Travis Decker Declared Dead by U.S. Marshals — But Sheriff's Office Isn't So Sure By Christine Pelisek 71

Federal prosecutors have asked a judge to dismiss the complaint and arrest warrant against Travis Decker because, according to the U.S. Marshals Service, Decker is deceased.

However, the Washington sheriff’s office investigating the case says it’s still not confirmed that remains found last week that are believed to be Decker’s are his.

On Wednesday, Sept. 24, a federal prosecutor filed a motion to dismiss the complaint and quash the arrest warrant after being advised by the U.S. Marshals Service that Decker is deceased. The motion obtained by PEOPLE was filed to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington.

But in a statement to PEOPLE, the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office said, “We have not received DNA confirmation on the remains found last week.”

Sheriff Mike Morrison told ABC News on Wednesday that the charges remain against Decker until there’s confirmation that remains found are Decker’s.

Decker, 32, was the focus of a manhunt since June 2 after the bodies of his three daughters — Paityn, 9, Evelyn, 8, and Olivia, 5 — were found in a remote campground on June 2.

Decker had failed to bring back his daughters to his ex-wife, Whitney Decker, in Wenatchee, Wash., after taking them for a court-ordered visit on May 30.

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Last week, the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office announced that they believed remains found in a wooded area south of Leavenworth, Wash. were Decker’s.

A drone spotted a T-shirt that led them to the human remains believed to be those of Decker.

Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison previously told PEOPLE that the the drone spotted an “anomaly” around 3 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 18. “They shared the image with me because it was a live feed and I saw it and I was like, that’s a pretty good clue,” he said, noting that the neon green shirt had matched the same kind of shirt they had seen Decker wear before.

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The remains, said Morrison, were “well decomposed.”

The remains were found 0.74 miles from “where the original crime scene was at to get to the location where we found the remains would take about three hours,” Morrison said. “It was in the middle of our wilderness area in a very steep, rocky wooded terrain. Heavily brushed.”

Morrison said the campsite where Decker’s daughters were discovered was at an elevation of around 2,800 feet and the human remains were above 4,000 feet.

The months-long search manhunt for Decker included searches in the Blewett Pass area in the Wenatchee Mountains.