(The Center Square) – As the manhunt continues for 32-year-old Travis Decker, suspected in the murders of his three young daughters in Chelan County, Wash., more information is coming out about his declining mental state and struggles to access mental health services through Veterans Affairs.
Multiple law enforcement agencies are searching for Decker after the bodies of 5-year-old Olivia, 8-year-old Evelyn, and 9-year-old Paityn Decker were discovered Monday at a campground near Leavenworth. Decker is wanted on first-degree murder charges in connection with the killings.
Authorities have said Decker has extensive military training, including service in the U.S. Army and Washington National Guard, and went to mountain survival school.
Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison noted that Decker’s extensive military training and outdoor experience are being considered in the ongoing search.
“We do understand and we’re getting more confirmation that he might have possibly gone through mountain survival school, but we also know, too, that he’s been an outdoorsman since he was a kid and it’s something that he was attracted to like doing in his free time,” he said during a Wednesday news conference.
Attorney Arianna Cozart, who represents the deceased girls’ mother, Whitney Decker, told The Center Square that her client believes the girls would be alive if her ex-husband had received the mental health services he needed.
Cozart drafted the most recent parenting plan for the couple, finalized in September 2024.
“It was approved by Judge Robert Jourdan here in Chelan County. And what we did is we put together the most well-thought-out parenting plan we could that both protected the girls as well as protected their relationship with their father,” Cozart said. “A lot of people don’t realize that Travis was actually a very loving father. There was never any sort of violence or mistreatment of the girls, but Travis’s issue was that he had some severe mental health issues that resulted from his service to our country in the military.”
The Wenatchee attorney explained that as part of the parenting plan, Travis Decker was ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation and a domestic violence evaluation for any anger management issues that he might have, as well as required mental health counseling.
“He tried and reached out to several of the mental health resources that are available to veterans, which, as I’m sure you’re aware, are sorely underfunded,” Cozart said. “So, he did all the things, or tried to do all the things that he could, and he wasn’t able to get the help that he needed and was never able to get the psychiatric evaluation,” she said.
Cozart said that because Travis Decker did not meet the parenting plan’s requirements, Whitney could dictate the terms of visitation.
“He did great with the girls. He attended all their activities. He always was very communicative with Whitney on what was going on with his housing situation,” Cozart said, noting Travis Decker was living in his car, so he was not allowed to take the girls overnight. “Everything was fine until it wasn’t.”
Cozart shared that Whitney Decker told her that her ex-husband struggled in the weeks before his last time picking up the girls.
“Travis was struggling with his life. I mean, he was feeling very, very alone and isolated, which he had felt since the military,” she said. “He had concerns about his own worth, you know, being a father. But he loved Whitney and those girls incredibly.”
Cozart said Whitney Decker’s hope now is that their family tragedy can potentially save others by resulting in improved access to mental health care services for veterans.
“Whitney will tell you the system failed her girls, you know, the lack of military services for veterans killed her children,” Cozart noted. “That is absolutely the case.”
Officials said Wednesday they expected the Chelan County Coroner’s Office to release the official cause of death for the Decker girls on Thursday. Coroner Wayne Harris responded to an email from The Center Square to say the report would not be coming until Friday, at the earliest.
“The autopsies will not be completed until sometime tomorrow afternoon,” Harris said. “We may have the results tomorrow, but maybe not until Monday, and in Washington state, the autopsy report is a private document, so I am unable to release that.”
In a Thursday news release emailed to The Center Square by Chelan County Undersheriff Dan Ozment, officials asked citizens to be on the lookout for Travis Decker.
“We are asking citizens who own cabins or reside in our remote areas of Chelan, Kittitas King, Snohomish, and Okanagan counties to please be aware that Mr. Decker is still missing,” Ozment said. “As law enforcement conducts their searches, we are asking for those owners to lock all of their doors, to include any shed out outbuildings, and leave their window blinds open, and we recommend leaving outside lights on.”
This article was originally published at www.thecentersquare.com
