WENATCHEE, Wash. (AP) — Forensic tests confirmed that human remains found on a remote mountain in Washington state this month were those of Travis Decker, a former soldier wanted for killing his three young daughters last spring, officials confirmed Thursday.
His remains were discovered on a steep, remote, wooded slope part way up Grindstone Mountain in central Washington, less than a mile (1.6 km) from the campsite where the bodies of 9-year-old Paityn Decker, 8-year-old Evelyn Decker and 5-year-old Olivia Decker were found on June 2, the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office said.
Law enforcement teams had been searching more than three months for Decker, 32, before the sheriff’s office announced last week it had located human remains believed to be his. Sheriff Mike Morrison said Thursday that DNA tests on clothing found at the scene as well as from the remains matched Decker.
The sheriff said investigators wanted to honor the girls’ memory by solving the case, and he apologized to their mother, Whitney Decker, that it took so long.
“I hope you can rest easier at night knowing that Travis is accounted for,” Morrison said.
Decker had been with his daughters on a scheduled visit but failed bring them back to his former wife, who a year ago said that his mental health issues had worsened and that he had become increasingly unstable.
He was often living out of his truck, she said in a petition seeking to restrict him from having overnight visits with them.
A deputy found Decker’s truck as well as the girls’ bodies three days after Decker failed to return them to their mother’s house. Autopsies found the girls had been suffocated.
Decker was an infantryman in the Army from March 2013 to July 2021 and deployed to Afghanistan for four months in 2014. He had training in navigation, survival and other skills, authorities said, and once spent more than two months living in the backwoods off the grid.
More than 100 officials with an array of state and federal agencies searched hundreds of square miles, much of it mountainous and remote, by land, water and air during the on and off search. The U.S. Marshals Service offered a reward of up to $20,000 for information leading to his capture.
At one point early in the search, authorities thought they spotted Decker near a remote alpine lake after receiving a tip from hikers.
Officials say the coroner’s office continues to work on determining the cause and time of his death.
