The suspect who shot three women to death in Utah on Wednesday was a 22-year-old Iowa man with no connection to the three women and who told police the murders “had to be done” to steal their cars.
Ivan W. Miller was charged on Thursday with three counts of aggravated murder for the deaths of the three women in Wayne County, KSL reported.
The identities of the victims have not been released, but investigators said two of the women — one in her 30s and one in her 60s — were walking the Cockscomb Trail between Torrey an Teasdale when they were killed, and the third — in her 80s — was murdered in her home in Lyman.
The suspect was arrested Thursday in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, after investigators tracked the vehicle — which belonged to one of the women — across central and southern Utah, into Arizona, and finally to Colorado, where they found the vehicle abandoned and shortly afterward located Miller, as CrimeOnline reported.
Charging documents say that Miller told investigators that he hit an elk in Loa, Utah, a few days earlier and sold his truck to a tow company, KSL reported. He said he stayed in a local hotel for a few days and then “killed someone and stole a car,” the documents say.
In a second interview with an FBI agent, he said he stayed for a night in a shed behind the 80-year-old woman’s home and watched her drive away in a Buick Lesabre. Then, he said, he entered her home, hid behind a door, and shot her in the head when she returned and was watching television.
“Miller said he cleaned up the scene the best he could, dragged her to the out building and further down into the basement where he ultimately left her,” the documents say. “Miller said he grabbed his stuff and took the car, but he did not like the car and wanted to find a different vehicle. Miller said he parked the vehicle near (the trailhead) where he saw a younger woman and an older woman get out of a white Subaru.”
Miller told the agent he went up to the two women and first shot the younger one, then the older one twice, but since she was still moving he “stabbed her multiple times in the heart.”
“Miller admitted he dragged both alleged victims at (the trailhead) to a ditch and laid them next to one another,” prosecutors wrote in the documents. “Miller said he did it because he needed money. Miller said that he took their credit cards and used the older woman’s card to buy gas. Miller said that his intent was to get back to Iowa.”
“Miller confessed that it ‘had to be done’ but he did not like to do it,” the documents said.
The two women at the trail were found by their husbands, who went looking for them when they didn’t come back from their hike. Police who responded to the 911 call then found the other woman’s stolen car nearby and went to her home, finding her body.
The documents say investigators used license plate readers and “integrated tracking services” to track the stolen Subaru. It was spotted in Bicknell, Utah, at about 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday and in Farmington, New Mexico, by 9 p.m. that night.
Authorities in Colorado who notified the vehicle was in their area shortly after 11 p.m.
Early Thursday morning, it was spotted in Pagosa Springs, where it was found abandoned. Officers found Miller after a brief search in the area.
“Upon a frisk of Miller, he was found in possession of a concealed handgun and large knife. Miller was arrested for possession of concealed weapons. A subsequent interview linked Miller to the deaths in Utah,” Pagosa Springs Police said.
Bank cards for all three murder victims were found in Miller’s wallet, charging documents say.
Miller had been scheduled to appear in court on Friday charged with theft, burglary, marijuana possession and being ineligible to carry a gun.
In that case, Miller had picked the lock on a state park cabin in Davis County “so he could get somewhere warm.” A park ranger found “a fully loaded 7.62 x 54 bolt-action rifle with bayonet and a fully loaded Diamondback AR-10 .308 with scope and bipod, along with several loaded magazines and extra ammunition in boxes and loose ammunition in a bag,” court documents said.
Miller remains behind bars in Colorado awaiting extradition to Utah.
For the latest true crime and justice news, subscribe to the ‘Crime Stories with Nancy Grace’ podcast.
[Featured image: Ivan Miller/Archuleta County Detention Center]
