9 Disturbing New Pieces of Evidence Against Wanted Dad Travis Decker

We are learning absolutely disturbing. new details about the deaths of three. young girls and the man who authorities. say is their prime suspect. We are. talking about Travis Decker, the father. accused of brutally killing his own. daughters and the shocking forensic. evidence allegedly tying right back to. him. I'm going to bring on a forensic. death investigator and a former. detective to get to the bottom of. whether Decker will ever be found. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and. Crime. I'm Jesse Weber.

On June 2nd, the bodies of Payton, Evelyn, and Olivia Decker, ages 9, 8, and five, were found near the Rock. Island campground at Washington. Plastic. bags over their heads. To be more. precise, two of the victims had two. separate bags over their heads, and the. third had three separate bags over her. head. Their wrists were zip tied. This. is all according to the sheriff's office. in Chalan County and court documents. This is sick, sick, sick stuff. So, now.

you're asking who could do this, right? Well, here's what happened next. This is. what we're learning now from the. sheriff's office. So, autopsies were. completed and the medical examiner. determined the cause of death for each. victim was suffocation. The manner of. death was homicide. And according to the. sheriff's office, authorities submitted. the cable ties and the plastic bags that. were found at this crime scene to the. Washington State Crime Lab for DNA. analysis. That lab came back on August 6.

with DNA profiles matching 32-year-old. Travis Decker, a reported Army veteran. with extensive training. Travis Decker. is the girl's father. Let me say that. again. The sheriff's office has come out. and said that the lab reported DNA. profiles matching Travis, the father, were found on the plastic bags that. covered each of his daughter's heads. And aside from the girl's DNA, no other. DNA profiles were obtained from the. bags. And as for the cable ties, one DNA.

profile was obtained and that was a. match again to Travis Decker. No other. DNA profiles on the cable ties. So. therefore, the sheriff's office has. concluded that he is the only suspect in. these killings. Here's the problem. They. don't know where he is. They haven't. been able to find him for over 2 months. And here's what's even more alarming. Officials said Travis could be anywhere. in this country. That through his. training and experience, he could live. in the wilderness for days or weeks on.

his own outside with no equipment. ABC. News reporting that Travis was deployed. in Afghanistan back in 2014 while on. active duty in the Army. He was then. transferred to the Washington National. Guard in 2021. There were preparations. for an administration separation that. began in 2023 2024, but apparently the. process hadn't really been started. That, by the way, is the official way. that someone is terminated from active. military service. So, for now, the. Chalan County Sheriff's Office is. working with local, state, and federal.

law enforcement partners to try to find. him. The United States Marshall Service. has posted a reward of up to $20,000. for information leading to Travis. Decker's arrest. In fact, here's what. the sheriff's office said in their press. release. The suspect should be. considered armed and dangerous. If you. see Travis Decker, please call 911. immediately and do not attempt to. contact or approach him. Anyone with. information is urged to contact the. nearest US Marshall's office, the US. Marshall Service Communication Center at. 1 800336102.

or USMS tips at us marshals.gov/tips. And according to authorities, he is. currently wanted for three counts of. firstdegree murder and three counts of. kidnapping. And when it comes to finding. out about a person's possible criminal. history or other important background. information, let me just say there's. nothing better right now than. Truthfinder. At Long Crime, we partner. with Truthfinder. We use it to get. details on people involved in our. stories. But even if you don't work in. true crime, it can be an excellent. resource to give you some peace of mind.

Why? It's one of the largest public. records search services in the United. States. And with a paid subscription. service, you can get access to unlimited. reports about almost anyone. And right. now, you can get 50% off of your first. month of confidential background. reports. Just go to. truthfinder.com/lcsidebar. Now, I'm going to get a little bit more. into the details of Travis Decker's case. and the past. But before I do, I want to. analyze some parts of this and then. we're going to go through more. So, let. me bring on two experts in this area. I. am joined by forensic death investigator.

from Jacksonville State University, Joseph Scott Morgan, host of the Body. Bags podcast. Encourage everybody to go. check that one out. And retired NYPD. detective Dave Sarnney, who's also an. adjunct professor at John J. College of. Criminal Justice. Thank you both so much. for coming on. Joseph, I'll start with. you. Talk to me about the brutality of. that scene. What are the takeaways? I. mean, does that method of killing these. three young girls, does that suggest a. particular type of asalent?

