Manhunt On for Father Who Murdered 3 Daughters
Abusive Men Shouldn't Be Allowed Unsupervised Visits
A manhunt is on for a father who brutally murdered his three daughters during a court-ordered unsupervised visit last week in Washington State.
Travis Decker had been granted unsupervised visitation by a Family Court judge, despite the mother saying the children should never be alone with him due to his anger issues, abuse, neglect and violence.
When Travis did not return his daughters—ages 5, 8 and 9—to their mother at 8pm Friday night, May 30th, she knew something was wrong. He wasn’t answering his phone and it was going straight to voicemail. She called the police.
The girls’ bodies were found Monday near Travis’ truck at a remote campground in central Washington, about an hour from their home in Wenatchee. He had asphyxiated them with plastic bags over their heads. Their hands had been bound with zip-ties and there were bloody handprints on his truck, so it was quite violent.
Travis has disappeared into the wilderness and local officials are working with the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Marshal's Office to locate him. Ironically, the governor has just deployed the State National Guard, of which Travis is a member. He has extensive survival training, so he can exist a long time in the wilderness.
Large swaths of wilderness around the campground have been closed to the public as the manhunt has intensified. A $20,000 reward has been offered for information leading to his arrest and he is said to be armed and dangerous. He may be headed towards Canada, in the vicinity of the Pacific Crest Trail.
LEAD UP
Whitney met and married Travis about ten years ago. They had their first daughter, Paityn, shortly after they met. They had two more daughters—Evelyn, and Olivia.
Travis served in the army and did a short stint in Afghanistan. He transferred into the Washington State National Guard. He has extensive survival training and would live off the grid for months at a time.
During their marriage, Travis subjected Whitney to physical and emotional abuse. He would randomly wake her up at night by screaming at her. He would disappear for long periods of time.
They separated and filed for divorce in 2022. It was finalized in 2023 and they shared custody.
In the fall of 2024, Travis began living out of his truck. Whitney returned to Family Court for a custody modification. She claimed he should not have overnights due to his homelessness, nor should he ever be alone with the children.
She cited his neglect of the children and emotional problems, including anger issues.
…There was a substantial change in circumstances as to the Father’s ability to parent the children safely, and she described an incident where the Father had the children sleep at the armory around dozens of other men.
Whitney detailed many concerning incidents, including a time when one of their daughters was passed out with a bathrobe tied around her neck. Another incident involved one of the girls injuring her fingers, with Travis absent and unresponsive. In another, one was injured by a falling weight in the armory’s gym, where he often took the girls.
Whitney said he was prone to angry outbursts and would come into her house yelling for the girls at his visitation time. Other times, he would fail to pick them up.
Travis has neglected his parental duties and has long-term emotional problems that get in the way of his ability to parent.
Olivia once called Whitney crying and said she could not find her father. Shortly after that, Evelyn came home with welts between her legs. This sounds suspiciously like sexual abuse although there were no reports made to our knowledge. [This may be because when mothers report sexual abuse, they often lose custody.]
Travis argued there should be no modification whatsoever. He contended that it was important his children understand “the reality of how the world works” and they should learn from his homelessness.
Despite all the evidence showing Travis should not have unsupervised visitation, a Chelan County Family Court judge gave Travis just that: three hours on Friday evenings and eight hours every other Saturday and Sunday—but no overnight visits. Travis was ordered to get mental health treatment and attend anger management courses.
This modification likely made Travis even angrier and may have been when he started to formulate a plan for revenge. His bitterness would be unreasonable, of course, since he was still allowed regular, unsupervised visitation with his daughters.
Travis supposedly applied for therapy through the VA but claimed there was too much red tape. He never attended any anger management program.
TIMELINE
FRIDAY, MAY 30th: Travis picks up the girls at 5pm. He does not bring them back at 8pm, the scheduled time. Whitney calls the police, who inform her the criteria do not meet an Amber Alert.
SATURDAY: Washington State Patrol issues a statewide Endangered Missing Person Alert (EMPA), which is similar to Amber Alerts minus phone notifications. Officers immediately begin working to determine the whereabouts of Travis and the girls. [This fast law enforcement response is likely because Travis is a homeless man. Normally, they do not act at all if a father does not return children.]
