Human
Remains Identified as Ex-Soldier Travis Decker, Wanted for Killing His 3 Daughters
Pictures, flowers and candles mark a makeshift memorial,
June 3, 2025, in Wenatchee, Washington State, in honor of Olivia, Paityn and
Evelyn Decker, who were found dead near Leavenworth after their father Travis
Decker failed to return them after a scheduled visitation. (Nick Wagner/The
Seattle Times via AP)
Posted: September 26, 2025 --- Associated
Press
Published September 26, 2025, at
6:10am ET
WENATCHEE, Washington State — Forensic tests confirmed that human remains found on a remote mountain in Washington State this month were those of Travis Decker, a former soldier wanted for killing his 3 young daughters last spring, officials confirmed. His remains were discovered on a steep, remote, wooded slope part way up Grindstone Mountain in central Washington, less than a mile from the campsite where the bodies of 9-year-old Paityn Decker, 8-year-old Evelyn Decker and 5-year-old Olivia Decker were found on June 2nd, the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office said.
Law enforcement teams had been searching for more than 3 months for Decker, 32, before the sheriff's office announced last week it had located human remains believed to be his. Sheriff Mike Morrison said that DNA tests on clothing found at the scene as well as from the remains matched Decker. The sheriff said investigators wanted to honor the girls’ memory by solving the case, and he apologized to their mother, Whitney Decker, that it took so long.
"I hope you can rest easier at night knowing that Travis is accounted for,” Morrison said. Decker had been with his daughters on a scheduled visit but failed to bring them back to his former wife, who a year ago said that his mental health issues had worsened and that he had become increasingly unstable. He was often living out of his truck, she said in a petition seeking to restrict him from having overnight visits with them.
A deputy found Decker’s truck as well as the girls’ bodies 3 days after Decker failed to return them to their mother’s house. Autopsies found the girls had been suffocated. Decker was an infantryman in the Army from March 2013 to July 2021 and deployed to Afghanistan for 4 months in 2014. He had training in navigation, survival and other skills, authorities said and once spent more than 2 months living in the backwoods off the grid.
More than 100 officials with an array of State and Federal agencies searched hundreds of square miles, much of it mountainous and remote, by land, water and air during the on and off search. The U.S. Marshals Service offered a reward of up to $20,000 for information leading to his capture. At one point, authorities thought they spotted Decker near a remote alpine lake after receiving a tip from hikers. Officials say the coroner’s office continues to work on determining the cause and time of his death.
