Dad of 3 Travis Decker’s ‘unstable’ behavior in months before allegedly murdering his daughters
A father of three accused of murdering his daughters demonstrated more and more unstable behavior in the months before the horrific slayings, court documents show.
Travis Decker’s ex-wife warned that his mental state was deteriorating, court documents show.
In the last two years, she documented a number of bizarre and troubling incidents allegedly involving Decker, including barging into her home, leaving the young girls crying unattended and hitchhiking over to the house three hours late.
Whitney Decker formally divorced her husband in September 2024, less than nine months before he allegedly killed his three daughters, Paityn, Evelyn and Olivia, and left their bodies near a campground in rural Washington state.
Their bodies were found with plastic bags on their heads and zip ties around their wrists, according to police.
“Since our separation, it has become increasingly clear that Travis has been struggling to maintain stability in his life,” Whitney said in the declaration seen by KIRO 7 News.
Decker’s “lack of stability” was blamed by Whitney for leading to a “negative impact on their children.”
The three girls were “deeply affected,” which led to “heightened emotional stress,” she added.
“This is demonstrated through screaming/crying bouts at drop off or when they get off a phone call,” she wrote.
“Travis also has some emotional/mental health issues that were the primary catalyst to the end of our marriage. His borderline personality disorder and narcissism became rampant,” she wrote.
Whitney first filed a petition of divorce on November 14, 2022, in Chelan County Court, but at that time, Whitney noted that no protection order or restraining order was needed.
She also noted no concerns of abuse, neglect or violence with regards to her estranged husband, who was a member of the National Guard facing disciplinary measures for not showing up to drills, the documents show.
But all that changed in the two years between the first petition and their official separation.
Decker was listed as a “transient” in the September 2024 parental schedule modification filed by Whitney’s attorney.
He first moved out of the family home in October 2022 and into the armory in Wenatchee, moving into an apartment of his own in the town a few months later, Whitney said in the court documents.
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When his lease was up, he bought an RV, briefly moving to Idaho, but it was repossessed.
Other incidents included when Decker “had some outbursts where he has burst into my home against my objections and yelled for the girls,” Whitney wrote.
She recounted how, six days before Christmas Day 2023, “Olivia FaceTimed me screaming, crying, Travis was nowhere in sight,” she wrote.
When Paityn went to find Decker, who was out with his dogs, he told her, “Paityn was unattended in the armory with Olivia playing on the lay pull-down machine and smashed Olivia’s fingers,” she wrote.
Olivia and Paityn were “crying uncontrollably” while Decker wasn’t comforting either of them, she wrote.
On another occasion, Decker “Hitchhiked to my house and asked to stay in the basement with the girls,” Whitney wrote, noting that he was “3 hours late.”
He offered to have the hitchhiker pick the girls up from their school play, she wrote.
“Travis just keeps getting more and more unstable. He has made huge sacrifices to serve our country and loves his girls very much but he has got to get better for our girls,” Whitney wrote, adding, “I do not want to keep Travis from the girls at all.”
Decker faces three charges of murder and kidnapping. A $20,000 reward has been issued for any information that leads to his capture.
