Autopsy reveals details in murdered Chelan County girls case as search for father intensifies

Results of autopsies for the three girls killed at a remote campsite, about 18 miles west of Leavenworth last weekend, revealed the cause of death was suffocation, and the manner of death is now officially being called homicide, according to the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office.

Chelan County deputies said they found all three girls with plastic bags over their heads and other plastic bags strewn around the campsite and inside the abandoned truck of their father and suspect, Travis Decker.

Search for murder suspect reaches 10 days in Chelan County girls case

Monday marked day 10 in the manhunt for Decker, a former Army Ranger who may have undergone mountain survival training in the military. Investigators have searched hundreds of square miles near Leavenworth on land, by air, and on several bodies of water.

Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison said all search operations have now been handed over to the federal authorities, while all criminal investigations will be handled by Chelan County deputies and prosecutors.

In a release Monday, investigators also said they received more information about the large amount of evidence collected at the Rock Island Campground. Deputies said they collected many personal items from Decker’s abandoned truck. Blood samples taken from the scene matched Decker’s, while other samples were not human. Deputies said they also found Decker’s dog at the scene and turned it over to the Humane Society.

Flight data tracked online showed a Washington State Patrol Cessna circled a popular area of jagged-peak mountains and alpine lakes known as the Enchantments from approximately 10:30 p.m. Sunday until 1:30 a.m., looking for signs of Decker. A helicopter search of the same area resumed Monday morning with two King County Sheriff’s Office helicopters and at least one Washington National Guard Blackhawk helicopter. The search area is several miles south of the campground where the girls were murdered and has been closed to the general public for more than a week.

Travis Decker allegedly Googled how to ‘relocate to Canada’

Last week, an affidavit filed by U.S. Marshals in U.S. District Court said Decker searched on Google how to “relocate to Canada” and that he also searched multiple times for jobs in Canada, four days before picking up his daughters from their mother’s house in Wenatchee. The latest search in the south indicates, perhaps, a new focus on where Decker could be located.

Authorities said Decker was supposed to return to the house and drop off the girls before the end of the day, last Friday, after a judge temporarily took away Decker’s overnight custodial rights in September of last year because Decker was homeless and behind on his child support payments. However, he never did. Deputies discovered the girl’s bodies the following Monday.

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