SEATTLE — Authorities who have spent the past three weeks searching in the mountains of Washington state for an ex-soldier wanted in the deaths of his three young daughters say there is no evidence that he remains in the area or that he is alive at all.

Travis Decker, 32, has been wanted since June 2, when a sheriff’s deputy 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. The discovery came three days after he failed to return the girls to their mother’s home in Wenatchee, about 100 miles east of Seattle, following a scheduled visit.

“There is no certain evidence that Decker remains alive or in this area,” the Kittitas County Sheriff’s Office said in a social media post Monday. “Seemingly strong early leads gave way to less convincing proofs over the last two weeks of searching. Still, we can’t and won’t quit this search; Paityn, Evelyn, and Olivia Decker deserve justice. And Decker remains a danger to the public as long as he’s at large.”

— The Associated Press