The grief-stricken mom of the three young girls found dead in Washington state believes their homeless Army veteran dad is more a “broken’’ man than a cold-blooded killer after he allegedly murdered them.
“It’s clear that something broke in him because no person can go out there and be a parent to three beautiful girls for nine years, pretend like he loves them, if he’s intending to kill them for nine years,” the mom’s lawyer, Arianna Cozart, told The Post on Friday, speaking on behalf of client Whitney Decker.
“It’s obvious something broken him. He’s a broken human, like anybody who could commit such a heinous act is, you know, I don’t know the better way to put it,” she said of Whitney’s ex and the girls’ dad, Travis Decker.
Travis remains on the run after killing the children and dumping their bodies near a campground in Wenatchee, roughly three hours east of Seattle, cops said.
The dead girls, who had vanished during a court-ordered visit with their dad last Friday, were found with plastic bags over their heads with their wrists zip-tied, according to authorities.
But Whitney is stopping short of solely blaming her ex-husband for the grim tragedy — instead pointing to a flawed system that failed to help the war veteran battle his inner demons and improve his mental health in the months before.
Whitney — who divorced Decker two years ago — said her ex been seeking mental health help from Veteran Affairs and a veteran crisis line to deal with his post-traumatic stress and borderline personality disorders.
“If Travis had been able to get the help that he was seeking, that he was reaching out for, then those girls would still be alive,” her lawyer asserted to The Post.
“There is not one instance that shows that Travis did not love those girls and was not a loving, active father. He struggled with mental health, yes, we knew that. Whitney knew that he had struggled with it their entire marriage.
“He never raised his voice to those girls. He never hit them. He never took off with them before,” the lawyer said.
Under a court-ordered parenting plan agreed on after the couple’s split in 2022, Decker was allowed to take the girls every other weekend for several hours at a time.
The mom has insisted that Travis — who was living out of his truck and motels for roughly a year after his trailer was repossessed — never violated the terms of the agreement until last Friday, her lawyer said.
“I have seen, unfortunately, some criticism of her on social media that, you know, ‘Let’s be real, he murdered his children.’ Yes, absolutely. She’s not delusional. She’s well aware of that,” Cozart said of her client.
“She knows who Travis is in his core is a completely different person than who he is as the person that struggles with complex PTSD and borderline personality disorder, as the person who served as an Army Ranger in combat.”
The lawyer also argued that the deaths could have been prevented if police had taken Decker’s mental health into account and listened to Whitney’s pleas to issue an Amber Alert when the girls failed to return home in the court-ordered time frame.
Follow The Post’s coverage on Travis Decker
- Neighbor reveals heartbreaking text mom of girls allegedly killed by homeless father sent after she found out they were dead
- Who is Travis Decker? Homeless vet wanted for murder of 3 daughters
- Wanted Washington dad Travis Decker seen in doorbell footage before allegedly murdering his 3 daughters
- Dad of 3 Travis Decker’s ‘unstable’ behavior in months before allegedly murdering his daughters
The mother had told police that Decker picked the girls up around 5 p.m. but had not returned them by 8 p.m. — and that his phone was going straight to voicemail, a factor she regarded as out of character, according to court documents.
The Washington State Patrol was contacted by local cops Friday night to request an Amber Alert, but the situation did not meet the criteria for one, given that Decker was on a scheduled visit with the girls, cops have said.
Now, in the wake of the girls’ deaths, Whitney is calling for reforms to Amber Alert laws and the mental health resources available to veterans in the state.
“What Whitney believes is that the girls would still be alive if our veteran system and the resources, the mental health resources available to our veterans, was adequately funded,” the lawyer said.
“Ultimately, what killed those girls was Travis’ mental health issues. He had sought out emergency services. Of course, we didn’t find this out until after he went missing, but we found out that he had searched out, reached out, you know, for emergency services for veterans.
“We all know that the military is good when you’re in the military about helping you with things like housing, schooling, all of those things. But when you get out of the military, there’s no one to help you,” she added.
As the manhunt for Decker continues, the lawyer said they are in the process of trying to establish a local task force to examine the Amber Alert system.
Anyone wishing to get involved can email Help@ActionForDeckerGirls.org.
They are also urging those seeking help to reach out to the Veterans Crisis Line.
