Found Deceased WA - Olivia 5, Evelyn 8 & Paityn Decker 9, found dead, manhunt on for father, Travis Decker 32, wh 2017 GMC Sierra PU, Wenatchee, 30 May 2025 #2

[Onlyguessing23]

Updated summary.

Travis Decker timeline: How an 'active dad' ended up allegedly murdering his 3 daughters

It's been three months since Travis Decker went on the run after allegedly killing his three young daughters in Washington state. Here's a timeline of what we know.

abcnews.go.com

 

[RedHaus]

Statement. No news.

Update on the Search for Travis Decker | Federal Bureau of Investigation

FBI Seattle Special Agent in Charge W. Mike Herrington has released a new statement about the search for Travis Decker. While FBI Seattle is leading this search, the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office is still the lead agency in this investigation.

www.fbi.gov

Thanks.

I wonder why LE has not increased the long standing reward from $20K?

I'd think a higher reward could encourage bounty hunters, civilians, and those who may be helping TD (as LE has suggested) to come forward with information.

 

[Sundog]

He could have threatened them, he could have drugged them, he could have attacked them one by one out of sight of the others. All imply that he knew what he was doing and was calculating how best to kill all three.

MOO

He could do the same in a delusional state, we just don't know yet and may never know.

 

[iamshadow21]

He could do the same in a delusional state, we just don't know yet and may never know.

He could, but the bar for sanity in a courtroom is very low. Did he know what he was doing was wrong. Did he know it was harmful. Every indication seems to say yes, from what has been released to the public. And we have evidence of planning for before and after, suggesting premeditation.

Someone can be having a mental health crisis and not meet that threshold. Like that guy who shot people in that carpark the other week who claimed he was Jesus. He knew he was killing them and knew that was wrong, by his own admission. Will he get mitigation because he was in crisis? Probably. But he still conceded he was aware of the consequences of his actions, so that makes him responsible, legally.

MOO

 

[Charlot123]

I don't know why the police believes he is around Leavenworth. Granted, our map is like the Apls. But who said that TD chose to stay in the area afterwards? That he is still around? It makes zero sense to me.
There are fourteen active fires now in Eastern WA and a lot of people are evacuated. Maybe if he is in the area the fires would move him. But I think he is gone.

 

[Sundog]

He could, but the bar for sanity in a courtroom is very low. Did he know what he was doing was wrong. Did he know it was harmful. Every indication seems to say yes, from what has been released to the public. And we have evidence of planning for before and after, suggesting premeditation.

Someone can be having a mental health crisis and not meet that threshold. Like that guy who shot people in that carpark the other week who claimed he was Jesus. He knew he was killing them and knew that was wrong, by his own admission. Will he get mitigation because he was in crisis? Probably. But he still conceded he was aware of the consequences of his actions, so that makes him responsible, legally.

MOO

Killings done during a psychotic event would still require that the defendant be held accountable in a court of law, once the defendant is treated for the psychosis and is competent to stand trial. So TD, if alive and found, will not escape justice for the murder of his children even if he killed them while in a psychotic state. It would just mean that he would be hospitalized until declared competent to stand trial. Mothers and fathers who commit filicide during psychosis or due to certain other mental illnesses face justice once they are treated and declared competent to stand trial.

 

[Charlot123]

RSBM. I agree.

I never thought TD ran into the woods, as LE was so convinced he did. Maybe I'll understand LE's strategy once they're able to share it publicly.

If we assume TD planned his heinous crime and his escape, why would he seek refuge in deep forested and mountainous land that by October could kill him from cold, wet, starvation, and/or predation?

No, I contend, as I did early on, that TD likely had some sort of way out that put great distance between him and the crime scene (and LE) during what became a 3 day headstart.

Maybe a mountain bike? Maybe a small motorcycle? Something that fit, obscured, in his bed truck bed?

TD had three days before any national news flash about the death of his girls. So the public, and perhaps LE in neighboring states or countries were not looking for TD. If he had a new ID / Passport from the dark web, he could be anywhere.

But given his mental health - is he still in a psychotic state as some have opined here? - he is likely in an urban homeless community or a large survivalist / prepper colony in a remote area.

IMO he is long gone, or dead deep, deep, in the forest. Either way, while I wish for closure, I suspect this may be a decades long search that may never end.

ETA: IMO and tidy up text and format.

He may be in Wyoming. Somewhere where news don't travel fast, he can potentially go by a different (tribal?) name and expect to be protected. If he is a tribal member, his daughters are, too, but he can tell the people around a bunch of nonsense and the case hasn't gotten major national traction.

BTW, I think he is very sick, and not just with PTSD. His sleep symptoms might point to dissociation. But it doesn't make him less dangerous.

