Idaho
Fugitive dad accused of killing 3 daughters may have been seen in Idaho
The Army veteran accused of killing his three daughters in Washington state and disappearing into the wilderness for weeks may have been spotted in an Idaho forest, federal authorities said.
The person believed to be Travis Decker, 32, was seen in Sawtooth National Forest, hundreds of miles from the campground where the bodies of his young daughters were found June 2, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.
In a news release Sunday, the agency said the tip came from a family who reported having seen a man matching Decker’s description in the national forest’s Bear Creek area, east of Boise.
The man was described as 5 feet 8 inches to 5 feet 10 inches, wearing a black mesh cap, black gauged earrings, black shorts, low-top Vans or Converse shoes and a cream T-shirt. He had a long ponytail, an overgrown beard and a mustache and a black backpack, the agency said.
He was said to be wearing a black Garmin-style watch.
The Marshals Service warned people Monday not to fly drones in the area and to avoid picking up hitchhikers.
Authorities have described Decker, who was an active-duty member of the Washington State National Guard, as an avid outdoorsman known to go “off-grid” for months.
Law enforcement officers have investigated “dozens and dozens” of potential sightings and tips linked to Decker, but he appears to have been seen only once, nearly a month ago, in the Blewitt Pass area of Washington.
After a report from hikers, a tracking team in a helicopter described seeing a “lone, off-trail hiker” who ran from the aircraft.
Weeks later, on Tuesday, the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office said there was no evidence to suggest Decker was alive or dead.
His daughters, Paityn, 9, Evelyn, 8, and Olivia, 5, were found dead in a remote area near Leavenworth, roughly 135 miles east of Seattle, after Decker failed to return them to his ex-wife. According to an affidavit in support of an arrest warrant, the girls had been zip-tied and had bags over their heads.
An autopsy attributed their deaths to suffocation.
Decker’s pickup was found near the girl’s bodies, and the sheriff’s office said an analysis of bloody handprints on the vehicle’s tailgate matched Decker’s DNA profile.
Whitney Decker was married to Travis Decker for seven years and described their divorce to authorities as amicable, according to the affidavit. The detective who wrote the affidavit noted that Travis Decker refused to sign a parenting plan last year and did not seek court-mandated mental health treatment and domestic violence anger management counseling.
Decker is wanted on charges of first-degree murder and kidnapping. He is also wanted on a federal charge of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.
According to an affidavit in support of the federal charge, authorities discovered that in the days before the girls’ deaths, Decker appears to have searched Google for information related to Canada.
“How does a person move to canada” and “how to relocate to canada” were among the search terms linked to Decker’s Google account on May 26, according to the warrant. The deputy U.S. marshal who wrote the warrant noted that the victims were found 11 miles from the Pacific Crest Trail, a well-established path that leads to Canada.
The possible sighting in Sawtooth National Forest is more than 500 miles in the other direction.
Idaho
Idaho resolution opposing same-sex marriage advances
For the second year in a row, House lawmakers will consider urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its ruling legalizing same-sex marriage.
The nonbinding resolution, which carries no legal weight, says the decision in Obergefel v. Hodges violates the longstanding religious definition of marriage between one man and one woman.
“The current definition of marriage that allows for same-sex marriages is a defilement of the word marriage,” said Rep. Tony Wisniewski (R-Post Falls), who sponsors the measure.
The resolution further states that the Obergefel decision “arbitrarily and unjustly” rejects the historical definition of marriage.
Idaho voters passed a constitution amendment in 2006 that defines marriage as between one man and one woman, which was invalidated by the Obergefel ruling.
Wisniewski said regulating marriages should be a power left to the states.
Rep. Brent Crane (R-Nampa) agrees.
“If you want to get things … closer to the people with respect to some of these more complex social issues, I think the best place for those things to happen is in the states,” Crane said.
Doing so is a risk, he said.
“You may have states that choose to acknowledge [polyamorous relationships]. You may have states that choose to have relationships between adults and younger children,” Crane said.
Cities in neighboring Oregon and Washington, for example, are considering giving those in polyamorous relationships legal recognition.
But he said that risk is worth it to allow other states that choose to only recognize traditional marriages.
Four lawmakers on the House State Affairs Committee opposed the resolution.
Rep. Erin Bingham (R-Idaho Falls) said she’s tried to balance her own religious beliefs with those of others while considering the measure.