SUNDAY: An arrest warrant for kidnapping is issued. The search intensifies.
MONDAY: Investigators find Travis’ truck at an isolated campground 11 miles from the Pacific Crest Trail that goes up to Canada. The bodies of the girls are found down an embankment about 100 yards from the truck with plastic bags over their heads. Travis is nowhere to be found.
TUESDAY: State prosecutors charge Travis with three counts of first degree murder and kidnapping. A search for him near the campground is initiated.
WEDNESDAY: The US Marshals Service offers a reward of $20,000 for information leading to Decker's arrest. The search broadens.
THURSDAY: Federal prosecutors charge Travis with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. More than 100 officers, agents, and deputies join the manhunt.
A number of trails, roads and campgrounds have been shut down as law enforcement and search crews work to navigate the terrain. Travis is considered armed and dangerous and everyone in the area between the Cascades and Canada are encouraged to stay alert and keep their doors locked.
The community is rallying behind Whitney and a gofundme has brought in more than a million dollars for her.
RIP Paityn, Evelyn, and Olivia and CONDOLENCES to Whitney.
TAKEAWAYS
There is a lot of talk in MSM about Travis’ mental illness causing this travesty and the VA system failing to give him proper help. But most mentally ill or traumatized people do not murder their children. Perhaps he had a psychotic break, but that’s unlikely since he seems to have methodically planned the murders and his escape for a while.
What seems most plausible is his anger caused it. The last custody modification when he lost overnights may have intensified his anger to the point he committed the ultimate revenge. This is just speculation, but if revenge was the motivation, this case would not be an outlier. It is not uncommon for men to kill family members out of anger and vengeance.
This theme of male vengefulness after divorce has been covered in many of our columns, since there are so many deaths associated with it, including: Another Child Murdered by a Vengeful Ex after Judge Orders Joint Custody. Children should never be unsupervised with fathers who have “anger issues”.
Yet, the patriarchal narrative suffusing Family Court (and society) is that “scorned” ex-wives are the vindictive ones. Judges rely on that characterization to discredit mothers when they report abuse. But judges know the mom is not vindictive. It’s just a convenient label for justifying the inevitable great custody switch.
The underlying truth is, it makes no sense for mothers to vindictively make false reports of abuse. Mothers want what’s best for their children and that is a good, non-abusive father to help raise them. Besides, mothers virtually never harm or kill children to get revenge on their ex.
On the other hand, it makes perfect sense that some men are angry and vindictive after divorce—after losing control of “their” wives and children, considered their rightful property for thousands of years. Power over women and children is a most coveted patriarchal perk, and men have been systemically allowed to use violence to maintain control. And Family Court aids in the continuation of this male prerogative.
The only thing that could have stopped Travis murdering the girls is if the judge had taken his abuse and anger issues seriously and ordered supervised visits. But judges are loathe to restrict fathers this way and will only do it for short periods of time, if at all. Mothers are terrified to press this measure for fear of being accused of alienation.
On the other hand, judges commonly restrict mothers who report abuse by the father to supervised visitation or no contact to silence and disempower them. This fits the age-old agenda of maintaining men’s power in the family after divorce.
DISPELLING PATRIARCHAL NARRATIVES
A form of activism we are taking on the cultural level is to dispel the many false, patriarchal narratives that infest society. You can use stories like this one and many others reported on here to spread the word that a main problem after divorce is not vindictive ex-wives but vindictive ex-husbands who use children to get revenge by taking, harming, and killing children.
You can help by actively replacing the false narratives with true ones via word of mouth and independent and social media—and by sharing Women’s Coalition News & Views columns. For more info, see: Dispelling Family Court Propaganda & False Narratives and/or join our activist group: Sisters in Solidarity.
If there are any researchers/statisticians who would like to compile stats supporting the true narratives, plz email: info@womenscoalition.org
Whitney’s story, and all similar ones, can also be used to support our position that mothers should automatically get primary custody and have the power to keep children safe.
For that scenario, we need an entirely new system.
Join The Women’s Coalition where we are demanding a new system in which women are afforded their legal and Constitutional right to due process and equal protection.
Join our Discrimination against Women in Family Court lawsuit [see below].
