A man accused of killing three women in Utah in order to steal their cars and credit cards was already known to police in Iowa: He had been arrested in that state on suspicion of breaking into a cabin and of illegally hunting in a game refuge some two months prior, court documents show.
Officials released Ivan Miller, 22, without bail back in January on the charges in Iowa, and he vowed to appear for the next court appearance.
But Miller missed the
arraignment Friday because he was in jail in southern Colorado after authorities tracked him there in one of the stolen vehicles.
Miller is being represented in Colorado by the state public defender’s office. Justin Bogan, who heads the office in the judicial district that covers Pagosa Springs, declined to comment Thursday.
Meanwhile, out in southern Utah’s starkly beautiful desert country, friends and relatives of the women killed struggled to comprehend what authorities called a crime of “convenience.”
Miller had stolen their cars and credit cards because he needed to get back to Iowa, he told investigators in interviews outlined in court documents.
The husbands of two victims found their wives dead near a trailhead after they didn’t return from a desert hike. The body of the third victim — a church-going woman who loved yardwork and kept a tidy yard — was found near her home.
There was no sign that Miller had any connection to the three, said Lt. Cameron Roden of the Utah Department of Public Safety.
Miller had been on the move often in recent days if not months. A few days before the killings, Miller hit an elk in the town of Loa.
He sold his pickup truck to the tow company, leaving him without a vehicle. After staying in hotels for a few days, Miller slept in the shed of resident Margaret Oldroyd, 86, in Lyman, Utah, just up the road from Torrey, outside Capitol Reef National Park in southern Utah, he allegedly told investigators.
Oldroyd’s Buick was found Wednesday at a trailhead about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from her house in the rural area of farms and ranches. There, authorities said Miller told them he saw two women get out of a Subaru and killed them before taking their car.
Linda Dewey, 65, and her niece Natalie Graves, 34, were killed and found in a dry creek bed near the trail mostly used by locals. Their husbands called 911 and waved down a ranger.
“Our family is dealing with the shock of the devastating loss of two members of our family who were bonding over the beauty of a hike in one of their favorite places on earth -- cherished by them and the community, considered to be a safe sanctuary,” the family of Dewey and Graves said in a statement. “They were murdered. We cannot comprehend why this happened.”
The family described Dewey as a wife, mother, grandmother, daughter and sister who had many extended family members and friends all over the world.
“She was loved deeply and loved her family deeply. She was the heart of our family,” their statement said.
The family described Graves, a wife, daughter and sister, as “joy, sunshine and beauty embodied.”
Police linked the Buick to its owner, Oldroyd, whose body they found in a cellar under the shed on her property.
Next-door neighbor Randy Jones said he was shocked by the death of “the sweetest woman you'd ever meet." She kept her flowers and lawn watered and neatly manicured, he said.
Oldroyd used to work at a local grocery store stocking shelves, Jones said. And when Jones helped rid her yard of skunks, she would bring him a cake as a thank you.
“Out here in rural counties, we all take care of each other,” Jones said.
Jones said Oldroyd didn't leave home much in recent years except to attend religious services and get groceries. Now and then, she would visit him and his horses.
Miller stole Oldroyd's car after shooting her from behind while she was watching TV, Wayne County prosecutors allege.
After finding the bodies, police searched the greater Four Corners region for Miller.
He drove through northern Arizona and northwestern New Mexico before they caught up with him in Pagosa Springs, a Colorado tourist town known for hot spring resorts lining the San Juan River.
Miller told investigators he killed the two women after realizing he didn't like the Buick and took bank cards because he needed money to get back to Iowa, according to court documents.
Miller had an arraignment scheduled Friday in Iowa on charges including felony second-degree burglary and misdemeanor theft, marijuana possession and gun possession. According to a court order dated Jan. 13, he was released without bail on a promise to appear on the charges.
Miller had been arrested after rangers at a southern Iowa state park entered a cabin on Dec. 31 to get it ready for a reservation later that day.
They found the front door unlocked, food on the counter, a pan with bacon grease in it on the stove, a container with several marijuana joints, and loaded guns including a bolt-action rifle with a bayonet and an AR-10 with a scope and bipod, according to the arrest affidavit.
The person staying there had also brought in a television, Xbox game console and Starlink internet device, suggesting “intent to stay for a long period of time” at Lake Wapello State Park, according to the affidavit by the two park rangers.
The affidavit states that Miller showed up while the rangers were there, knocked softly and soon admitted to breaking into the cabin three days earlier seeking a warm place to stay.
The county attorney’s office prosecuting Miller on his Iowa charges declined Friday to answer any questions on the case, including whether Iowa prosecutors would allow Utah officials to first pursue the more serious charges against Miller. The Associated Press left a voicemail Friday for his public defender in the Iowa case.
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Slevin reported from Denver, Beck from Omaha and Gruver from Fort Collins, Colorado. Associated Press writers Sarah Brumfield in Cockeysville, Maryland, and Felicia Fonseca in Flagstaff, Arizona, contributed to this report.