>> Yeah, I think that it does. And and. here's the most terrifying part about. this is that um is that they would have. struggled mightily. This is, you know, we we hear the term suffocation. This is. truly in the purest form what's referred. to as an oxygen deprivent event where. the individual and it happens relatively. quickly um but they are struggling for. life because they're rebreathing their.

own expelled air. So with the uptake. when you're blowing out your oxygen or. blowing out air that air that you're. blowing out is actually carbon dioxide. It's a painful death. uh your brain is. screaming for oxygen. These precious. little angels that are there and they. have these bags over their head. There. would have been struggle. We think about. what it's like, you know, when you're. trying to breathe and to add a layer to. this. Just follow me here. Most of the. time it's a natural response to put our.

hands up to our face, our throat, this. sort of thing. Maybe in a primal sense. try to clear our airway. They're bound. Can't do that. They can't get any kind. of relief at this point because if. they're zip tied, if their hands are zip. tied, they can't manipulate anything. My. suspicion is obviously that they were. probably zip tied and then suffocated. with these bags. Maybe lay in adjacent. to one another. I don't know necessarily. how the bags were secure. I think that. that's that's interesting to.

>> Why multiple bags? As if it wasn't. horrifying enough, multiple bags. Well, I think yeah, I think that uh maybe in. his mind um if he did this uh you're. thinking about uh were these bags. permeable in any way? He's trying to. he's trying to kind of cover all of his. bases. So, the more layers you have here. as far as these layers of bags, you're. you are preventing any kind of leakage. or expelling of the carbon dioxide. He.

has an understanding of this. Uh and. this is actually. be quite frank with you, uh, this is a. methodology of torture that has been. utilized in a number of cases over the. years where people will have bags placed. over their heads, they're brought to the. point of passing out or death, and then. the bag is removed, they start to. rebreathe again. And so that that part. of it is particularly. >> troubling because if the dad did this, this is sadistic. I mean, at this point. in time, it's not like, and forgive me,

I But it's not like, you know, he took. these children out and shot them in the. back of the head, all right, and put the. lights out immediately. It's not what. happened here. This is grueling. All. right. And they they would have had an. awareness. Jesse, >> it is horrifying to be thinking about. Um Dave, before I go to you real quick, Joseph, the DNA results, your thoughts. on those, how accurate are those? Because also, let me couple with this. not only the DNA results on the cable. ties and the bags and your thoughts on. how accurate that is, but in July,

authorities announced that bloody. handprints on the tailgate of this truck. were found near the girl's bodies and. apparently matched the DNA profile quote. that we believe is Deckers. This is. again according to the Chalan County uh. Sheriff's Office. So, talk to me about. how accurate that data is. Well, I I. think probably relative to the bags, you. know, I think at first blush we might. think that, well, this might be touch. DNA, which, you know, we we lose.

thousands and thousands of skin cells. constantly. Um, and we're sloughing. them, and those are those are only a. partial of DNA. Okay. My thought is is. if he is engaged in this behavior, this. is going to be very stressful. You've. got kids that are already restrained and. I'm projecting here. I'm just kind of. throwing this out there. He's having to. fight with them. Well, one of the things. that you think about is the deposition. of DNA might be as you're grabbing the.

interior of the bag and then pulling it. over their head. That might be sweat. All right, which is going to be a much. more rich source. And again, speculative. on my part. and then securing the bag. and holding it around their neck unless. he took tape or some other maybe another. tie, you know, to secure it that way. They're not saying that though. So, I. really wonder if he's placing the bag. over their head like this until they're. suffocated. Again, that's gruesome, but. you've got this direct contact here.

that's going to be rather robust, particularly if you've got perspiration. involved as opposed to just kind of. passively skin cells dropping off. Dave, let's talk about this search. How do you. approach locating and apprehending a. suspect with that background that I. mentioned before? >> Well, here here's the issue again. We. you know this is you have a point of. where you know he was at. There was time. and distance between when they discover. the bodies and when he fled the scene.

