Authorities stop search of Travis Decker in southern Idaho

Law enforcement suspended its search of Travis Decker in the Sawtooth National Forest after investigators learned the man hiking in the southern Idaho wilderness who matched the description of the suspected killer was not actually him.

The U.S. Marshals Service Greater Idaho Fugitive Task Force located on Wednesday afternoon the man multiple witnesses saw at the Sawtooth National Forest and who was believed to be Decker, according to Michael Leigh, supervisory deputy at the U.S. Marshals Service in Coeur d’Alene, in an email Wednesday. Investigators interviewed the cooperative hiker and confirmed he was hiking in the Bear Creek area this past weekend.

The federal agency received a tip Saturday from a family recreating in the Bear Creek area of the forest that matched the description of the 32-year-old Decker, according to a U.S. Marshals Service news release Sunday. The agency then received other tips about Decker possibly being in the area.

Decker, a former U.S. Army soldier from Wenatchee, is accused of kidnapping and killing his daughters, Olivia, 5; Evelyn, 8; and Paityn, 9, in late May at the Rock Island Campground in Leavenworth, Washington, before fleeing on foot into the nearby mountains where multiple agencies have searched for Decker.

Decker is wanted on suspicion of three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of first-degree kidnapping. He also faces a federal warrant for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.