Found Deceased Olivia 5, Evelyn 8 & Paityn Decker 9, Endangered Alert, visitation w/ homeless dad Travis Decker 32, wh 2017 GMC Sierra PU, Wenatchee, 30 May 2025

[Sundog]

Maybe he just couldn't fight the voices in his head anymore. We don't understand it or even believe it but they do and that's the tragedy.

That could certainly be the case if he had a delusional disorder at the time of the killings. We just don't know at this point.

 

[justtrish]

Just thinking about his searching for Canada and jobs. If he was being bullied at his work (and seriously this is sad also. adults bullying other adults at work. Why can't people just do their job and go home.) and owed child support, had a fender bender, no insurance ticket. Curious if the google searches were after his ticket. I read he called the girls and told them he was going to jail, then came and apologized to them. So was he literally just thinking of running away to Canada and for some reason he instead harmed his girls. I know many are reporting as if the going to Canada searches was him pre-planning to harm the girls and flee to Canada, but what if he was going to run away to Canada and just leave his life behind and instead, he harmed the girls and is not in fact headed to Canada now? I've seen some say maybe the google searches were planned to lead authorities away, but what if he was literally just thinking, I could go to Canada since my work here is awful, I don't have a house, etc. He tried to get back with his ex-wife, that didn't work. he was just going to leave. Maybe it wasn't so much pre planning at all. Also, if he went to the campground the day before, maybe he was camping there and didn't go there to prepare a spot to kill the girls, he may have just been staying there.

All this is my opinion. Just thinking maybe he was so cold blooded to plan to kill them for weeks, maybe that was the only option he felt he had after he picked them up. Does not make what he did any better, but I think many of these things that happened leading up to this can be explained by him also just thinking he would run away from this life.

 

[Sundog]

JMO MOO, just my opinion, the tragedy is that did not commit suicide or leave before he decided to take action.
Millions and millions of people suffering grievious MH afflictions do not do things like this, killing is an offensive a choice.

Paternal filicide, like maternal filicide, can be the result of mental health issues, including delusional disorders. TD could have been having a psychotic break with reality. There are certainly a lot of red flags pointing in that direction.

Fathers who kill their children: an analysis of the literature - PubMed

Roughly half of filicidal acts are committed by fathers, though the majority of the literature focuses on maternal filicide. This paper reviews the existing literature on paternal filicide with the goal of identifying characteristics common among these fathers. Fathers who killed their children...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[K9Enzo]

Travis Decker didn’t snap - he slaughtered with intent. Plenty of people battle demons without murdering their children one by one. imo

 

[cattlekate]

what was his child-support obligatons?

 

[Boxer]

Paternal filicide, like maternal filicide, can be the result of mental health issues, including delusional disorders. TD could have been having a psychotic break with reality. There are certainly a lot of red flags pointing in that direction.

Fathers who kill their children: an analysis of the literature - PubMed

Roughly half of filicidal acts are committed by fathers, though the majority of the literature focuses on maternal filicide. This paper reviews the existing literature on paternal filicide with the goal of identifying characteristics common among these fathers. Fathers who killed their children...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

MOO almost all people who did some...ent of planning of thinking before and after.

 

[placard]

Exactly my fears. We have a broken VA system and many of the mental health care workers have lost employment in the new administration's cuts so there are going to be more and bigger issues if we as a country don't get our hands around our need to properly care for and prioritize their mental health concerns. This has become all to common in the last 20 years...too many wars with not enough help when back in the world. It's tragic all around. Moo

NG members only go to the VA when they are full-time or have a service-connected disability.

 

[placard]

I have thought this quite a few times as well....

Question is where did this all happen. That area/campground would have been packed with people. 20 years ago we went camping up there at 8 mile campground closer to Leavenworth. We drove up to that campground and there were people everywhere that weekend. We got there on a Thursday and barely got a spot at 8 mile. Everything else was full at places you reserved (Chatter Creek) and that campground which is first come first serve. It's not hard to go to camping areas just over the mountains from Puget Sound and see people everywhere.

 

[placard]

Wasn't he stationed in GA?

That's where Army Ranger training takes place. Fort Benning.

 

[placard]

Yesterday I opined that I doubted a revenge motive. Then we learned that TD had brought up returning to the family and had (sensibly) been rebuffed. In light of that, I think revenge could have possibly figured in....but his mind must be a mish-mash and coming up with 'why' likely wouldn't be a simple A + B = C.

I just opened my front door to this weekend's "Wenatchee World" and the headline reads " 'The system failed us all' : Wenatchee mother calls for change after daughters' deaths". Please may it be so.

Sounds like he was going down a dark well of despair and depression. Clearly not in his right mind.

 

[Kaley Smith]

Honestly, I don’t think he drugged them. That would have been kind. He chose cruelty.

He chose a horrific way to kill his children. Painful, tortuous, long, and he watched. He had to have watched because he couldn’t do all 3 at once. And then, he tossed them down a hill like garbage.