So now you're going to try to do a. background history on him, trying to get. an idea of where he may have been prior. to. So he has some familiarity with the. area or um a location where he was. going. He left the car, he left his dog. So he had an intention. He already had. some other idea of flight because if you. look at this to do what he did, this is. a planned murder of his children. That's. really what it comes down to. This is. not about psychopathy. It's not about. this. if he's the one responsible. This. is a planned murder and there had to be.

some sort of a planned escape. This. isn't sort of a happen stance. So, that's the reason. And then you're. talking about the outdoors and the. wilderness and the ability for law. enforcement to track someone after that. long period of time that he's been away. Not only that, with his possible plan, now you're trying to you have to, you. know, put out this gigantic net and hope. bring it in. And what happens is as this. case has gone on the resources, you had. a lot more uh law enforcement personnel. involved. Now the marshals are running. the the show and it may have been scaled.

back for resource uh for resources. because manpower. So now you have this. guy has been know has been needing two. months at this point and that's why the. sheriff you could say he could be. anywhere because they don't have you. know they don't know his exit strategy. and they haven't been able to find. anyone who's found him. Well, so the. Chalan County Sheriff's Office confirmed. to ABC News that cadaavver dogs had been. used. There were tracking dogs. They've. looked at sightings, tips, leads. There. has been nothing. There was an.

announcement last month that they may. need to scale back the search since the. leads have kind of dried up. There was a. reduced footprint. There have been. reported potential sightings. In July, the US Marshall Service got a tip on. July 5th that someone consistent with. Travis's description was seen in the. Bear Creek area of Sawtooth National. Forest in Idaho. Described by officials. as a white male, anywhere from 5'8 in. tall to 5' 10 in tall, wearing a black. mesh cap, black earrings, a cream. colored t-shirt, black shorts, low top.

sneakers, a black Garmin style watch, sporting a long ponytail, an overgrown. beard, a mustache, was carrying a black. Jansport backpack. In August, there was. a potential sighting of Travis near this. pass along the Pacific Crest Trail in. Washington. This was according to the. King County Sheriff's Office and law. enforcement looked into it, but Travis. wasn't found. And the Katas uh County. Sheriff Clay Meers said in a statement, "We can't and won't quit this search. Payton, Evelyn, and Olivia Decker.

deserve justice. Decker remains a danger. to the public as long as he's at large.". Dave, are you surprised he hasn't been. located? If he is alive, how could he be. surviving on his own? And that's a. question that I I'm going to believe. baffles the sheriff's office and most of. law enforcement at this point is how. much did he have available? How much. material did he have when he fled the. location to sustain himself this long? This is almost like Rambo in a sense. He's just found his way to just himself. into the wilderness. And the problem is. again technology isn't available to us.

to do anything more than have. helicopters and drones, cadaavver dogs. and the like looking for him. You know, there's no video cameras. There's. nothing. He's not leaving a some sort of. footprint within social media or. anything like that. So, he, you know, that's why you see this what the sheriff. says is pretty accurate. We don't know. where he is and they're going to keep. looking. But could he be dead? It's. possible. Could he still be hiding. somewhere else? It's possible. You do. what you can. I mean, that's the thing. Just the problem is now resources are.

limiting. and and Dave, on uh June 17th, officials they released this um a new. suspect flyer of Decker and it seemed to. provide photos of what he may look like. if he had changed up his appearance at. this point. I mean, obviously it hasn't. helped. I mean, they haven't found him, but I thought that was interesting to. try to give different ways for the. public to see what he might look at. Um, is that common? Is that usually. effective? >> It can be effective. The good thing is, you know, with anything anything that's. a social uh like body body marks,

tattoos, certain unusual features of the. person, you try to highlight and do. those things kind of like age. regression, age progression, you're. doing what you can. And the thing is, I. know law enforceed. child murderer of his own children. They're doing their job. But it's this. is something that unfortunately is. difficult given the vast space in which. he had to flee a location without. technology available. The law wasn't to. exploit this case. Now to give everyone kind of an example.

