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The search began Saturday after the U.S. Marshals Service
Greater Idaho Fugitive Task Force said a family reported they
saw a man who looked like Travis Decker, who is wanted in
connection with the deaths of his three daughters in Washington
state.
Decker has been wanted since June 2, when a sheriff’s deputy in
Washington found his truck and the bodies of his three daughters
— 9-year-old Paityn Decker, 8-year-old Evelyn Decker and
5-year-old Olivia Decker — at a campground outside Leavenworth,
Washington. The discovery came three days after he failed to
return the girls to their mother’s home in Wenatchee, about 100
miles (160 kilometers) east of Seattle, following a scheduled
visit.
The family was near a Bear Creek area campsite when they saw a
man who was the same height and roughly the same weight as
Decker, and also had similar hair, beard and tattoos on his arm
and calf. Additional tips followed, and federal, state and local
law enforcement agencies joined the Marshals Service in the
search.
They found the man Wednesday afternoon, U.S. Marshals Service
Supervisory Deputy Michael Leigh said in a press release, and
determined he was not Decker.
“Investigators interviewed the cooperative man and confirmed he
was hiking in the Bear Creek area this past weekend,” Leigh
wrote.
Authorities in Washington on June 10 said they believed they had
spotted Decker, a former soldier, near a remote alpine lake in a
popular backpacking area in the Cascade Range. Tracking teams
followed up on a tip from hikers who reported seeing a lone
hiker who appeared to be ill-prepared for the conditions, but he
has not been found.
The Marshals Service is offering a reward of up to $20,000 for
information leading to Decker’s capture.
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