Authorities believe they spotted ex-soldier Travis Decker, who is wanted in deaths of 3 daughters
The Chelan County Sheriff's office said in a Facebook post Tuesday that tracking teams responded immediately, and a helicopter crew spotted a lone, off-trail hiker near Colchuk Lake, in a popular Cascade Range backpacking area called The Enchantments.
The lone 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.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP's earlier story follows below.
Authorities in Washington state are focusing their search for an ex-soldier wanted in the deaths of his three young daughters in an area south of where their bodies were discovered more than a week ago.
The Chelan County Sheriff's Office issued an alert Monday night for an area near Ingalls Creek and the Valleyhi community, a small neighborhood about 10 miles (16 kilometers) south of Leavenworth. The alert remained in effect Tuesday.
Authorities did not specify what prompted them to focus on that area, beyond saying 'he is believed to potentially be in this area.'
'Residents and visitors are urged to secure homes and vehicles, remain vigilant, and report any suspicious activity to 911,' the alert said. 'A heightened law enforcement presence will persist as a precautionary measure.'
Investigators have been looking for Travis Caleb Decker, 32, since the night of May 30, when he failed to return the girls to their mother's home in Wenatchee, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) east of Seattle, after a scheduled visit.
Three days later, a sheriff's deputy discovered the bodies of 9-year-old Paityn Decker, 8-year-old Evelyn Decker and 5-year-old Olivia Decker down an embankment at the Rock Island Campground west of Leavenworth.
The site is about 11 miles (18 kilometers) from the Pacific Crest Trail, which runs from the U.S.-Mexico border to the U.S.-Canada border, and it is connected to the newly focused search area by backcountry trails.
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 have searched hundreds of square miles, much of it mountainous and remote, by land, water and air.
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 the girls 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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Associated Press
21 minutes ago
- Associated Press
As Dubai cracks down on crowded jerry-rigged apartments, migrant workers have nowhere else to go
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'They can tell you to leave without an option, without anywhere to go.' Fires remain a threat in Dubai Dubai has targeted overcrowded apartments in the past amid a spate of high-rise fires fueled by flammable siding material. The latest round of inspections came after a blaze in June at a 67-story tower in the Dubai Marina neighborhood, where some apartments had been partitioned. More than 3,800 residents were forced to evacuate from the building, which had 532 occupied apartments, according to a police report. That means seven people on average lived in each of these units in the tower of one-, two- and three-bedroom flats. Dozens of homes were left uninhabitable. There were no major injuries in that fire. However, another in 2023 in Dubai's historic Deira neighborhood killed at least 16 people and injured another nine in a unit believed to have been partitioned. 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Indianapolis Star
2 hours ago
- Indianapolis Star
Autographed Patrick Mahomes, Tom Brady jerseys faked in Westfield sports memorabilia scam
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Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Search for Travis Decker, Pewaukee native suspected of killing daughters in Washington, scaled back
Police in Washington say they'll scale back their manhunt for Travis Decker, a Pewaukee native suspected of killing his three daughters. The Chelan County Sheriff's Office said in a July 25 news release that the search "continues with a reduced footprint while the criminal investigation remains ongoing." The sheriff's office cited a decrease in leads and tips about Decker's location. It said police and search and rescue organizations have done extensive searches of the wilderness area around the crime scene. Police have been searching for Decker since he didn't return his three daughters to their mother May 30. The three girls — Paityn Decker, 9; Evelyn Decker, 8; and Olivia Decker, 5 — were found dead days afterwards in the vicinity of Decker's truck near the Rock Island Campground, about 80 miles east of Seattle. The search efforts have used swift water teams, K-9 teams, airplanes and searches on foot. The sheriff's office said it doesn't know if Decker is alive or dead. Police issued a warrant for Decker's arrest in early June on three counts of first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping. According to police, at the time of the girls' disappearance, Decker had been living out of his pickup truck or staying at campgrounds and motels. Authorities said he also has extensive military training and went to mountain survival school. Decker graduated from Pewaukee High School, where he was a member of 2010 wrestling team and wrestled in the state finals that year. The U.S. Marshals Service is offering a reward of up to $20,000 for information leading directly to Decker's arrest. Anyone with information is urged to contact the nearest U.S. Marshals office, the U.S. Marshals Service Communications Center at 800-336-0102 or USMS Tips at How to support the Decker family You can donate to support Whitney Decker, the mother of Paityn, Evelyn and Olivia via GoFundMe. As of July 27, the fundraiser has raised almost $1.3 million. More: While authorities search for Travis Decker, family and friends deal with daughters' deaths Where to find help for domestic violence If you are seeking help with domestic violence, you can call the following numbers to reach advocates who can help with safety planning. Calls to advocates are confidential and do not involve law enforcement. The National Domestic Violence Hotline is 800-799-7233. The Sojourner Family Peace Center in Milwaukee operates a 24-hour confidential hotline at 414-933-2722. The Milwaukee Women's Center offers a 24-hour crisis line at 414-671-6140. Find additional culturally specific and multilingual resources here. Maia Pandey, Alex Groth and Cailey Gleeson of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed to this story This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Search for Travis Decker, suspected of killing daughters, scaled back
