Former FBI veteran compares Travis Decker manhunt to Olympic Bomber case: ‘We just have to be lucky one day’

As the manhunt for Travis Decker intensifies in Central Washington, investigators are turning to experts like Walla Walla County Sheriff Mark Crider, a former FBI Special Agent who once hunted Centennial Olympic Park Bomber Eric Rudolph.

Crider spoke exclusively with KIRO Newsradio about his advice for search teams and found similarities between the Decker and Rudolph cases.

“Eric Rudolph was in a very rural area very similar to what we’re talking about with our current situation up near Chelan,” Crider said. “So, he had some rudimentary skills and didn’t want to be found, so he made it that much more difficult to try and track him down out in the air out in the wilderness.”

Rudolph was listed as one of the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives for five years, until he was captured in 2003. He was convicted of a series of bombings between 1996 and 1998, including the Olympic Park Bombings in 1996 and two abortion clinic bombings. His attacks resulted in two people killed and more than 100 others injured.

Crider said Rudolph had a lot of people who sympathized with his actions because many supported him for political and religious reasons.

“He also had individuals who were aiding him in his attempt to elude law enforcement. I don’t think that’s the case here,” Crider said. “I don’t think that this individual is going to get any sympathy from the public based on what he did. Also, we were the first team that went down there, and we strictly deployed at night, so it was very difficult with the terrain working with night vision goggles and trying to track him in total darkness.”

Another difference, Crider said, is that 90% of searches today are done online. In an affidavit filed in federal court, U.S. Marshals said they discovered, in the days leading up to the murders, Decker Google-searched for available jobs in Canada and how to relocate to Canada. Crider is convinced Decker deleted any social media accounts he may have had in an attempt to go off the grid as much as possible.

The search for Decker enters its fourth week

Last week, new helicopter searches for Decker centered near the mountains near the town of Cashmere and further south in the foothills of the Teanaway Valley—just five miles from Cle Elum.

Last week, Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison told KIRO Newsradio he believes Decker is still alive and might be accessing multiple caves and old mine shafts throughout the mountains of Chelan County to hide or seek shelter from the elements.

“I do believe he’s still alive, and until I find something that would prove otherwise, we’re going to consider that he is alive,” Morrison said. “We have not found a body. And at this point, I figured if that had been the case, just the amount of people who do come and recreate here in Chelan County, that we would have found something that we’re going to continue to take into account that we’ll either find him in one state or the other.”

Community gathered to honors the girls Friday

Friday, hundreds of friends, family, and community members gathered for a public memorial for Paityn, Evelyn, and Olivia at Rocky Reach Park, located just north of Wenatchee. Many people wore purple, pink, and green, which were the girls’ favorite colors, while their mother, Whitney Decker, spoke publicly for the first time since their murders.

“You all look beautiful, and I know that Evelyn would have loved to ‘ooo’ and ‘awe’ over all of your outfits,” Decker said. “She would have been amazed by all the color out there and just thought you all looked fantastic. Thank you everyone for being here tonight and for the outpouring of love that you have shown me and my family over the past few weeks. I truly hope that the legacy of the girls’ lives in everyone’s hearts forever—they were incredible.”

Moving forward in their search, Crider reiterated that they are hoping Decker makes a mistake or resurfaces to obtain food and other supplies.

“The fugitive has to be lucky every single day. We just have to be lucky one day, so he eventually he’s going to have to surface for resupply,” Crider said. “Eric Rudolph was caught rummaging through a dumpster in order to try and get food and some other supplies so I think as the trail grows colder it just makes it much more difficult, but as long as we keep the word out, and people are keeping an eye out for this individual, somebody will spot him somewhere.”

Authorities have so far scoured hundreds of square miles of mountainous terrain, lakes, and rivers near Leavenworth and the Enchantments—a popular, rugged area of tall peaks and picturesque alpine lakes. While the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office confirmed it has handed over all active search operations to federal agencies, while local deputies and prosecutors remain in charge of the criminal investigation.

Crider said he gave Sheriff Morrison some advice.

“The main thing when I talk to the sheriff up there is you can do all the profiling you can do all the research you want,” Crider said. “When the trail goes cold and you’ve exhausted every lead that you can and turned over every stone that you can think of, at this point it’s just remaining vigilant…and getting the word out so that every citizen is a pair of eyes for you out there, and hopefully somebody will spot him or spot something suspicious, and we’ll get that tip, and that will lead to hopefully an uneventful arrest.”

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