A dead woman’s key fob and two grisly crime scenes: How the Utah triple-murder suspect was tracked across state lines
By Holly Yan, Karina Tsui, CNN
(CNN) — Less than 24 hours after a mysterious triple homicide baffled investigators and devastated two idyllic Utah towns, a bevy of license plate readers, a trail of footprints and a victim’s own key fob helped lead authorities to a suspect more than 300 miles away.
The gruesome saga started Wednesday in the tiny, quaint town of Lyman – population 289. The suspect, 22-year-old Ivan Miller, snuck into the home of Margaret Oldroyd while she was gone and waited for her to return, a Wayne County prosecutor wrote in Miller’s indictment.
When the 86-year-old grandmother came home and settled in to watch TV, Miller shot her in the back of her head and stole her car, prosecutor Michael Winn said.
Miller later told investigators, “he did not like the car and wanted to find a different vehicle,” Winn wrote in the indictment.
He drove southeast for about 13 miles and ended up near the town of Torrey – where the majestic, rugged landscape attracts tourists and hikers. There, he saw two women get out of a white Subaru Outback, the prosecutor wrote.
“Miller said that he went up to them and shot the younger one in what he thought was the chest,” the indictment says. “Miller then shot the other one twice in the body but … she was still moving. Miller then stabbed her multiple times.”
When the two hikers — 65-year-old Linda Dewey and her 34-year-old niece, Natalie Graves – didn’t come home, their anxious husbands went searching for them, officials said. They found their slain wives’ bodies near a trailhead.
When authorities arrived, they found no perpetrator. But they spotted footprints near the bodies and an abandoned Buick Regal – the same car stolen from the first victim’s home after she was killed.
The hikers’ white 2022 Subaru was gone.
A frantic, multi-state manhunt
A Wayne County sheriff’s deputy entered the missing Subaru’s information into a license plate reader search and discovered the car was in Bicknell, Utah, late Wednesday morning. That was the last time he detected the vehicle.
But the husband of the Subaru owner managed to use a phone app to track his slain wife’s key fob. On Wednesday night,the key fob was detected in Farmington, New Mexico – about 300 miles southeast of where the hikers’ bodies were found.
Around the same time that evening, police in Colorado learned the Subaru “had been detected by Flock Safety cameras in the Four Corners region” of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado, the Durango Police Department said.
“Our agency immediately received the alert as part of the Flock Safety network, which enables participating agencies to rapidly share critical vehicle information across jurisdictions,” Durango police wrote on Facebook.
Officers scrambled to see if the Subaru had been spotted nearby and discovered it had “already passed through Durango and seemed to be heading toward Pagosa Springs,” the police department said.
Durango officers quickly notified Pagosa Springs police and nearby sheriffs’ offices. A Pagosa Springs officer found the Subaru abandoned downtown, Durango police said.
Several agencies jumped in to help with the manhunt. By early Thursday morning, authorities tracked down and arrested Miller in Pagosa Springs. He was armed with a handgun and a large knife when he was captured, authorities said.
“This incident shows how modern law enforcement technology; when paired with strong regional partnerships, helps prevent violent offenders from traveling unnoticed through our communities,” the Durango Police Department wrote.
The motive was money, prosecutor says
When authorities interviewed Miller about the killings, he “confessed that it ‘had to be done’ but he did not like to do it,” the prosecutor wrote.
“Miller said he did it because he needed money,” the indictment says. “Miller said that he took (the hikers’) credit cards and used the older woman’s card to buy gas. Miller said his intent was to get back to Iowa.”
The suspect lived in Blakesburg, Iowa, and set out on a cross-country road trip a few weeks ago, his brother told the The New York Times on the condition of anonymity.
The siblings stayed in contact during the trip, and Miller mentioned crashing his truck after hitting an elk, according to the Times.
His brother was worried about Miller driving after the accident and offered to bring him back to Iowa, which he declined, the Times reported.
After his arrest, Miller told investigators he stayed at an area hotel for a few days after his truck hit an elk. He then sold his vehicle to a tow truck company, the indictment says.
Miller ended up in Lyman and spent a night in a shed behind the home of Oldroyd – the first victim killed. He waited for the elderly woman to drive away before sneaking into her home, the indictment says.
When Oldroyd returned and sat down to watch TV, the suspect emerged from behind a door and shot her, the prosecutor wrote. Miller told investigators he took the elderly woman’s car, the indictment says.
An investigator also asked Miller about the knife used to stab one of the hikers. “When asked what he had done with the knife he had used, Miller produced the knife during the interview,” the indictment says.
Miller was being held on a weapons charge in Colorado and has a court hearing scheduled for Friday afternoon. At some point afterward, officials told CNN, he will likely be extradited to Utah to face three counts of aggravated murder.
CNN’s Andi Babineau, Amanda Musa, Justin Lear and Cheri Mossburg contributed to this report.
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