Travis Decker - Manhunt /// Part 2 /// 851 | Forensic Files

[Music] Welcome to True Crime Garage. Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, thanks
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[Music] When we left off, Captain, unfortunately, the three girls had been located and it was not the news, not the
situation that anybody had wanted. It was not good news at all. But the news that we are left with is now a crime
scene. and also the news that we have a manhunt to search for the man that is believed to be responsible for taking
those three lives. And that man is their father, 32year-old Travis Caleb Decker. And we talked about
Travis quite a bit in episode 1. We're going to learn a bit a little bit more about him today in our follow-up
episode. some of the evidence. We went through what was listed on one of the affidavit,
some evidence that was listed on different articles, news articles online that have come out. And and folks, if
you are not aware of this case and you want to learn more beyond this episode today, you want to see some of the
pictures of the wanted man, there are plenty available on the internet if you have time. Some of the evidence and some
of the observations of this crime scene that made their way to internet news articles are here's some right here,
Captain. This is from the county sheriff's office that was saying that they collected a large amount of
evidence which consisted much of the suspect's personal items from his truck. through the analysis of some of this
evidence. They stated this just creates more questions than it does information for investigators to continue to pursue
uh and look for for this man and look for additional evidence and and comb through the evidence that they
collected. They stated that blood samples were taken from the crime scene. These blood samples do include both
human and nonhuman blood that was found at the scene. Authorities had previously
said in court documents that the tailgate of the truck had what appeared to be two handprints of blood on them.
Now, from my understanding regarding these two handprints, the information I've reviewed states that it
was human blood, male human blood that left those handprints on the tailgate of his truck. Well, yeah. and they believe
they're the handprints are adult size. I don't know if they came out and said if
they believe if it was a male handprint or a female handprint. Yeah. So the the a couple places, not saying that it's
100% confirmed, but a couple places did state that it would was male. Then if it were
to be that, of course, obviously you would suspect that it was in fact Travis's blood. that would make the most
sense on his truck handprint male human blood that was found. And they go on to say that further DNA and fingerprint
analysis would be conducted. And the these reports are reports though that were coming out by the time we are
recording this here in the garage. It will be about a week since these reports came out. And by the time it hits your
guys' earballs, it's still yet a couple of days days away. So there could be breaking news at any moment in this
case. The only the only thing good of any part of this story is that the dog his dog Travis's dog was recovered and
turned over to the Humane Society. Yeah. But again, that's that's why I I look at
these cases and go, "This is insane. This is insanity." Yes. You you kill your three daughters, but but he let his
dog live. I mean, it's just it's so bizarre. Well, and here's the other part of it, too. Like, and I I'm having a big
problem with portions of this case because there are people and I don't know if defending Travis is the right
statement to put forward because I don't know if that's their intention. But however, when I read the news articles,
it sounds like there's some people defending him that he he was not receiving the level of care that he
should be receiving, that he was not. And look, I agree with that. However, there appears to be a certain level of
planning involved with these actions. And so, I'm I'm I'm not going to go down that road. I don't know who This is
horrible. This is This is horrible. goddamn horrible. There's no nice way to put this. There's no clean good way to
put any of this. When you talk about things like Sandy Hook, when you talk about Coline, when you talk about any of
these cases that we cover, what could have prevented it? Who could have stopped it? People very quickly want to
point a lot of fingers. This agency, this entity, this person, this family, this community didn't do enough. the
there's here's the thing. I can agree with those statements, but they pale in comparison to this
statement. The evidence says one man killed these three little girls. One man did this. So, point as many fingers as
