The Wenatchee Police Department is conducting a massive manhunt for Travis Decker on suspicion of first-degree murder and kidnapping as his search history showed “how to relocate to Canada” before he disappeared. Travis, a trained combat veteran who left the Army and joined Washington National Guard in 2021, had always been loving to his three daughters he had with his ex-wife, Whitney, Paityn, Evelyn, and Olivia, 9, 8, and 5 years old respectively.
Therefore, the fact that he took the three girls for his three hours scheduled visitation on Friday, no one suspected that anything could go wrong. However, when the girls did not return within the three hours that was stipulated for Travis, Whitney started to worry. She tried reaching her ex-husband and the father of her children, but the calls went straight to voicemail, further making her tense.
Whitney eventually went to the Wenatchee Police Department to report her three daughters as missing. A frantic search started for both the girls and their father and after two days, on June 2, the girls’ bodies were discovered “with plastic bags over their heads and at least one with zip ties around her wrists — near Travis’s abandoned pickup truck at the remote Rock Island Campground. A medical examiner determined they had died of asphyxiation.” as PEOPLE reported.
The incident has naturally shocked everyone who knew Travis and how much he loved his daughters. However, one curious thing has been pointed out Binh Nguyen, a longtime neighbor of the couple, from the time they were together. Talking to PEOPLE, Nguyen said, “They loved him a lot, and he loved them too.”
However, Nguyen then mentioned how different Travis had looked on that fateful Friday when he came to pick up the girls, which no one knew was happening for the last time. Talking about how Travis had looked, Nguyen said, “He was skinny. He had long hair and a beard. I said, ‘Is that you, Travis?’”
Nguyen further added, “It was kind of weird. He had a sad face.” He also appeared to be distracted though he responded to whatever Nguyen asked him. With the events that happened after, it is clear that Travis was going through something as his mental health issues have been highlighted by Whitney’s attorney Arianna Cozart.
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A former veteran, Travis was suffering from PTSD and found it difficult to adapt to life after he left the army. Talking about the same, Cozart said, “He seemed to suffer from PTSD as a result of combat,” she says. “Whitney struggled to help Travis through severe paranoia, nightmares and insomnia.”
Cozart further added, “His issues seemed to spiral once he was out of what Whitney calls the bumpers of the military that kept him in line. He tried to get help — he went to the VA, he called the Veterans Crisis Line.”
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However, nothing seemed to help and despite knowing that Travis was struggling, Whitney never suspected him of doing anything wrong to the girls as he never raised a hand on them or did anything that would have raised concern. Following the tragedy, Whitney, who regrets the authorities not issuing an Amber alert about her girls, has promised to advocate in favor of improving the alert system and provide better mental health resources for veterans.
The girls’ memorial service was arranged on June 20 in a park in Wenatchee, “where mourners were asked to wear purple, pink and green — Whitney told the crowd that Evelyn would have ‘oohed and aahed’ over their colorful outfits, and Paityn would have sought out something to compliment about each attendee” as reported by PEOPLE.
The devastated mother also mentioned that she was grateful for the time she got to spend with her girls and that they were amazing. The search for Travis is ongoing and currently in its fourth week.
