Travis Decker confirmed dead as DNA matches remains found last week in Washington state: officials
Human remains found last week in Washington state were confirmed to belong to Travis Decker — who was declared dead this week after a three-month manhunt for the father accused of killing his three daughters.
“He is deceased, our DNA results confirm that, and that brings a close to this case,” Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison said during a Thursday night press conference.
Morrison said authorities are “happy to bring a close to this dark chapter.”
The human remains were found in the Icicle River drainage in Chelan County on Sept. 18 — less than a mile from the scene of the disturbing crime.
Morrison said the Chelan County Coroner’s Office is still working to determine an exact cause and time of Decker’s death, but that the process could take “months.”
The Chelan County Sheriff’s Office said it found the body in a “remote wooded area south of the town of Leavenworth.” Officials initially believed it was Decker’s body because the clothes matched what he was last seen wearing.
Morrison said law enforcement only recovered a “majority” of Decker’s corpse, including two feet, femurs and vertebrae — not a full body.
“Fate had what it was,” he said.
The sheriff admitted that the only reason it took so long to identify the remains was because he’d requested an extremely comprehensive report to help dispel any would-be “conspiracy theories.”
The delay came after Morrison said US Marshals assisting with the investigation “jumped the gun” and announced Decker’s death solely based on the clothing found nearby.
Investigators used AI-powered drones to survey the area and discovered an “anomaly,” and upon further inspection, found clothing and human remains — including two feet — that they believed at the time belonged to the deranged dad.
“Going through the processing of the decomposition that we found amongst that clothing has been challenging for the State Patrol’s Crime Lab, but they were able to get DNA off that sample,” Morrison said at a news conference on Friday, Sept. 19.
Law enforcement officials said the “extremely complex” terrain was the reason it took over three months to find Decker’s remains despite the close proximity to where his daughters’ bodies were found.
Decker is suspected of murdering daughters Paityn, 9, Evelyn, 8, and Olivia, 5, after their bodies were found with plastic bags over their heads and zip ties around their wrists close to Decker’s truck parked near the Rock Island Campground on June 2.
Decker, 33 — who only had limited custody — had taken them from their Wenatchee home three days earlier for a planned visit.
After divorcing his wife, Whitney, a few years earlier, Decker’s mental health and stability had been on the decline, leading a judge to reduce his visitation with the girls to every other weekend, Whitney’s lawyer Arianna Cozart previously told The Post.
The lawyer said Decker hadn’t received much help after leaving active duty with the US Army Rangers and seeking emergency services for veterans.
“What Whitney believes is that the girls would still be alive if our veteran system and the resources, the mental health resources available to our veterans, was adequately funded,” Cozart said.
“There is not one instance that shows that Travis did not love those girls and was not a loving, active father.”
Whitney told detectives that on the last visit, her ex seemed “quieter than usual, which was out of character,” KOIN reported, citing an affidavit.
Decker had searched online about moving to Canada and working there, and the girls’ bodies were found just 11 miles from the Pacific Crest Trail, which leads to the border, according to an affidavit by Deputy US Marshal Keegan Stanley.
