Travis Decker Manhunt Timeline: Inside the Search for the Missing Washington Dad Accused of Killing His 3 Daughters
Travis is facing multiple charges after the young sisters were found dead on June 2
There has been an ongoing search for Travis, who his ex's lawyer told PEOPLE she thinks died by suicideThe Decker sisters were found dead on June 2. One week later, the search for their father, Travis Decker, continues.
On May 30, Paityn, 9, Evelyn, 8 and Olivia, 5 vanished during a "planned visitation" with their father, only to be found dead three days later. On June 6, friends and community members gathered in their hometown of Wenatchee Valley, Wash., to honor the young girls.
"They were the kind of children that everyone rooted for, looked for, looked forward to seeing and held close in their hearts," family friend Amy Edwards said at the event. "They are cherished, not just by the family, but by our entire community who watched them grow, perform, learn and love."
She continued, "We ache with the love we still carry for them, and we always will."
There has been an ongoing search for Travis, who is now facing charges related to his daughters' deaths. According to ABC News, Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison had a message for him during a June 3 press conference: "Travis, if you're listening, this is your opportunity to turn yourself in, do the right thing, do what you need to do and take accountability for your actions."
"We're not going to rest, and we're going to make sure we find you," he continued. "You will be brought to justice, those young ladies deserve it."
From when the young sisters went missing to the ongoing search for their father, here's a complete timeline of the Travis Decker case.
In an emailed statement to PEOPLE on June 6, attorney Arianna Cozart, who represents Whitney, Travis' ex-wife and the mother of the young girls, gave some insight into the former couple's relationship.
She shared that Whitney and Travis were married for a little over seven years, but ultimately split in 2022 as a result of "his mental health struggles, including his feelings of isolation, paranoia, and Borderline Personality Disorder."
Cozart noted that Travis, who was an Army veteran, was seeking mental health care but was unable to obtain it.
In a September 2024 parenting plan filed in Chelan County Superior Court and viewed by PEOPLE, Whitney sought to limit Travis' time with their young daughters.
In a separate filing, also viewed by PEOPLE, Whitney claimed that Travis had "neglected his parental duties towards a child" and "has a long-term emotional or physical problem that gets in the way of his ability to parent."
According to the parenting plan filing, Travis was granted visitations with his daughters for three hours on Fridays and eight hours every other weekend, as long as he stayed in Wenatchee Valley.
In the filing, Whitney also requested that Travis undergo an anger management and domestic violence evaluation, as well as a comprehensive psychiatric assessment by a licensed psychiatrist to determine any potential diagnoses. The filing stated that if Decker didn't follow through with these things, the "mother will have the choice to further limit visitation."
On May 26, Decker allegedly conducted online searches about how to move to Canada, according to a U.S. Marshals Service affidavit obtained by multiple outlets.
Per the outlets, Travis searched "how to relocate to Canada" and "how does a person move to Canada," and also allegedly looked through a Canadian job site.
The Decker sisters were last seen on Friday, May 30, after leaving their Washington home for a "planned visitation" with their father.
According to Wenatchee Police Department's statement, the "visitation was part of a parenting plan," noting that he had "gone outside the parameters of it which is not normal and cause for alarm."
Per The New York Times, their mother reported them missing on May 30 around 9:45 p.m. Travis was supposed to drop them off back home by 8 p.m. that night, but that didn't happen.
"It was late enough that she felt the need to call police because it was out of the ordinary," Capt. Brian Chance of the Wenatchee Police Department said, per the outlet.
According to the affidavit, his ex-wife told the police she was concerned because Travis was "currently experiencing some mental health issues," per The New York Times.
Per Wenatchee Police Department's statement, Travis is "homeless and living in his vehicle or at various hotels/motels or at campgrounds in the area."
On May 31, the Wenatchee Police Department released an endangered missing persons alert and said that the young girls were "believed to be missing and unable to return home on their own," explaining that they headed out with their dad around 5 p.m. the day before and hadn't been heard from or seen since then.
The statement also noted that the investigation had "not met AMBER Alert criteria" at the time.
On Monday, June 2, Washington State Patrol announced that they had canceled the endangered missing persons alert. Though officials did not immediately say why the alert was canceled, they announced the next day that the three young girls had been found dead on June 2.
