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Federal authorities end Idaho search for suspect in kids’ deaths after finding look-alike hiker

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Federal authorities in Idaho say they have ended a search in the Sawtooth National Forest after determining it was all case of mistaken identity.

The search began Saturday after the U.S. Marshals Service Greater Idaho Fugitive Task Force said a family reported they saw a man who looked like Travis Decker, who is wanted in connection with the deaths of his three daughters in Washington state.

Decker has been wanted since June 2, when a sheriff’s deputy in Washington found his truck and the bodies of his three daughters — 9-year-old Paityn Decker, 8-year-old Evelyn Decker and 5-year-old Olivia Decker — at a campground outside Leavenworth, Washington. The discovery came three days after he failed to return the girls to their mother’s home in Wenatchee, following a scheduled visit.

The family was near a Bear Creek area campsite when they saw a man who was the same height and roughly the same weight as Decker, and also had similar hair, beard and tattoos on his arm and calf. Additional tips followed, and federal, state and local law enforcement agencies joined the Marshals Service in the search.

They found the man Wednesday afternoon, U.S. Marshals Service Supervisory Deputy Michael Leigh said in a press release, and determined he was not Decker.

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