a decline in tips had hindered the search and also suggested that there was a possibility Decker was dead.
In late August, the FBI said they were working to determine whether recently discovered bones located around the Rock Island Campground belonged to Decker. The agency later confirmed on Sept. 3 that the remains were not human.
At the time, W. Mike Herrington, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Seattle field office, called the “extensive search” just “one step in a three-month process.”
“In two days, the search team cleared almost 250 acres by carefully covering rough terrain on foot, and further efforts can build on the knowledge we gained through the electronic mapping of the area,” Herrington said.
Contributing: Natalie Neysa Alund, Anthony Robledo, and Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY
