The father accused of killing his three young daughters in Washington state may have altered his appearance after weeks on the run. Authorities have released new images showing what Travis Decker, a 32-year-old homeless ex-soldier with survivalist skills, might look like today. One image shows Decker with a shaved head and no facial hair, another with a shaved head and mustache, and a third with shoulder-length hair under a baseball cap. Decker had long dark hair and facial hair in the days before he disappeared, per CBS News.
He's been the target of a manhunt since June 2, when authorities found the bodies of his three young daughters at a campsite near Leavenworth in the Cascade Mountains. They'd failed to return from a planned visit with their father and had been missing since May 30. Their mother, Whitney Decker, says her ex, the last known person to have been with them, had become increasingly unstable with worsening mental health issues, though he fought to maintain overnight visits with his daughters. He swore he'd "never done anything" that "puts them in any sort of a risk" in newly released court audio from September, per People.
The US Marshals Service is now leading the search for the suspect as it enters its third week, offering a reward of up to $20,000 for information leading to his arrest, per USA Today. A hiker believed to be Decker was spotted a week ago near Colchuck Lake and traced to the Ingalls Creek Trailhead on highway 97, south of Leavenworth. "We do not have any additional information that would suggest there is a threat to public safety, particularly within the backcountry and remote areas of our region," the Chelan County Sheriff's Office said Tuesday, per ABC News, encouraging anyone venturing outside to report suspicious behavior. (More manhunt stories.)