Human remains were found in Washington State, and authorities believe they belong to Travis Decker; the 32-year-old man accused of killing his three daughters in June. The Chelan County Sheriff’s Office released a statement that, after checking with all of their national, state, and county resources, they found human remains in a remote wooded area south of Leavenworth, Washington. Although they have not been officially identified, their findings suggest they belong to Decker. A DNA analysis will confirm this.

As of September 18, 2025, the sheriff’s office and Washington State Patrol’s crime scene response team are sweeping the area for any further evidence or indication of who the remains may belong to. Authorities are communicating with the family but said if there are any updates to the case, they will inform the public. 

Decker’s Daughters are Found

On June 2, Travis Decker’s daughters, 9-year-old Paityn Decker, 8-year-old Evelyn Decker, and 5-year-old Olivia Decker, were found dead. Authorities have been on a manhunt for nearly four months before making the discovery of the human remains. The siblings’ bodies were found near Leavenworth at Rock Island Campground in close proximity to Decker’s truck. 

The girls’ mother reported that Decker had not returned them on May 30 per their custody agreement, so authorities began searching. Decker was wanted on charges of kidnapping, first-degree murder, and custodial interference charges for the killing of his daughters. When authorities found the girls, they had plastic bags over their heads and markings indicating they may have been bound by zip ties. USA Today reported the girls likely died of asphyxiation, but that has not been confirmed. Authorities have been more focused on finding their killer. 

Manhunt Ensues

According to officials, Decker was mainly living out of his truck and would park at motels and campgrounds in Washington State. They said he had military training after graduating from Pewaukee High School, in Wisconsin and went to a mountain survival school. When the manhunt began, authorities warned people that he may be armed and dangerous. However, they were unsure if he was alive or dead.

The U.S. Marshals Service Pacific Northwest Violent Offender Task Force led the search for Decker, and the FBI, the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office, Washington State Patrol, U.S. Border Patrol, U.S. Forest Service, and the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office assisted in their efforts.

They exhausted their resources using drones, a swift water team, cadaver dogs, and even GoPros to locate Decker’s whereabouts. It ran full force until late July when they decided to scale back due to a lack of leads. They had already conducted thorough searches of the surrounding wilderness. 

At the end of August, they stepped it up and organized a two-day grid search that scaled more than 200 acres of land. It was successful in the sense that they found several items that they could examine and see if they tied back to Decker or the death of his daughters.

Remains Found

Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison said it was likely Decker escaped on foot, leaving behind his truck and equipment. They did not believe he would get far due to his unpreparedness, but as a skilled Army veteran with wilderness survival, he could have stashed items elsewhere in the woods. 

Months after the girls’ bodies were found, and a large manhunt and hundreds of acres were searched, investigators finally found human remains in the woods south of Leavenworth, only several miles from the initial crime scene. “It was not an area we had previously searched before,” Morrison said. Detectives were hoisted down from a helicopter at 4,000 feet to the scene where they made the discovery. According to Morrison, it would have taken them up to three hours to hike to the spot. 

The remains were found in deep brush on the Grindstone Mountain. They included bone fragments, clothing, and other personal items. The Chelan County Sheriff’s Office said in a Thursday statement, “While positive identification has not yet been confirmed, preliminary findings suggest the remains belong to Travis Decker.”  The items were sent to a state police crime lab “to determine if we can get DNA confirmation that it is Mr. Decker.”