Nearly three months after authorities in Washington state launched a manhunt for a military veteran accused of killing his three young daughters, the fugitive father has still not been found.
On Monday, dozens of investigators returned to a key location in the horrific crime — the remote area where Travis Decker’s abandoned pickup truck was found near the bodies of his three girls, ages 5, 8 and 9, law enforcement officials said.
Peter Orth, a supervisory senior resident agent with the FBI’s Seattle office, told reporters that authorities are returning to an area near Rock Island Campground, roughly 150 miles east of Seattle, with the goal of finding evidence that will lead them to Decker or any information related to the murders.
“By thoroughly searching and documenting the area, we can help prevent the need to review the area in the future by collecting all possible evidence,” he said.
The effort, coordinated by the FBI’s Seattle field office, includes nearly 100 law enforcement personnel, with intelligence analysts, evidence specialists and special agents with expertise in child abduction cases and forensic analysis, Chelan County Sheriff Michael Morrison said.
“These resources demonstrate the seriousness with which every agency is approaching this case,” Morrison said in a news release.
The search is expected to last through Tuesday, Morrison said.
“While this latest operation may or may not yield new findings, our promise is that we will not stop until we have exhausted every possible avenue to find him and to bring closure to this case,” he said.
The sheriff's office continues to follow every credible lead, he said, noting there is still no evidence to indicate whether Decker, 33, is alive or dead.
Authorities have been searching for Decker, an Army veteran described as an avid outdoorsman, since May 30, when his ex-wife contacted police and said he did not return their daughters, Paityn, 9, Evelyn, 8, and Olivia, 5, after a planned visit.
The girls were found at the campground on June 2 with plastic bags over their heads, according to an affidavit in support of an arrest warrant. An autopsy found that they died of suffocation.
Authorities appear to have seen Decker, who is wanted on charges of first-degree murder and kidnapping, just once, when a man believed to be him was seen in the Blewitt Pass area, southeast of Rock Island Campground.
Another sighting in Idaho turned out to be someone else.
Authorities have not identified a possible motive. According to the affidavit, Decker refused to sign a parenting plan last September that ordered him to seek mental health treatment and domestic violence-anger management counseling.
His ex-wife, Whitney Decker, has said she believes her daughters might still be alive had an Amber Alert been issued in the hours after she first contacted police.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
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