Remains found in Washington confirmed to be fugitive dad wanted in killing of 3 daughters
The authorities have confirmed that the remains found in a remote part of the state of Washington were those of Travis Decker, the veteran of the American army accused in the horrible murder of his three young girls and the subject of a one -month -old man’s hunt.
The sheriff of the County of Chelan, Mike Morrison, said Thursday that officials had received the results of the DNA of the laboratory of the crime of Washington State Patrol confirming the identity of the remains.
The clothes recovered from the scene also belonged to Decker, he said.
Morrison apologized to the girls’ mother, Whitney Decker, how long it took to find Decker.
“But I hope you can rest more easily at night knowing that Travis is taken into account,” said Morrison. “He died. Our DNA results confirm this, which will bring our case closer.”
He said officials are still waiting for a possible cause and a time of death of the coroner.
A psychologist pointed out authorities to a mountain of 7,500 feet east of Leavenworth, Washington, Morrison said: “And his ideas and advice brought us to an important field to find out where we finally located Mr. Decker. Again, we could not have done so by ourselves.”
The announcement reached after the County Sheriff Bureau of Chelan said last week that the remains were found in a wooded area south of Leavenworth, nearly 120 miles east of Seattle.
This area was not far from the remote campsite where the bodies of the girls of Decker – Evelyn, 8 years old; Paitact, 9; And Olivia Decker, 5 years old – were found with bags above their heads on June 2.
The girls had been linked to the zipper, according to an affidavit in support of an arrest warrant, and the abandoned pick-up of Decker was found near the campsite with two bloody handshakes on the tailgate.
The County Legalist said that the girls died by suffocation. Decker, 32, was accused of murder and kidnapping in their death. He was also wanted on a federal charge – an illegal flight to avoid prosecution.
The authorities have not identified potential reason. In the Affidavit, a detective noted that Decker – who was divorced from the mother of his daughters – refused to sign a parental plan which forced him to request a mental health treatment and the management of the anger of domestic violence.
The girls had been with Decker for a visit on May 30 when he failed to return them, triggering an intensive search that covered hundreds of square miles through a robust state strip.
There have been dozens and dozens of potential observations in the weeks following, the authorities said, including one who led the investigators as distant as the National Sawo teeth forest. This observation turned out to be false.
Decker, who was described by the authorities as an exterior that was going to be “out of network” for months, seems to have been seen only once, in an area south of Leavenworth, when the follow -up teams spotted an off -piste hiker who ran from their helicopter.
