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The Chelan County Sheriff revealed he has been consulting investigators from some of the nation鈥檚 most notorious fugitive cases as multiple law enforcement agencies search for Travis Decker, the man accused of killing his three young daughters at a campground near Leavenworth.

Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison is also working with a U.S. Marshals psychologist on site in Wenatchee to better understand what Decker might be thinking, in addition to using tips from psychics with federal agents.

Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison spoke with 成人X站 Newsradio about the ongoing search for the homeless, former soldier, Travis Decker, who has been at the center of a three-week manhunt in central Washington.

Wednesday afternoon, there was a new helicopter search in the mountains near the town of Cashmere in Chelan County. Flight tracking data showed a government-owned UH-72A Lakota Eurocopter circling the area around Mission Creek Road, in some spots that were less than a mile from Cashmere.

Decker still alive, according to Chelan County sheriff

Morrison said he believes Decker is still alive and might be accessing multiple caves and old mine shafts throughout the mountains of Chelan County to hide or seek shelter from the elements.

“I do believe he’s still alive, and until I find something that would prove otherwise, we’re going to consider that he is alive,” Morrison said. “We have not found a body. And at this point, I figured if that had been the case, just the amount of people who do come and recreate here in Chelan County, that we would have found something that we’re going to continue to take into account that we’ll either find him in one state or the other.”

Morrison also explained that they have consulted with behavioral experts from the FBI, and have a U.S. Marshal’s psychologist on site in Wenatchee to help understand what Decker might be thinking and where he may go next. Morrison said he recently contacted investigators who conducted other high-profile fugitive cases, including the 21-day search for Jorge Alcantara-Gonzalez, the 2020 murder suspect who hid in the woods of Kittitas County. Alcantara-Gonzales survived by breaking into cabins and stealing food from campsites. Morrison said he also recently chatted with a former FBI Special Agent who worked on the 1996 case and five-year manhunt for Centennial Olympic Park bomber, Eric Rudolph.

“He told me, he’s like, hey, that was a five-year effort. And it really was that patrol deputy on the road that saw a subject dumpster diving, contacted him, and there was Eric Rudolph,” Morrison said. “He was taken into custody.”

Wednesday, Morrison said investigators have tracked down tips from psychics who claimed to have information that could lead to Decker’s whereabouts.

“Our agency has received tips from individuals identifying as psychics and, like all tips, we have reviewed the information provided,” Morrison said. “We鈥檝e shared relevant details with our federal partners and followed up when appropriate. These tips are treated the same as any other incoming leads.”

TikTok rumors debunked by authorities

Tuesday, Chelan County Undersheriff Dan Ozment also dispelled recent rumors circling social media that Decker has been captured.

“Our office was notified of a TikTok video that was released, which portrays Sheriff Morrison and claims Mr. Decker has been taken into custody after a long standoff,” Ozment explained in a press release. “To be clear, Mr. Decker is not in custody and CCSO had no part in making the video.”

While it’s unclear what specific video Ozment referred to, 成人X站 Newsradio found dozens of videos on TikTok that falsely claimed Decker was captured or arrested at the Canadian border or other areas in Washington State.

Also on Tuesday, a federal helicopter conducted a search of the foothills of the Teanaway Valley in Kittitas County and the Enchantments in Chelan County. That helicopter made multiple circles in a specific area just north of the intersection of state highway 97 and route 970, which is about five miles from Cle Elum, Roslyn, and Suncadia, between 8:30 p.m. Monday and 12:30 a.m. Tuesday.

On social media, the Kittitas County Sheriff’s Office stated that their deputies and tactical teams are actively searching for Decker. They are asking residents to be alert for a suspicious person or circumstances, especially in the Teanaway Valley and Blewett Pass areas, including Red Bridge Road, Teanaway, Swauk, Lauderdale Junction, and Liberty.

The renewed helicopter search comes nearly three weeks after the bodies of three young girls were discovered at a remote campground west of Leavenworth. The once-intense search for Decker, the girls’ father, appeared to have slowed its fervent pace over the weekend. So far, our emails to the U.S. Marshal’s Office, which recently took over search operations, have gone unanswered.

Last week, the U.S. Forest Service reopened multiple trails in and around that area of the Cascade Mountain Range. Last week, Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison said more hikers will mean more eyes to possibly spot Decker or other evidence and more tips for law enforcement to respond to quickly.

Morrison said, at some point, he expects Decker will need to resurface to get more supplies.

“The struggle is real. I mean, you can get water and you can build shelter, but you start getting into the challenges of providing food for yourself. That becomes more taxing,” Morrison said. “We believe that if he is out there and he hasn’t prepared and put himself out there to a point where he’d have supplies readily available, he’s going to start coming back in towards civilization. I would hope he has no friends or allies out here in society, and I think that’s going to make it tougher for him to evade us.”

Search for Decker enters its third week

Monday marked the beginning of Week Three in the official search for Decker, a former Army Ranger believed to have received survival training during his military service. Authorities have scoured hundreds of square miles across mountainous terrain, lakes, and rivers near Leavenworth and the Enchantments鈥攁 popular rugged area of tall peaks and picturesque alpine lakes. While the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office confirmed it has handed over all active search operations to federal agencies, while local deputies and prosecutors remain in charge of the criminal investigation.

Details released last week shed light on the crime scene. Autopsies confirmed that the three girls鈥攄iscovered at a secluded campsite 18 miles west of Leavenworth鈥攄ied by suffocation. Investigators classified the case as a triple homicide. Deputies reported finding each girl with a plastic bag over her head, along with more plastic bags strewn around the campsite and inside Decker鈥檚 abandoned truck.

Authorities said they recovered personal items from Decker鈥檚 vehicle, and blood samples taken from the site matched his DNA. Other samples collected were determined to be non-human. Decker鈥檚 dog was also found at the campsite and has since been turned over to a local humane society.

Flight tracking data from Sunday, a week ago, showed a Washington State Patrol Cessna circling the Enchantments鈥攁n isolated alpine region south of the crime scene鈥攆rom about 10:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. The next morning, helicopters from King County and the Washington National Guard resumed sweeps of the area, which remained closed to the public for more than a week. Still, the frequency and visibility of such flights have declined from earlier in the search, when air activity was nearly constant day and night.

At one point, investigators said Decker may have been planning to flee the country. A federal affidavit filed by U.S. Marshals revealed Decker had recently searched Google for how to 鈥渞elocate to Canada鈥� and looked up jobs there just four days before picking up his daughters from their mother鈥檚 home in Wenatchee.

Decker was supposed to return the girls that same day, but he never showed up. A judge had revoked his overnight custodial rights in September 2024 due to homelessness and unpaid child support. Authorities launched a search when the family reported the girls missing, leading to the discovery of their bodies the following Monday.

鈥淲e have not given up,鈥� Morrison said. 鈥淲e remain committed. We will not stop.鈥�

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