you want, have as many opinions as you want, but understand that at the crux of everything is this one man who did this,
who made this choice. And it again, it appears there was some planning involved. Yeah. And like we were talking
about in episode one when people were saying it's almost they were putting some blame on on law enforcement. Well,
they didn't issue a Amber Alert. It's like again after afterwards we can sit there and nitpick every
little thing that somebody should have done or could have done, you know, or there could be somebody going, "Well, if
if Whitney was really concerned, then she should have went against the law and not allowed them to to have any
visitation with their father. Nobody You can't foresee this shit." You know, like I said, I I think there's
some situations Chris Watts, Scott Peterson, Coline, so many other cases that it's
there's just an element of evil and and and I think what happens and rightfully so, is people get so angry about the
situation that they start looking for every thing to blame. That's human nature. But the captain, I believe,
dude, you are spot on, my friend. The more and more I looked at this case, the more and and really didn't have to very
long, but my concern wavered quickly from his mental state to this guy just may be a cold-blooded killer. And again,
he's at the center of all this. There appears to be some planning involved. Captain points out something that is
very intriguing. If this guy was completely off the rails, the dog wasn't killed. And and here's here's where my
mind goes. That blood on the tailgate. Yeah. You ever see a situation where a husband and wife, they're together many
years, maybe they live together, they were engaged for a period of time, then they're married for a couple years
before they have a kid, and and they've had this dog, this wonderful dog was a part of their family for the entire time
that they were together or very long with one of the wife or the the husband. But then the little baby comes along and
the dog is so protective of that child. Even though that dog had a father or mother or family member prior to the
little baby coming along. Sometimes these dogs understand this is a child. This this little baby needs to be
protected no matter what. Protected from everything. I there's I wonder if that blood if and if it's corrected it's
adult male blood. Is there a chance he started hurting one of these kids and this dog did did something to Travis and
injured him in the process? Now, and and and I want to also state though, we can
only view these cases through the lenses that we have and through our experiences. So I I do have issues and
and and you have and and so many people out there in listener land have had issues with mental instability
and I can tell you for for a fact I didn't have homicidal thoughts but I had suicidal thoughts but that you you have
to put some onus on the individual as well and and this is my opinion and through my experiences but if I would
that took my own life, that would have been partly on me because I had people saying, "Hey, well, why don't you get
this help or why don't you talk to somebody or or whatever it was, right?" And and so at some point, I had to make
a decision to say, "I'm not good at this. I'm not figuring this out. I'm not winning these battles in my own head.
Maybe somebody can help me out with this." And so again, and and I think your point is is a valid
one and you're probably spot on. This dog probably tried to protect these little girls.
But even if he has mental instability, that comes and goes with waves. So there was moments that I had suicidal thoughts
and then there were moments that I didn't have suicidal thoughts. And in those moments, I wasn't having a
suicidal thought was those were my chances to get help and start trying to get my life back onto a a better path.
And so, you can't tell me since May 30th, whatever mental instability, there's waves of it. And there there had
to be a wave of him knowing what he did. Even if he was off his rocker when all this stuff happened, there's a moment of
clarity. He at any point he could have turned himself in. at any point he could make try to make contact, but that
that's not what happened, you know. So, this this like I said, this is evil [ __ ] you know. Well, and shout out to
to one of my favorite rock and rollers of old of of old, Azie Osborne, but if this dude was fullon going off the rails
of a crazy train, we've reviewed cases like that. I've I've reviewed cases like that. You see them in the news and you
see you see them in the newspaper unfortunately with a good amount of frequency. Guess where they find the
perpetrator? Still at the crime scene, still at the they don't they usually don't flee. And when they do flee that
the egress makes no sense and they're easily apprehended. They're quickly caught. We sit here today and he's not.
