SEATTLE — Authorities have closed a wide swath of popular campgrounds and backpacking areas along the Pacific Crest Trail in Washington as they search for a former Army soldier wanted in the deaths of his three young daughters.
Bob Ferguson announced Friday night that he was ordering the state’s National Guard to help with the search, saying “we will be providing helicopter transportation for law enforcement as they search in remote areas.”
“The brutal murder of these young children has shocked our state,” he added in a statement on social media.
“I’m committed to supporting law enforcement as they seek justice for Paityn, Evelyn and Olivia.”
From 2014 to 2016, he was an automatic rifleman with the 75th Ranger Regiment at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington.
SEATTLE — In an effort to find a former Army soldier suspected of being involved in the deaths of his three young daughters, authorities have closed a large portion of well-liked campgrounds and backpacking spots along Washington’s Pacific Crest Trail.
Four days after the girls, seven-year-old Paityn Decker, eight-year-old Evelyn Decker, and five-year-old Olivia Decker, were discovered dead at a secluded campsite outside of Leavenworth, dozens of more law enforcement officers from various agencies joined the investigation and search for Travis Caleb Decker, 32, on Friday.
After a planned visit, Decker failed to bring the girls back to their mother’s house in Wenatchee, which is about 100 miles (160 kilometers) east of Seattle, and the mother reported them missing on the evening of May 30.
Gov. “We will be providing helicopter transportation for law enforcement as they search in remote areas,” Bob Ferguson said Friday night when he announced that he was directing the state’s National Guard to assist with the search. “.
In a social media post, he also said, “The vicious killing of these young children has shocked our state.”. As law enforcement works to bring Paityn, Evelyn, and Olivia justice, I’m determined to stand by them. “.”.
According to a statement from the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office, over 500 tips had been received from the public, and over 100 officers were involved in the search, which took place across rocky terrain in the central Washington Cascade Mountains.
The statement stated, “As a precaution, we have been notified of and are coordinating with our neighboring counties in case Mr. Dot Decker passes through the forest into their jurisdiction.”.
Army spokesman Lt. said Decker served as an infantryman from March 2013 to July 2021 and was deployed to Afghanistan for four months in 2014. Colonel. Ruth Castro. He served as an automatic rifleman at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington from 2014 to 2016 with the 75th Ranger Regiment.
In a petition to change their parenting plan submitted last September, Whitney Decker, his ex-wife, claimed that he was living out of his truck more often and that his mental health problems had gotten worse. She wanted to prevent him from staying with the girls overnight until he was able to find a place to live.
She wrote, “He loves his girls very much and has made huge sacrifices to serve our country, but he has got to get better.”. “I absolutely don’t want to keep Travis away from the girls. dots. However, I cannot allow our girls to live in what is effectively a homeless shelter, sometimes unattended, with dozens of strange men, or to live with him in a tent or in his truck in both unknown places and extremely hot temperatures. “.
Those who own outbuildings, cabins, or remote homes were asked to keep them locked, leave the blinds open so law enforcement can see inside, and keep the lights on outside while authorities warned people to be alert for Decker.
Although it was unclear whether Decker was carrying a weapon, the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office stated that he should be regarded as dangerous. Information that resulted in his arrest could earn up to $20,000.
Friends Amy Edwards, who taught the girls in a theater program called “Short Shakespeareans,” and Mark Belton thanked supporters at a news conference Thursday after an online fundraiser for Whitney Decker raised over $1 million.
Edwards remarked, “Their spirit, curiosity, and laughter left a mark on all of us.”. “Everyone cheered for them, eagerly anticipated seeing them, and cherished them. “.”.
Whitney Decker, according to Edwards and Belton, hopes the tragedy leads to improvements in veterans’ mental health care and modifications to the state’s Amber Alert system. Wenatchee police requested that the Washington State Patrol issue an Amber Alert the night the girls were reported missing, but the patrol refused, stating that the case did not fit the requirements for one because it was a custody issue without an immediate threat.
Although the patrol did issue an “endangered missing person alert” the following day, mobile phone notifications are not sent in response to such orders.
Last weekend, as the search for the girls grew, Decker’s pickup was discovered by a sheriff’s deputy northwest of Leavenworth, near Rock Island Campground. The tailgate had two bloody handprints on it. According to an affidavit submitted in support of Decker’s murder and kidnapping charges, the girls’ bodies were found down a nearby embankment with proof that they had been strung together with zip ties.
To ascertain the time and manner of the girls’ deaths, County Coroner Wayne Harris stated on Friday that his office was awaiting pathology results.
That campground, located in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, and a sizable portion of the rocky terrain to the north were both subject to closure notices issued by authorities the day before. These included the Pacific Crest Trail, which stretches from the Canadian border to Mexico, and the area surrounding Stehekin, which is located at the northern end of Lake Chelan.
