Authorities in Washington state say forensic tests confirm that the remains of a former soldier wanted in the deaths of his three young daughters have been found

FILE - Pictures, flowers and candles mark a makeshift memorial, June 3, 2025, in Wenatchee, Wash., in honor of Olivia, Paityn and Evelyn Decker, who were found dead near Leavenworth after their father Travis Decker failed to return them after a scheduled visitation. (Nick Wagner/The Seattle Times via AP)

WENATCHEE, Wash. (AP) — Forensic tests confirmed that human remains found on a remote mountain in Washington state this month were those of a former soldier wanted in the deaths of his three young daughters last spring, officials confirmed Thursday.

His remains were discovered in a remote wooded area in central Washington, south of the city of Leavenworth, the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office said.

Law enforcement teams have been searching more than three months for Decker ever since the bodies of daughters — 9-year-old Paityn Decker, 8-year-old Evelyn Decker and 5-year-old Olivia Decker — were found in early June along with his truck at a campground in outside of Leavenworth.

An autopsy determined the girls’ cause of death to be suffocation, the sheriff’s office said. They had been bound with zip ties and had plastic bags placed over their heads.

Decker, 32, had been with his daughters on a scheduled visit but failed bring them back to his former wife, who a year ago said that his mental health issues had worsened and that he had become increasingly unstable.

He was often living out of his truck, she said in a petition seeking to restrict him from having overnight visits with their daughters until he found housing.

Decker was an infantryman in the Army from March 2013 to July 2021 and deployed to Afghanistan for four months in 2014. He had training in navigation, survival and other skills, authorities said, and once spent more than two months living in the backwoods off the grid.

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FILE - This undated photo provided by the Wenatchee Police Department shows Travis Caleb Decker, who is wanted in connection with the deaths of his three daughters. (Wenatchee Police Department via AP, File)

More than 100 officials with an array of state and federal agencies searched hundreds of square miles, much of it mountainous and remote, by land, water and air during the on and off search. The U.S. Marshals Service offered a reward of up to $20,000 for information leading to his capture.

At one point early in the search, authorities thought they spotted Decker near a remote alpine lake after receiving a tip from hikers.

Authorities rappel from a Spokane County Sheriff Office helicopter to the site where human remains believed to be Travis Decker's were found yesterday near Grindstone Mountain, seen on Friday, Sept. 19, 2025, near Leavenworth, Wash. (Nick Wagner/The Seattle Times via AP)