LEAVENWORTH, Wash — Police in Washington state said they discovered remains believed to be those of a man wanted in the murders of his three daughters.
According to a news release on Thursday from the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office, remains believed to be those of former soldier Travis Decker, 32, were discovered in a remote area south of Leavenworth.
“While positive identification has not yet been confirmed, preliminary findings suggest the remains belong to Travis Decker,” the news release said.
Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison told KIRO that the remains were found on Grindstone Mountain, a few miles away from where the bodies of Decker’s three daughters were found.
Authorities had been searching for Decker since June 2, when a deputy found his truck and the bodies of his three daughters -- Paitlyn Decker, 9; Evelyn Decker, 8; and Olivia Decker, 5 -- at a campground near Leavenworth.
Police said Travis Decker kidnapped and killed his daughters on May 30 during a scheduled custody visit. He failed to return the girls to their mother’s home in Wenatchee, located about 100 miles east of Seattle.
“(The) Chelan County Sheriff’s Office has been in contact with the Decker family and are providing them with support and updates as the investigation proceeds and are asking for continued privacy and respect for the family,” the sheriff’s office said in its statement.
In an interview with KIRO in June, the girls’ mother, Whitney Decker, said there had never been any problems with Travis Decker during previous visitations.
According to documents filed for custodial interference, Whitney and Travis Decker were married for seven years but had been divorced for several years. She said the divorce was civil.
Travis Decker was an infantryman in the Army from March 2013 to July 2021, and he was deployed to Afghanistan for four months in 2014. Authorities said he had training in navigation, survival and other skills and once spent more than two months living in the backwoods off the grid.
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