Authorities in Washington state are focusing their search for an ex-soldier wanted in the deaths of his three young daughters in a neighborhood south of where their bodies were discovered more than a week earlier.
The Chelan County Sheriff’s Office issued an alert on 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 say what prompted them to focus on that area, only that “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,” according to the alert. “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 found 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 approximately 11 miles (18 kilometers) from the Pacific Crest Trail, which runs from the US-Mexico border to the US-Canada border, and is linked to the newly focused search area via backcountry trails.
Decker served as an infantryman in the United States Army from March 2013 to July 2021, including a four-month deployment to Afghanistan in 2014.
According to authorities, he has received navigation, survival, and other training. He once spent more than two months living in the woods, off the grid.
Officials searched hundreds of square miles, much of it mountainous and remote, on land, water, and air.
In a petition to modify their parenting plan filed last September, his ex-wife, Whitney Decker, stated that his mental health issues had worsened and that he had become increasingly unstable, frequently living out of his truck.
She attempted to prevent him from spending overnights with the girls until he found housing.
An autopsy on Friday determined that the cause of death was suffocation, according to the sheriff’s office. The girls were restrained with zip ties and had plastic bags placed over their heads.
