A WOMAN believes she might have spotted the dad accused of killing his three daughters — but says cops didn’t take her seriously until weeks later.
Idaho resident Jennifer Rice mentioned that a man resembling fugitive Travis Decker caught her eye last month because he seemed “out of place” when she saw him in public.
Decker, 32, has been evading law enforcement since the tragic discovery of his daughters, 9-year-old Paityn, 8-year-old Evelyn, and 5-year-old Olivia, who were found suffocated to death at a campground in Washington state on June 2.
Rice encountered the man in Idaho City on June 18 as she was leaving Gentry’s Outpost — a grocery store situated about 500 miles from the campsite where the girls’ bodies were discovered — when he drew her attention.
“Practically walking up to the center was a random gentleman, but he caught my eye because he seemed out of place,” Rice told ABC affiliate KIVI-TV.
“He had a bedding roll that you would sleep on, but there was no sleeping bag,” she added.
“His backpack wasn’t big enough to be stuffed with a sleeping bag — it didn’t make sense, are you sleeping or are you not sleeping?”
Rice knew about the manhunt for Decker after the case had garnered national attention, so she decided to call the police in Washington.
However, officials told her they were focusing the search in the Washington mountains, where Decker was thought to be surviving in the wilderness as a veteran with outdoorsman skills.
Rice said they “listened,” but didn’t seem convinced by her potential sighting.
“If I remember correctly, the comment was, ‘We know where he is and we know what’s happening, but we’ll write this down.'”
Rice said she was frustrated that they didn’t investigate her tip further.
She said even her husband didn’t think Decker could travel from Washington to Idaho without being seen by someone else.
A few weeks later, Rice was shocked to find out she might have been on the right track.
On Monday, the US Marshals announced they were shifting the multi-agency hunt for Decker to Idaho’s Sawtooth National Forest after the suspect was potentially seen in two separate sightings.
Officials said a family saw a man matching Decker’s description, down to his tattoos, in the forest on July 5.
Timeline of the missing Decker girls
Paityn, 9; Evelyn, 8; and Olivia Decker, 5, were found dead at a campground after they were last seen on a custody visit to their dad.
Below is a timeline of events:
May 29: Cell phone activity shows that the girls’ dad, Travis Decker, drove to the Rock Island Campground and left.
May 30: 5 pm – Travis Decker picks the three girls up from their mom, Whitney Decker.
8 pm – Travis Decker is supposed to return the girls but doesn’t. Whitney Decker calls him and it goes to voicemail.
9:45 pm – Whitney Decker calls the Wenatchee Police Department to report her daughters missing.
Travis Decker’s truck is seen driving westbound on Highway 2.
Washington State Patrol is contacted for an Amber Alert but said the situation didn’t match their criteria.
May 31 : WPD issues an Endangered Missing Persons Alert.
June 2: 3:45 pm – Travis Decker’s truck is found empty at Rock Island Campground with two bloody handprints and items inside.
5 pm – Cops search the area and find the bodies of the three girls.
June 3: 9:30 am – Cops notify the public that they are still searching for Decker.
2 pm – WPD tells the public that the three girls were found dead and that Travis Decker is still on the loose.
June 8: Federal authorities take over search efforts.
June 9: Autopsy results confirm three girls were murdered by suffocation.
June 13: An affidavit revealed Whitney described Travis as having “recent mental health concerns.”
“She provided the examples of randomly leaving or waking her up by screaming at her in the middle of the night,” it read.
“She also said near the end of the marriage he was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder that she believes he currently does not take medications for.”
June 17: New audio of Travis in court fighting for custody of his daughters is released.
“I understand that my current position when I’m by myself isn’t ideal, but my daughters aren’t a part of that,” he said in September 2024.
“I only get to see them over the weekends and camping is something that the four of us have done since the three of them were in diapers.”
June 20: Memorial is held where Whitney speaks publicly about girls for first time.
July 5: US Marshals say a family spotted a man believed to be Travis Decker in the Sawtooth National Forest in Idaho.
Sawtooth National Forest is about 95 miles east of the grocery store where Rice claimed she saw Decker.
However, Rice still hadn’t heard anything from cops following up on her tip.
She said when police finally called her to get more information about her tip on Tuesday, she was so excited that she had to pull over.
“I was so happy that someone was listening,” Rice told KIVI-TV.
“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.”
‘COMPELLING’ TIP
The search for Decker is ongoing in the Sawtooth National Forest.
Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison said he has hope that summer tourists and receding creek waters will bring answers in the hunt.
Supervisory Deputy Michael Leigh with the U.S. Marshals Service told CBS affiliate KREM that the tip about Decker in the Idaho forest was “pretty compelling.”
“It was a busy holiday weekend, of course, and the tipster observed a man on an ATV trail who fit the description of Decker,” Leigh told the outlet.
“He was a bit out of place. It was described that he didn’t have hiking boots. He’s avoiding eye contact, and he was on an ATV, UTV trail that usually isn’t trafficked by hikers. “
He said the tipster accurately described Decker’s tattoos and their locations on his body.
“And then our investigators, later, the next day or two, also interviewed other campers in the area who described a similar-looking individual,” Leigh said.
Decker is charged with kidnapping and killing his three daughters after picking them up from his ex-wife, Whitney Decker, for a scheduled custody visit on May 30.
