Whitney Decker, her family and her ex-husband’s family are all cooperating with the investigation but have requested privacy. She agreed to allow Cozart to speak on her behalf.
Cozart said Travis Decker, who was diagnosed with complex post-traumatic stress disorder and a borderline personality disorder after leaving active service, has been struggling with deteriorating mental health.
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Cozart said Travis Decker had been desperately seeking mental health services from Veterans Affairs and a veterans crisis line but was ultimately left to struggle in isolation.
“When you have a vet who is suffering from complex PTSD and other mental health issues, they do not have the mental bandwidth” to schedule needed exams and evaluations, she said. “This was a tragedy that could’ve been completely avoided with proper funding of mental health services for veterans.
“Whitney believes, as I do, that something broke inside of him,” Cozart said. “Travis would not have done what he did if he was himself. He clearly had some sort of break and everything that he had been living with, everything that had been bottled up inside of him for so long as far as trauma, just won out.”
Very sad, but not that uncommon: Travis was unable to fit into the civilian life after his Army service. This is something that any country that has army vets experiences.
JMO, of course, probably something was falling apart inside his brain way earlier and the process culminated in him quitting the army. He stopped fitting in. Why? Genetics, or possible TBE (we don’t know but might consider), or both.
I also wonder if there was substance use? Even in a homeless campground, one can easily forage for magic mushrooms, for example. I have a feeling that there could have been something lesser-known on board. Something that contributed into the overall situation.
The story is incredibly sad. The bizarre part is there, too. Give or take, there were no red flags to predict that he’d kill three daughters. All the diagnoses thrown around, BPD, NPD, PTSD do not even scratch the surface. His poor wife didn’t see that he was a danger; neither did his friends, the court or the doctors. What I read about Travis, sadly, indicates that he didn’t look like a walking menace. The process destroying his brain was well concealed from everyone.
Perhaps the reason he left the house was that he had these homicidal thoughts for a long time. And while it is true that most VA hospitals are located in Western WA and the one in Walla-Walla is too far from Wenachee, there are Zoom groups for vets. I think the reason he avoided treatment was the fear that the true diagnosis, when made, would put a huge cross on his potential army career.
I fail to guess what he suffers from. I think it is not something that is easily diagnosed. All that we objectively see is a huge “downward drift” in his life. One wonders if he left the house when the homolicidal thoughts got worse. But he missed his family, too, so he’d visit them. And then one day, that blackness brewing inside broke through when he was with the girls. I don’t believe that he planned anything. JMO.
Why is he running away now? Same thing, he is ill. I am not sure that he thinks in terms of “crime” or “guilt”. I wonder if it is some form of delirium, but it is strictly MOO.
He is very dangerous. I hope he is caught without accidents.
Something in the story reminds me of the Texas tower sniper.
JMO.
for Whitney Decker just hit one million dollars. Heartwarming.
www.kxly.com
www.google.ca
- maybe it's because I have no knowledge about tracking at allwww.fox13seattle.com
