An Idaho nurse claims that authorities did not promptly respond to her urgent report after she identified Travis Decker, known as the ‘killer dad,’ weeks after she first noticed him.
Jennifer Rice, of Caldwell, claims she noticed an ‘out of place’ man roaming rural Idaho City on June 18.
She was convinced that the unknown man she saw was Decker, 33, who vanished over a month ago following the alleged suffocation of his three young daughters, Paityn, 9, Evelyn, 8, and Olivia, 5, whose bodies he reportedly abandoned near Washington’s Rock Island Campground.
Rice described to Idaho News 6 that the man carried a simple bedding roll without a sleeping bag, and his backpack didn’t appear large enough to contain one.
Trusting her gut feeling she just came face-to-face with an accused murder, Rice notified Washington police officers.
But her concerns were brushed off as a meaningless tip, Rice said.
She said police told her: ‘We know where he is and we know what’s happening, but we’ll write this down.’
For weeks after she made the call, Rice felt completely unheard. Not only did authorities doubt what she saw, her own husband told her there was no way the fugitive traveled interstate undetected.
The search for alleged killer dad Travis Decker (pictured) has expanded into the Idaho wilderness
The 33-year-old veteran stands accused of suffocating his three daughters – Paityn, 9; Evelyn, 8, and Olivia, 5 (pictured)
Jennifer Rice (pictured), of Caldwell, claims she noticed an ‘out of place’ man roaming rural Idaho City on June 18
But when investigators declared the convoluted manhunt for Decker has moved to Washington after a camping family allegedly saw him on July 7, Rice’s story was revisited.
The following day, a representative from the US Marshals Service phoned Rice and asked her for the details of the instance she saw the alleged-killer.
‘I was so happy that someone was listening,’ she told Idaho News 6. ‘She let me tell my whole story.
‘And then she said, “Wow, that’s probably the most detailed information we received so far,” so that made me feel really nice.’
The family that told authorities they may have seen Decker was camping in the Sawtooth National Forest over the holiday weekend.
The family was camping in the Bear Creek area, of the vast forest, which spans over two million acres across Idaho and Utah.
They said the unidentified man was between 5’8″ and 5’10,” with black gauged earrings and had a black backpack.
They added that he was wearing a black mesh cap, a cream-colored shirt, and black shorts. He had his hair in a ponytail and he had a mustache and an overgrown beard.
Police have released images of accused child killer Decker (pictured) as they believe the ‘dangerous’ suspect may have changed his appearance to dodge detection
Decker, who is now missing in Washington state’s wilderness, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping after allegedly murdered his three daughters (pictured)
The description matches Decker’s appearance, who is 5’8″and weighs around 190 lbs., according to the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office. He also has black hair, brown eyes, and earrings.
While investigators have been relentlessly searching for the veteran – vowing to get justice for his daughters he allegedly killed – they have considered the possibility that he may be dead, introducing cadaver dogs to their widespread manhunt.
Decker has been missing since May 30, when he failed to return the three little girls back to their mother, Whitney, after a visit (pictured: a wanted poster of Decker)
Decker has been missing since May 30, when he failed to return the three little girls back to their mother Whitney after a visit.
Whitney, who is divorced from the veteran, told police that he had picked the girls up around 5pm but had not returned them by 8pm, and his phone went straight to voicemail, court documents said.
Detectives said she ‘expressed concern because Decker reportedly has never done this before and … is currently experiencing some mental health issues.’
She also told law enforcement officials that Decker was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and believes he did not take medication for the condition, according to court documents.
He was court-mandated to seek out mental health and domestic violence anger management counseling, but refused treatment.
At the time of his disappearance and his daughters’ deaths, Decker was living out of a white 2017 GMC Sierra pickup truck, police said.
Authorities are still focusing their efforts in the Teanaway Valley, Liberty, Lauderdale and Blewett Pass areas (pictured: a search crew on June 6)
‘He clearly had some sort of break and everything that he had been living with, everything that had been bottled up inside of him for so long as far as trauma, just won out,’ Whitney’s lawyer, Arianna Cozart, previously told the Seattle Times.
On June 2, a search party led to the chilling discovery of the sisters’ dead bodies near Rock Island Campground in Chelan County along with Decker’s truck.
Deputies found the girls’ bodies about 75 to 100 yards from Decker’s truck.
An autopsy revealed the girls died from suffocation and police reported their wrists were zip-tied and plastic bags were over their heads when they were found, court documents said.
Police collected ‘a large amount of evidence’ from the truck, including male blood and non-human blood.
The alleged-killer’s dog was found nearby as well and taken to an animal humane society, Fox 8 reported.
Chilling audio from just months before the harrowing murders captured the fugitive father begging for more custody time to go camping with his daughters.
In the recording from a September 2024 custody hearing, Decker makes an eerie promise that no harm would come to the girls if he’s given more time to take them camping in Washington’s wilderness.
Decker has been missing since May 30, when he failed to return the three little girls back to Whitney after a visit
An autopsy revealed the girls died from suffocation and police reported their wrists were zip-tied and plastic bags were over their heads when they were found (pictured: Paityn Decker)
With an extensive combat background, authorities and locals have been concerned about Decker being on the loose.
He joined the Army in 2013 and served in Afghanistan before transferring to the Washington National Guard in 2021, Karina Shagren, communications director for the Washington Military Department, confirmed to the Daily Mail.
He was a full-time member of the Guard until 2023 or 2024, when he switched to part-time.
Decker stopped attending mandatory monthly drills a little over a year ago, and the Guard was in the process of a disciplinary discharge.
He likely has advanced combat training and was an airborne paratrooper who earned the elite rank of ‘Ranger,’ indicating he would have excellent wilderness and survival skills, Fox 13 Seattle reported, citing social media posts.
Decker is charged with three counts of first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping.
