As authorities in Washington state search for a man accused of killing his three young daughters after taking them for a scheduled custody visitation, the tragedy rings all too familiar for the parents of murdered children and advocates who say courts allow this to happen.
Travis Decker, 32, is wanted for the deaths of Paityn Decker, 9; Evelyn Decker, 8; and Olivia Decker, who were found dead on June 2 after their mother reported them missing. Authorities in Wenatchee in central Washington said Decker took the children for a scheduled custody visit and failed to return them to their mother on time. The parents were divorced, and Decker was homeless and staying primarily in his truck.
A search turned up Decker's white 2017 GMC Sierra truck near a campground, and the girls' bodies were found nearby, but Decker has not been found, police said as of June 4.
Courts are troublingly reluctant to believe mothers who say fathers are a safety risk to their children in custody disputes, and all too often put children at risk to satisfy their bias toward paternal rights, said Joan Meier, director of the National Family Violence Law Center at the George Washington University Law School.
The particulars of Decker's custody arrangements are unclear, but Meier said the outcome is a tragic reality: The failure of judges to protect children has led to too many deaths.
