INVESTIGATORS hunting for missing dad Travis Decker have issued an update on the bones that were found during the search for the fugitive.
Ex-military man Decker remains on the run after he allegedly killed his daughters at a rural Washington campground during a planned custody visit.
Cops are continuing to hunt for missing fugitive Travis Decker[/caption]
Investigators combed an area of the Rock Island Campground in Washington – near to where Decker allegedly murdered his children[/caption]
FBI field agents were involved in the search[/caption]
Cops have received more than 500 tips and dozens of claims about alleged sightings, but they haven’t led to an arrest as the hunt for the fugitive enters its fourth month.
Investigators had been searching trails of the Rock Island campground in Leavenworth, near to the site from where he allegedly murdered his children Paityn, nine, Evelyn, eight, and Olivia, five.
The search, which was conducted between August 25 and 26, spanned an area of 250 acres.
Bones were found and the discovery sparked theories that they could belong to Decker.
FBI agents have since confirmed the bones were not “human.”
The agency has said it doesn’t expect to issue more updates about the bones.
Other pieces of evidence were collected during the grid search.
But, any links to Decker and his children have not been confirmed.
FBI officials have stressed that the final results will “take some time” to come through.
Around 100 investigators from different agencies combed rugged terrain as temperatures hit almost 100F.
Detectives navigated challenging terrain as they searched the campground.
Cops have warned they are not relenting in the search for Decker.
Mike Morrison, of the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office, warned cops are willing to search for years for Decker.
“We will not relent,” he said.
“We will not give up until this investigation is concluded and that Travis is accounted for and/or taken into custody.”
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: A family spotted a man believed to be Travis Decker in the Sawtooth National Forest in Idaho.
July 9: US Marshals call off the search in Sawtooth National Forest after locating and questioning the man believed to be Travis Decker and confirming it isn’t him.
August 25: FBI agents announce they are conducting a two-day grid search of the heavily wooded area near Rock Island Campground.
But, law enforcement sources linked to the search effort told TMZ they believe Decker is dead.
However, there is a theory that he could be alive somewhere.
Throughout the search, cops have alluded to how Decker can be well-versed in the wilderness.
Decker, who has previously served abroad, has previously lived off-grid for around two-and-a-half months, according to US Marshals.
His background consists of extensive military training and he went to mountain survival school.
Cops revealed he mainly lived out of his car and at campgrounds before his girls vanished.
Decker is accused of murdering Paityn, nine, Evelyn, eight, and Olivia, five.[/caption]
His girls were found zip-tied with plastic bags over their heads.
Investigators ruled it was likely they died of asphyxiation.
Cops recovered human and non-human blood from the crime scene.
Blood was found on the tailgate of his truck and his dog was found nearby.
Their bodies were found around 11 miles from the Pacific Crest Trail.
The trail spans more than 2,600 miles from Mexico all the way to British Columbia in Canada.
Decker’s truck and the bodies were found around 200 miles from the Canadian border.
Days before the custody visit, Decker researched about moving to Canada and accessed a Canadian job website.
The Decker girls bodies were found on June 2 – days after they were reported missing by their mom, Whitney.
Decker had collected the girls from their mom on May 30 ahead of a planned custody visit.
They were collected at around 5pm but failed to return three hours later.
After the girls’ bodies were found, cops turned their attention to trying to find Decker.
A month after he allegedly killed his daughters, cops received a tip-off about an alleged sighting and started to probe an area of the Sawtooth National Forest in Idaho.
The forest is located around 600 miles from the campsite where the bodies were found.
A family claimed they spotted a man wearing a black cap, a cream t-shirt, and black shorts.
They said he was wearing a Garmin-style watch and carrying a black backpack.
Police at the time said the description seemed to match Decker’s.
The sighting was probed, but it didn’t lead to an arrest.
During the search for Decker, chilling details about his behavior emerged.
He was involved in a car accident – days before the custody visit.
Decker smashed into another driver at a stop light in Wenatchee on May 27, and they described his body language as “intimidating.”
The driver said Decker had a “nervous” sense about him, adding: “I could tell he was not in his full senses.”
Decker is wanted on three counts of first-degree murder.
He also faces a charge of first-degree kidnapping.
Cops have warned that Decker shouldn’t be approached.
