Disclaimer: The article has mentions of killing.
Washington-resident Travis Decker had been under a manhunt by the Wenatchee Police Department after being the prime suspect in murdering his own three daughters. It has been three months since he went into hiding, and now human remains found near the crime scene south of Leavenworth could reveal a major development in the ongoing case. It seems these remains are of the 36-year-old Decker himself.
As per a report by the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office to PEOPLE, these human remains were found in a relatively secluded spot, back on September 18. Evidently, the remains were too decomposed for immediate identification, which could complicate determining Decker’s cause of death. However, a DNA analysis is incumbent, an NBC report further added.
USMS SOG and U.S. Border Patrol BORSTAR found remains believed to be Travis Decker, suspected of kidnapping his daughters in May.https://t.co/IRinmvk7wT#USMarshals pic.twitter.com/UQ4dU7nssc
— U.S. Marshals Service (@USMarshalsHQ) September 19, 2025
Interestingly, after three weeks of searching for Travis Decker, officials issued a statement highlighting the possibility that the military veteran and National Guardsman might not have been alive in the first place. Later, by June 10, officials confirmed their belief that Decker was near the remote campsite itself, where his daughters’ dead bodies were found, which was about 130 miles east of Seattle.
Coming back to the recently discovered remains, Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison explained, “I’ve heard that the probability of doing it will be difficult,” he says. “Based on the condition of the body. We may never know, according to our coroner. They are still doing the processing, so we’ll see. But unless something’s obvious, it could be difficult for them.”
Shirt found near suspected remains of Travis Decker, dad wanted for murdering his 3 daughters, confirmed to be worn by madman https://t.co/A39DVM3yoC pic.twitter.com/ThkJsdRej1
— New York Post (@nypost) September 20, 2025
He further added, “We have our subject matter experts on the ground assessing the remains and seeing what we have as a potential cause of death, if they can determine that at all. Even the coroner and the medical examiner said they’re not willing to make an estimate yet. They want to assess what they have because it really does depend on the environment, conditions, exposure, and other factors that clearly are more in their wheelhouse than mine.”
Travis Decker was the subject of an extensive manhunt for allegedly killing his three daughters: Paityn (9), Evelyn (8), and Olivia (5). Their bodies were discovered in a remote area of the Rock Island Campground in Chelan County back on June 2, after he did not turn up to return his daughters to his ex-wife following a visitation ordered for May 30. The case scored Decker being charged with three counts of first-degree murder and one count of kidnapping over killing his own daughters.
The bodies of the three minors were found with plastic bags wrapped around their heads, suggesting their death due to suffocation. The U.S. Marshals Service offered a bounty reward of almost $20,000 for any information that could lead to the arrest of the accused father, Decker. A DNA match done between the bags covering the girls’ heads and blood-soaked handprints on a pickup truck confirmed Travis’s direct involvement in the deed.
In the meantime, a latest press release issued by the County Sheriff’s office after the discovery of the remains claimed that the authorities were in touch with Travis Decker’s family. They confirmed that all kinds of support and updates are being made available to them as and when required.
