Federal authorities end Idaho search for suspect in kids’ deaths after finding look-alike hiker

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BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Federal authorities in Idaho say they have ended a search in the Sawtooth National Forest after determining it was all case of mistaken identity.

The search began Saturday after the U.S. Marshals Service Greater Idaho Fugitive Task Force said a family reported they saw a man who looked like Travis Decker, who is wanted in connection with the deaths of his three daughters in Washington state.

Decker has been wanted since June 2, when a sheriff’s deputy in Washington found his truck and the bodies of his three daughters — 9-year-old Paityn Decker, 8-year-old Evelyn Decker and 5-year-old Olivia Decker — at a campground outside Leavenworth, Washington. The discovery came three days after he failed to return the girls to their mother’s home in Wenatchee, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) east of Seattle, following a scheduled visit.

The family was near a Bear Creek area campsite when they saw a man who was the same height and roughly the same weight as Decker, and also had similar hair, beard and tattoos on his arm and calf. Additional tips followed, and federal, state and local law enforcement agencies joined the Marshals Service in the search.

They found the man Wednesday afternoon, U.S. Marshals Service Supervisory Deputy Michael Leigh said in a press release, and determined he was not Decker.

“Investigators interviewed the cooperative man and confirmed he was hiking in the Bear Creek area this past weekend,” Leigh wrote.

Authorities in Washington on June 10 said they believed they had spotted Decker, a former soldier, near a remote alpine lake in a popular backpacking area in the Cascade Range. Tracking teams followed up on a tip from hikers who reported seeing a lone hiker who appeared to be ill-prepared for the conditions, but he has not been found.

The Marshals Service is offering a reward of up to $20,000 for information leading to Decker’s capture.