A 22-year-old man randomly killed three women he did not know during a violent murder spree in a rural Utah community before stealing their cars and credit cards because he said he needed money to get back to Iowa, prosecutors say.
Ivan Miller, of Blakesburg, Iowa, was taken into custody on Thursday in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, some 370 miles from the scene of the crimes in Wayne County, according to the Utah Department of Public Safety. Police said Miller had a handgun and a large knife with him when he was arrested.
Miller told FBI agents it “had to be done’ but he did not like to do it,” according to charging documents.
He has been charged with three counts of aggravated murder for the murders of three women – one who was in her 80s who was found dead at her home in Lyman, and two women who were going hiking together on the Cockscomb Trail at the Capitol Reef National Park. None has yet been publicly identified.
The 22-year-old allegedly told the FBI he had hit an elk in Utah days earlier and sold his truck to a tow company before deciding he needed a new vehicle.
He reportedly spent the night in the back shed of the woman in her 80s in Lyman and later saw her drive away in a Buick Lesabre. He then waited for her inside the house, hiding behind the door, and – after she returned and sat down to watch television – shot her in the back of the head, prosecutors say.
After allegedly dragging her body to the basement of an out-building he drove away, but decided “he did not like the car and wanted to find a different vehicle.” It was allegedly at this point that he saw two women getting out of a white Subaru at a trailhead at Capitol Reef National Park.
The charging documents claim he shot one of the women dead and then shot and stabbed the other before dragging their bodies to a ditch. “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,” the charges say.
“Miller confessed that it ‘had to be done’ but he did not like to do it.”
The two women, one in her 30s and one in her 60s, were found by their husbands who had gone to the scene to look for them. They raised the alarm and police found the first vehicle not far from the scene, which led them to the murder scene in Lyman.
Lt. Cameron Roden, a spokesman for the Utah Highway Patrol, told The Independent that was no indication that Miller had any connection with any of the women.
“It does not appear that these women were specifically targeted other than the convenience of the suspect stealing their vehicles,” Roden said.
Following the discovery of the bodies, an urgent manhunt was launched, with police appealing for information about the victim’s stolen vehicle, a 2022 White Subaru Outback with license plate U560YF.
Police made the arrest after tracking the Subaru from the trailhead in Utah through Arizona and into Colorado. The car was found abandoned in Pagosa Springs, which led police to the suspect. The vehicle was tracked through southern Utah and into northern Arizona before it was found abandoned in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, Roden confirmed.
The suspect was arrested without incident at 2.40 a.m. on Thursday morning after a brief search of the area and was found to have a concealed handgun and large knife, the Pagosa Springs Police Department said. It was not immediately clear where he was when he was arrested. He was being held at the Archuleta County Detention Center on a weapons charge before the homicide charges.
Roden said they don’t know how long the suspect may have been in Wayne County, or how he got to the area, but investigators are working to piece together a timeline.
Miller was reportedly scheduled to appear in an Iowa courtroom on Friday on charges of theft, burglary, marijuana possession and being ineligible to carry a gun, according to KSL.
The killings rattled the sparsely populated county, where officials urged residents to remain indoors, lock their doors and keep lights on overnight while the suspect was still being sought. The Wayne County School District canceled classes for the rest of the week “out of an abundance of caution and concern for student and public safety.” Officials said counselors will be available to support students when schools reopen.
Torrey Mayor Mickey Wright told FOX13: “Our community is grieving today following the tragic deaths of three women in Wayne County yesterday. On behalf of the Town of Torrey, I extend my deepest condolences to the families, friends, and loved ones of the victims. This is a heartbreaking moment for our small, close‑knit community."
After the suspect was taken into custody in Colorado on Thursday, officials said there is no longer an ongoing threat to the public and no suspects remain outstanding. The Utah State Bureau of Investigation and the Utah Crime Lab continued processing crime scenes Thursday in the communities of Torrey, Utah and Lyman, Utah.
Wayne County, home to fewer than 3,000 residents, is a gateway for visitors heading to nearby national parks including Capitol Reef National Park.
