A neighbor who was among the last to see fugitive father Travis Decker before he disappeared with his three daughters has recounted the unsettling nature of Decker’s behavior and his final remarks before allegedly committing an unthinkable act.

Decker is accused of suffocating his three daughters; Paityn, nine, Evelyn, eight, and Olivia Decker, five, after tying them up with zip ties. 

Their lifeless bodies were discovered in a campsite in rural Washington state on Monday.  

Decker, an Afghanistan veteran with extensive commando training, vanished into the woods and remains on the run.

In an exclusive conversation with the Daily Mail on Wednesday, neighbor Binh Nguyen shared that Decker appeared to have a ‘sad look’ while collecting his children last Friday.

‘It was unusual because he repeatedly asked the same question throughout our chat,’ Nguyen noted. ‘It was as if he couldn’t recall having asked it before.’

Nyguyen said he is haunted to know that this was the last time he’d ever see the sisters and shared heartbreaking texts between him and the girls’ mother which reveal the gut-wrenching moment she realized they were not coming home.

‘I just don’t know how he could kill those beautiful kids,’ he said, sitting in his kitchen just a few yards from the Decker property, a modest single-story home in the beautiful ‘apple capital of the world’.

Nguyen knew that Travis Decker had problems. 

The girls’ mother Whitney Decker had told him that he had beaten her in the past and had gone ‘crazy’. His outbursts led to their divorce.

But nothing prepared him for the tragic news that came Monday.

He described Whitney as the ‘perfect mom,’ and said she was working two jobs and taking college classes to build to a better life for her children, enrolling them in sports and dance classes, and taking them on trips to Disney World.

Nguyen said her kids were also very sweet.

After the Deckers moved in several years back, Nguyen would mow their lawn. Middle daughter Evelyn gave him a friendship bracelet as a thank you.

The oldest daughter Paityn introduced herself to Nguyen’s son by giving him a hand-written card with a crumpled $1 bill inside. In the letter, Paityn wrote that she couldn’t write well yet, but that she was hoping to learn in school.

He described Travis as a clean-shaven, strong bodied man when he moved in, a former military man who later joined the National Guard.

As far as he knew, the Deckers were a happy family, though he did see indication of a violent fight during their marriage. He described simultaneously seeing Whitney with a broken arm in a sling, and Decker with a severely bruised face.

Nguyen said he asked Travis about his swelling at the time and that Travis blamed it on allergies.

He knew Travis to be a pot smoker, but didn’t know of any drug problems or mental health issues at the time.

He later moved out of the family home. Nguyen, noticing his absence, asked Whitney how her husband was doing, and she explained that they’d divorced, and that he’d moved out.

‘She said she can’t work it out, that he’s crazy and he beat me,’ he told the Daily Mail.

She told him at one point that he was homeless and living out of his truck in the mountains.

Nguyen would still see him from time to time when he’d visit the kids and noticed a change in his appearance. He seemed unkempt, skinny, long haired, and unshaven.

When Travis showed up to get the kids Friday, Nguyen saw him in the backyard and asked how he was doing.

‘I said “fine” and then he asked me how I was doing,’ the neighbor recalled. ‘But what was strange was that he kept asking me the same question, at different points in our conversation. Like he wasn’t remembering he already asked.’

He asked what Travis was doing these days, and Travis said he was working in construction jobs out of state.

‘He had a sad look,’ Nguyen observed.

Travis left with the kids at 5 p.m. and was required to return by 8 p.m. Their mother reported them missing that night.

Over the weekend, Nguyen still no idea what was going on when he received a text message from Whitney, as asking him to get someone to move a car that was parked outside her house.

‘Can you ask them to move the car in case Travis comes?’ she asked, seemingly out of the blue.

‘I will tell them to never park in front of your house,’ he replied.

‘Not never,’ she responded. ‘Just not till the girls come home please.’

The next morning, Nguyen texted her saying he had heard a man’s voice outside and wondered if it was Travis.

‘No,’ she wrote with a sad emoji.

‘Maybe Travis stranded in the mountains?’ he asked.

‘There’s a chance,’ she wrote. ‘There are helicopters going out.’

‘Hi Whitney, any news about your kids yet?’ he wrote the next day.

She then shared the tragic news, texting: ‘They found their bodies. They can’t find Travis.’

He said his tears starting flowing at that point.

‘Oh my God. I’m so sad. How do they die?’ he asked.

‘I’m not sure yet.’

He then shared details of his conversation with Travis.

‘He looked very sad and kept asking how I’d been many times over and over,’ he told her. 

Authorities swarmed the Rock Island Campground on Monday evening after finding Decker’s truck.

Chelan County Sheriff’s Office deputies found the girls’ bodies about 75 to 100 yards from the truck. Police believe the girls died from asphyxiation and reported that their wrists were zip-tied, court documents state.

Decker’s truck also had two bloody handprints on the tailgate, and inside were personal items including blankets, food, car seats and a wallet on the center console.

The campground also showed signs of recent activity, with a tent and a cooler located a short distance away, but Decker was nowhere to be found.

The girls’ mother 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.

The father-of-three was supposed to seek mental health treatment and anger management counseling as part of a parenting plan, but there was no sign he had followed through, the documents show.

Whitney stated in September divorce proceedings that he had been ‘struggling to maintain stability’ since they separated and it was beginning to affect their daughters.

She said that at times he would have the girls sleep at an armory while he was in the National Guard, despite her objections, according to the Seattle Times.

She also said Decker was prone to ‘outbursts’ and would come into her house yelling for the girls, who he would sometimes fail to pick up after promising to do so.

In one instance, Whitney wrote that her youngest daughter, Olivia, called her crying during a visit with Decker and said she could not find her father – before Evelyn came home with welts between her legs.

‘I do not want to keep Travis from the girls at all,’ Whitney wrote in the court filing. ‘To the contrary, I have bent over backwards to facilitate that relationship.

‘But I cannot have our girls staying in what is essentially a homeless shelter, at times unsupervised, with dozens of strange men or staying in a tent or living in his truck with him, both in extreme temperatures and unknown areas for their safety.’

The girls’ maternal grandmother similarly wrote that Decker would drop off the girls at inconsistent times and they would sometimes be upset or crying when they returned home.

‘They are all happy, smart, well-adjusted girls with the exception of when Travis brings them back to me after his visitations,’ she wrote, according to the Seattle Times.

Still, Whitney told police she did not believe her ex was dangerous and said he loved his daughters.

She said the girls had a, ‘good relationship with Decker and enjoy their time with him,’ and noted that he had never failed to return the girls before, according to a police affidavit.

She said when Decker went to pick up the girls Friday, he was ‘quieter than usual’ which was ‘out of character’ for him.

He had also allegedly been talking about getting rid of his dog due to housing and financial struggles.

On Tuesday, a judge issued a warrant for Decker’s arrest and ordered he be held without bail.