Travis Decker: DNA yet to confirm identity of remains believed to be military vet accused of killing daughters
Questions are swirling around the death of Travis Decker, the military veteran accused of murdering his three young daughters, as police await DNA confirmation of the remains believed to be his, discovered last week.
The 32-year-old is alleged to be responsible for the horrific deaths, Paityn, 9, Evelyn, 8, and Olivia, 5, whose bodies were discovered at a Washington campground with plastic bags over their heads and zip ties around their wrists.
Mr Decker had collected the girls for a scheduled visit on May 30, but when he failed to return them at the agreed time, their mother, Whitney, raised the alarm.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.A search for the girls ended in tragedy three days later when they were found at the campground close to their father’s white 2017 GMC Sierra truck.
After three months of extensive searching across vast areas of Washington and numerous unconfirmed sightings, human remains were discovered on September 18 near Grindstone Mountain in Leavenworth.
The discovery was made when a drone conducting a search operation detected an “anomaly”, which was later identified as a shirt matching the description of what Mr Decker was reportedly wearing at the time of the killings.
However, authorities have not confirmed whether the remains belong to Mr Decker.
On Wednesday (local time), the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office revealed that DNA testing has not yet linked the remains to the military veteran.
“We have not received DNA confirmation on the remains found last week,” a spokesperson told People.
Although federal prosecutors have reportedly requested that the complaint and arrest warrant against Mr Decker be dismissed, Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison said the charges will remain in place until there is definitive confirmation of the identity of the remains.
Mr Morrison added that the remains were “well decomposed” and were found 1.1km away from the original crime scene, which takes around three hours on foot to get to due to the steep and rocky terrain.
