Investigators say three women were killed in Wayne County before a late-night search ended with an arrest in Colorado.

TORREY, Utah — A man accused of killing three women in rural southern Utah was arrested in Colorado after investigators tracked a stolen Subaru across state lines, capping a fast-moving manhunt that began with two bodies near a trailhead and ended at a second crime scene in a nearby town.

Why the case mattered immediately was not only the number of deaths, but the speed and geography of it. Investigators said the killings unfolded in one county, at two separate locations, before the suspect drove out of Utah. By Thursday, authorities had publicly identified Ivan Miller, 22, of Iowa as the suspect, said the women appeared to have been chosen at random and said formal homicide charges were being prepared as local and state investigators processed both scenes.

The arrest came after officers traced a white 2022 Subaru Outback that authorities say was taken from one of the women found near the Cockscomb trail area off state Route 12. Utah officials said the case first broke open about 4:25 p.m. Wednesday, when the husbands of two women who had gone hiking found them dead near the trailhead and called for help. Lt. Cameron Roden of the Utah Highway Patrol later said investigators found another vehicle at that scene, identified its owner in Lyman and went to her home, where they found 86-year-old Margaret Oldroyd dead. By then, the search had widened beyond Wayne County as authorities worked to locate the missing Subaru.

Investigators said license plate readers and the Subaru’s tracking systems helped them follow the vehicle through southern Utah and into Colorado overnight. Around 11:10 p.m., law enforcement in Pagosa Springs was alerted that the Subaru was in the area. Local police later found it abandoned in Centennial Park downtown. Officers then searched for the driver and found Miller a few hours later. Pagosa Springs police said he was carrying a concealed handgun and a large knife when he was taken into custody. Roden said during a public briefing that there was nothing at that stage to suggest the women had been singled out for personal reasons, adding that investigators believed they were killed “for convenience.”

As the manhunt ended, the victims’ identities and the county’s scale gave the case added weight. Wayne County is a sparsely populated part of south-central Utah where small towns sit along highways used by tourists headed to Capitol Reef National Park. Officials said Oldroyd lived in Lyman, while the other two victims were found near a hiking area between Torrey and Teasdale. By Thursday evening, state and local officials identified the two hikers as Linda Dewey, 65, and Natalie Graves, 34, relatives who had no known connection to Oldroyd. Torrey Mayor Mickey Wright called the killings a heartbreaking moment for a close-knit community already shaken by the sight of police tape, road warnings and school disruptions.

The legal case moved quickly even as investigators said important questions remained open. Prosecutors filed three counts of aggravated murder in Utah on Thursday. Court documents described the women as having been shot with .45 caliber rounds, and the filings said one victim was also stabbed multiple times. Investigators said they were still working to complete the timeline, clarify Miller’s movements before March 4 and determine how long he had been in the area after his own vehicle was disabled days earlier. Utah officials also said an arrest warrant had been issued and that extradition steps would follow while evidence technicians and agents continued to process the home in Lyman and the trail scene near Torrey.

The human details emerged in pieces as public officials and neighbors tried to absorb what happened. Roden said the women appeared to have been ordinary residents from the area whose paths crossed with a stranger at the worst possible time. Outside official briefings, the visual language of the case was stark: a recovered Subaru, a small-town park in Colorado, a farmhouse property in Lyman and a trail corridor better known for red rock views than homicide investigators. Even the route of the chase underscored the scale of the response, with Utah, Colorado and federal authorities all pulled into a case that moved from a rural trailhead to a downtown arrest before sunrise.

As of April 1, Miller had been publicly named in Utah murder charges, and the next major milestone remained continued court proceedings tied to extradition and the prosecution timeline in Wayne County.

Author note: Last updated April 1, 2026.