Officials have defended the decision not to issue an AMBER Alert after three young sisters vanished in Washington days before the trio were tragically found dead.
The bodies of Paityn, 9, Evelyn, 8, and Olivia Decker, 5, were discovered near their father’s pickup truck close to the Rock Island Campground in Chelan County, 120 miles east of Seattle, on Monday, according to the Wenatchee Police Department.
Their father, Travis Decker, 32, was charged with three counts of first-degree kidnapping and first-degree murder on Tuesday. He is still at large.
Now, the Washington State Patrol has spoken out about its decision not to release an AMBER Alert, despite police reportedly requesting twice on Friday that the child abduction response system be activated.
“We were having discussions with Wenatchee police from Friday night on,” the agency’s Director of Public Affairs, Chris Loftis, told KOMO News. “If we weren’t eligible for AMBER, then what could we do?”
According to Department of Justice guidelines, a case must meet five standards before law enforcement officials can issue an AMBER Alert.
They include a belief that an abduction occurred, assurance that the child is in imminent danger, the child being aged 17 or younger, gathering enough descriptive information about the victim, and the child’s name being input into the National Crime Information Center system.
Instead, Loftis said the WSP issued an Endangered Missing Person Alert, which listed the names of the three girls and their father, along with a description of his truck.
“The difference between EMPA and AMBER, the AMBER has that push notification that we all get on our phones, you have to look at it, you have to address it. The EMPA does not have that,” he added.
The girls were first reported missing by their mother, Whitney Decker, on Friday at about 9.45 p.m. after they had not returned from a scheduled custody visit with their father.
A GoFundMe page titled “Support Whitney Decker” set up to support the victims’ mother with expenses and legal costs has already raised over $405,000 as of Wednesday afternoon.
During the search for the girls, police said that Travis Decker was homeless and living in and out of a white GMC Sierra pickup as well as staying at various hotels and campgrounds.
Police said the father’s visitation with the girls was “part of a parenting plan, but he has since gone outside the parameters of it, which is not normal and cause for the alarm.”
While the EMPA was issued, law enforcement scoured the area by land and air and came across the vehicle.
There were two bloody handprints on the truck, while personal items, including car seats and a wallet, were found inside, reports Fox Seattle.
The suspect’s cell phone activity revealed he drove to Rock Island Campground a day before the kidnapping, according to court documents.