I have no compassion for this evil creature even if he suffered from mental illness. I don’t care. He planned and made choices. He knew it was wrong. He’s either on the run or dead. Either way he fled. He knew there would be consequences for his actions.

I repeat…he made choices.

I’m so over these so called “parents” who murder their children for whatever reason. I am sick to death of it.

I hope they find him alive. I want him to face the rest of his miserable life in fear of what other inmates may do to him.

MOO

I agree with you. I think we often make excuses for murderers because we can't understand that level of cruelty. This guy did internet searches and made a plan. He didn't have a sudden psychotic break in my opinion. I'm not letting him off the hook.

 

[Glowing Chicken]

There is no logic to his actions.

He didn’t just kill his children. He tortured them. He watched them struggle to breathe. He watched the terror envelope them.

He planned it.

He is evil personified.

MOO

There is no logic for a normal mind.

But to go in the opposite direction and imagine very disturbing scenarios doesn’t help.

I'm hoping he drugged them so they were unconscious when he put the bags over their heads. He may have zip tied them to stop them clawing at the bags if they became semi-conscious. It's hard to fathom the level of cruelty toward his own children. And if he did remove the zip ties why not the plastic bags. What message does that send? Depending on how long it took to find the bodies the COD could have been undermined.

Yes, that’s exactly how I feel about all the information about him coming together.

He was abandoned and feeling inadequate and always took consequences

In his probably disturbed mind not making his children suffer was an act of kindness.

He send them off with drugged coca at their campfire. Put the bags over their heads to let them peacefully go into a better realm.

Zipties were for not having their brain beat their drowsiness while dying.

 

[bestill]

No news? No results of the autopsy showing time of death or cause?

 

[AcerPacer]

There is no logic for a normal mind.

But to go in the opposite direction and imagine very disturbing scenarios doesn’t help.

Yes, that’s exactly how I feel about all the information about him coming together.

He was abandoned and feeling inadequate and always took consequences

In his probably disturbed mind not making his children suffer was an act of kindness.

He send them off with drugged coca at their campfire. Put the bags over their heads to let them peacefully go into a better realm.

Zipties were for not having their brain beat their drowsiness while dying.

"Zipties were for not having their brain beat their drowsiness while dying."

Eh?

 

[Glowing Chicken]

"Zipties were for not having their brain beat their drowsiness while dying."

Eh?

Your brain will fight for your survival.
So even if unconcious… hands might be instructed by the brain to remove the obstacle that blocks oxygen.

I was trying to put it simply but then made it worse. I’m sorry.

 

[annemc2]

"Zipties were for not having their brain beat their drowsiness while dying."

Eh?

I think to suppress/override the instinct to try and remove the bags. Even if they were drowsy they might have had enough physical energy to attempt any way to breathe (including ripping or taking off the bags) due to survival reflexes.

(no worries Chicken - you're good!!)

 

[Seattle1]

I’ve thought about that myself. Similar to the Santa Barbara Dad Matthew Coleman who fled with his kids to Mexico and killed them with a spear fishing gun. He was in full psychosis.

I wouldn’t be surprised if there might be a religious aspect to this as well, given that he quit talking to the Pastor in Georgia. I’ve very curious about that, how did he know this person?

TD was stationed at Fort Benning, GA before the family relocated to WA State.

I thought about Matt Coleman too, and don't see TD ever surrendering! Four years later, on court-ordered psychotropic meds, Coleman remains in a federal mental ward-- not yet competent for trial. Eventually, we'll see a zombie sitting in court, nodding to his attorneys, where he'll be convicted, and formally returned to the hospital ward for life. Another horrific tragedy for all.

 

[Boxer]

Sounds like he was going down a dark well of despair and depression. Clearly not in his right mind.

Many people get profoundly depressed and meet with utter despair, but hurt no one. MOO The choice element is individual.

 

[Boxer]

That could certainly be the case if he had a delusional disorder at the time of the killings. We just don't know at this point.

After the episode he should have been at the police station or a church weeping, not out in the wilderness playing cops and robbers (is he is alive.)

 

[MizStery]

In my opinion the fact that he tried to reconcile their marriage and she rejected him was key in this situation.
The girls suffered, had to watch each other being zip tied and dying. He probably watch them die in those minutes or walked away with the knowledge they suffered those long minutes. This feels like punishment for his ex wife.

Jmo

Did TD have the ability/cognitive or mental capacity to understand/comprehend that there is law that punishes citizens for murder? Was he aware that LE/society would hold him accountable for the suffocation of his 3 daughters. We absolutely know he planned & made preparations to evade arrest/capture by LE because of his guilty conscience. He is a coward and his #1 priority after murdering his 3 daughters was to hide/conceal his whereabouts. Why because he realizes that when/if captured the public by way of the judicial system will hand out a harsh punishment for the suffocation of Paityn, Evelyn and Olivia.
My Own Opinion
Please feel free to disagree. I read everyone comments. I respect all Webseluths posters opinion.