Latest news with #Wenatchee
Yahoo
04-07-2025
- Yahoo
Did Travis Decker Bleed to Death in the Wilderness? Sheriff Says Infection From Injury is Possible (Exclusive)
Over a month after murder suspect Travis Decker vanished, the local sheriff has a new theory about what may have happened to him The U.S. Army veteran has been missing since he picked up his three daughters, Paityn, 9, Evelyn, 8, and Olivia, 5, for a three hour visit on May 30 in Wenatchee, Wash. "We're making sure to bring him in safe and care for him," Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison tells PEOPLE about Decker, the subject of an extensive manhuntAs the search continues for Travis Decker more than a month after the murder suspect vanished, a local sheriff has a new theory on what could have happened to him. Decker, a 32-year-old U.S. Army veteran, hasn't been seen since picking up his three daughters, Paityn, 9, Evelyn, 8, and Olivia, 5, for a three hour court-approved visit in Wenatchee, Wash., on May 30. He never returned the girls to their mother, Whitney Decker, who reported their daughters missing to police later that night, setting off a frantic search for the four. But on June 2, the girls were found asphyxiated near Travis' abandoned pickup truck in the remote Rock Island Campground — with the father nowhere to be found. He is wanted on first-degree murder and kidnapping charges. At the scene, investigators recovered blood at the scene and on the tailgate of Travis' truck, which matched the DNA profile they believe is the father's, the Chelan County Sheriff's Office said on Tuesday, July 1. Also found at the scene were his wallet, cellphone, and husky. Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison tells PEOPLE that investigators believe the "fingerprint" of blood found on the truck came from an injury, though the severity of that injury remains unclear. In regards to whether Decker is still alive, Morrison says "I would imagine most likely if he were to have died, it would've been from falling; an injury maybe got infected to the point where it did cause him, you know, some further issues or he drowned." He adds, "there's certainly a lot of possibilities and if we do find him deceased, of course we're going to do a full autopsy on him just to get confirmation on his cause of death." Travis was believed to have been spotted by another hiker on or about June 10 on a trail near Highway 97, but since then, investigators have suspected he is no longer alive or in the area. He has been described by authorities as a former military man trained in survival skills. Authorities have also previously said they believed Travis may have fled on foot and attempted to cross into Canada because he allegedly searched "how to relocate to Canada" online, according to a U.S. Marshals Service affidavit obtained by PEOPLE. Search teams have used human remains detection dogs and also searched nearby mountain areas and bodies of water. "I know that we've heard some accusations that we might be out looking to do harm to him," Sheriff Morrison tells PEOPLE. "I'm like, 'Yeah, that's not how we do law enforcement here in Washington state.' We're making sure to bring him in safe and care for him. If he is injured, we'll make sure he gets medical attention and if he's deceased, we're gonna investigate it and determine a cause of death." During a June 26 appearance on NewsNation's Banfield, Whitney's attorney said the grieving mother hopes Travis is found, "dead or alive." "That's a huge, a huge thing that she wants," attorney Arianna Cozart said. "It's very, very important to her so that she can have peace." Read the original article on People

Wall Street Journal
26-06-2025
- Wall Street Journal
The Killings That Shattered a Small Washington Town
WENATCHEE, Wash.—May was coming to an end, and Travis Decker was having a bad week. A homeless, 32-year-old Army veteran, Travis had been in a fender-bender and worried he would be jailed or fall into debt. He feared central Washington's dry heat would force him to surrender his dog, Chinook, who usually waited inside Travis's truck while he found carpentry work. His relationship with his co-workers was souring.