I guess we can discuss him as he is not a victim. Do you think he has fetal alcohol syndrome?

 

[Charlot123]

Thanks.

I wonder why LE has not increased the long standing reward from $20K?

I'd think a higher reward could encourage bounty hunters, civilians, and those who may be helping TD (as LE has suggested) to come forward with information.

With what he has done, they can increase it to 300K and many will donate. I wonder if they don't believe he can be found this way.

I just came from the area yesterday. Huge land, all around I-90. Very scattered farms. High mountains. It is really like the Alps only no snow but burned grass (like hay) instead. It might be possible to see a traveler, occasionally from a helicopter or a drone, but one can also live there forever unnoticed. It is to hilly to get densely populated. I think he can survive there but there is a higher chance that he's long gone. Even nutters like him need occasional human contact. Not what you can find there.

Now with the fires, the quality of air is horrible. I feel very sorry for people living there, except for one.

 

[Charlot123]

Alive, no, I doubt he can pull it off forever. Deceased, maybe forever? Hope not. I just think about the vastness of the region. Somebody told me that if you look at the wilderness from the air you get a sense of it, and I keep going back to that.

Travis was likely strong enough at the outset to put numerous miles between himself and the scene of the crime if he stayed in the woods. That's a lot of square yards to eyeball.

He can pull it off.

Where i was born, the whole area behind the Ural ridge is not too populated, especially Siberia. The rules, for centuries, were, if you were willing to settle, survive the cold and work, no one would ask you where you were from. Tons of people were escapees.

Is there such an area in the US?
Depopulated, where a pair of hands is always needed, with bad climate and people not asking too many questions?

 

[Charlot123]

What a dirtbag. No.sympathy.
I am tortured imagiining how he was able to tie those bags on all 3 at once. One or more would have fought back or ran. Hope they find his remains beyond a doubt. I don't think it was ever released (?), whether they were bruised trying to fight back or get away.

I am trying not to even think of it. To not imagine it. (And where is his dog, this rascal's?). I feel horribly for his poor ex-wife and think that we, as the country, owe her some closure and help. I honestly hope that she can find the strength to start anew. But for this, she needs either an answer or a witness protection program. It is up to her, but it may take years to find this criminal, TD. In the meantime, she needs to be helped...to plan her life. JMO.

 

[Bekind89]

I am trying not to even think of it. To not imagine it. (And where is his dog, this rascal's?). I feel horribly for his poor ex-wife and think that we, as the country, owe her some closure and help. I honestly hope that she can find the strength to start anew. But for this, she needs either an answer or a witness protection program. It is up to her, but it may take years to find this criminal, TD. In the meantime, she needs to be helped...to plan her life. JMO.

The fear and grief she must live in is unimaginable.
That poor lady.

 

[nao]

Moo..had he been physically violent with his wife previously?

 

[sasha17]

Moo..had he been physically violent with his wife previously?

It sounds like some "volatile behaviors that seemed concerning", whatever that means. Perhaps verbal threats or aggressive behaviors, but not physical violence?

"In September 2024, a judge granted Whitney and Decker a parenting plan with limitations.. The new parenting plan included a psychiatric evaluation for Travis Decker, mandatory mental health counseling, and a domestic violence evaluation, according to court documents. He was permitted to see the children every other weekend. Travis Decker had “displayed some volatile behaviors that seemed concerning towards Whitney, never towards the girls,” Cozart said."

https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/08/us/travis-decker-daughters-washington-manhunt

 

[seasideForest]

He may be in Wyoming. Somewhere where news don't travel fast, he can potentially go by a different (tribal?) name and expect to be protected. If he is a tribal member, his daughters are, too,

RSBM

Is there any fact-based reason to suggest he might be a tribal member? And from Wyoming? That's not where he originates.

 

[BreakingNews]

Thanks.

I wonder why LE has not increased the long standing reward from $20K?

I'd think a higher reward could encourage bounty hunters, civilians, and those who may be helping TD (as LE has suggested) to come forward with information.

In Australia, rewards up to $1m have been offered, but this is really to get those closest to the crook, to dob that person in. Thankfully we don't have bounty hunters.

 

[Charlot123]

RSBM

Is there any fact-based reason to suggest he might be a tribal member? And from Wyoming? That's not where he originates.

He may be not. I interpreted "Peweaukee native" as the native. It is a city in Wisconsin. The city, however, is linked to Powatomi tribe and the name Pewaukee is thought to come from their language. Of the other tribes living in the area (Menominee, Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) and Ojibwe (Chippewa)) – now only Ho-Chunk still remains.

