Law enforcement authorities arrested 22-year-old Ivan Miller of Blakesburg, Iowa, in connection with the killing of three women in Wayne County, Utah, following a multi-state manhunt that ended in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, early Thursday morning.
Miller was charged with three counts of aggravated murder by the Wayne County Attorney's Office. He was taken into custody around 2:40 a.m. after police tracked him using license plate readers and vehicle tracking technology through southern Utah, northern Arizona, and into Colorado.
The investigation began Wednesday afternoon when the husbands of two women reported finding their wives dead near the Cocks Comb Trailhead, just off State Route 12 between Torrey and Teasdale. A Bureau of Land Management ranger confirmed the deaths at approximately 4:30 p.m., according to CNN.
While processing the scene, detectives discovered a vehicle belonging to a third victim, an elderly woman. A welfare check at her home in Lyman, about 15 miles away, led officers to her body inside a cellar beneath a shed on the property.
Investigators believe Miller killed the Lyman woman first, stole her car, then drove to the trailhead, where he allegedly shot and killed two other women before fleeing in one of their vehicles. The three victims have been identified only as women in their 30s, 60s, and 80s, Good Morning America reported.
Utah Highway Patrol Lt. Cameron Roden said Miller had no known connection to the victims or the area. The victims were not related to one another.
According to court documents, Miller told investigators he needed money and a vehicle to return to Iowa after his truck was damaged in an elk collision days earlier. He was found carrying a concealed handgun and a large knife at the time of his arrest.
The Wayne County School District closed schools on Thursday and Friday as a precaution during the investigation. Miller is being held at the Archuleta County Detention Center in Colorado, and his extradition to Utah is pending, as per KSL.
