Travis Decker may have escaped to Idaho mountains after potential sighting

The man suspected of killing his three young daughters in Chelan County may have moved from mountains in Washington to mountains in southern Idaho.

The U.S. Marshals Service received a tip Saturday from a family recreating in the Bear Creek area of the Sawtooth National Forest that matched the description of 32-year-old Travis C. Decker, according to a U.S. Marshals Service news release Sunday.

Decker, a former U.S. Army soldier from Wenatchee, is accused of kidnapping and killing Olivia, 5; Evelyn, 8; and Paityn, 9, in late May at the Rock Island Campground in Leavenworth, Washington, before fleeing on foot into the nearby mountains.

Decker is wanted on suspicion of three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of first-degree kidnapping. He also faces a federal warrant for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.

Michael Leigh, supervisory deputy at the U.S. Marshals Service District of Idaho in Coeur d’Alene, said Monday in an email the Marshals Service received tips from the public about Decker after the federal agency asked in Sunday’s release that anyone who recreated over the weekend in the Bear Creek area contact the Marshals Service.

“We are evaluating each tip,” Leigh wrote. “I am hopeful one of these tips will assist bringing this matter to a safe resolution.”

Leigh wrote the Marshals Service, U.S. Forest Service and Camas County Sheriff’s Office started searching Monday morning for areas “believed to be accessible to a person in Decker’s condition.”

Decker has a history of hitchhiking, and Leigh encouraged the public not to pick up any hitchhikers. He also asked people in the area not to fly any drones, which would inhibit their ability to search with aircraft.

Over a month ago, Whitney Decker, the girls’ mother, contacted police after Decker failed to return the girls from a scheduled custody visit May 30.

Authorities tracked Decker’s truck to the campground, and on June 2, the girls’ bodies were found 70 yards away down an embankment, zip-tied and asphyxiated with plastic bags, according to court records. Multiple agencies have been searching the central Washington mountains for Decker since.

Earlier in their search, the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office wrote in a news release a group of hikers spotted a solo hiker in the area who appeared to be ill-prepared for the conditions. The tracking teams spotted the hiker from a helicopter flying near Colchuck Lake, but the person ran as the aircraft passed.

Some resources were redirected to recover Decker’s body in case he died during the search, according to a June 23 news release from the Kittitas County Sheriff’s Office.

“At this time, there is no certain evidence that Decker remains alive or in this area,” the release said. “Seemingly strong early leads gave way to less convincing proofs over the last two weeks of searching. Still, we can’t and won’t quit this search; Paityn, Evelyn, and Olivia Decker deserve justice. And Decker remains a danger to the public as long as he’s at large.”

The Marshals Service said in the Sunday release that the person believed to be Decker and spotted by the family in the Bear Creek area was described as a white man standing 5-foot-8 to 5-10, wearing a black mesh cap, black gauged earrings, cream -colored T-shirt, black shorts, long ponytail, black Garmin-style watch and an overgrown beard and mustache. He was also wearing a black JanSport backpack and either Converse or Vans low-top shoes.

A U.S. Marshals wanted poster for Decker lists him as 5-8 and 190 pounds.

Anyone with information on Decker is urged to contact the nearest U.S. Marshals office, the U.S. Marshal Service Communication Center at (800) 336-0102 or USMS Tips at usmarshals.gov/tips.

The Marshals Service is offering a reward up to $20,000 for information leading to the arrest of Decker.