THE man accused of killing his three young daughters has been seen in chilling surveillance footage as cops ramp up the manhunt for the veteran.
Travis Decker, 32, is seen breathing quickly and leaning into the camera in an eerie video captured in the days before he allegedly murdered the siblings during a custody visit.
Surveillance footage of Travis Decker shows him on Friday before he picked up his daughters for a custody visit and allegedly killed them[/caption]
Decker, 32, was last seen wearing a light-colored shirt and dark shorts[/caption]
Decker is a former military member and has extensive survival skills[/caption]
Cops released the footage, along with new pictures of Decker, on Wednesday in hopes that someone in the public might recognize the fugitive as the hunt for him enters day five.
They noted that the video was before the alleged killings, but that the footage serves as the most recent images of Decker, who is wanted on three counts of murder and kidnapping.
The search for Decker was launched after Paityn, 9, Evelyn, 8, and Olivia, 5, were found dead at a campground in Washington state on Monday.
They were found wearing the clothes they were last seen in when their dad picked them up for what was supposed to be a three-hour custody visit on Friday, but their mom reported them missing when Decker didn’t return them in time.
Cops said the Decker sisters likely died of asphyxiation. They were found with plastic bags over their heads and zip-ties around their wrists, police records said.
Decker’s truck, which he had been living out of, was found nearby with his wallet inside and two bloody adult-sized handprints on the tailgate.
In a press conference on Wednesday, Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison said they’re doubling down on the search for Decker in mountains west of the campground on Thursday.
Decker, a former military member, has extensive training and experience surviving for months in the outdoors.
He’s capable of spending days or weeks outside on his own with little equipment, Decker’s dad told investigators.
In addition to serving in the US Army for years, Decker went to mountain survival school.
“It sounds like at times he would go out and would be leaving off grid for sometimes up to two and a half months,” Morrison said.
“So we understand that that’s a possibility, that he could have scoped out this area before, put some supplies out there, and has the ability and the knowledge to survive for a long period of time.”
Cops are asking the public to report any sightings of Decker, but to avoid contact with him if he’s seen, as he’s believed to be mentally unstable.
Morrison shot down recent claims that Decker had been seen in McCall, Idaho, over 400 miles away from the campground in Leavenworth, Washington.
“Dispatch should only be notified of first-person sightings, not rumors, texts, or online chatter,” the McCall Police Department said in a statement.
It’s unclear if Decker is armed, but he has years of experience handling weapons as a former military member.
Decker first enlisted in the Army in 2013.
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