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.
Ivan 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.
Source: WPLG
