The whereabouts of Travis Decker – the man police believe murdered his three young daughters in a Washington campground – has finally been determined by DNA results on human remains found last week not far from the scene of the crime.
Decker, a 33-year-old Army veteran, was declared dead this week after a three-month manhunt for the man, believed to be a survivalist, who authorities thought may have been evading capture in the Washington wilderness.
“He is deceased. Our DNA results confirm that, and that brings a close to this case,” Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison said during a press conference Thursday evening.
Morrison called the killings, the manhunt, and the discovery of his remains and articles of his clothing a “dark chapter” in the history of Chelan County.
The remains were found September 18 in the Icicle River drainage less than a mile from the location of the exceptionally disturbing crime, authorities said.
As Breitbart News reported, the brutality of the case generated national headlines after police revealed Decker’s three daughters — Paityn, 9; Evelyn, 8; and Olivia, 5 — were found June 2 “zip-tied and with plastic bags over their heads” near a campsite in the rugged Wenatchee National Forest.
Police found the girls’ bodies in the Rock Island Campground about 150 miles east of Seattle three days after they were reported missing by their mother Whitney, who had given them to her ex-husband for a planned custody visit.
A county medical examiner ruled the cause of the girls’ deaths homicide and the manner of death suffocation.
Decker’s abandoned pickup was found nearby on land police described as “rugged and heavily forested terrain” not far from the town of Leavenworth.
The Chelan County Coroner’s Office is still working to determine the cause and manner of Decker’s death, the sheriff said, cautioning that process could take months.
Officials initially believed it was Decker’s body when it was discovered earlier this week by members of a multi-agency task force because the clothes matched what the suspect was last seen wearing.
But earlier this week, local officials told news outlets that U.S. Marshalls, who were part of the task force involved in the manhunt, had “jumped the gun” in saying it was Decker because DNA results were still pending.
Morrison said law enforcement recovered a “majority” of Decker’s remains, including two feet, femurs and vertebrae, but not a full body.
In announcing the DNA confirmation, Sheriff Morrison said authorities wanted to “pay respects to Payten, Evelyn, and Olivia.”
“We wanted to show honor to them, let them know we’ve never forgotten them,” he continued. “To (their mother) Whitney we apologize it’s taken this long to get the closure, but I hope you can rest easier at night knowing that Travis is accounted for.”
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the author of the New York Times best seller House of Secrets and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
