We want grief to only be for long, full lives, not short, sweet ones that have barely just begun. Tonight at 10, breaking news out of Washington state tonight with ties to Wisconsin, *** vigil there for three young girls found dead. Their father now charged with killing them, and tonight his family says he’s from Pewaukee. Travis Decker is *** wanted man at this hour. Investigators just updated us to say that they are still actively searching for him. 12 News Kendall Keyes leads us off with the court documents and the mystery about what happened. Whitney Decker speaking to *** Seattle news crew Monday about the father of her three girls, Travis Decker. I don’t personally think that he’s dangerous. I think that he is impulsive and he loves his children very much. The girls reported missing Friday by their mother after they did not return from *** scheduled visit with Decker. I think that he’s having *** Hard time and just needs something to make him feel better and for him that’s the girls. Her words haunting in hindsight. Decker now charged in the murder of his three daughters, 9-year-old Peyton, 8-year-old Evelyn, and 5-year-old Olivia. Family 12 News spoke to in Wisconsin say the 32-year-old grew up in Pewaukee. Monday, investigators found Decker’s truck abandoned at *** campground in Chelan County, Washington. According to court documents, 12 news obtained approximately 75 to 100 yards past where the vehicle was located and down *** small embankment, CCSO deputies located the bodies of three school-aged children. Investigators saying each has *** plastic bag over the head. The likely cause of death was *** fixation, and their wrists were also zip tied. Kendall Keys joins us from the newsroom tonight. Kendall Decker’s on the run right now, right, Diana, and they say he could be dangerous because he’s former military with extensive training. Within the hour, law enforcement in Washington held *** news conference calling for Decker to turn himself in. Travis, if you’re listening, this is your opportunity to turn yourself in. Do the right thing, do what you need to do and take accountability for your actions. We’re not going to go away. We’re not going to rest, and we’re going to make sure we find you. Pewaukee police say they’re not involved in the search. We have yet to hear back from the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Office if they’ve been asked to assist in the investigation given Decker’s ties to Pewaukee.
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Authorities say they have found remains they believe are Travis Decker, an ex-soldier wanted in the deaths of his three daughters, in the mountains of Washington state.The Chelan County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Thursday that it was processing the site with the help of the Washington State Patrol crime scene response team. They will follow up with DNA analysis, it said.Video above: Wisconsin native on the run after death of his three daughters in Washington“While positive identification has not yet been confirmed, preliminary findings suggest the remains belong to Travis Decker,” the statement said.Decker, 32, has been wanted since June 2, when a sheriff’s deputy found his truck and the bodies of his three daughters — 9-year-old Paityn Decker, 8-year-old Evelyn Decker and 5-year-old Olivia Decker — at a campground outside Leavenworth.Three days earlier, he failed to return the girls to their mother’s home in Wenatchee, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) east of Seattle, following a scheduled visit.Decker was an infantryman in the Army from March 2013 to July 2021 and deployed to Afghanistan for four months in 2014. He had training in navigation, survival and other skills, authorities said, and once spent more than two 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.Last September, Decker’s ex-wife, Whitney Decker, wrote in a petition to modify their parenting plan that his mental health issues had worsened and that he had become increasingly unstable. He was often living out of his truck, and she sought to restrict him from having overnight visits with their daughters until he found housing.An autopsy determined the girls’ cause of death to be suffocation, the sheriff’s office said. They had been bound with zip ties and had plastic bags placed over their heads.
Authorities say they have found remains they believe are Travis Decker, an ex-soldier wanted in the deaths of his three daughters, in the mountains of Washington state.
The Chelan County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Thursday that it was processing the site with the help of the Washington State Patrol crime scene response team. They will follow up with DNA analysis, it said.
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Video above: Wisconsin native on the run after death of his three daughters in Washington
“While positive identification has not yet been confirmed, preliminary findings suggest the remains belong to Travis Decker,” the statement said.
Decker, 32, has been wanted since June 2, when a sheriff’s deputy found his truck and the bodies of his three daughters — 9-year-old Paityn Decker, 8-year-old Evelyn Decker and 5-year-old Olivia Decker — at a campground outside Leavenworth.
Three days earlier, he failed to return the girls to their mother’s home in Wenatchee, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) east of Seattle, following a scheduled visit.
Decker was an infantryman in the Army from March 2013 to July 2021 and deployed to Afghanistan for four months in 2014. He had training in navigation, survival and other skills, authorities said, and once spent more than two 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.
Last September, Decker’s ex-wife, Whitney Decker, wrote in a petition to modify their parenting plan that his mental health issues had worsened and that he had become increasingly unstable. He was often living out of his truck, and she sought to restrict him from having overnight visits with their daughters until he found housing.
An autopsy determined the girls’ cause of death to be suffocation, the sheriff’s office said. They had been bound with zip ties and had plastic bags placed over their heads.
