Wa State police say this man killed his three young girls. Now, the National Guard is helping the search for him.
Over one hundred police officers are looking for Travis Decker in parts of central and northern Washington State. The police say Decker knows how to live in the wilderness and could do so for weeks on end on his own.
The three girls, Olivia Decker (5 years old), Evelyn (8 years old), and Paityn (9 years old), were taken by Mr. Decker on May 30. On Monday, their bodies were found near a camping about 70 miles east of Seattle. A police report from Wenatchee, Wash., where the girls lived with their mother says that each child had a plastic bag over her head.
Parts of the wilderness near where the girls’ bodies were found have been closed to the public as the search for the killer has increased. Along with some cabins, trails, and roads in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, the U.S. Forest Service shut them down. The National Park Service shut down parts of the Lake Chelan National Recreation Area on Thursday. The area is in the North Cascades National Park Service Complex, which is north of the national forest.
Gov. Bob Ferguson promised on Friday to help with the investigation by sending resources from the National Guard and emergency funds.
Two helicopters from the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office helped with the search, and Mr. Ferguson said that more planes would come from the state. There is also help for the local cops from the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service.
The Chelan County Sheriff’s Office, which is in charge of the investigation, said in a news release on Friday that it had gotten more than 500 tips about Mr. Decker from the public. It also said that surveillance video and photos had been looked at by investigators and that dozens more police officers had come to help with the search.
There are three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of kidnapping against Mr. Decker, who is 32 years old. The federal government also charged him with escaping arrest on Thursday. Prosecutors say that Mr. Decker had searched Google many times for information about moving to Canada in the days before he disappeared with his girls. Court records show that he searched for things like “how to move to canada,” “how to relocate to canada,” and “jobs canada.”
It wasn’t far from where the girls’ bodies were found that Mr. Decker’s pickup truck was found near the Rock Island site. The sheriff’s office said in a statement on Wednesday that Mr. Decker is thought to be “well versed in wilderness survival and capable of spending days or even weeks in the wilderness on his own and with very little equipment.” He used to be in the military.
“While looking for him, this can be a problem, but our staff is well-equipped and ready to find and arrest him,” the office said.
The girls’ mother, who is no longer married to Mr. Decker, reported them missing on May 30. Because Mr. Decker had been having “mental health issues,” she told the police that she was afraid for their safety.
People who live in rural areas of Chelan, Kittitas, King, Snohomish, and Okanogan Counties were told to be careful by doing things like locking their doors and turning on their outside lights. The sheriff’s office told people that if they see Mr. Decker, they should stay away from him and call 911.