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Yahoo
Travis Decker's Neighbor Reveals 'Weird' Encounter Before His 3 Daughters Died
By all accounts, Travis Decker was an enthusiastic 'girl dad' to his trio of daughters, Paityn, 9, Evelyn, 8, and Olivia, 5, whom he shared with his ex-wife Whitney. The family's longtime next-door neighbor Binh Nguyen recalls Travis taking the girls on camping trips in the Cascade Mountains near their home in Wenatchee, Wash. And when the Deckers' marriage crumbled in 2022, Travis, 32, moved out of the house but still regularly stopped by with his dog to pick up the girls for visits. 'They loved him a lot, and he loved them too,' Nguyen tells PEOPLE in this week's issue, on newsstands Friday. Yet when Travis — a formerly clean-cut U.S. Army veteran who went on to work in construction — arrived for a pickup on Friday, May 30, Nguyen, who was watering his lawn at the time, was struck by how different his former neighbor looked. 'He was skinny. He had long hair and a beard. I said, 'Is that you, Travis?' ' Nguyen recalls. As the two men chatted for 10 minutes, Travis, while polite, seemed distracted, absentmindedly asking how he'd been three times. 'It was kind of weird,' says Nguyen. 'He had a sad face.' According to the Deckers' court-approved parenting plan, Travis was to have a three-hour visitation with his daughters that evening, beginning at 5 p.m. But when the scheduled drop-off time of 8 p.m. came and went, Whitney's initial concern turned into fear for her daughters' safety. Her calls to Travis went straight to voicemail even though her ex-husband had always been reachable, as she would later tell investigators. At 9:34 p.m. Whitney, 35, went to the Wenatchee Police Department to report Paityn, Evelyn and Olivia missing, setting off a frantic search for the girls, as well as their father, led by local police. Three days later, on June 2, investigators with the Chelan County Sheriff's Office found the girls' bodies — with plastic bags over their heads and at least one with zip ties around her wrists — near Travis's abandoned pickup truck at the remote Rock Island Campground. A medical examiner determined they had died of asphyxiation. Now Travis — a combat veteran trained in survival skills who federal authorities claim searched online for 'how to relocate to Canada' days before he disappeared — is the subject of a massive ongoing manhunt, wanted on suspicion of first-degree murder and kidnapping. Born into a family that valued military service, Travis, whose father and brother were also soldiers, enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2013. When he met Whitney the following year, he had recently completed an Army Rangers deployment in Afghanistan. The couple fell in love and married in 2015; they were stationed in Italy for three years and then in Georgia for three years before settling with their girls in Washington state, where both have family. Almost from the beginning of the marriage, Travis' mental health was a challenge, according to Whitney's attorney, Arianna Cozart. 'He seemed to suffer from PTSD as a result of combat,' she says. 'Whitney struggled to help Travis through severe paranoia, nightmares and insomnia.' Family life became more difficult for Travis after he left the Army and joined the Washington National Guard in 2021, Cozart says: 'His issues seemed to spiral once he was out of what Whitney calls the bumpers of the military that kept him in line. He tried to get help — he went to the VA, he called the Veterans Crisis Line.' But nothing seemed to change, Cozart adds. Two years after the Deckers legally separated, Whitney went to court to rewrite the couple's custody agreement. Travis, who by then was living in his RV and spending nights at shelters, would no longer have overnight stays with the girls. Instead, Paityn, Evelyn and Olivia spent days with their father every other weekend, and they seemed to enjoy it. Meanwhile, Travis was reportedly having trouble at work and was even considering rehoming his beloved husky. But until their daughters were found on June 2, Whitney never suspected him of causing harm. 'This man never laid a hand on those girls,' says Cozart. As the hunt for the fugitive entered its fourth week, Whitney — who says she regrets that authorities never issued an Amber Alert about her missing daughters — will advocate to improve the alert system and provide more mental health services for veterans. But first, as Cozart says, she must 'say goodbye to her babies.' At a memorial service in a Wenatchee park on June 20 — where mourners were asked to wear purple, pink and green — Whitney told the crowd that Evelyn would have 'oohed and aahed' over their colorful outfits, and Paityn would have sought out something to compliment about each attendee. 'I'm so thankful for the time that I had with the girls,' she said. 'They were incredible.' 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. Read the original article on People
