Tipsters Report Spotting Travis Decker In Southern Idaho

The Washington State man accused of kidnapping and killing his three young daughters has reportedly been spotted in Southern Idaho.

Over the weekend, the U.S. Marshals Service says it received a tip that Travis Decker may have been seen in the Sawtooth National Forest about 20 miles southeast of the small town of Galena.

The 32-year-old is wanted for the first-degree murder of 9-year-old Paityn Decker, 8-year-old Evelyn Decker, and 5-year-old Olivia Decker, whose bodies were found at a remote campsite 17 miles west of Leavenworth on June 2, three days after he'd picked them up from their mother's home for a scheduled visitation.

The Marshals Service says the tip was made on Saturday by a family that was recreating in the Bear Creek area who reportedly saw a man matching Decker's description - standing between 5'8" and 5'10" tall with dark hair worn in a pony tail with an overgrown mustache and beard.

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Michael Leigh, supervisory deputy for the U.S. Marshals Service District of Idaho in Coeur d’Alene, says agents with the Marshals Service, the U.S. Forest Service, and deputies with the Camas County Sheriff's Office are actively following up on the tip and began searching areas “believed to be accessible to a person in Decker’s condition” on Monday morning.

Decker is a military veteran who is reportedly well-trained in survivalist techniques and also has a history of hitchhiking. Leigh is asking people in the area of the sighting not to pick up hitchhikers and also to avoid using drones, since these would inhibit law enforcement's ability to search for Decker from the air.

Initial search efforts for Decker had focused on the wilds of Chelan County in the Blewett Pass area until late June, when they shifted to include the forested portions of Northern Kittitas County, where cadaver-detecting dogs also began deployment to find his body in the event he was dead.

Since then, his trail in Washington State appears to have gone cold, but authorities say tips are continuing to trickle in from multiple other states, as well as Canada.

Anyone who thinks they spot Decker or has any information regarding his current whereabouts is being urged to contact their nearest U.S. Marshals office or the U.S. Marshals Service Communication Center at 800-336-0102 or usmarshals.gov/tips.

The Marshals Service is still offering a reward up to $20,000 for information leading to the arrest of Decker, who is also scheduled to soon be added to the agency's list of 15 Most Wanted Fugitives.