IN OTHER NEWS
SIS FORUM THIS SATURDAY
Our next Sisters in Solidarity forum is this Saturday, June 14th. It is open to mothers who’ve joined SIS or the discrimination lawsuit.
You will receive an invite a few days before the zoom.
JUNE FORUM
June 14th: 1pm Pacific; 4pm Eastern; 9pm London; 6am (15th) in Sydney.
More info: Sisters in Solidarity
JOIN LAWSUIT: fill out this form for the U.S. and for other countries this form.
More info about the discrimination lawsuit
CHAPTER 28 NEXT SECTION
…It’s spring '94 and Legion is busy doing all the work involved in filing her appeal of the unjust Family Court ruling, in which she again lost all custody and contact with her boys. She needs to prepare her argument at the hearing in front of three justices, but she makes time to once again travel cross-country to visit clandestinely with her boys. It is wonderful seeing them again, but on her way out of town, the evil stepmother catches her!
Legion is amazed at how she and so many other mothers can keep functioning under the persecutory conditions imposed on them by Family Court enabling their exes to take their babes: “How do we do it?!” She is outraged that so many mothers have been reduced to sneaking to see their own children: “How dare we have to do this!”
In the last section, Legion’s been reduced to working jobs at which she can barely make a basic living, while being ordered to pay child support to a doctor who is allowed to keep her children away from her. She is discovering that the patriarchal Family Court system marginalizes and bankrupts even highly educated and successful women like her, who are just trying to keep and protect their babies.
CHAPTER 28 of Mother-Fucking: The Saga of One Fucked Mother begins with Act III, Part 4 of “The Opera” from Book 3. The Opera has three Acts with five Parts—one for each of the three Family Court and two Appellate Court trials. Chapter 28 covers all of Act III: Part 4: the third Family Court trial, and Part 5: the second Appellate trial. This is a long chapter and will be published in newsletter-sized bites.
Dr. Blue’s novel is based on her own experience of the Custody Crisis. It uniquely conveys how Family Court judges are “mother-fucking” women—a form of systemic oppression—as protagonist Legion is systematically and methodically deprived of her children and money and reduced to “one fucked mother”.
Chapters are stand-alone interesting so you can begin reading anywhere. A Cast of Characters follows to help readers at any point. All published chapters are included in the Section: “Saga of One F**ked Mother” accessible on the top bar of the home page of Women’s Coalition News & Views. Sequential chapters are emailed out every Wednesday so make sure to subscribe if you haven’t yet!
TEASERS
I was able to touch and to talk to Mirzah and to Jesse and to Zane once again! Priceless!…Before I knew it, I was traveling back to Ames. Crying. That had not changed either…O, this was hard! Soooo, so very hard! I was again reminded of that ruthlessly merciless and mother-fuckingly sperm-exalting question, “How do we do it?!” and of us mothers’ incredulity, “How dare we have to do this!”
…I watched Mirzah leave me till there was nothing more of him to see. This, too, all mothers I happen to know ... do. Watch and look and see their babes’ departures from their arms––until they just cannot anymore…Dr. Legion True was to be vanquished and driven out of and away from Zane’s and Jesse’s and Mirzah’s minds for certain!
“MOTHER, YOU HAVE NO SONS! SONS, YOU HAVE NO MOTHER!”
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Expose the judge that gave this psycho unsupervised visitation. Let this judge’s name be known all over the world for what he/she failed to do, and that is protect these children.
Family court judges do not rule in a child's best interests. Males that request custody usually get it. It doesn't matter if they're abusive. It makes no difference if they have problematic psychiatric evaluations. Reports of violence are often ignored. Women have no enforceable rights in family court. Mothers cannot protect their children. Facts and evidence don't help. New laws and training programs won't help. Loving mothers have their children taken. They are often falsely deemed unfit. Women are frequently given unwarranted supervised visitation. Men are infrequently given warranted supervised visitation. Family court judges endanger children. They face no consequences. Children deserve to be safe. Paityn, Evelyn and Olivia should be here today.
Whitney should not be suffering their loss. Women must continue to unite and demand a new system. Family court judges abuse their power. They must no longer have the power to do so. We need a new system. A jury would give women and children a chance at justice. Family court must end.