What we know about Travis Decker, the Pewaukee native accused of killing his daughters in Washington

Washinton police have been searching for Travis Decker, 32, since he did not return his three daughters to their mother May 30.

www.yahoo.com

Wyoming is my mistake.

 

[seasideForest]

@Charlot123
Any Town + native just means "from that town originally" especially in the sense 'born there / grew up there' so NOTHING to do with with the indigenous Americans. MOO

Plus, I mentioned Wyoming after you because even if TD were indigenous from back east somewhere, why would an indigenous Wyoming people necessarily help him out? It's not the same people! MOO

 

[Charlot123]

@Charlot123
Any Town + native just means "from that town originally" especially in the sense 'born there / grew up there' so NOTHING to do with with the indigenous Americans. MOO

Plus, I mentioned Wyoming after you because even if TD were indigenous from back east somewhere, why would an indigenous Wyoming people necessarily help him out? It's not the same people! MOO

Thank you. By the time I read it again, I already sorted out what they meant. The name of the city was slightly confusing too.
In general, i tried to wildly guess where he could go. (The confusion between Wyoming and Wisconsin is common for me, sorry!).

 

[Twistinginthewind]

It sounds like some "volatile behaviors that seemed concerning", whatever that means. Perhaps verbal threats or aggressive behaviors, but not physical violence?

"In September 2024, a judge granted Whitney and Decker a parenting plan with limitations.. The new parenting plan included a psychiatric evaluation for Travis Decker, mandatory mental health counseling, and a domestic violence evaluation, according to court documents. He was permitted to see the children every other weekend. Travis Decker had “displayed some volatile behaviors that seemed concerning towards Whitney, never towards the girls,” Cozart said."

https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/08/us/travis-decker-daughters-washington-manhunt

There were definitely concerns about his volatilty, thanks for reposting this.

Regarding the part about "never towards the girls", I think it may be Cozart saying what was legally documented at that time, a year ago.

Since then, it's been posted upthread awhile back, that the girls were crying & upset about having to go with him for one or more visitations, one of them came home from a visit with him (at his mother's place IIRC) with welts on the insides of her legs, he had them with him at a homeless shelter one night and they were unsupervised and/or unfed to the point where they walked alone to a store. Maybe this was before last September, I don't know the dates, but IIRC it was since he moved back to WA in the last year.

So there seems to have been some historic neglect or weird behavior on his part that was spilling over onto the girls, even though their mom did everything she could to give him the benefit of the doubt while trying through legal channels with Cozart representing her to address her concerns.

Also, allegedly a neighbor heard a loud argument and crying IIRC at their house around the time they went missing.

I don't know if there are existing links to MSM articles on this, so all MOO.

However, since TD returned from living away east of there for awhile, and allegedly tried to get back together with their mom and she declined, his treatment of their girls might have shifted leading up to their murders.

JMO

 

[FromGermany1]

There were definitely concerns about his volatilty, thanks for reposting this.

Regarding the part about "never towards the girls", I think it may be Cozart saying what was legally documented at that time, a year ago.

Since then, it's been posted upthread awhile back, that the girls were crying & upset about having to go with him for one or more visitations, one of them came home from a visit with him (at his mother's place IIRC) with welts on the insides of her legs, he had them with him at a homeless shelter one night and they were unsupervised and/or unfed to the point where they walked alone to a store. Maybe this was before last September, I don't know the dates, but IIRC it was since he moved back to WA in the last year.

So there seems to have been some historic neglect or weird behavior on his part that was spilling over onto the girls, even though their mom did everything she could to give him the benefit of the doubt while trying through legal channels with Cozart representing her to address her concerns.

Also, allegedly a neighbor heard a loud argument and crying IIRC at their house around the time they went missing.

I don't know if there are existing links to MSM articles on this, so all MOO.

However, since TD returned from living away east of there for awhile, and allegedly tried to get back together with their mom and she declined, his treatment of their girls might have shifted leading up to their murders.

JMO

“Since our separation, it has become increasingly clear that Travis has been struggling to maintain stability in his life,” Whitney Decker wrote in a declaration filed last September.

In one incident, the mom alleged that Decker “had some outbursts where he has burst into my home against my objections and yelled for the girls.”

In another, less than a week before Christmas in 2023, she wrote that “Olivia FaceTimed me screaming, crying, Travis was nowhere in sight.”

Whitney Decker alleged that in a separate instance, the suspect “hitchhiked to my house and asked to stay in the basement with the girls.”

Dad exhibited ‘unstable’ behavior in months before allegedly killing three daughters

Ex-wife of murder suspect Travis Decker detailed his ‘outbursts’ and said he ‘keeps getting more unstable’

www.independent.co.uk