In a press release, the Wenatchee Police Department shared that authorities located their father's car near the Rock Island Campground in Chelan County, Wash., and found Paityn, Evelyn and Olivia dead at 3:45 p.m. on June 2. Travis, however, was not located at the scene.
Fox 13 Seattle reported that his vehicle was found "with two bloody handprints" nearby where the girls' deceased bodies were located. The outlet also reported that various personal items were found inside, including blankets, food, car seats and a wallet "on the center console."
According to court documents obtained by Fox 13 Seattle, Travis' cell phone activity reportedly showed "he drove to and left the same campground a day prior to the kidnapping."
After the girls' death was announced on June 3, police said in a press conference that Travis had been charged with three counts of first-degree murder and one count of kidnapping, on top of the custodial interference charges he was already facing — and the search for him continued.
"It is unknown whether Decker is currently armed, but he may pose a significant risk, if approached," police said in their press release, adding that he has former military experience.
Per The New York Times, Morrison said at a news conference that authorities had no leads on his location and believed "he could be anywhere within the nation."
"We are searching anywhere and everywhere for him," Morrison explained.
According to ABC News, police said during the press conference that there would be a $20,000 reward for any information leading to his arrest.
Cozart spoke to ABC News on June 5 and said Travis showed "no red flags" before his daughters' disappearance.
She went on to say that the system "failed" Travis, who struggled with mental health issues, including PTSD, and was unable to receive help through veterans' resources."
The courts didn't fail these girls. It wasn't the judge and it wasn't Whitney; it was our system," Cozart said. "[Whitney] feels like the system really let Travis down. If somebody would have provided Travis with the help that he needed, those girls would be alive."
The attorney continued, "He had some mental health issues and some instability in his life that really led to the restrictions as far as overnight visitation or him taking them out of the area, but other than that, he loved those girls very much and him and Whitney were able to communicate on a regular basis, not just as co-parents, but as friends."
In Cozart's emailed statement to PEOPLE, the attorney said she thinks Travis likely died by suicide.
'[Travis] probably killed himself up there somewhere," she said.
Cozart went on to describe Travis as "a present and active father up until the end," sharing that he attended their "soccer games, dance, and theater productions."
"Although Travis was struggling with his own mental health, he was a good co-parent, always communicating frequently with Whitney up until Friday evening when the girls went missing," she continued.
On the evening of June 8, the Chelan County Sheriff's Office handed over the search efforts for Travis to federal authorities, while noting that they are still leading the criminal investigation.
"We had reached a point where we need to rest our local resources," the CCSO wrote in a statement shared to their Facebook page. "Our command staff continues to be engaged with the search command while we give our teams time off to rest and recuperate and be ready to rejoin the search for, and capture of, the suspect."
Authorities are asking anyone who has seen Travis to call 911 immediately and do not attempt to approach him. People can also call the CCSO tip line at 509-667-6845 or submit information to the tip line.
After an autopsy was completed on June 6, authorities shared the official causes of death for the three young girls in a press release on June 9.
"The cause of death was determined to be suffocation and the manner of death was determined to be homicide," the release stated.
As of June 9, the GoFundMe campaign that was set up to help Whitney with expenses and legal costs amid the loss of her daughters has surpassed $1 million.
If you or someone you know needs mental health help, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 or go to suicidepreventionlifeline.org.
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"In my opinion, it is some kind of individual way to accepting this new reality," said Maria. According to her, people just do not fully understand the risk of living in the city if it stays under occupation. "My grandmother and her husband are considering the possibility of our family reunion and my return to Mariupol someday, but that is only their perspective, their anticipation," she said. Maria insists, that the only chance for them to meet now is somewhere in a different country, where they can go without a Ukrainian passport. "It is hard for them to understand why it is impossible for me to visit them in Mariupol, why I cannot simply return to my native city while it is occupied by the Russians," she said. In her dreams Maria sometimes is back to Mariupol but not to the times of peace before the war: "There are only Russian border guards in my obsessive dreams or my city already under the Russian occupation. It is very difficult to explain why, but I see them quite often as I sleep. For instance, in my dream I am on the train heading to Finland from Germany, but, at some point, the passengers are being told that from now on the train will be going through the Russian territory and that is how I meet Russian border guards once again."
