By
Jordan Freiman
Jordan Freiman
News Editor
Jordan Freiman is a news editor for CBSNews.com. He covers breaking news, trending stories, sports and crime. Jordan has previously worked at Spin and Death and Taxes.
Updated on: September 26, 2025 / 7:28 PM EDT
/ CBS News
Prosecutors have moved to drop charges against Travis Decker, the man accused of killing his three young daughters earlier this year before disappearing and sparking a monthslong manhunt, after the U.S. Marshals Service informed them Decker is dead, court documents show.
Local law enforcement confirmed Thursday that the human remains that were found in Washington state last week came back as a match for Decker after DNA testing.
“We are glad to say that those remains do come back as a positive match for Travis,” Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison said Thursday during a news conference. “We can finally bring a close to this dark chapter of Chelan County.”
On Friday, Chelan County Coroner Wayne Harris told CBS News in an email that Decker’s “cause and manner” of death, along with the time of death, “may never be known.”
Harris explained that because the coroner’s office received “minimal skeletal remains,” and because of the time that has passed since his death, “there is nothing to autopsy.”
“The only examination done at this point was by a forensic anthropologist,” Harris said Friday.
The sheriff’s office said last week the remains, which were discovered Sept. 18, were found in a remote wooded area south of Leavenworth, Washington.
Using a drone, authorities found a decomposed body with bone fragments spread around the hillside, along with clothing and other personal items, Morrison said last week. He said the body was found in a “mountainous area” that was not along a trail, and it was about a three-hour hike to get to the remains on foot.
Decker, a 32-year-old former Army soldier, was accused in May of killing his three daughters, 9-year-old Paityn Decker, 8-year-old Evelyn Decker and 5-year-old Olivia Decker. DNA testing confirmed he was the only suspect in the murders, police have said.
The girls’ mother alerted authorities on May 30 that he had not returned the three girls on time to her at her home in Wenatchee, Washington, following a scheduled visit, and a search was launched. The girls’ bodies were found three days later at a campsite in the Cascade Mountains, along with Decker’s truck.
An autopsy determined their cause of death was suffocation, authorities said.
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, had extensive training in navigation, survival and other survival skills, authorities previously said. Despite the continued search, police said in late June that they believe he may have died or left the area.
contributed to this report.
Jordan Freiman is a news editor for CBSNews.com. He covers breaking news, trending stories, sports and crime. Jordan has previously worked at Spin and Death and Taxes.
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