(NewsNation) — Travis Decker’s ex-wife hopes he’ll be found “dead or alive,” as authorities in Washington state signal doubt the Army veteran is still living after allegedly murdering his three young daughters.
A manhunt has been underway since police found the asphyxiated bodies of the children, aged 5, 8, and 9, near a campsite on June 2, along with Decker’s abandoned vehicle. The 32-year-old father picked up the girls May 30 for a court-mandated parental visit but did not return them to the Wenatchee home of their mother, Whitney.
The bereaved mother spoke this week at a public memorial for her daughters. Whitney Decker’s attorney, Arianna Cozart, said she’s doing as well as can be expected.
Travis Decker’s ex cherishing ‘memories of her babies’: Attorney
“She’s just trying to cherish the memories of her babies and do what she can to advocate for change,” Cozart told “Banfield” on Thursday.
She said Whitney Decker wants to change the way Amber Alerts are issued to avoid future tragedies. She also wants to preserve services for veterans, like Travis Decker, who struggle with mental health problems, Cozart added.
Three Washington girls who were reported missing last week were found dead, and a search is ongoing for the girls’ father, police announced. (COURTESY) 
This undated photo provided by Whitney Decker shows Paityn, Olivia and Evelyn Decker. (Courtesy of Whitney Decker via AP) 
Three Washington girls who were reported missing last week were found dead Monday, and a search is ongoing for the girls’ father, police announced. The girls were discovered just before 4 p.m. local time, police said, after detectives in Chelan County, Washington, gathered information that led them to search an area around Leavenworth, where they hoped to find the girls and their father, Travis Decker.
Above all, Whitney Decker wants a conclusion to the search for her ex-husband — “that he’s found, dead or alive,” the attorney said.
“Either way, it’s hard,” Cozart said. “She knows that if he is found alive, he’ll never be able to answer the questions that she might have to a point where it would give her any peace.”
Travis Decker’s neighbor saw him before disappearance
People reported that Decker’s neighbor, Binh Nguyen, said he spoke with the father before he disappeared. That neighbor told the outlet that he was outside watering his lawn when he spotted Decker.
“He was skinny,” he said. “He had long hair and a beard. I said, ‘Is that you, Travis?'” He also claimed that Decker seemed distracted while they were catching up.
Authorities initially suggested Decker, a former infantryman, could be evading capture using survival skills he learned in the service. However, more recently, they are expressing doubt he’s still alive.
The Kittitas County Sheriff’s Office this week pledged to continue looking for him but noted, “Some search resources are being redirected to find and recover Decker if he died in the rugged wilderness… a possibility that increases every day.”
Travis Decker previously lost overnight custody rights
A recently-released courtroom recording of Decker showed him speaking about losing overnight custody rights of his daughters before they died.
“Every time I’ve had the girls, we have been in campsites and national forests and paid campsites that have campers. We’ve never done anything that was unsafe or anything I wouldn’t want to put myself in,” Decker, who is homeless, said in the audio from last fall.
Court documents also reportedly showed that Decker was ordered to seek treatment for mental health issues and domestic violence anger management counseling, but he had refused.