A man accused of killing three women in Utah on Wednesday allegedly confessed to the murders, telling local authorities it "had to be done."
The man, Ivan Miller, 22, was arrested and charged Thursday with three counts of aggravated murder, according to charging documents filed in the Sixth District Court in Utah. Miller was captured earlier in the day by Colorado law enforcement in Pagosa Springs, Colorado.
On Thursday night, the department said the victims were Margaret Oldroyd, 86, Linda Dewey, 65 and Natalie Graves, who was 34, and that Dewey was Graves' aunt, but there was no evidence that they knew Oldroyd.
Ivan Miller
Archuleta County Sheriff's Office
Miller told law enforcement that he shot the women with a .45-caliber pistol and stabbed one of them multiple times, according to charging documents obtained by CBS News. When asked what he had done with the knife he had used, Miller "produced the knife during the interview with law enforcement," police said.
He told law enforcement, "he did not like" killing the women, but did it because he needed money.
Miller said that he stayed the night before the murders in a shed after traveling to Lyman, Utah. Miller told law enforcement that he then entered a woman's home, waited for her behind a door, and shot her in the back of the head.
He then took the woman's Buick car, "but he did not like the car and wanted to find a different vehicle," police said. Miller then drove to the trailhead, where he saw two women get out of a white Subaru. Miller said that he went up to the women and shot one in what he thought was the chest and then shot the other one twice and then stabbed her multiple times in the "heart," according to charging documents.
Miller told law enforcement that he dragged both of the victims to a ditch and laid them next to one another. Then he took their credit cards and used one to buy gas.
Miller told law enforcement he was trying to return home to Iowa and stopped in Pagosa Springs to get gas.
Miller ditched the White Subaru at a gas station after spotting a police officer. He stayed nearby in hopes he would get his car back. Police said in charging documents that they found Miller "in the vicinity of the abandoned Subaru."
Dewey's and Graves' husbands were the ones who found their bodies on the trail and called the communications center, the DPS said.
"Our family is dealing with the shock of the devastating loss of two members of our family who were bonding over the beauty of a hike in one of their favorite places on earth--cherished by them and the community, considered to be a safe sanctuary. They were murdered. We cannot comprehend why this happened," the Dewey family said in a statement on social media.
Utah's Department of Public Safety said investigators used license plate cameras and other tools to track Miller through southern Utah, into Northern Arizona and eventually into Colorado in one of the victim's vehicles. Colorado law enforcement found it abandoned in Pagosa Springs. After a brief search, Colorado law enforcement took the Miller into custody without incident, the department said.
Miller remains in custody in Colorado, the Wayne County Sheriff's Office said. There was no ongoing threat or other suspects, the Department of Public Safety said.
The DPS says a manhunt began when the Wayne County Emergency Communications Center department received a call about two bodies found on a hiking trail on Wednesday. As investigators looked into their deaths, a third victim was found in a residence in the town of Torrey. The DPS said it was processing two crime scenes.
The DPS had asked for the public's assistance in locating a 2022 white Subaru Outback.
Authorities conduct an investigation at a home where a woman was found dead in Lyman, Utah, Thursday, March 5, 2026.
George Frey / AP
While the suspect was on the loose, law enforcement had urged residents in Torrey and the surrounding area to "take extra precautions, such as locking doors, remaining at home or with others, and being vigilant about surroundings," as well as reporting suspicious activity to 911.
Officials from the Wayne County School District said classes were canceled for the rest of the week "out of an abundance of caution and concern for student and public safety," CBS Salt Lake City affiliate KUTV reported. The district said counselors will be in place to support students when they return.
Torrey is near Capitol Reef National Park and the mountains of Fishlake and Dixie National Forests.
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