Lt. Cameron Roden of the Utah Department of Public Safety said Miller had no known connection to any of the victims and appeared to choose them for ‘convenience.’ The killings began after Miller hit an elk near Capitol Reef National Park, sold his truck to a tow company, and found himself stranded without a way home.
An Iowa man was charged Thursday with aggravated murder in the deaths of three Utah women after investigators say he killed them to steal their cars and credit cards for a trip back to Iowa. Ivan Miller, 22, of Blakesburg, Iowa, was arrested in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, following a multi-state manhunt that began when two hikers’ husbands found their wives shot and stabbed at a rural Wayne County trailhead. Authorities subsequently found a third victim dead in her home in the small farming town of Lyman.
Miller had no known connection to any of the victims and appeared to choose them for “convenience,” said Lt. Cameron Roden of the Utah Department of Public Safety. Investigators were still working to establish when Miller arrived in Utah and what he was doing before the killings, Roden said.
How the killings began
The killings started, according to charging documents, after Miller hit an elk a few days earlier near a small farming community near Capitol Reef National Park and sold his truck to the tow company. After staying in hotels for several days, he slept in a shed on the property of Margaret Oldroyd in Lyman.
Miller shot Oldroyd, 86, from behind while she was watching TV, Wayne County prosecutors alleged. He stole her Buick but told investigators he quickly decided he did not like the vehicle and wanted a different one. He drove the Buick roughly 10 miles (16 kilometers) to a trailhead.
At the trailhead, Miller saw Linda Dewey, 65, and her niece Natalie Graves, 34, get out of a Subaru and killed them before taking the car, according to court documents. He attempted to conceal the bodies in a dry creek bed, prosecutors alleged.
Husbands find victims; third body located
The two women’s husbands called 911 and waved down a ranger after finding their wives shot and stabbed at the trail, which is used mostly by locals and is partially shielded from the road by piñon and juniper trees, according to officials and court documents.
Authorities identified Oldroyd as the owner of the Buick left at the trailhead and found her body in a cellar under a shed on her property.
Police used yellow tape to cordon off Oldroyd’s brick home and an outbuilding in Lyman while investigators gathered evidence Thursday.
Tracked across state lines
Authorities used license plate readers and vehicle tracking services to follow Miller’s route from Utah through northern Arizona to Pagosa Springs, in southwestern Colorado, where he abandoned the stolen Subaru, Roden said. He was found after a short search.
Miller was being held in Colorado on suspicion of carrying a concealed weapon, a misdemeanor. He was arrested with a large knife and a .45 caliber pistol, according to court documents. He was scheduled to make his first court appearance in Colorado on Friday afternoon.
Justin Bogan, who heads the Colorado Public Defender’s office in the judicial district covering Pagosa Springs, said his office was representing Miller at the hearing. Bogan declined to comment further. Authorities were working to bring Miller to Utah to face the aggravated murder charges.
Community response
Before Miller’s arrest, Wayne County schools were closed Thursday and residents were asked to remain vigilant. Officials had asked for help finding a white Subaru Outback but warned people not to approach it.
Oldroyd’s next-door neighbor of 20 years, Randy Jones, described her as “the sweetest woman you’d ever meet” and said he was shocked by her death. Jones said she had a love of yard work, keeping her flowers and lawn neatly maintained, and had worked at a local grocery store stocking shelves. In recent years, she rarely left home except to attend religious services and pick up groceries, he said.
“Out here in rural counties, we all take care of each other,” Jones said.