TORREY, Utah (AP) — An Iowa man faces three counts of aggravated murder in southern Utah where authorities said Thursday that he killed a woman, stole her vehicle and drove it to a nearby trailhead where he killed two more women before fleeing in one of their vehicles.
The series of events happened late Wednesday afternoon in small ranching and farming communities that bustle with tourists in the summer because of the proximity to national parks.
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Miller, 22, confessed to killing the three women after he was arrested in Colorado, saying he did it to steal their cars and credit cards because he needed money to get back to Iowa, charging documents show. He had hit an elk a few days earlier in Utah and was without a vehicle after selling his truck to the tow company.
After staying in hotels for a few days, he said he eventually spent the night in a shed on the property of the first woman he's accused of killing and stole her Buick after shooting her inside her home, Wayne County prosecutors said in court documents.
Miller told authorities that he quickly realized he did not like the Buick and wanted a different vehicle, according to the documents. He parked it at a nearby trailhead, saw two women get out of a Subaru and killed them before taking the car, the documents state.
He attempted to conceal their bodies in dry creek bed, prosecutors allege.
Officials have not released the names of the victims.
Authorities were alerted to the killings by the husbands of the hikers who went to the trail near Capitol Reef National Park looking for them, said Lt. Cameron Roden of the Utah Highway Patrol. The husbands told authorities a vehicle was missing from the trailhead.
Investigators were combing the site Thursday that is partially shielded from a paved road by piñon and juniper trees, and other vegetation. The trail used mostly by locals winds through rock formations.
Roden said authorities discovered the first woman who was killed after identifying the owner of the Buick. Police cordoned off the brick home in Lyman and an outbuilding with yellow tape while investigators gathered evidence Thursday. Down the road nearby, the authorities were combing through a tree-covered area.
The body of the first woman, who officials said was in her 80s, was found in a cellar under a shed on her property, according to court documents
Authorities used license plate readers and vehicle tracking services to follow Miller's path, from Utah through northern Arizona and into the mountain town of Pagosa Springs in southwestern Colorado, where he abandoned the stolen vehicle, Roden said. He was found after a short search.
According to online jail records, Miller was being held on suspicion of carrying a concealed weapon, a misdemeanor. He was arrested in Colorado with a knife and a .45 caliber pistol, according to court documents, and was scheduled to make his first court appearance in the state Friday afternoon.
Miller is being represented by the Colorado Public Defender’s office, said Justin Bogan, who heads the office in the judicial district that covers Pagosa Springs. Bogan declined to comment further. Voicemail messages left at listings for possible relatives of Miller were not immediately returned on Thursday.
The Associated Press left a message for the public defender's office in Utah late Thursday afternoon.
Investigators have not yet found a motive for the killings and do not believe the suspect targeted the women for any other reason other than just “convenience,” Roden said. He said there is no indication that Miller had any connection to the victims. Investigators were still looking into when Miller arrived in Utah and what he was doing prior to the killings.
Officials said the hikers were friends in their 30s and 60s and had no connection to the other woman who lived in a home in Wayne County about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the trail.
Before a suspect was taken into custody, residents in Wayne County were asked to remain vigilant and schools nearby were closed Thursday. Officials asked for help finding a white Subaru Outback but warned people not to approach it.
The State Bureau of Investigation and Crime Lab were supporting the homicide investigation, and multiple scenes were being processed in Torrey, Utah, and the surrounding area, Roden said.
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Slevin reported from Denver, Schoenbaum from Salt Lake City and Brumfield from Cockeysville, Maryland.
