LEAVENWORTH, Wash. — The Chelan County Sheriff’s announced that they have found human remains in a remote area that are believed to be that of Travis Decker.
This week, the US Marshals Service Pacific Northwest Violent Offender Task Force headed up a search, including Chelan County Sheriff’s Office, Washington State Patrol, US Border Patrol, US Forest Service, Spokane County Sheriff’s Office, and the FBI.
During that search, skeletal and decomposed human remains were found in a remote wooded area west of Leavenworth.
According to the U.S. Marshals Service, a dive team with the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office also found a key fob in Icicle Creek, hundreds of yards downstream from the campground where the girls bodies were found.
Investigators said the key fob was consistent with the key fob that would belong to Decker’s truck.
KIRO 7 News confirmed the possible remains were found just 0.74 miles away from the Rock Island campground, where the bodies of Paityn, Evelyn, and Olivia were found.
Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison told KIRO 7 that the possible Decker remains were found on Grindstone Mountain, off Icicle Road.
Crews had to be dropped in via a Spokane County helicopter due to the rough terrain.
Drones and cadaver dogs helped locate the remains.
While the remains will need to be positively identified, preliminary findings suggest that the remains belong to Decker, the sheriff’s office said.
Morrison told KIRO 7 that some items found near the remains, like clothing, were similar to what Decker was wearing when he left. Crews also found “personal items” but did not specify what those were.
Law enforcement says Decker kidnapped and killed his three young daughters-- Paityn (9), Evelyn (8), and Olivia (5)-- on May 30 during a scheduled custody visit.
He has been wanted locally and federally ever since.
On June 2, Decker’s truck was found unoccupied near the Rock Island Campground.
The bodies of girls were found nearby.
During the search for Decker, law enforcement warned that he had military survival training and was likely in remote areas. Several areas in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest were closed as crews scoured the terrain for Decker.
What may have happened?
In an exclusive interview with KIRO 7 in June, the girls’ mother, Whitney Decker, said there have never been any problems with visitations with Travis in the past.
According to documents filed for custodial interference, Whitney and Travis were married for seven years but had been divorced for several years. She said the divorce was civil.
She told investigators that they had a parenting plan in place by the courts for the divorce, and when Travis lost his housing, those plans changed to accommodate that.
She also denied any domestic violence incidents in their marriage but said that he would have moments where he tried to exert power or control over her.
Toward the end of the marriage, he was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, and Whitney did not believe he was on any medications for that, court filings said.
Travis was supposed to seek mental health treatment and anger management counseling under the parenting plan, but never did, court filings said.
A GoFundMe has been set up to help Whitney Decker pay for funeral expenses, legal costs, and to help her rebuild after the traumatic losses of her daughters.
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