A shirt found near the suspected remains of Travis Decker was confirmed to be worn by the Army veteran wanted for murdering his three young daughters — as officials on Friday revealed other grim discoveries at the scene.
Washington state and federal law enforcement officials used AI-powered drones Thursday to detect an “anomaly” near Icicle River drainage — less than a mile from where the bodies of Decker’s three daughters were found in June — and discovered clothing that matched that of their prime suspect.
“I am confirming the shirt that we saw on scene is a match for what Travis was last seen wearing,” Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison said at a news conference Friday.
“We found additional body parts today to include two feet, some femurs, and also some vertebrates,” he added.
Investigators also discovered Army Ranger shorts, a bracelet Decker was known to wear and his preferred brand of chewing tobacco, Morrison said.
“Going through the processing of the decomposition that we found amongst that clothing has been challenging for the State Patrol’s Crime Lab, but they were able to get DNA off that sample,” Morrison announced, adding they were comparing to Decker’s blood samples.
There is still no DNA confirmation that the remains are Decker’s — but officials are hopeful that they have found the only suspect in the murder investigation.
“We are optimistic that these results will confirm we’ve located Mr. Decker,” the sheriff said. “We think we’re one step closer.”
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Those genetic test results will come from the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab.
When pressed as to why it took over three months to discover the body, which was in such close proximity to the Rock Island Campground near where the little Decker girls were found, officials pointed to the challenging terrain.
“The terrain is extremely complex, some of which is hard to find anywhere in this country. That’s what we found,” Chief Deputy US Marshal Gavin Duffy said at the news conference, adding, “It’s incredibly steep, it’s incredibly rocky.”
Decker is believed to have murdered his three daughters on June 2 — with Paityn, 9, Evelyn, 8, and Olivia, 5, found with plastic bags tied over their heads near their father’s truck.
The homeless veteran took the girls from the Wenatchee home of their mother, Whitney, who told detectives that Decker “was quieter than usual” when he picked them up on that fateful day, KOIN reported, citing an affidavit.
Lawyers for the grieving mother previously told The Post that her husband’s mental health declined steeply after leaving active duty with the elite US Army Rangers.
The manhunt for Decker was the largest in the county’s history, said Sheriff Morrison, who called the murder of the three young girls the county’s “most heinous” crime.
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