And I tell you the f the more we go through this the more you're going to see that there was some level of
planning involved. Let's let's start here. Let's start here. Dog dog was unharmed. Now, was that just happen
stance? Possibly. That could very be very likely be happen stance. But cell phone, his cell phone was left at the
scene. That was a choice that this man made. Could it be happen stance? Yes. I put the percentage of that prob
probability at very little. I think he chose not to leave, not to bring his cell phone with him because he chose to
flee. And when he chose to flee, given his background in the military, he understands at some point, it's human
nature, I'm going to be compelled to check my phone or turn it on or do something with this phone. At some
point, the longer on a on a long enough timeline, I'm human and I will I will turn on this phone and then they will
find me. They will hone in on me. So, he had the wherewithal to go, you know what? I'm not going to bring that
temptation with me. I'm going to leave that behind. You know, one of the things I find fascinating in the true crime
world, and I haven't this it's just a thought that just popped into my head, so prepare yourself. You've not explored
it. Yeah. But it it seems to me with certain cases like uh you know I was watching that documentary last night on
um the Gilgo Beach murders and you have somebody like Rex Hamman where we don't know the full details. We don't have a
ton of information about Rex. It seems like the true crime world has just kind of went, "Okay, well, they must have a
bunch of evidence on him and and there there's not this a ground swell of, well, he's probably not the killer." But
in other cases, like the Delphi case, you then get a a ground swell of people doing the opposite where they go, "Well,
I don't know if we can trust law enforcement and and and maybe he's innocent." It it's weird that in some
cases the whole true crime community just kind of goes, "Okay, this guy's probably guilty and then we're going to
learn more about it." And as we learn more about it, we're probably going to still agree with law enforcement. But in
other cases, it's it's almost like we start disagreeing for almost no reason. I I wonder somebody should look into why
that happens in some cases and why it hap doesn't happen in other cases. Sometimes it's just because there's dumb
people out there. Um well, right. Right. There is. I mean, every community has them. Um and and uh this community of is
not um is not above that. It definitely is not. Well, like I said, it's not something I I really uh have thought
about. just popped into my head. But it's also then I guess maybe in some cases uh I guess the weight of the
evidence would would matter more. Absolutely. And I tell you what, we this is a conversation we should probably be
having in the garage off the record or in the garage. No mics turned on at all. But I did want to mention, you know,
just popped into your head, just popped into my head. We could do an entire episode just on the Peaches, the Peaches
victim information that that I've reviewed in the past couple of months. There is so much information and thought
because that one that particular victim is significantly different than all of the other victims in the Lisk case. But
all right, we went down still go beach murders. Yeah, we got sidetracked here. Uh we mentioned the cell phone. my
thoughts on the cell phone. Again, we got to remind the listeners here that this is a complicated area. Like we
already said earlier, this is a very complicated area to try to locate someone. So, very quickly, just looking
at an aerial view map. Very nearby, you have the Cashmere Mountain. You have Dragon Tale Peak. Very cool name. Mount
Stewart, not such a cool name. And you have the Okanogan Wan that National Forest. Nailed it. Now that you can hear
the mountains, National Forest, that implies lots of places for someone to hide, especially given his background.
And again, he's making moves. I don't care what anybody says about his level of stability or instability. He is
making moves. That's what my eye sees. He left the cell phone there on purpose. the zip ties, the the bags that were
found on the victims. These items could Yes, he's living out of his truck, living in a tent. Maybe were these items
there? Yes. But he had those items and these items were used in the commission of these murders. Let's be clear about
that. Now, full on, right from the get, we have we're finding the victims. We're
finding the truck. We have a fullon manhunt because this dude appears to me to just straight up leave the cell
phone, drop the cell phone, and leave. We have an arrest warrant that we went through for triple homicide and
kidnapping. The description of this man, if you're not familiar with this story,
Travis Decker is described as being 5'8 in tall with black hair and brown eyes. Many of the images that have been shared
online by the sheriff's department show him with his hair in a ponytail and facial hair. And authorities have said
this time and time again in the coverage of the story, reminding everybody that he is considered to be dangerous, should
be considered to be dangerous going forward, and he may be armed. He should not be approached by any civilian out
there. Call 911 if you believe that you have seen Travis Decker. Why do I why am
I saying you in that weird way? In my weird colonel way here. That's because if you are at the salon and somebody
tells you that their cousin thinks they spotted him on some road yesterday, right? Don't bother police. They're
getting a lot of information coming in and they've not located this man yet. So that tells me that while people have
good intentions, the information is not great. It's not led them to the end goal, which everyone's goal here should
be to apprehend this man as quickly as possible. Travis Decker was last seen wearing either a tan or green t-shirt.
And why would you say tan or green? That's two completely different colors. It I've seen these images and I know you
have as well, Captain. And and I will back this statement of tan or green t-shirt because I've seen some pictures
where the same shirt appears to be a neon green like like what you would see a road worker or maybe a construction
worker or landscaper wearing to be bright and vibrant so that so there's no accident. But I've seen other images
from different angles and maybe he's in the shade or in the light and the same shirt appears to be more of a tan color.
So Decker was last seen wearing either a tan or green t-shirt as well as dark colored shorts and identifiers, right?
Identifiers. We're talking about his clothing here. We mentioned his hair in a ponytail, longer hair in a ponytail,
but and facial hair. Facial hair can be changed like that. a ponytail. You can cut that baby off like that. All right.
