Authorities are looking for Travis Decker in the Sawtooth National Forest in Idaho after the U.S. Marshals Service received a tip from a family who believed they saw him in the Bear Creek area on Saturday.
The man was described as 5-foot-8 to 5-foot-10, wearing a black mesh cap, black gauged earrings, a cream colored T-shirt, black shorts, a Garmin-style watch, a black JanSport backpack, a long ponytail, beard and overgrown mustache, and either Converse or Vans low top shoes.
Decker has been charged with aggravated murder and kidnapping in Chelan County for allegedly killing his three daughters, Paityn, Evelyn and Olivia — 9, 8 and 5, respectively, — after he failed to return them to their mother’s home in Wenatchee in accordance with a custody agreement. The girls’ bodies were found 50 yards away from Decker’s truck up Icicle Road near Leavenworth. They died of suffocation, an autopsy report said.
The search for Decker has spread authorities across state and international borders as law enforcement checked tips in Idaho, Montana and Canada, and worked with agencies across the nation to follow up on possible sightings, Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison told The Times last week.
Teams have recently searched Crystal Creek drainage from the Enchantments through Ingalls Creek with the help of a cadaver dog and drone teams. As of last week, they were also gearing up to search the bodies of water from the campsite where Decker’s truck was found down to the Columbia River in Wenatchee.
The search had intensified on June 10 when a hiking party reported they’d seen a lone hiker in the Enchantments who was ill-prepared for the trail and seemed to be avoiding others. The man began to run from a helicopter flying near Colchuck Lake, but the aircraft had to turn around to fuel and didn’t redeploy.
The U.S. Marshals Service Greater Idaho Fugitive Task Force is asking for the assistance of people who were in the Bear Creek area around July 5. Anyone with information on Decker is encouraged to call the U.S. Marshals Service at 1-800-336-0102 or send tips online at www.usmarshals.gov/tips.
