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 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.

But the hikers’ white 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 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 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 before his court hearing Friday afternoon. At some point afterward, officials told CNN, he will likely be extradited to Utah to face three counts of aggravated murder.

At Friday’s hearing, a judge set a $20,000 cash bond after prosecutors stressed Miller poses an extreme risk of danger to the public and an extreme flight risk. Prosecutors also asked for conditions including no possession of alcohol and drugs, pretrial service monitoring, a mental health evaluation and GPS monitoring should he eventually be released.

“I don’t know that there is a condition that would be imposed that keeps our community safe,” a prosecutor in the case told the court.

The judge scheduled Miller’s next court dates for April 10 and May 14.

The suspect wasn’t allowed to travel the country

When Miller embarked on his cross-country journey, he had several pending charges against him in Iowa, court records show.

Miller was charged with one count of felony burglary and three “serious” misdemeanors — marijuana possession, fourth-degree theft and “person ineligible to carry dangerous weapons,” the Iowa records show.

The charges stem from an incident at a cabin in Lake Wapello State Park in late December. Miller illegally entered the cabin and stayed there for several days, a probable cause affidavit says.

When a park ranger and park manager went to prepare the cabin for a reservation on December 31, they discovered food, marijuana joints, a fully loaded AR-10 and a fully loaded bolt-action rifle with a bayonet, the ranger wrote in the affidavit.

Miller, who was not inside at the time, returned to the cabin and “immediately put his hands in the air,” the affidavit says. When the ranger asked Miller what he was doing, the suspect said he had picked the lock three days earlier “so he could get somewhere warm.”

Miller had a court date scheduled for March 6 in Iowa and was granted release until then — as long as he reported for pretrial supervision, a spokesperson for the Iowa Judicial Branch said.

But he failed to meet with an officer on January 22, according to court records. Miller also violated the terms of his release by leaving Iowa without approval from the court or his supervising officer.

On Friday, an Iowa judge formally revoked Miller’s terms of release.

A tight-knit community left in shock and grieving

Pink ribbons were placed on signs and poles around Wayne County, where the three victims lived, to honor the women as the tight-knit community has been left shocked and grief-stricken by the tragedy, according to CNN affiliate KSTU.

Linda Dewey and her niece, Natalie Graves, were bonding over a hike at Cockscomb Trailhead, which they cherished as “one of their favorite places on earth” and is considered to be a “safe sanctuary,” the Dewey family said in a statement to local news outlet The Wayne and Garfield County Insider.

Dewey was a wife, mother, grandmother and sister who had extended family members and friends “all over the world,” her family said. She was the “heart” of their family, whom she loved “deeply.”

Graves was a wife, daughter and sister who was “adored by her many friends and extended family members.” The family described her as “joy, sunshine and beauty embodied.”

Their family is asking community members to honor Dewey and Graves at the hiking trail, saying there will be photographs of the two women placed there to memorialize them.

Their family is dealing with “the shock of the devastating loss of two members of our family,” adding, “They were murdered. We cannot comprehend why this happened.”

Tonya Moosman worked with the older victim, Margaret Oldroyd, and Oldroyd’s niece Stella Edwards at Royals Market, the local grocery store in Loa, she told KSTU.

Oldroyd was a “strong” and “friendly” woman who would “do anything for you,” Moosman told the outlet. “If there was something to be done, she was right there. She did that all her life.”

Shoppers at the store spoke with each other at the checkout line about fond memories they had of Oldroyd, including one woman who said Oldroyd was her primary school teacher, according to KSTU.

Oldroyd was strong in her faith, Edwards told KSTU. “My Aunt Margaret was just so special,” Edwards said. “She was one in a million. We loved her.”

CNN’s Andi Babineau, Amanda Musa, Emma Tucker, Justin Lear and Cheri Mossburg contributed to this report.

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