DNA results confirm remains found in a wooded area of north-central Washington belonged to Travis Decker, whom police have been hunting for months following the murder of his three young daughters. Photo courtesy of Chelan County Sheriff’s Office/Facebook
Travis Decker, the father accused of killing his three daughters in early June, is dead, authorities have confirmed a week after they found remains in a wooded area of north-central Washington they believed belonged to the fugitive suspect.
Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison made the announcement Thursday during a press conference stating DNA results from the remains confirm they belonged to Decker.
“We are glad to say that those remains do come back as a positive match for Travis Decker,” he said.
“It’s a big day for Chelan County Sheriff’s office, all our federal partners, that we can finally bring a close to this dark chapter of Chelan County.”
The discovery of the remains on Grindstone Mountain on Sept. 18 came amid a months-long manhunt for Decker after his three daughters– 5-year-old Olive, 8-year-old Evelyn and 9-year-old Paityn — were found dead near a campground along Icicle Creek just outside of Leavenworth on June 2.
The children were found with plastic bags over their heads, with cable ties in the immediate vicinity. Autopsies completed by the medical examiner determined each child died by suffocation. The manner of death was homicide.
On Wednesday, prosecutors asked a judge to dismiss the charges field against Decker, citing his death, stating they received confirmation that he died from the U.S. Marshals Service.
The cause and manner of Decker’s death were still undetermined, Morrison said.
“He succumbed to whatever injuries those were,” he said. “We’re going to hear back from our coroner’s office, the medical examiner, if they’re able to get a cause of death, or a time of death.”
If his death was caused by another individual, he said, they will investigate it as a separate homicide.
The remains, which were not complete, will be turned over to his family “when the time’s appropriate,” he added.
Asked what Decker’s motive was for killing his three daughters, Morrison said he doesn’t think they’ll ever truly known nor does it matter.
“In our view, and based off the evidence we have, he committed murder,” he said. “It’s inexcusable. It’s inexplainable. And we would have liked to, of course, hear his thought process and what he was thinking at the time, but I don’t think anything he said would have justified it.”
The bottom line is our community is now down three young girls that would have been our bright future. They’re not here.”
Morrison said that with receipt of the DNA results, their case into the murder of the three girls is closed.
