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Travis Decker search: FBI closes Leavenworth campgrounds, trails

Search crews gather in the Wenatchee National Forest on Monday to search for Travis Decker, the missing suspect wanted in connection with the triple homicide of his daughters. (Courtesy of FBI Seattle)
Search crews gather in the Wenatchee National Forest on Monday to search for Travis Decker, the missing suspect wanted in connection with the triple homicide of his daughters. (Courtesy of FBI Seattle)
From staff and wire reports Seattle Times

Multiple campgrounds, hiking trails and roads in the Leavenworth area have been closed as the search continues for Travis Decker, a Wenatchee man and an ex-soldier accused of killing his three young daughters.

An order from the U.S. Forest Service issued Friday said the closure is to allow the “FBI to conduct an ongoing investigation.”

Several forest system roads in the upper Icicle Road area are closed, starting at the Ida Creek Campground, about 4 miles east of where Decker’s daughters were found dead, from 6 a.m. Sunday to 6 a.m. Wednesday. The campground itself will remain open.

The Jack Pine, Icicle Gorge, Icicle Gorge Upper Loop and Icicle Gorge Upper Loop Tie trailheads are closed, the Rock Island, Blackpine Horse and Chatter Creek campgrounds are closed, as are several forest roads in the area.

In a news release from the FBI Seattle office, Special Agent W. Mike Herrington “wants to assure our communities in the Leavenworth and Wenatchee areas, as well as Chelan County and all of Washington state, that the Travis Decker case is a priority for our field office and the FBI.”

According to the release, nearly 100 personnel from the FBI office in Seattle and specialty teams – including SWAT, electronic technicians, medical personnel and more – have been assigned to the search.

The FBI has also called on its Critical Incident Response Group and Laboratory Division, which, according to the release, assists with “cases involving the abduction or mysterious disappearance of children, crisis management, hostage negotiation, criminal investigative analysis, and special weapons and tactics.”

Other law enforcement agencies assisting with the search are the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office, the U.S. Marshal Service, Port of Seattle Police Department, Yakima Police Department, U.S. Forest Service’s Wenatchee River District, U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division and Central Washington University’s Anthropology Department.

Chelan County Sheriff’s Office remains the lead agency in the investigation, the release states.

Travis Decker, 32, is wanted by law enforcement in connection with the deaths of Evelyn, Olivia and Paityn Decker. Decker is 5-foot-8 and 190 pounds with brown eyes and black hair that is long enough to be worn in a ponytail. Decker’s daughters’ bodies were located 100 yards from his white GMC Sierra at the Rock Island Campground near Leavenworth, Wash. (Courtesy of Chelan County Sheriff)
Travis Decker, 32, is wanted by law enforcement in connection with the deaths of Evelyn, Olivia and Paityn Decker. Decker is 5-foot-8 and 190 pounds with brown eyes and black hair that is long enough to be worn in a ponytail. Decker’s daughters’ bodies were located 100 yards from his white GMC Sierra at the Rock Island Campground near Leavenworth, Wash. (Courtesy of Chelan County Sheriff)

Decker has been missing for more than two months after he disappeared from the Rock Island Campground where he allegedly killed the three girls.

Officials from the Washington State Crime Lab recently completed an analysis of DNA found at the crime scene that matched Decker’s, further making the case that Decker is the only suspect.

“We cannot guarantee the search will uncover any new information,” Harrington said in the release, “but we are committed to bringing every available FBI resource that will advance this case for as long as it takes. We will share any updates we have on the search as soon as we are able.”

Information from the Seattle Times and The Spokesman-Review contributed to this report.