Yahoo
24-06-2025
- Yahoo
Mom of 3 Young Sisters Allegedly Killed by Their Dad, Travis Decker, Tearfully Breaks Her Silence: 'They Were Incredible'
Whitney Decker spoke out for the first time since the death of her three daughters, Paityn, 9, Evelyn, 8, and Olivia, 5 Whitney's three daughters were allegedly suffocated by her ex-husband, their father, Travis Decker "I truly hope that the legacy of the girls' lives lives on in everyone's heart forever. They were incredible," Whitney tearfully told the crowd in Wenatchee, WashingtonWhitney Decker, the mother of three daughters allegedly killed by their father, Travis Decker, in Washington, is speaking out on their deaths. At a memorial service for Paityn, 9, Evelyn, 8, and Olivia, 5, held on June 20, Whitney addressed the crowd, saying, "You all look beautiful," in a video published by NBC affiliate King 5 Seattle. "I know Evelyn would have loved to ooh and aah over all your outfits," she tearfully added, noting that Paityn liked to give compliments to others, whether it was at the grocery store, at school or with me. She was always telling me, 'You look beautiful, Mom.' " After revealing that her daughters were all in therapy and learning to discuss their feelings openly amid their parents' divorce, she broke down sobbing. "I'm so thankful for that time I had with the girls," she said. She then added that the family's conversations about their feelings allowed them to "connect" to one another. "When the world slowed down, it gave me an inside look at their day," she revealed of discussing their feelings during the girls' bedtime routine. "I believe doing this with them allowed them to come into the world with open hearts and kindness," Whitney also said. She concluded by thanking mourners for their "outpouring of love." "I truly hope that the legacy of the girls' lives lives on in everyone's heart forever. They were incredible." Whitney recalled that her daughters' "warm and open hearts" helped her through her divorce from Travis. In a statement shared with PEOPLE via email on June 13, attorney Arianna Cozart, who represents Whitney, revealed the couple split in 2022 as a result of "his alleged 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. The Decker sisters were last seen on Friday, May 30, after leaving their Washington home for a "planned visitation" with their father. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases. 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." Their mother reported them missing on May 30 around 9:45 p.m., per The New York Times. Travis was supposed to drop them off back home by 8 p.m. that night, but they never returned. In a press release, the Wenatchee Police Department shared that authorities located their father's car near the Rock Island Campground in Chelan County, Washington, and found Paityn, Evelyn, and Olivia dead at 3:45 p.m. on June 2. Travis, however, was not located at the scene. Their cause of death was subsequently confirmed to be suffocation. 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. 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. On the evening of June 8, the Chelan County Sheriff's Office transferred the search efforts for Travis to federal authorities, while noting that they would continue to lead the criminal investigation. "We have reached a point where we need to rest our local resources," the CCSO wrote in a statement shared to their Facebook page. 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. Read the original article on People
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Yahoo
One week later: Manhunt for accused triple-murderer Travis Decker continues; a community grieves
One week after Travis Decker disappeared with his three young daughters, officials are continuing to search for the man accused of their murders. On Friday, May 30, just before 10 p.m., the Wenatchee Police Department took a call from a woman who had reported that the father of her three young girls had not returned following a planned custody visit. A missing endangered person alert was issued for the three girls, 9-year-old Paityn, 8-year-old Evelyn, and 5-year-old Olivia, and their father, 32-year-old Travis Decker. Then, on Monday, June 2, law enforcement found Decker's truck unoccupied near the Rock Island Campground in Leavenworth. While searching the area, law enforcement found the bodies of the three young girls. >>Father of murdered Wenatchee girls still missing, $20K reward offered for information As the search ramps up, officials have warned residents in rural King, Snohomish, Kittitas, Chelan, and Okanagan counties to lock the doors in their cabins and outbuildings. They also recommend leaving window blinds open and outside lights on. >>Deputies ask residents in remote areas to lock doors, sheds as hunt for Travis Decker continues On Thursday, the U.S. Forest Service ordered an emergency closure of