Police plead with tourists to help find father accused of killing three daughters

Authorities are seeking help from tourists to catch an alleged killer as they descend on a popular corner of the US during summer holidays.

Known as the American Alps, the Cascades near Leavenworth in Washington state have always been a popular tourist destination in the US — especially during the summer period with activities like hiking and camping.

Authorities, however, hope the influx of holiday-makers to the region will help catch an alleged child killer, who has not been seen since his three daughters were found suffocated to death at a campground more than a month ago.

The girls were found suffocated at a campground.

On June 2, five-year-old Olivia, eight-year-old Evelyn and nine-year-old Paityn were found lifeless at an abandoned campsite, prompting police to launch an intense manhunt for their father, Travis Decker.

The search ever since has been challenging and without locating the 32-year-old, with difficult terrain and conditions continuously working against authorities. The fact the alleged killer is also an Army veteran skilled in wilderness survival and who had a three-day headstart on police has also hindered the manhunt.

But as tourists begin to fill the region, police have hopes that a sighting will occur and the manhunt for the alleged killer will come to an end.

Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison told CNN that the next few weeks will be crucial, and with more people moving about the area — chances of a sighting should increase.

“It may work in our favour now that we have that many people out there just saturating that part of the county with camping, hiking and other recreating,” he said.

“We’re not going to glorify his abilities. We don’t think that he’s some kind of special forces guru … but he could get lucky at times, and eventually luck runs out.

The manhunt for alleged killer Travis Decker, accused of suffocating his three daughters, continues.

Decker’s three girls were found suffocated at a campground in Washington state.

“This search is unmatched. We’ve never had anything like this in Chelan County.”

But while authorities hope Decker is still in and around the American Alps, a recent sighting of a man who resembles Decker could throw any hope of finding him in surrounding national parks out the window.

The sighting happened in Idaho, at Sawtooth National Forest, by a family who said they saw a man fitting Decker’s description.

The family described the person as a white male wearing a black mesh cap, black gauged earrings, a cream-coloured T-shirt, black shorts, a long ponytail, an overgrown beard and moustache, a black JanSport backpack and either Converse or Vans low-top shoes.

Authorities hope the increase in tourists to the area where Decker was last seen might assist in the mammoth manhunt. Picture: Alamy

Morrison said that while having extra tourist boots on the ground exploring tourist trails, creeks and bike riding around the mountains — he appreciates that while they hope to find him alive, there’s a big chance he might turn up dead.

As reported by CNN, Decker was charged with murdering his three daughters by suffocating them with plastic bags not long after he picked them up from their mother for what was supposed to be a three-hour joint custody visit on May 30.

The man’s truck was found abandoned in the area of Rock Island Campground on June 2, and the bodies of his daughters less than 100 metres down an embankment, along with zip ties and plastic bags found strewn throughout the area.

Morrison said the manhunt — which has cost millions in resources — assumes Decker is on foot, given his truck was left behind. Morrison said that he also left equipment behind, meaning he is likely unprepared unless he had stashed supplies out in the woods.

“That’s a strange item to leave behind, and hopefully that leaves him less prepared to survive long term,” Morrison told CNN.

“We’d rather have him give himself up. I guarantee that we’re going to treat him with respect and dignity, but he is going to be pursued as a suspect, and we’ll continue to do our job.”