Travis Decker found dead: How did accused child killer die near Leavenworth? First details out

“While positive identification has not yet been confirmed, preliminary findings suggest the remains belong to Travis Decker,” the sheriff’s office said Thursday evening.

The department further added that it is in contact with Decker’s family and is ‘providing them with support and updates as the investigation proceeds’.

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This comes days after the FBI launched an intensive search for clues to the whereabouts of Decker. The former soldier has been wanted since June 2, when a sheriff’s deputy found his truck and the bodies of his three daughters – 9-year-old Paityn Decker, 8-year-old Evelyn Decker and 5-year-old Olivia Decker – at the Rock Island Campground in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest.

He had failed to return the girls to their mother’s home for over three days following a scheduled visit.

During a news conference Monday, Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison and Peter Orth, the FBI’s supervisory senior resident agent in Yakima, said: “You can’t be too thorough in a search like this. It is such incredibly dense vegetation that anybody who walks down one of these trails could walk 10 meters off the trail and no one would ever know they’re there.”

The US Marshals Service had offered a reward of up to $20,000 for information leading to Decker’s capture.

“There is no certain evidence that Decker remains alive or in this area,” the Kittitas County Sheriff’s Office said in a social media post Monday. “Seemingly strong early leads gave way to less convincing proofs over the last two weeks of searching. Still, we can’t and won’t quit this search; Paityn, Evelyn, and Olivia Decker deserve justice. And Decker remains a danger to the public as long as he’s at large.”

(With AP inputs)