Don't consume yourself with the ponytail and the facial hair. What's a great identifier when you have no phone, no
vehicle, a dude on the run that can change his look quickly. I will also say I've seen probably a dozen to 15
different pictures of Travis Decker recently. He can look a lot different. Yes. Thank you for saying that. facial
hair or his actual hair. There's there's one picture that they recently released
of him. He's shirtless like where he looks like he's wearing swim trunks. And the purpose of that picture was to so
that people could view his tattoos. And I want to go through the tattoo information because those are
identifiers that are not easily changed. Right? Can't change the tattoos not easily while you're on the run. And in
that picture in particular, Captain Shirtless swim trunks. If you've seen the different images, you'll know what
I'm talking about. I was like, "This isn't even Travis Decker. Why did they release this?" And then I read all the
information. I'm like, "Oh, it is him." Now, let's review the tattoo. So, he's got multiple looks, has looked
differently throughout the last most recent years according to the pictures that are easily viewed online. going off
the swim trunk picture to describe some of these tattoos. Uh, looking at the picture itself. So, when I say it's
lefthand side, this would be his right hand side. The outside of the bicep appears to have like a black fish tattoo
just above the elbow with a thick black line next to it on the inner elbow. Then
on his the inside of the forearm, there's like a black skull with maybe a parachute
or maybe a cigar out of the side of the mouth and some kind of smoke coming up, but some kind of black wording is is
there as well. He's got a bunch of tattoos on the right side shoulder bicep area. There's two lines of black
lettering drops into black and purple. Maybe these are clouds or something, but this looks like
a a rather big tattoo. It covers up the nearly the entire bicep, if not the whole bicep, but it's
it's a little too blurry for me to tell exactly what it's supposed to be. And then it goes into a flag
on the inside of the bar bicep. Under the his armpit area on the one side, there's a black tribal symbol tattoo
that appears to me to be wrapping around to his back. And on his forearm, there's
two black parallel lines that wrap around. He also has a tattoo on his ankle, which appears to be a woman. It's
a picture of a woman with long hair. And then on his calf muscle on one of the calf muscles, he has uh it's a black
tattoo. I can't tell what it is, but it covers up most of the back of of his shin area, lower leg area. And captain,
when we get back from our quick little beer break, we'll review a little bit more of Travis Decker's background and
where he possibly could be [Music] [Music] All right, we are back. Cheers, mates.
Cheers to you, Colonel. Cheers to you, Captain. Cheers to all the the folks out there in Washington State looking for
this individual and being tasked and stressed and saddened by the case and what they've had to see and experience
in the last week or so. Well, what's tough is, you know, we get bombarded by people and look, it's it's our job and
and we love it. We're obsessed, right? So, we get bombarded by people saying, "Hey, was it what's going on with this
uh Travis Decker guy?" And uh the whole time we're recording these episodes, I I'm googling
um to to see if there's any updates because obviously this is one that I think we'll have an update soon on. Um I
don't think it's going to end well as far as them arresting him. If I had to bet a Franklin on it, I'd say uh they
just find his remains. Well, and as of this recording, there's been a lot of air quotes potential sightings Yeah. of
Decker. But of course, you know, I was having a conversation with somebody last night and and said,
you know, that there's some suspected sightings of this dude and they said, well, does that mean they're closing in?
I go, well, I mean, who knows, right? Where we sit now, who truly knows? And they said, well, what what's the level?
Is there any level of confirmation? Are these confirmed sightings? Well, it won't be a confirmed sighting until you
arrest the guy, confront the guy, arrest the guy, or find his body, obviously. So, well, there was one sighting that I
think is pretty interesting. So, they they see this hiker uh out in the wilderness. He's alone,
but they called him the ill-prepared hiker. And this this he was spotted by a helicopter. And see, and this is what I
was talking about about this terrain is so hard to search for an individual. Look,
when you're out in the city and the ghetto bird gets you, right? The ghetto bird locks in with their spotlight. Most
people don't get away from that, right? They can run and hide, but that ghetto bird's got them. But in this wilderness,
this helicopter sees this individual, tries to track them, and loses them. So, it's we don't even have confirmation
that this ill-prepared hiker is Travis Decker. We can just assume. Yeah, it's difficult because you can go, well, it's
probably not him because you'd think they would be able to hone in on him quickly. But the the flip of that coin
is saying, well, it probably is him because if it was just some rando person that was walking around, they would be
able to confront them and confirm that it was not him. So, look, good luck to everybody out there looking for him. We
wish you obviously the very, very best of luck and uh Godspeed with all of you. Now, I was curious about Travis Decker.
