The grief-stricken mother of the three younger women discovered lifeless in Washington state believes their homeless Military veteran dad is extra a “damaged’’ man than cold-blooded killer after allegedly murdering them.
“It’s clear that one thing broke in him as a result of no individual can go on the market and be a father or mother to a few stunning women for 9 years, faux like he loves them, if he’s desiring to kill them for 9 years,” the mother’s lawyer, Arianna Cozart, informed The Put up on Friday, talking on behalf of consumer Whitney Decker.
“It’s apparent one thing damaged him. He’s a damaged human, like anyone who may commit such a heinous act is, you already know, I don’t know the higher technique to put it,” she mentioned of Whitney’s ex and the women’ dad, Travis Decker.
Travis stays on the run after murdering the youngsters after which dumping their our bodies close to a campground in Wenatchee roughly three hours east of Seattle, cops mentioned.
The lifeless women, who had vanished throughout a court-ordered go to with their dad final Friday, had been discovered with plastic baggage over their heads with their wrists zip-tied, based on authorities.
However Whitney is stopping in need of solely blaming her ex-husband for the grim tragedy — as an alternative pointing to a flawed system that failed to assist the struggle veteran battle his internal demons and psychological heath within the months earlier than.
Whitney — who divorced Decker two years in the past — mentioned her ex been searching for mental-health assist from Veteran Affairs and a veteran disaster line to cope with his post-traumatic stress and borderline character issues.
“If Travis had been in a position to get the assistance that he was searching for, that he was reaching out for, then these women would nonetheless be alive,” her lawyer asserted to The Put up.
“There may be not one occasion that reveals that Travis didn’t love these women and was not a loving lively father. He struggled with psychological well being, sure, we knew that. Whitney knew that he had struggled with it their complete marriage.
“He by no means raised his voice to these women. He by no means hit them. He by no means took off with them earlier than,” the lawyer mentioned.
Beneath a court-ordered parenting plan agreed on after the couple’s cut up in 2022, Decker was allowed to take the women each different weekend for a number of hours at a time.
The mother has insisted that Travis — who was residing out of his truck and motels for roughly a yr after his trailer was repossessed — by no means violated the phrases of the settlement till final Friday, her lawyer mentioned.
“I’ve seen, sadly, some criticism of her on social media that, you already know, ‘Let’s be actual, he murdered his youngsters.’ Sure, completely. She’s not delusional. She’s properly conscious of that,” Cozart mentioned of her consumer.
“She is aware of who Travis is in his core is a totally totally different individual than who he’s as the individual that struggles with complicated PTSD and borderline character dysfunction, as the one who served as an Military Ranger in fight.”
The lawyer additionally argued that the deaths may have been prevented if police had taken Decker’s psychological well being under consideration and listened to Whitney’s pleas to concern an Amber Alert when the women didn’t return residence by the court-ordered timeframe.
Observe The Put up’s protection on Travis Decker
The mom had informed police that Decker picked the women up round 5 p.m. however had not returned them by 8 p.m. — and that his telephone was going straight to voicemail — an element she considered out of character, based on courtroom paperwork.
Washington State Patrol was contacted by native cops Friday night time to request an Amber Alert, however the state of affairs didn’t meet the required standards for one, given Decker was on a scheduled go to with the women, cops have mentioned.
Now, within the wake of the women’ deaths, Whitney is asking for reforms to Amber Alert legal guidelines and the mental-health assets accessible to veterans within the state.
“What Whitney believes is that the women would nonetheless be alive if our veteran system and the assets, the mental-health assets accessible to our veterans, was adequately funded,” the lawyer mentioned.
“In the end, what killed these women was Travis’s mental-health points. He had sought out emergency companies. After all, we didn’t discover this out till after he went lacking, however we discovered that he had searched out, reached out, you already know, for emergency companies for veterans.
“Everyone knows that the army is sweet while you’re within the army about serving to you with issues like housing, education, all of these issues. However while you get out of the army, there’s nobody that will help you,” she added.
Because the manhunt for Decker continues, the lawyer mentioned they’re within the means of attempting to ascertain an area taskforce to look at the Amber Alert system.
Anybody wishing to get entangled can e-mail Assist@ActionForDeckerGirls.org.
They’re additionally urging these searching for assist to achieve out to the Veteran’s Disaster Line.
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