of what we're talking about, authorities, they searched the Blue Pass. area in the Wan that mountains, but the. sheriff's office said, quote, "The. potential evidence and intelligence. gathered in this area are inconclusive.". meaning we cannot confirm any of the. information is directly associated with. Mr. Decker. So, you're kind of getting a. sense of the complications there. The. Chalan County Sheriff, Mike Morrison, told ABC, "We could be in a fight for 5. years, 10 years, 20 years. I certainly. hope we're looking at a couple weeks and. it closes out, but it could be a long.

time and we are committed to staying. with it." And actually, it was. interesting. On July 17th, there were. videos that were released by police, showing Travis 3 days before picking up. his daughters. It's apparently of him in. a parking lot of a grocery store in. Wanachi. This is again, Washington. This. is after he allegedly rearended another. person's car. He's seen talking to a. police officer and the person whose car. he hit. And I kind of want to lay out. some of the timeline, too. So, we go to. May 30th. And according to Ariana Kart,

who is the attorney for the little. girl's mother, Whitney Decker, Travis. picked his daughters up at their house. in Wanachi Valley, about 50 or 60 miles. from the campground. He allegedly talked. to Whitney for 15 to 20 minutes, left. with the girls, even apparently. indicated that he would be back by 8:00. p.m. Whitney then calls police with a. complaint, saying she hadn't heard from. Travis. He didn't bring their girls back. home when he said he would. She called. him multiple times. Calls went straight.

to voicemail. And according to court. records, he quote reportedly has never. done this before and further noted he is. currently experiencing some mental. health issues. Now, we go to the next. day, May 31st, and police find out that. Travis and the girls never made it to. where they were planning on going, this. apparent 5K running event. And this is. interesting that police indicated at the. time that Travis was quote homeless and. living in his vehicle or at various. motel, hotels, or at campgrounds in the. area. And despite all of this,

authorities said the case didn't warrant. an Amber Alert. They did issue an. endangered missing person alert, not an. Amber Alert. You know, the required. criteria for an Amber Alert includes. that there's a reasonable belief by law. enforcement that an abduction has. occurred and that the law enforcement. agency believes that the child is in. imminent danger of serious bodily injury. or death. And once that's determined, then police notify broadcasters, state. transportation officers, it alerts. regular programming, it interrupts it, radio, TV, there's highway signs,

there's other digital platforms. But. then you go to June 2nd and authorities. find Travis's car at 300 PM near the. Rock Island campground. And that is when. they find the girl's bodies and the. search for Travis is really on. And by. the way, this area of Washington is in. the Wanachi River Ranger District. It's. remote. It's mountainous. It encompasses. approximately 696,000. acres. Joseph, back to you. Do you sense. as as Dave was talking about this. element of premeditation, right? Assuming he did this, does the area.

where the girls are found, does that. indicate something to you? >> Yeah. Well, familiarity. I mean, you you. just said that it's very remote. I I got. to tell you what this reminds me of. I. was part of the investigation into the. Olympic Park bombing back in 96 when I. was with the Emmy in Atlanta and for. years, you know, they were looking for. Eric Rudolph. and he turned up one day. uh a country deputy found him digging in.

a dumpster in the back of a 7-Eleven. trying to scrge food. Now, he is an Army. vet as part of the 82nd if I remember. and they had all kinds of people teams. scouring, you know, that region in the. Blue Ridge Mountains, that sort of. thing, looking for him. I had friends. that were injured at an abortion bombing. leos that were there because there was a. secondary device that he had set off. So, I mean, I was invested in that case. I I remember it distinctly. Uh, and it. took a long time, but he was prepped.

