Travis Decker’s DNA found on plastic bags, zip ties used in killings of daughters

There are new details in the search for Travis Decker — the man accused of killing his three young daughters at a campground near Leavenworth.

According to Chelan County investigators, Travis Decker’s DNA was the only DNA found on the murder weapons at a campsite near Levanworth in June. The murder weapons include plastic bags found at the scene.

The girls’ own DNA was also detected on the bags, but no other DNA profiles were present. A DNA sample taken from the cable ties also matched Travis Decker, investigators said after they found several cable ties scattered near the scene.

The county medical examiner confirmed that Decker’s three daughters, Paityn, Evelyn, and Olivia, died from suffocation. Deputies first found the girls’ bodies on June 2 near the Rock Island Campground.

Investigators still don’t know if Decker is dead or alive.

There is a $20,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.

Decker manhunt slows as costs climb

As the months-long manhunt for Travis Decker stretches through summer, the pressure is mounting—not just from rugged terrain in the Cascade Mountains, but from the growing strain on law enforcement.

Deputies are stretched thin, juggling the high-stakes search for a dangerous fugitive accused of killing his three young daughters with day-to-day police duties, emergency calls, and rising operational costs for an already expensive investigation that has yielded no new clues about Decker’s whereabouts beyond DNA found at the crime scene.

Challenges of splitting deputies’ time with Travis Decker case

Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison told KIRO Newsradio that his office has faced challenges in splitting deputies’ time between the search for Decker and performing other duties, including daily patrols and summer search-and-rescue efforts.

“We know that we are an international tourist destination when it comes to climbing, recreating, hiking, and we’re usually dealing with well over 100 search and rescues every single year, which are logistically challenging,” Morrison explained.

In a press release issued two months ago, the Chelan Sheriff’s Office exemplified its time management challenges with a recent rescue of a Seattle woman who fell hiking in the Enchantments and injured her shoulder, requiring a helicopter rescue.

“Sheriff Mike Morrison reports, in addition to the ongoing search for Travis Decker, the need for backcountry rescue continues,” Chelan Operations Chief Randy Moody stated in the release.

Morrison also pointed to staffing challenges that have led to scrambling to make sure they have enough deputies for their search and other duties.

“We have individuals on light duty; those are out on FMLA or paid family medical leave. And we also have contractual obligations, which is unique to our agency this year, that it’s mandated that a certain amount of people have to be off at one time, yet the union has not agreed to allow us to have mandatory overtime,” Morrison said. “That leaves us with very few people at times on the road answering those calls while you’re also trying to do a search and rescue. And that’s why we tried to highlight it in our press release, that despite those challenges, our agency continues to show up, continues to do the work, and we’ve done a good job.”

Increasing costs in the search for Travis Decker

Morrison said the increasing costs of the search for Decker are also an issue that soon could come to a head for his office and other agencies.

While he is still in the process of adding up bills for fuel for patrol vehicles, dirt bikes, quads and side-by-sides, helicopters and helicopter maintenance, overtime, equipment, and other needs, he shared, “In talking with King County, Snohomish County, and Spokane County I believe they were all well over a million dollars assisting us, and that was just over a week.”

During the first week of search operations, those counties sent deputies, tactical teams, and search and rescue equipment, including their own helicopters and crews, to Chelan County.

The search also included teams from five different U.S. government agencies, ranging from the FBI to the U.S. Marshals, which have taken over search operations and dedicated their Rapid Response Team—a team that trains for the quick apprehension of fugitives—to the effort.

Earlier this week, for the first time since their manhunt began, investigators acknowledged the possibility that the father accused of killing his young daughters, Paityn, Evelyn, and Olivia, may have died in the wilderness, and they are now modifying part of their search into a recovery effort.

Contributing: Frank Sumrall, MyNorthwest

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