Let's dive into his background here a bit. wanted to know if he had had any previous run-ins with the law, if he had
a history of violence. I've run a background check on this guy. He does not. He doesn't have anything that that
says he's been arrested or charged for anything violent. He The one thing that I did call in a
question, there was a judgment in May of 2024 for over $13,000 here. I don't know
if that has anything to do with the divorce or with the uh child support, but that that certainly is something to
to consider when you factor in he was having what's reported by many people as financial troubles. He had no real place
to live. He did have a job, but this dude's whether he's mentally there feeling good or not, his world is
crumbling. And could that be because of his mental state? Very likely. But his world is kind of crumbling and falling
apart. And that's why I had said in in the first episode on Travis Decker that this is reminding me a lot of the list
case and the Bishop case from one of the arrest affidavit. It does go into some of the marriage information, some of the
background here. And if you allow me, I'll go ahead and read portions of this. This is from his ex-wife Whitney. It
says, "Whitney explained that she and Decker were married for about seven years, but have since been divorced for
a few years. And while this document says they've since been divorced for a few years, just keep in mind that
sometimes these divorce proceedings can be lengthy and we have other information
that says that it that may have been just that." It goes on to say, "She explained the divorce was civil and
initially Travis had housing and was allowed overnight visits. However, when he lost housing, the parenting plan was
readressed to accommodate accordingly. Whitney denied any domestic violence during their marriage, but did mention
moments of power or control that he used. She provided the examples of randomly leaving or waking her up by
screaming at her in the middle of the night. She also said near the end of the marriage he was diagnosed with
borderline personality disorder and she believes he currently does not take medication for this diagnosis. All
right. Taking a break from the document here just briefly. Yeah. One thing I want to point out, and again, we can't
say with 1,000% certainty, but from everything we're seeing and everything we're reading on this case, what
complicates matters about what's going on with Travis and what plans he may have had, it gets very complicated and
very difficult because I would describe him very much as a solitary man. Okay? Where are we getting the most
information about this guy on a personal level? We're getting it from his ex-wife
who he doesn't live with. We're getting it from his boss who only knows him when
he shows up for his 9 to5. Both of them saying, "We have mental health concerns with this guy. He doesn't have a stable
place to live." Meaning, he doesn't we don't we're not hearing from his family. We're not hearing from neighbors. We're
not hearing from people that hung out with this guy a lot that know about this guy, that know him at his core. He's a
solitary man. We don't really know what is going on with this guy. there's so little to report on him because he's
he's kind of removed from everybody. Well, and saying that my heart is broken is probably an understatement for
Whitney. But what I like about what she is saying or the statements that she's making and the statements that she has
made to law enforcement from the beginning is that she's not trying to sugarcoat anything, but she's also she
hasn't lied to paint him in a negative picture, if that makes any sense. Like when when she goes to report this to the
cops, they say she says, "Well, look, this is not normal. He's normally on time." And and so again, I think
whatever she's stating has been very truthful and she's not trying to just paint him in in the worst
uh light. Exactly. And and I feel like with her that we are getting the just the fact spam and I think that that can
be helpful and and you'll see that as it as this report continues. So, this is where she is talking about after the
divorce. Okay, we talked a little bit about when they were still married, when they were still together. She's telling
law enforcement that they have a good relationship. The overall relationship is reported to be good and the children
enjoy spending time with Travis, with their father. Whitney also reported no issues with recent visitations and
stated her and Travis are communicative with issues surrounding them and if either would ever be late for any
reason. This is something that is discussed. There's there's communication. They reach out to one
another. So, she's saying there's never been any problem. She's not al also saying he's always been incredibly
punctual, but when in the past when he wasn't or if there was going to be a delay that he is he's notifying her. It
goes on to state that the parenting plan provided by Whitney specifies the visitation hours which we went through.