Seriously prepped. And if this guy's got. a military background, I don't know. specifically what his Army Mos was, but. if he has any kind of prepping mindset, he could have supplies laid in. You. never know where he might have them. ratold sitting out there in the. wilderness, an area that he's very. familiar with, and he may have moved on. at that point in time. He can live he. can live off of the land, you know, by. his wits, with his training, that sort. of thing. But to the point made earlier,

yeah, you show up with these kind of. tools, what are you what are you going. to use multiple baggies for that? They're the size that you can put over a. person's head and you're going to have. zip ties. uh and they are specifically. used as u as a mechanism to bring about. the end of these precious babies at this. point in time. Uh so yeah, I think he. was prepped, but I think he's probably. prepped beyond that. And they're right. to say this guy is armed and dangerous. There's no telling what he's capable of.

if he's still among the land of the. living. >> And let me talk about that for a second. So right, this search is quite. extensive. You have local officials, the. FBI, the Department of Homeland. Security, the US Marshall's Office. Dave, um, talk to me about two things. here. A, and I'm not trying to cast. blame him. I'm just trying to understand. why is it being reported that there was. no Amber Alert initially? And two, what. happens if he's in Canada? Is there any. way to get him back? >> Well, that's obviously I guarantee you.

I think they've had work with the. Canadian Mounties and and outside law. enforcement. There's nothing that we. cannot extradite if he's apprehended in. Canada and get him extraed back to the. United States. I there's no issue. I. don't approve of that. As far as the. Amber Alert goes, you know, when you do. these these protocols and procedures, they have they have to hit a certain. criteria. Unfortunately, even with an. Amber Alert, would it have mattered at. that point? Because the murder took. place in such a remote area, you know, that was the thing. Would they have seen. the car, you know, at this point in time.

with his fleeing the scene? some law. enforcement officer, even if they didn't. know about it, would have somehow said, "I remember him being here. I recall him. being there." That hasn't happened at. all because, you know, an Amber Alert is. good and I'll say in an urban setting. that you know where they're going or. where they're coming from and there's. again technology out there, cameras and. the like. This is a remote area where. these murders took place and the. perpetrator who committed these murders.

And it looks, you know, we're going to. have to assume at this point, but it. looks like it's, you know, Travis at. this point. It's hard to find because he. was, he's been off the grid so long. anyway. He's learned how to survive. being off the grid. Nowhere about credit. cards, cell phones, and the like. He. left his dog. So, he already decided, I'm going to go on this on my own. I. mean, leaving your dog is a bringing. your dog and leaving a dog is something, you know, that's he already had. determined fact he's leaving. So, >> and by the way, Dave, on June 4th, uh. during a news conference, Chalan County. Sheriff Mike Morrison encouraged Decker.

to turn himself in. Travis, if you're. listening, this is your opportunity to. turn yourself in. Do the right thing. Do. what you need to do, and take. accountability for your actions. We're. not going to go away. We're not going to. arrest. And we're going to make sure we. find you. You will be brought to. justice. Those young ladies deserve it. >> Dave, is that effective? Assuming for a. moment that Travis Decker is alive and. sees that, is that plea from law. enforcement, is that effective usually.

in these kinds of cases? >> It's effective in the sense of showing. that we're going to be hunt we're. hunting for you. The hunt is on and give. yourself up before something else. happens. That's what you're looking at. But is there going to be a sense of. remorse from Travis at this point if. he's the one that committed the murder. and saying, "I didn't do it. It would. have happened already." So obviously. we're looking at a person who does not. want to be found for allegedly killing. his children. So it it's a plea you. hopefully someone maybe he would have.

heard it but he's been off the grid. So. that's the other issue. Is he looking at. TV or social media? Probably not. >> And I want to get into mindset here with. you Joseph. So Kart uh again the. attorney for Whitney, this is Travis's. ex-wife, told ABC News that Travis. wasn't getting the mental health. treatment that he needed, that he was. suffering from PTSD. She added, quote, "The courts didn't fail these girls. It. wasn't the judge and it wasn't Whitney. It was our system. Whitney feels like. the system really let Travis down. If. somebody would have provided Travis with. the help that he needed, those girls.

would be alive." And before the girls. disappeared, Kart said there were no red. flags and that he loved those girls very. much. ABC reporting that his PTSD was. quite present during his marriage to. Whitney. That's again according to Kart. And Travis would allegedly scream in the. middle of the night, only get 2 hours of. sleep. He would soak the bed. Their. marriage officially ended in 2023, and. Whitney ended up being granted full. custody. Petitioned the court to quote, "put restrictions in place on parenting.

