Being mistakenly suspected of a triple murder is arguably the most bizarre thing that can happen to someone. And this actually happened to a person named Nick in Idaho who is a Garen City man, following him being wrongly identified as Travis Decker, who is among the most wanted people, accused of killing his three daughters in Central Washington.
Reports say that Nick spent the Fourth of July weekend hiking with his friend in the Sawtooth National Forest. They camped together Friday night, and his friend left the next day. Nick, on the other hand, continued his journey near Bear Creek. “I took this fateful trip on my own to the Bear Creek trail, and here we are,” he said, as per Idaho News 6.
A Garden City man was mistaken for Travis Decker while camping in the Sawtooths. Nick tells us what it was like being the focus of a manhunt. #TravisDecker #SawtoothMountains #IdahoNews #Backroads #BreakingNews #NeighborhoodNews pic.twitter.com/B3Cfp0opP1
— Idaho News 6 (@IdahoNews6) July 12, 2025
The authorities in charge of this case received a couple of tips separately regarding a person who resembled Decker in the Sawtooths. They asked Nick about a report that a suspect didn’t make eye contact – “You had your sunglasses, so there’s no way in the world she would know you didn’t make eye contact with her. Is that fair to say?” Nick replied, “That’s fair to assume.”
The search teams behind Travis Decker are continuing their work and scoured the backcountry Monday, and Nick was back at work in Boise on the other hand, and he was also unaware of the fact that he had been the focus of this manhunt until his friend texted him. “Everything seems normal until my friend who was up there with me sent a text saying, Bro, there’s a manhunt for a killer that was in the campground with us. My God, we spent the night next to the murder that is frightening,” Nick recounted.
Travis Caleb Decker is wanted by the U.S. Marshals. There is a Rapidly Advancing Manhunt program to expedite the fugitive’s location and apprehension near Leavenworth, Washington. To submit a tip go to https://t.co/6bFURsjrOY.#USMarshals #USMarshalsWanted pic.twitter.com/ntDZWTXSHu
— U.S. Marshals Service (@USMarshalsHQ) July 3, 2025
As usual, he called the authorities, and following that, they met him at work on Wednesday to clear things up. “They friendly interrogated me for a half hour. The search described me like the hair, the beard, the hat, the glasses, my tattoo, earrings, my shirt. Shorts were a different color, my shoes, the backpack, the location. I said Oh my God, they think I’m that guy.”
There’s simply no room for being relaxed for Nick as he countered huge stress and confusion; however, despite that, he has no grudges towards the people who mistook him as the suspect and said, “In my opinion, I don’t realistically look like that guy. They saw me from a distance. But be careful because this has been a little tumultuous time for me and people around me. It’s been disruptive at work, but I would encourage people to do that.” Following this unsettling experience, Nick has no plans of staying at home either, instead he looks forward to heading back up to the hills this weekend—this time with his father by his side.