It also touches upon considerations for holidays and for birthdays that we did not go through. I still just can't
imagine what she's going through. She does point out notable concerns here and she does state that as far as the
parenting goes, Travis has neglected his par parental duties in the past and has
a long-term emotional or physical problem that gets in the way of his ability to parent. The plan also notes
details about access to the children and the ability to talk with them via cell phone when needed. Whitney said they
agreed to the plan. So the plan that we discussed on the first part, she says they agreed to it verbally, but she
stated the signature line on this the court document for that parenting plan that Travis refused to sign it, but it
appears he was adhering to it. Right. She goes on to state that Travis Decker is also supposed to seek mental health
treatment and domestic violence, anger management counseling under that parenting plan.
She states to her knowledge he has not done so on either regard. She also mentioned to police recent a recent
ticket being a financial burden for him along with garnished wages due to back child support. Okay, recent ticket. I
did a little digging on what what could that mean? So, one of the things that the officers found, remember when they
they were uh she says, "Hey, he drives a white pickup truck, but I don't know what kind of truck it is, right?" Well,
then when when they looked into his registration and found that he was registered and for the make and model of
that truck, that GMC Sierra 2017 white that they found at the crime scene. They quickly figured out that on the Tuesday
before he abducted the children on that Friday, on that Tuesday he was in some kind of collision, some kind of car
accident that he was I don't know if he was deemed to be responsible for the accident, but the officers reported that
at the time he he didn't have any insurance. So, it's what I could find here, Captain, was that he was cited for
multiple infractions. So, ticketed for multiple infractions. The the one that seems to stand out. I couldn't get the
particulars of them with the exception of one of those infractions was driving without insurance. Unfortunately, Travis
had recently been talking about getting rid of his dog due to his housing problem and further financial concerns.
And she does state to the officers, "Look, his children and his dog are the two big positives in his life. He's got,
as we said earlier, a lot of stuff crumbling around him. Life's not going good for this guy, but the positives,
she states, were his dog and the children." She also says that in the past there have been overnight camping
trips that were allowed by her for Travis and the kids. But she says in those scenarios, it was agreed upon well
in advance. It was discussed well at at length to put in a plan for that and the
kids were sent with the proper uh provisions for an overnight trip where they were sent with additional clothing
and whatnot. And she says in in this case, this was not communicated to her ever. There was no discussion of an
overnight trip. And the kids when they left my home, they left with the clothes they had on their backs. More
information on the divorce. I found that and some of this is a little without having a a complete road map of their
court situation. It might seem like this is a little divergent or maybe even contradictory to what we've already
stated, but there are reports that she Whitney first filed a petition for divorce in November of 2022 without
requesting a restraining order or any type of protection order. The divorce was finalized according to a couple of
news outlets in September of 2024 with Whitney Decker citing quote emotional/ mental health issues that
were the primary catalyst of the divorce. As we know, it was later that year, a short time after that the
parental schedule parenting plan was put together and issued. As the captain has
informed us, Travis Decker was an infantry man in the army from March 2013 to July of 2021. An Army spokesperson,
this is Major Travis Shaw, confirmed to NPR that Travis served in Afghanistan from March to July of 2014 and left
active duty as a staff sergeant. He is a military veteran and other reports state
that he has extensive training, but it is unknown whether he is currently armed while he's on the run. I've seen other
reports out there and I'm a little hesitant to go down this road, but but let's just do it anyway to air on the
side of giving out too information, too much information, and and maybe some of it not being 100% factual. I've seen
reports that say that he that he was a ranger, but it seems like the the spokesperson from the Army information
that's being put out there doesn't cite any of that. Well, no. And you know, I had a friend for a while that was was a
marine and then after he was a marine for a time period when he went back into service, he went into the army. Um, so
it maybe it's one of those situations, but again, I I I just think it's silly on this idea of like, well, he he has
extensive knowledge about survival. Okay, well, he can survive. But the guy when he had resources and people
couldn't have a he didn't have a home. He was living out of a vehicle. Yeah. He then wrecked that vehicle. He didn't
have any money. So, even if he's able to survive in the woods for a while, he doesn't have the skills to go start a
new life somewhere. Well, I I would say ranger or no ranger. And and maybe there
was some movement towards that or some goal of becoming a ranger. Who knows? When we covered Timothy McVey, we know
