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FULL: Authorities announce Travis Decker is dead, DNA confirms
The Chelan County Sheriff's Office holds a press conference to announce that a set of human remains found were confirmed by DNA analysis to belong to Travis Decker, the Washington man suspected of kidnapping and murdering his three young daughters.
CHELAN COUNTY, Wash. - The Chelan County Sheriff’s Office will hold a news conference at 4 p.m. Thursday to announce the results of DNA testing on human remains found in the Cascade wilderness.
The event will stream live on fox13seattle.com, in the free FOX LOCAL app for TV and smartphone, and on FOX 13+ (KZJO - cable 110/ch. 22).
The backstory:
DNA testing was conducted by the Washington State Patrol crime lab to determine if the remains belong to Travis Decker, the man suspected of kidnapping and killing his three daughters earlier this summer.
Earlier in the week, the US Marshals Service confirmed that triple-murder suspect Travis Caleb Decker is dead.
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DNA match confirms Travis Decker is dead
The Chelan County Sheriff's Office holds a press conference to announce that a set of human remains found were confirmed by DNA analysis to belong to Travis Decker, the Washington man suspected of kidnapping and murdering his three young daughters.
Authorities have searched for Decker since June 2, when a deputy discovered his truck and the bodies of his three daughters — 9-year-old Paityn, 8-year-old Evelyn and 5-year-old Olivia — at a campground outside Leavenworth.
The Chelan County Sheriff’s Office later confirmed that DNA analysis matched the remains to Decker, bringing closure to the months-long investigation.
Travis Decker (Spokane County Sheriff's Office)
Was Travis Decker found?
What they're saying:
Search teams located remains believed to be Decker on Grindstone Mountain, northwest of Leavenworth.
The discovery site was about three-quarters of a mile from Rock Island Campground, where the girls’ bodies were found.
How did investigators make the discovery?
What we know:
The investigation advanced when a Spokane County dive team recovered a truck key fob belonging to Decker from Icicle Creek. That evidence led to expanded ground searches involving drones, canines and multiple law enforcement agencies.
On Sept. 18, drone crews spotted human remains on Grindstone Mountain.
Nearby were items consistent with belonging to Decker, including a shirt, shorts, bracelet and chewing tobacco. Bones collected at the site were sent to the state crime lab for testing.
Who was Travis Decker?
Timeline:
Decker served as an Army infantryman from March 2013 to July 2021, including a four-month deployment to Afghanistan in 2014. He had training in survival skills and had previously lived off-grid for more than two months.
Court records show his ex-wife, Whitney Decker, raised concerns about his mental health in 2023, describing him as increasingly unstable and often living out of his truck. She petitioned to limit overnight visits with their daughters until he secured housing.
According to the sheriff’s office, an autopsy found the girls died by suffocation. Investigators said they had been bound with zip ties and plastic bags had been placed over their heads.
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The Source: Information in this story came from the Chelan County Sheriff's Office and US Marshals Service.