the Icicle River area in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest. The closure, effective June 5 through June 18 unless lifted earlier, prohibits access to several popular trails, roads, and campgrounds within the Wenatchee River Ranger District. The order was issued under federal regulations governing national forest use, and violators could face fines of up to $5,000 or jail time. >>Forest Service closes Enchantments through June 18 as search for Travis Decker continues Later that evening, the North Cascades National Park announced the closure of trails in Lake Chelan National Recreation Area within the North Cascades National Park Service Complex. The following trails are closed, including backcountry camps and cross-country zones along closed trails: Pacific Crest Trail within the park complex (Agnes Creek, Old Wagon, and Bridge Creek trails) Rainbow Lake Trail Rainbow Creek Trail McAlester Lake Trail Twisp Pass Trail (to USFS border) Stiletto Spur Trail North Fork Bridge Creek Trail Upper Stehekin Valley Trail Flat Creek Trail Thunder Creek Trail from Park Creek Pass to the junction with Upper Stehekin Valley Trail Upper Stehekin Valley Trail to junction with Horseshow Basin Trail Officials added the following statement: 'Trails are closed until further notice due to ongoing search operations for a suspect in Chelan County. The suspect has been identified as Travis Decker. Decker was last seen wearing light colored shirt and dark shorts. Do not approach, the suspect is dangerous and may be armed. If you see, or believe you have seen, Mr. Decker call 911 immediately. Do not attempt to contact or approach him. Anyone with information is urged to call the Chelan County Sheriff's Office tip line at 509-667-6845 or submit your information here: Deputies with the Chelan County Sheriff's Office have released multiple photos and a surveillance video of Decker in the hopes that someone might recognize him. >>Deputies release photos, video of Travis Decker On Thursday, they released a new photo that emphasized Decker's tattoos. Here's a look at all of the photos we have so far: Throughout the week, the Wenatchee community has gathered around the girls' mother, Whitney Decker, in support of her immeasurable grief. Just hours after the news broke Tuesday, hundreds gathered at Memorial Park in Wenatchee to hold a vigil for 9-year-old Paityn, 8-year-old Evelyn, and 5-year-old Olivia Decker. Since then, a memorial of flowers and photos has grown as residents gather to mourn and remember the three young girls. 'The community of Wenatchee is here for you. We love you. We support you. We want the best for you and we are incredibly sorry that this happened,' said one community member. A friend of the family started a GoFundMe for the girls' mother. As of Tuesday night, the fundraiser had amassed almost $340,000 to support her with expenses and legal costs following the tragic loss of her three daughters. By Thursday evening, the fundraiser had eclipsed $1,000,000. Over 20,000 people across Washington, the U.S., and even other corners of the world donated towards the fundraiser, leaving messages of support for Whitney and sharing their own experiences with grief. 'When one mother cries, we all cry,' said Amy Edwards, one of the fundraiser organizers and a friend of Whitney's, echoing a sentiment heard throughout the week. 'They were so beautiful and so joyous,' Wenatchee community remembers Decker sisters Edwards joined another family friend, Mark Belton, at Memorial Park on Thursday to read a statement provided by the Decker family and highlight ways to help the family, like this community-organized Facebook group. 'They were the kind of children that everyone rooted for, looked forward to seeing, and held close in their hearts, They are cherished not just by the family but by our entire community, who watched them grow, perform, learn, and love,' they said. 'While nothing can undo this tragedy, we're hopeful these conversations honor Paityn, Olivia, and Evelyn's memory." According to Whitney's friends and family, she's hoping the outpouring of love and energy can be channeled into changing the systems she believes failed her daughters. KIRO 7 spoke with Whitney's attorney Arianna Cozart, who believes, as she says Whitney does, that a change in behavior, in addition to Travis' military background, training, and documented mental health struggles, should have been enough to warrant an Amber Alert. 'Frankly, when this was reported to the police and police were unable to reach Travis immediately, it should've issued an amber alert, and had it done so, those children might be alive,' said Cozart. Call for compassion, love, and action from Whitney Decker's friends and family To keep up with the latest details on the Decker girls, search for their father, and how you can support Whitney Decker in this heart-breaking story – download the KIRO 7 News APP. Stay informed with 24/7 updates.