As the manhunt for US Army veteran Travis Decker enters its fourth week, a next-door neighbor has come forward with disturbing details about the last known encounter with the father before he allegedly murdered his three young daughters and vanished into the Washington wilderness.
“He was skinny. He had long hair and a beard,” said Binh Nguyen, the Decker family’s longtime neighbor in Wenatchee. “I said, ‘Is that you, Travis?’”
Nguyen was taken aback by Decker’s drastically changed appearance, going from a clean-cut, well put together man to an unrecognizable, almost feral-looking version of the man he once knew.
But more than his appearance, it was his demeanor that raised alarms.
Travis Decker’s neighbor recalled an unsettling encounter with the fugitive hours before he took the life of his three daughters
Image credits: Wenatchee Police Department
“It was kind of weird,” Nguyen said in an interview. “He had a sad face… He asked me how I was three times. He seemed distracted.”
Tragedy struck mere hours later, as the three girls were reported missing by their mother, Whitney Decker. Decker had failed to return them at the scheduled drop-off time, and Whitney’s calls to her ex-husband went straight to voicemail.
An hour and a half later, at 9:34 pm, she was at the Wenatchee Police Department, pleading for help. Her fears, she said later, were immediate and absolute.
Image credits: Whitney Decker
Nguyen had seen Travis take the girls on camping trips over the years and said the daughters “loved him a lot, and he loved them too.” Despite the divorce in 2022, Travis would often swing by with his dog and pick them up for weekend visits.
That weekend, however, something was off.
Image credits: Wenatchee Police Department
Nguyen spoke to Decker for ten minutes—minutes he would later replay over and over in his mind after the news of what Travis had done was made public. The veteran didn’t seem angry or aggressive, but absent, as if carrying the weight of something he wasn’t saying.
“He loved those girls deeply,” Nguyen reemphasized. “That’s what makes this even harder to understand.”
Travis Decker was, by all accounts, a devoted father—until a series of personal setbacks triggered a devastating decline in his mental health
Image credits: Whitney Decker
Three days later, on June 2, Chelan County investigators discovered Travis’s white GMC Sierra parked at a remote site in the Rock Island Campground. Nearby, in a secluded wooded area, they made a devastating discovery:
The bodies of Paityn, Evelyn, and Olivia. Each had been suffocated with plastic bags placed over their heads. At least one had her wrists bound with zip ties.
A medical examiner confirmed the girls passed away from asphyxiation.
Image credits: Chelan County Sheriff’s Office
A tent and cooler at the site indicated recent activity. Two bloody handprints were found close to where the girls had been left. Travis Decker—now charged with three counts of first-degree murder and one count of kidnapping—was gone.
Authorities immediately warned citizens to stay away from the suspect, as him being a US Army veteran and former ranger with experience in real-life war situations made him a particularly dangerous target.
Image credits: Outdoor Project
The unraveling of Travis’ mental health came as the result of both his professional and personal life falling apart, which exacerbated an already volatile combination of undiagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and borderline personality disorder (BPD).
“He clearly had some sort of break,” Whitney said through her attorney. “Everything that he had bottled up inside—years of trauma—just won out.”
The Wenatchee community said farewell to the three girls in a heartbreaking ceremony, while the veteran remains at large
Image credits: Wenatchee Police Department
Whitney Decker is left not only to mourn the unimaginable loss of her daughters but to fight for the changes she believes could have saved them.
Despite her repeatedly warning police about her ex-husband’s mental decline, law enforcement declined to issue an Amber Alert on the night the girls went missing.
Officers claimed the case didn’t meet the legal threshold because Travis had legal visitation rights and there was no sign of abduction or prior violence.
“They told her it didn’t meet the requirements,” said Cozart. “She knew something was wrong. She told them the girls were in substantial danger.”
Whitney is now calling for a reform to Washington’s Amber Alert system, as well as increased mental health services for veterans.
“She wants to make sure no other mother has to live through this kind of avoidable heartbreak,” said Cozart. “This was a preventable tragedy.”
Image credits: Whitney Decker
Cozart also supported Nguyen’s assessment of Travis prior to the incidents, saying that he “never laid a hand on [his] girls.”
The Wenatchee community gathered in a park to honor the girls on June 20. Mourners wore the sisters’ favorite colors: purple, pink, and green.
With tearful eyes, Whitney said farewell to her three daughters. “I’m so thankful for the time I had with the girls,” she said. “They were incredible.”
"He has to be found." Netizens believe the mother remains in danger as long as Travis is on the loose