“I do feel like that it is important for us to work together, to find ways to compromise and to live together in peace and mutual respect,” Bingham said.
The resolution now goes to the House floor for consideration.
House lawmakers last year passed a similar measure, but it never received a hearing in a Senate committee.
Copyright 2026 Boise State Public Radio
Idaho
University of Idaho professor awarded $10M after TikTok tarot influencer claimed she ‘ordered’ quadruple murders
A University of Idaho professor won a $10 million judgment after a tarot TikTok influencer publicly pushed false claims that she was behind the savage quadruple slayings of four college students.
A Boise jury in US District Court ordered fortune-telling Texas TikToker Ashley Guillard on Friday to pay $10 million after concluding she falsely accused professor Rebecca Scofield of having a secret romance with one of the four victims and orchestrating their killings, the Idaho Statesman reported.
Following the verdict, Scofield thanked the jury and said she hopes the case sends a clear warning that making “false statements online have consequences in the real world.”
“The murders of the four students on November 13, 2022, were the darkest chapter in our university’s history,” Scofield told Fox News.
“Today’s decision shows that respect and care should always be granted to victims during these tragedies. I am hopeful that this difficult chapter in my life is over, and I can return to a more normal life with my family and the wonderful Moscow community.”
Scofield, the university’s history department chair, filed the lawsuit in December 2022 — just weeks after Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were brutally stabbed to death at an off-campus rental home in Moscow, Idaho, on Nov. 13, 2022.
Guillard began uploading videos to her more than 100,000 TikTok followers in late November 2022, accusing Scofield of a secret relationship with one of the students and claiming she had “ordered” the killings, garnering millions of views across the social media platform.
The complaint states that Scofield had never met the victims and was out of state when the murders occurred.
Even after being served with cease-and-desist letters and after police publicly confirmed Scofield had no connection to the murders, the Houston-based tarot reader continued posting videos, the history professor’s legal team argued.
Guillard doubled down on her accusations against Scofield after being sued, posting a defiant video saying, “I am not stopping,” and challenging why Scofield needed three lawyers to sue her “if she’s so innocent.”
The professor’s legal team argued the defamatory accusations painted her as a criminal and accused her of professional misconduct that could derail her career.
Bryan Kohberger, then studying criminology at Washington State University, pleaded guilty in July 2025 to the quadruple murders in a deal that took the death penalty off the table. He is currently serving four consecutive life sentences in Idaho.
In June 2024, Chief US Magistrate Judge Raymond Patricco found Guillard’s statements legally defamatory, leaving damages to be decided by a jury.
During the damages trial, Scofield described the anguish of seeing her name tied to the murders online, the Idaho Statesman reported.
However, Guillard, acting as her own attorney, insisted her comments were simply beliefs based on tarot card readings.
She claimed to have psychic powers and testified that she relied on tarot cards to try to solve the shocking homicides that shook the rural college town and sparked global attention.
It took jurors less than two hours to return their verdict, the outlet reported.
The jury awarded Scofield $7.5 million in punitive damages in addition to $2.5 million in compensatory damages.
With Post wires
Idaho
Gas prices expected to exceed $3 as the Iran conflict prompts supply shortages
BOISE, Idaho — AAA is warning Idaho gas consumers that pump prices will likely rise as the conflict in Iran disrupts oil and gas supply chains worldwide.
The ongoing turmoil in the Middle East will likely push the price for a gallon of regular gasoline past the $3 mark over the coming days.
“On one hand, the crude oil market had time to account for some financial risk in the Middle East as forces mobilized, but a supply shortage somewhere affects the global picture,” says AAA Idaho public affairs director Matthew Conde. “If tankers can’t move products through the region, there could be ripple effects.”
On Monday, March 2, the average price for a gallon of regular gasoline is $2.97, reports AAA, which is 12 cents more expensive than it was a month ago but 20 cents less than this time last year.
State / Price: 1 gallon of regular gasoline
- Washington / $4.37
- Oregon / $3.92
- Nevada / $3.70
- Idaho / $2.97
- Colorado / $2.89
- Montana / $2.82
- Utah / $2.74
- Wyoming / $2.73
In terms of the most expensive fuel in the nation, Idaho currently ranks #14. However, buying a gallon of regular gas in neighboring states such as Oregon and Washington could cost a whole dollar more. In contrast, gas prices in Utah, Montana, and Wyoming are anywhere between 15 to 24 cents cheaper than fuel in the Gem State.
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