that he spent time in the army and then couldn't cut it to become a ranger when he went back and attempted to do so. I
will say this, ranger or no ranger infantrymen, you it does give you a level of expertise and training on how
to move about undetected because that's what you would have to do in battle conditions, right? And for him right
now, if he is still on the run and not dead, not not dead somewhere that we're later going to find him, he he is in
battle conditions and and so he is moving and attempting to do that the best he can undetected. I I would push a
little bit back on the idea that he might not be able to set up shop elsewhere just because I I keep I can't
get away from the idea that this is that Decker is what I keep referring to as a
solitary man. We don't know much about him. So, I have to believe that he has lived a little bit off of the grid. And
I think there's some evidence to suggest that he has during his lifetime with his
kids and when he was still showing up to work that he was somewhat off the grid as we don't have a lot of people talking
about who he is and what kind of person he was. Now, some information that has come out recently as to what his plans
were. This goes back to the the part that I get so damn aggravated about because this again shows a level of
planning. And again, what what is the order of the motivating factors here? Was what's the psychology? Was he
planning on leaving and starting a new life and then decided because I'm doing that I I have to I have to eliminate the
kids or was it eliminate the kids and then move on? But what we do know that is fact is that on May 26, according to
law enforcement, this is from the US Marshall Service. And the US Marshall Service has a whole lot of Jensen's
working there. They don't play around. Okay? So, this is legit information here that and it's they're stating that when
they checked into his phone into his search engine history that on May 26 and I've seen the document that has the
print out here, Captain. And it is rapid fire, my friend. He is searching and in
about a 20 minute period he does a search of jobs in Canada, how to relocate to Canada, how does a person
move to Canada and and that's it's all Canada, it's all fleeing to Canada type of searches. So that will tell you where
he he at least at one point had some consideration in that being where he would go. On the 6th of June, we got
more information. This was coming from the governor, Bob Ferguson. Washington Governor Bob Ferguson called in the
National Guard to help aid in this search for wanted fugitive manhunt fugitive Travis Decker. several reports
coming out saying that during this ongoing search that it's believed by the media that authorities have closed in on
him maybe a a time or two, but have certainly closed in attempts to locate him or pin him in. They've closed down
numerous trails. They've closed down campgrounds and forest service roads across parts of the
North Cascades and surrounding areas. Parts of the Pacific Crest Trail have all also been
shut down as an effort to keep him inside this country. Okay. So if he were to leave, my understanding of this area,
the if you wanted to do it on the up and up and you weren't trying to to hide that this Pacific Crest area is a
natural part to to leave the United States and go into Canada, I don't know how well
that's monitored. It it sounds like it it's somewhat monitored, but look, if you're on foot and you're in the woods,
there's a way around everything. All you have to do is figure it out. One thing we mentioned a lot of these different
agencies and and I don't want I'm not putting any of these agencies down. All of these agencies are absolutely great.
Calling in the National National Guard is a great idea here. It can only help. I don't think it can hurt in any regard.
The National Guard due to the current situation in America. If anybody's got eyes on LA and California, there are
certainly people out there that are calling into question, what is the National Guard used for? What are they
supposed to be used for? When are they who has the authority to call them in? Well, if you can go to the National
Guard's website and it states very clearly what the purpose of the National Guard is for. and they it simply states
the National Guard is often the first to respond to natural disasters which we all know we've seen that on TV many
times with things like hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, wildfire fires, but they're also called in for things like
civil unrest and other domestic emergencies. They can also provide assistance with search and rescue
missions, traffic control, and maintaining public order. This here is a search mission. Not necessarily search
and rescue, but it is a search mission for this man. Now, another agency that I don't know if they are involved or not,
but could certainly be helpful here is look, just last week we were discussing another manhunt completely separate on
the other side of the country down in Arkansas. They were Yes. theme in the garage. Well, hopefully hopefully not
hopefully not a theme, but it feels a bit like one. But down in Arkansas, they were looking for a prison escapee,
murder, rapist, former police chief Grant Harden. If you haven't done so already, check out last week's episode,
Devil in the Ozarks. And this is a quote from after they apprehended and found Grant Harden. says, quote, "That was one
of the most frustrating things that they were able to track him, but then they lost him because of the rain." So, the
