(NewsNation) — The U.S. Marshals Service has declared Travis Decker dead after a monthslong search.
Decker’s death was revealed in a motion to dismiss his arrest warrant in the U.S. District Court in Washington. Last week, investigators said they were working to formally identify remains they believed were Decker’s.
Authorities expediting bones sample to establish DNA match for Travis Decker
The Chelean County Coroner’s Office on Wednesday said they are expediting the testing of a sample of bones found last week by investigators to establish a positive DNA match.
“Other agencies can speak about their investigation into Mr. Decker and locating human remains, and can state that based on circumstantial evidence that the remains located are his,” the office said in a statement.
“The Chelan County Coroner’s Office does not have that luxury. We must rely on scientific methods to establish positive identification. Those methods include, DNA, fingerprints, dental or skeletal radiographs, or visual identification.”
Authorities acknowledged last week that the human remains found were located in a remote wooded area south of the town of Leavenworth, Washington. Officials said last month that DNA matching Decker and his three daughters were the only profiles found at the scene of the girls’ deaths.
Blood was also found near his truck at the scene, authorities said.
Search for Travis Decker
He had been accused of killing his three daughters — Paityn, 9; Evelyn, 8; and Olivia Decker, 5 — after their bodies were found in June. Decker picked the girls up for a court-mandated parental visit May 30.
Decker had been reported missing after authorities said he never returned the girls to their mother, Whitney, his ex-wife, after the visit. The search included the U.S. Marshals Special Operations Group, along with the U.S. Border Patrol’s Tactical Unit as well as local sheriff’s deputies.
During the manhunt, police said Decker was being sought on three counts of first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping. The U.S. Marshals Service offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to Decker’s arrest.
Travis Decker lost overnight custody rights
In court documents, Decker said he had previously lost overnight custody of his daughters because he was homeless and would often sleep in his vehicle. He said he’d only ever taken the girls to safe, paid campsites.
“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 was homeless, said in an audio recording last fall.
