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() The U.S. Marshals Service has declared Travis Decker dead after a months-long search.
Decker’s death was revealed in a motion to dismiss his arrest warrant in the U.S. District Court in Washington. Last week, investigators said they were working to formally identify remains they believed were Decker’s.
Search for Travis Decker
He had been accused of killing his three daughters Paityn, 9; Evelyn, 8; and Olivia Decker, 5 after their bodies were found in June. Decker picked the girls up for a court-mandated parental visit on May 30.
Decker had been reported missing after authorities said he never returned the girls to their mother Whitney, his ex-wife after the visit. The search included U.S. Marshal’s Special Operations Group, along with the U.S. Border Patrol’s Tactical Unit as well as local sheriff’s deputies.
During the manhunt, police said Decker was being sought on three counts of first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping. The U.S. Marshals Service offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to Decker’s arrest.
Travis Decker lost overnight custody rights
In court documents, Decker said he had previously lost overnight custody of his daughters because he was homeless and would often sleep in his vehicle. He said he’d only ever taken the girls to safe, paid campsites.
“Every time I’ve had the girls, we have been in campsites and national forests and paid campsites that have campers. We’ve never done anything that was unsafe or anything I wouldn’t want to put myself in,” Decker, who was homeless, said in an audio recording last fall.
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Three Washington girls who were reported missing last week were found dead, and a search is ongoing for the girls’ father, police announced. (COURTESY) -
This undated photo provided by Whitney Decker shows Paityn, Olivia and Evelyn Decker. (Courtesy of Whitney Decker via AP)