rain really slowed down finding this guy because of they're trying to track him using dogs. Now, ultimately, it was a
group effort amongst many agencies there in Arkansas that led to the apprehension
of this very, very horrible evil man. But in particular, it was the elite and highly trained US border patrol team
that joined the search. The border patrol tactical team provided advanced search capabilities and opera
operational support and its members are experienced in navigating complex terrain. The agency said that their team
tracked Grant Harden through the region, known for its rocky and rugged landscape, thick forest, and extensive
cave network. The US Customs and Border Patrol shared photos on Facebook of Grant Harden, shirtless and covered in
mud, lying face down with his hands tied behind his back. The post said that Grant Harden was quote turned over to
Arkansas State Police unharmed end quote by the federal agency. And that is the conclusion that we want here as well. We
want him, we want Travis Decker to be found, located, apprehended, unharmed, and turned over to the state police so
that he can face a judge, so that he can stand in court, and so he can pay for these horrible, horrific crimes. Again,
we continue to get regular updates on this as to where he may be or potential sightings, but every one of them is
reminding people in this local area to please secure their homes and vehicles. Stay alert and report any suspicious
activity to 911. We don't need to give out a specific agency number here to you today for this particular case. call
911. And all of the agencies involved in searching for this man and figuring out
what happened here in this case are reminding the public that their safety, everyone's the general public's safety
remains the top priority. But if you see something, say something. [Music] Want to thank you all so much for
joining us here in the garage. For everything true crime, check out true crimegar.com.
Remember, we have a promo code going on right now for 25% off in the store page.
That's garage 2025. Garage2025. A little recommended viewing. If you haven't seen on the Peacock Network,
they have a new documentary called The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets. and they talked to Rex Herman's wife and
his daughter. I thought it was fascinating. So, give that a watch if you have the time or if you're looking
for something good in the true crime world to watch. Colonel, do we have any recommended reading from the Colonel
this week? H yes, this week I'm recommending Unlikely Angel, the untold story of the Atlanta hostage hero by
Ashley Smith with Stacy Mattingley. Back in 2005, Ashley Smith made headlines around the globe when she miraculously
talked her way out of the hands of alleged courthouse killer Brian Nichols after he took her hostage for 7 hours in
her apartment. In this moving, inspirational account, the 27year-old widowed mother of a six-year-old girl
shares the littleknown details of her traumatic ordeal and expands on how her faith in the best-selling book, The
Purposedriven Life, helped her survive and bring the killer's murderous rampage to a peaceful end. Again, that
recommendation is Unlikely Angel: The Untold Story of the Atlanta Hostage Hero by Ashley Smith. You don't have to write
that great title down right now because you can go to our website, trucrimegrage.com,
click on the recommended page, and there you shall find all of our recommendations, whether they be
podcast, books, or documentaries. Please go there and check that out. And again,
garage 2025 for 25% off. Cheers, mates, and until next week. And get you some sunglasses. Be good, be kind, and don't
[Music]

Travis Decker - Manhunt /// Part 2 /// 851

Part 2 of 2

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Washington state - 32 year old Travis Decker is believed to be on the run and may have made his way into Canada. The 32 year old former military father is accused of kidnapping and murdering his three young daughters. Decker had limited visitation rights to see his three daughters every other weekend. On Friday, May 30th he never returned them to their mother and home. Travis Decker is described as 5 foot 8 inches tall with black hair and brown eyes. He has several tattoos and at the time he had a ponytail and facial hair. He may be armed and is considered to be extremely dangerous. Do not approach Travis Decker, call 911.

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Garage Grade - 4 and 3 quarter bottle caps out of 5

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Brief Summary

Travis Caleb Decker is wanted for killing his three daughters; the episode discusses evidence and the ongoing manhunt.

Key points

Tragic Discovery. The three girls were found, leading to a manhunt for their father, Travis Decker.
Evidence Collected. Authorities collected a large amount of evidence from the crime scene, raising more questions.
The Dog Survived. In a bizarre twist, Travis Decker's dog was found unharmed after the incident.
A Dangerous Man. Travis Decker is considered dangerous and should not be approached by civilians.
Travis Decker's Tattoos Revealed. A detailed description of Travis Decker's tattoos and their significance.
Travis Decker's Background Check. Investigation reveals no history of violence but financial troubles.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

This is insanity.

Discussion about the case's horrific nature.

7:22WatchJun 18, 2025

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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