A 32-year-old man from Washington state, a former U.S. Army soldier with “extensive training,” is on the run, accused in the gruesome murders of his three daughters, all under the age of 10, according to police and media reports.
On May 30, the girls’ mother told officials at the Wenatchee Police Department that her ex-husband, Travis Decker, failed to return with 9-year-old Paityn, 8-year-old Evelyn and 5-year-old Olivia after a planned visitation that day.
Additionally, calls to the 32-year-old’s cellphone were going straight to voicemail.
Police in Wenatchee, a town about 100 miles east of Seattle, said the visitation was part of the arranged “parenting plan,” his failure to return was “cause for alarm,” presumably because detectives said the girls’ mother believed Decker was experiencing some mental health issues, the Associated Press reported.
Police requested an Amber Alert from Washinton State Patrol that evening but were told the situation did not meet the criteria. An Endangered Missing Persons Alert was issued the following day.
With information developed by the FBI, police narrowed their search to a campground some 20 miles northwest of Wenatchee, near the city of Leavenworth.
Just before 4 p.m. June 2, authorities, with the help of Homeland Security Investigations and the Chelan County Sheriff’s Department, located Decker’s unoccupied pickup truck.
The girls’ bodies were found approximately 100 yards from the vehicle, all of them zip-tied, the AP reported. Police believe they died from asphyxiation.
Sheriff’s officials told CBS News that the 32-year-old, who joined the Army in 2013 and transferred to the Washington National Guard in 2021, is “well-versed” in survival and living off the grid for months at a time.
In an interview, Whitney Decker, the 32-year-old’s ex-wife, said the couple’s divorce after seven years of marriage was civil and there had never been issues during previous visitations.
Toward the end of their marriage, he was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, CBS reported, and Whitney did not believe he was taking any medication for the illness.
Authorities continued to search for Decker in the rugged wilderness of the Okanogan Wenatchee National Forest and said a reward of up to $20,000 was available for information leading to his arrest.
It is unknown if the 32-year-old, wanted for kidnapping and murder, is armed and police urged anyone who might spot him to not approach or contact him, but instead call 911.
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