Woman’s Kids Vanished After Ex Allegedly Beat Her, Stole Car and Threatened to Kill Children ‘Like Travis Decker’: Police

What began as a domestic violence report quickly escalated into a race to find two missing children in Monroe, Wash., a city about 45 miles northeast of Seattle.

Police say a woman called to report that her ex-boyfriend had allegedly assaulted her, stolen her vehicle and fled her home. As he was leaving, she claimed, he tried to run her over with his vehicle while she was returning to the house to check on their 7-year-old and 10-month-old children. Authorities have not released the suspect’s name.

When she got back to the home, the children were gone.

According to court documents, the situation turned even more alarming when the mother told officers that her ex had allegedly said “he was going to be like Travis Decker and kill the kids.”

Decker is the Washington father who earlier this year abducted his three daughters in Leavenworth and killed them before likely taking his own life. Leavenworth is roughly 60 miles from Monroe.

When asked about the alleged comment — first reported by KOMO — Cmdr. Paul Ryan of the Monroe Police Department declined to discuss it, saying he did not want to speak about that recent tragedy. The court records were later made public, KOMO reported.

Ryan and his team immediately mobilized in an effort to prevent a similar outcome.

A “Be on the Lookout” alert was sent to law enforcement agencies statewide, and neighboring counties joined the search. While police were coordinating an Amber Alert with Washington State Police, a Kittitas County Sheriff’s deputy called in with a crucial update: the father, the vehicle and both children had been located — and all were alive.

Officers from the Monroe Police Department traveled to Kittitas County and took the father into custody. He was later booked into the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office Corrections Bureau.

According to a police press release, he remains behind bars on $200,000 bail and was booked on suspicion of two counts of first-degree kidnapping, as well as one count each of felony harassment (threats to kill) and second-degree domestic violence assault.