Police in Washington are searching for the father of three young sisters who were found dead after they were reported missing.
Paityn Decker, 9; Evelyn Decker 8; and Olivia Decker, 5, were first reported missing by their mother on Friday after they did not come back from a planned visitation with their father, Travis Decker, Wenatchee Police Capt. Brian Chance said.
He had picked them up at 5 p.m. and was supposed to bring them back by 8 p.m., The Associated Press reported. When the girls’ mother tried to call him, his phone went to voicemail.
The Wenatchee Police Department had requested that an Amber Alert be issued by the Washington State Patrol, but the case did not meet the criteria, officials said, since Travis Decker had no history of domestic violence and no reports of abuse, The New York Times reported.
An Endangered Missing Persons Alert, however, was issued by the state on Saturday.
On Monday, Travis Decker’s empty truck was found near the Rock Island Campground, in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, our sister station KIRO reported.
The sisters’ bodies were eventually found near a campsite in the campground, The Washington Post reported.
They were each found with a plastic bag over their heads and their hands had been zip-tied, officials said. Their likely cause of death was asphyxiation, The New York Times reported.
A $20,000 reward has been offered for information leading to Travis Decker’s capture, ABC News reported.
He faces three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of kidnapping. The FBI and U.S. Marshals Service are helping to look for Travis Decker, who is a former member of the Army, but Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison said, “he could be anywhere within the nation,” the Times reported.
His former wife, and mother of the three girls, told KIRO that there had not been any issues in the past with visiting. They had been married for seven years before divorcing, but the divorce was civil, according to Whitney Decker.
[ KIRO investigates relationship timeline after the Decker's divorce ]
Near the end of the marriage, Whitney Decker said her former husband had been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, but she did not believe that he was being medicated for the condition. He was supposed to undergo mental health treatment and anger management counseling under a parenting plan set by the court, but did not, according to court documents, KIRO reported.