'I've been carrying it ever since': Investigators reflect on 3 murders and manhunt

Detective Sgt. Brian Lewis moved through empty campsites along the Icicle River, one after another, as the search for Travis Decker and his three daughters continued into its third day.

"In my mind, I thought I would see … the circle of camp chairs, and them just hanging out of the campsite," Lewis said.

Hours earlier, Deputy Mike McLeod had located Decker's abandoned pickup truck pulled off the Forest Service road, giving investigators their first lead after days of searching rugged terrain near Sugarloaf and Tumwater Canyon.

"We had no idea what had actually happened yet," McLeod said. "We just assumed they were back there camping."

From the truck, search teams began moving campsite to campsite through the wooded hills south of Rock Island Campground. McLeod remained near the vehicle while Lewis and other officers continued searching deeper into the area. In the tucked-away area of dispersed campsites, they encountered Chinook - the dog belonging to Decker - and followed him over a small hill to where Paityn, Evelyn and Olivia Decker lay.

All three were dead, murdered by asphyxiation.

"Nothing prepares anyone to come across something like that," Lewis said.

Another realization quickly displaced the emotion of finding the girls: Travis Decker was nowhere to be found.

The sheriff's department spent the next two weeks working "nonstop," going through and analyzing every piece of the crime scene in hopes of getting a lead on Decker's location. What began as a search in the hills west of Leavenworth turned into a months-long investigation and manhunt that stretched beyond Chelan County.

The search for Decker expanded into a multi-agency investigation involving local, state and federal authorities, including the FBI, U.S. Marshals Service and Border Patrol tactical teams, with potential sightings of Decker coming in from all over the U.S. and out of the country. Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison estimates the total cost of the Decker investigation and search at around $10 million, shared among multiple local, state and federal agencies.

"It was always rapidly evolving. I mean, we were getting new information coming in," Morrison said. "You're trying your best not to ignore leads and facts, but then you're also trying to make sure you're best utilizing your resources to get everywhere you need to be."

But beyond the scale and cost of the search, Morrison said the emotional toll on investigators and first responders also became a major concern in the months that followed.

"There's so much more that goes into it than I think what the general public understands and knows," Lewis said. "I just hope the public realizes, like, what everybody has to go through in order to bring closure to a case like this."

Morrison said the sheriff's department provided mental health services to officers involved or anyone who needed it during that time. "Mental health, physical health and overall spiritual health too, is important for the longevity of all of our deputies," he said.

Lewis said the case followed investigators even while off duty. He recalled stopping at Arlberg Sports in Wenatchee on one of his days off to pick up a replacement part for his son's bicycle, only to see missing posters of the girls hanging inside.

"Everywhere you look … there was always something as this reminder," Lewis said.

McLeod said he largely coped by continuing to work, spending weeks assisting in the search for Decker alongside federal teams and investigators.

Nearly a year later, he still carries a mourning band honoring Paityn, Evelyn and Olivia.

"I've been carrying it ever since," McLeod said.

For the investigators who spent months searching for answers, Lewis said the anniversary of the crime is not only a reminder of the case itself, but of the three girls at the center of it, and a mother who is living without her daughters.

"Coming up with the anniversary, I think about Whitney and the family and how they're going to have to go through that," Lewis said. "Those milestones for her, or those birthdays, the Christmases and … all the holidays."

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