The quiet desert towns near Capitol Reef National Park were shaken this week after prosecutors say a young traveler from Iowa turned a desperate road trip into a brutal chain of killings. Investigators say 22-year-old Ivan W. Miller confessed that he killed three women simply because he needed their cars and money to make it back home to Iowa.
Authorities say the violence began in the small community of Lyman, Utah. Margaret Oldroyd, an 86-year-old woman known around town as a gentle and neighborly presence, was inside her home watching television when Miller allegedly ambushed her. According to charging documents, he had already spent the night sleeping in a shed on her property after noticing her Buick LeSabre.
When Oldroyd returned home, prosecutors say Miller slipped into the house and waited. He allegedly shot her in the back of the head while she sat in front of the television. Investigators believe he then dragged her body to a basement area before stealing her car and leaving the quiet neighborhood behind.
But the Buick was not good enough for what Miller had in mind. Court records say he soon decided he wanted another vehicle. Investigators say he drove roughly 15 miles toward a remote trailhead between Torrey and Teasdale, an area where hikers often gather before heading into the rugged backcountry near Capitol Reef.
There he spotted two women arriving for a hike. They were later identified as 65-year-old Linda Dewey and her 34-year-old niece, Natalie Graves. Prosecutors say Miller walked up to them, opened fire, and shot Graves in the chest. Dewey was then shot twice and stabbed repeatedly as she tried to survive the attack.
Authorities believe Miller dragged the two women into a ditch before stealing their white Subaru. He also took credit cards belonging to the victims and later used one of them to buy gas as he continued driving east, hoping to reach Iowa.
The attack sparked a multi-state search after the women’s loved ones discovered their bodies near the trailhead and reported a vehicle missing. Investigators tracked the Subaru across southern Utah and into neighboring states before finally locating it in Pagosa Springs, Colorado.
Police arrested Miller early Thursday morning in the Colorado mountain town. Officers say he was carrying a handgun and a large knife at the time of his arrest. The vehicle connected to the killings had been abandoned nearby.
Prosecutors say Miller later told investigators the killings “had to be done” so he could take the cars and credit cards needed to get home. Authorities say he had no known connection to any of the victims and that the three women appeared to have been chosen at random.
Miller now faces three counts of aggravated murder in Utah’s Sixth District Court. Meanwhile, the rural communities near Capitol Reef are left grieving three lives that were taken in what investigators describe as a sudden and senseless crime.
