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Authorities have now verified that the human remains discovered in the Washington wilderness are those of Travis Decker, a military veteran suspected of murdering his three young daughters at a local campsite earlier this year.
The finding concludes a three-month search for Travis Decker, a military veteran and survivalist who disappeared following the discovery of his daughters’ bodies—Paityn Decker, 9; Evelyn Decker, 8; and Olivia Decker, 5—at a Chelan County campsite on June 2.
“We certainly want to pay our respects to Paityn, Evelyn, and Olivia’s deaths, to honor their memory and assure we haven’t forgotten them,” Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison stated at a news conference on Wednesday, as reported by FOX 13.
The U.S. Marshals Service shared images showing the difficulties and scale of the search operation for Travis Decker, accused of the deaths of his daughters.
Decker served as an Army infantryman from March 2013 to July 2021, FOX 13 notes. He had a four-month deployment in Afghanistan in 2014 and was highly trained in wilderness navigation. He faced murder and kidnapping charges at the state level and a federal charge for fleeing to evade prosecution.
This week, federal prosecutors requested to drop Decker’s federal charges after the U.S. Marshals Service announced he was found deceased. However, the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office delayed confirming Decker’s death until DNA tests verified the identity of the remains.
“To Whitney, we apologize it’s taken this long to get the closure we were looking for in this case,” Morrison said. “But I hope you can rest easier at night knowing Travis is accounted for. He is deceased, our DNA results confirmed that and this will bring a close to our case.”