Authorities believe they spotted ex-soldier Travis Decker, who is wanted
in deaths of 3 daughters
[June 11, 2025]
By GENE JOHNSON
SEATTLE (AP) — Authorities say they believe they spotted Travis Decker,
an ex-soldier wanted in the deaths of his three daughters, near a remote
alpine lake in Washington state, after receiving a tip from hikers who
said they saw a lone person who appeared to be ill-prepared for the
conditions.
The Chelan County Sheriff's office said in a Facebook post Tuesday that
tracking teams responded immediately, and a helicopter crew spotted a
hiker near Colchuk Lake, in a popular Cascade Range backpacking area
called The Enchantments.
The off-trail hiker ran from sight as the helicopter passed, the
sheriff's office said. Teams later found a trail, and K-9 teams tracked
the person to the area of the Ingalls Creek Trailhead, south of
Leavenworth.
Authorities did not say when they spotted the subject, but late Monday
night they issued an alert for residents in the Ingalls Creek and the
Valleyhi community to lock homes and vehicles and to be on the lookout
for Decker.
Decker, 32, has been the target of a large manhunt ever since June 2,
when a sheriff's deputy 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.
He had failed to return the girls to their mother's home in Wenatchee,
about 100 miles (160 kilometers) east of Seattle, following a scheduled
visit three days earlier.
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In this handout photo provided by the Snohomish County Sheriff's
Office deputies participate in the search for Travis Decker, at an
undisclosed location in Washington state, Friday, June 6, 2025.
(Snohomish County Sheriff's Office photo via AP)
Decker was an infantryman in the U.S. Army from March 2013 to July
2021 and deployed to Afghanistan for four months in 2014. He has
training in navigation, survival and other skills, authorities said.
He once spent more than two months living in the backwoods off the
grid.
Officials with an array of state and federal agencies have searched
hundreds of square miles, much of it mountainous and remote, by
land, water and air. The U.S. Marshals Service was offering a reward
of up to $20,000 for information leading to his capture.
Last September, his ex-wife, Whitney Decker, wrote in a petition to
modify their parenting plan that his mental health issues had
worsened and that he had become increasingly unstable, often living
out of his truck. She sought to restrict him from having overnight
visits with their daughters until he found housing.
An autopsy on Friday determined the cause of death to be
suffocation, the sheriff’s office said. The girls had been bound
with zip ties and had plastic bags placed over their heads.
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