A man accused of killing three women in Utah to steal their cars and credit cards had previously been arrested in Iowa on burglary and illegal hunting charges, court documents reveal. Ivan Miller, 22, was arrested in Iowa two months before the Utah killings on suspicion of breaking into a cabin and illegally hunting in a game refuge.
Miller was released without bail in January on the Iowa charges, with a promise to appear in court. However, he missed his arraignment on Friday because he was in custody in southern Colorado after being tracked down in one of the stolen vehicles. In Colorado, Miller is represented by the state public defender's office, which declined to comment.
In southern Utah, friends and relatives of the victims struggled to comprehend the killings, which authorities described as a crime of convenience. Miller allegedly told investigators he stole the cars and credit cards because he needed to return to Iowa. The husbands of two victims discovered their wives dead near a trailhead after they failed to return from a desert hike. The body of the third victim, an 86-year-old woman, was found in a cellar under a shed on her property.
Miller had been on the move frequently in recent days. Days before the killings, he hit an elk in Loa, Utah, and sold his pickup truck to a tow company, leaving him without a vehicle. He allegedly told investigators he slept in the shed of Margaret Oldroyd, 86, in Lyman, Utah, before killing her and stealing her Buick. He then killed two women, Linda Dewey, 65, and her niece Natalie Graves, 34, at a trailhead near Torrey, taking their Subaru.
Police tracked Miller through northern Arizona and northwestern New Mexico before arresting him in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. He faces charges in Utah for the three murders, as well as pending charges in Iowa for burglary, theft, and weapons offenses.
