After law enforcement officers spent days scouring a remote section of Washington State for a father accused of killing his three young daughters, the local sheriff leading the manhunt turned over the search to federal authorities,

Authorities have closed a wide swath of popular campgrounds and backpacking areas along the Pacific Crest Trail in Washington as they search for a former Army soldier wanted in the deaths of his three young daughters.

Travis Decker is a former member of the military who has enough wilderness survival skills to live in the woods on his own for weeks or months, the authorities said.