https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2025/aug/16/we-have-to-keep-every-possibility-open-the-search-/

By Bonny Matejowsky

bonnym@spokesman.com

(509) 459-5012

As months pass with no new leads, the same question remains in Wenatchee: Where is Travis Decker?

The 32-year-old from Wenatchee has been on the run since May 30, when, according to law enforcement, he kidnapped and later killed his three daughters – 5-year-old Olivia, 8-year-old Evelyn and 9-year-old Paityn – at the Rock Island Campground in Leavenworth, Washington, then fled into the nearby mountains.

The incident sparked a massive manhunt involving numerous local, state and federal agencies, which included the National Guard, U.S. Border Patrol, U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Forest Services and the FBI .

Now, over two months later, the search continues – but on a much smaller scale.

The U.S. Marshals are still the primary department on the search effort, along with a swift water rescue team, a high-angle rope rescue team and a search and rescue team, said Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison.

Despite multiple potential sightings of the fugitive since the search began, which expanded to as far as Idaho, leads have turned up fruitless.

“There’s a possibility he’s alive and also a strong possibility that he is deceased,” Morrison said. “I would love to lean one way and say, ‘Yep, he’s deceased, there’s no way he got out of here.’ But I understand that’d be irresponsible and that we have to keep every possibility open.”

Morrison attributes two main reasons to Decker’s continued disappearance: challenging terrain and a 3½ day head start.

The Cascades Range is rugged and remote. Decker is considered an experienced survivalist able to spend days, perhaps weeks, in the forest.

“I think since he was young enough and in good enough shape that he could have gotten far enough out there that it would make it very hard to locate,” Morrison said.

The Chelan County Sheriff’s Office is working with federal partners to set up a follow-up search with different technology.

“We understand the public’s frustration because the sheriff’s office feels the same frustration,” he said. “We want him found yesterday. But we also recognize that it does take perseverance in this career. Sometimes you do have to continue to push on and stick with the case, and sometimes you’ll get your break.”

In the wake of the tragedy, Whitney Decker, the slain girls’ mother, has suggested the Amber Alert system and veterans health systems need reforms.

When the girls were first reported missing, the Washington State Patrol sent an Endangered Missing Persons Advisory, which does not immediately send text notifications to nearby cellphones like an Amber Alert does. Whitney’s lawyer, Arianna Cozart, said her client believes that an Amber Alert could have made a critical difference after the girls were reported missing.

“She has suggested in the past that anytime a child is abducted by a parent who has limiting factors through the court system, as Travis did, that an Amber Alert should be issued,” Cozart said.

Travis Decker had previously sought mental health resources through the Department of Veterans Affairs. After leaving active reserves in 2021, he was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and was later mandated by a judge in a custody case to get psychiatric evaluations and go to therapy.

He was unable to get counseling through the VA system, and although he contacted the Veterans Crisis Line, they are not equipped to do any sort of follow-up, Cozart said.

“It was really a Band-Aid,” she said. “And then they don’t have any sort of system for following up to see how the person’s doing, have they been able to get consistent mental health counseling, any of those things.”

Although Whitney Decker has indicated these areas need reform, she hasn’t been involved in any formal calls for political change. It has been “incredibly frustrating” seeing local politicians and people online use her story for political gain, Cozart said.

Recently, a Change.org petition advocating for “Whitney’s Law,” an expanded Amber Alert protocol, has made rounds on social media, garnering over 8,000 signatures.

“It doesn’t say what Whitney’s Law is and she has no idea who this person is that started that petition,” Cozart said. “They’re circling this petition across social media using her name, using her tragedy.”

Now, Cozart is working to get Whitney Decker’s home address redacted from public records to prevent any further harassment at her home, and if Travis Decker is found, dead or alive, she’ll be helping her through the legal process.

“Originally, our first thought was he would never do this. If he did this, he killed himself because who could do this and live with themselves?” Cozart said. “Now, we don’t really ever know if he was alive. And so I really don’t have any ideas.”

The United States Marshals Service is offering a reward of up to $20,000 for information leading directly to Travis Decker’s arrest. Anyone with information is urged to contact the nearest U.S. Marshals office, the U.S. Marshals Service Communications Center at (800) 336-0102, or USMS Tips at usmarshals.gov/tips.

Bonny Matejowsky's work is funded in part by members of the Spokane community via the Community Journalism and Civic Engagement Fund. This story can be republished by other organizations for free under a Creative Commons license. For more information on this, please contact our newspaper's managing editor.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5763242&forum_id=2Reputation#49191373)