due to concerning factors regarding. Travis's mental health and stability.". This is again according to Kosart. And. she also relayed to ABC that Travis was. granted visitation with the kids for 3. hours on Friday, 8 hours every other. weekend. When you look at that. background, Joseph, and I know that is. important for forensic death. investigation, what do you take away. from that? >> Well, first off, Travis is a creature of. free will. He made a decision to do this. if, in fact, he did it. All right. Now, as far as the PTSD goes, Yeah. I mean,

that's a very scary situation to be in. And I know that you're supposed to take. it case by case. There are a lot of. people walking around with PTSD that are. veterans that have found the will to. move forward. Now, I don't know what his. situation was. I don't know if they're. they don't have him on medication or. therapy, and there's a lot of different. therapies out there. But at the end of. the day, if he did do this, it is he and. he alone that did this. I mean, we can. deflect and we can talk about, you know, what part of the system failed. Well,

the system's always failing. And you. can't predict at any one time. There is. no government agency out there that can. predict what this guy is going to do. Now, he had focused himself to the point. where he's going to get possession of. these children for that period of time. that he is allotted by the courts to go. to this 5K event. He's going to show up. prepared uh with what turns out to be, you know, tools of death if you want to. And he's he's got a he's got an area,

you know, Dave was talking about the. remoteness of this. You don't wind up. here by accident. You know what I'm. saying? You don't wind up in this. location. It's like, "Oh, wow. I'm at. the end of the earth here. You have to. have fornowledge of this location. So, he's able to focus on this. Now, I don't. know if he's if he's having some kind of. delusions or something like that, but he. could sure enough operate the vehicle to. go pick up his kids, acquire the tools. necessary, drive to that location, put.

put them in restraints, and then put. bags over their head so that they're. deprived of oxygen. Now, that's a choice. that he made. He did all of those things. along the way. I don't know what her. representative is getting at with this. point. Um, you know, I mean, God bless. her. I wish her the best in it. Right. now, this is a triple homicide. investigation relative to these precious. girls. >> And the evidence doesn't look good. Aside from the cable ties, the plastic. bags, the sheriff's office confirmed.

they collected a large amount of. evidence, including the suspect's. personal items from the truck. In June, they indicated they were taking blood. samples from the scene. Fingerprint. analysis was also going to be conducted. His dog was found, taken to the Humane. Society. There was digital evidence that. Travis allegedly made internet searches. 4 days before he picked up his daughters. about moving to Canada. Dave, what do. you take away from what this evidence. suggests? >> This suggest, and it goes back to the.

same thing I'm saying. This is a. pre-planned murder of his kids. This is. what he did. This is three point and try. to create a mode of escape. And here's. the thing. He murdered his k his. children but left his dog alive. So you. could see where his priorities are. And. whatever the reason is behind the murder. of his kids, the alleged murder of his. kids. This is a person who has. successfully evaded law enforcement for. sever few months at this point. So this. is a person who isn't mentally damaged. or anything like that. if he is no.

longer alive. That is one aspect. But. it's the two months they've been trying. to do the best they can with, you know, with the law enforcement. But. >> yeah, >> you're taking away a person who's. actually, you know, knew what he was. doing. That's it. And he's knew how to. escape it. >> And and I don't want to forget the. victims in this case. So their mother, Whitney, described them as having quote. warm and open hearts. She spoke at a. memorial on June 20th as well. Take a. listen. I truly hope that the legacy of. the girls lives lives in everyone's. heart forever. They were incredible.

>> And also, I'll tell you there was a. GoFundMe that was set up to support. Whitney for legal costs and expenses. It. has raised over $1.2. million. Unbelievable. Joseph Scott Morgan, Dave. Sarnney, thank you so much for both uh. for both of you for taking the time to. explain the intricacies of this. investigation, what we should be. thinking about, and we'll uh continue to. follow it. Thank you both so much. Thank you very much. Stay safe. >> And that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so.

much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple. Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should. get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll. speak to you next time. [Music].