The Iowa man charged with killing three women in southern Utah will fight extradition to Utah after his arrest early Thursday in Colorado, his defense attorney said Friday.

“We will not be waiving extradition here,” Scott Van Zandt, a Durango public defender, said in a Friday afternoon court hearing. “And we will be fighting this every step of the way.”

Ivan Miller, 22, did not speak during the hearing — which was held in a Pagosa Springs, Colorado, courtroom — beyond saying and spelling his name. He wore a yellow jumpsuit and was shackled.

Van Zandt stressed during the hearing that Miller was “innocent until proven guilty,” and said his client was invoking his constitutional rights to a fair trial and to not be forced to testify against himself.

Miller “does not wish to speak to law enforcement, or the press,” Van Zandt said Friday.

But Miller had allegedly been talking to the police prior to Friday’s hearing, according to charging documents in Utah. Prosecutors here say that he had confessed to law enforcement that he killed three women in southern Utah in order to use their cars and credit cards.

“Miller confessed that it ‘had to be done,’” the charging records say, “but he did not like to do it.”

Archuleta County Judge Anthony Edwards set a new court date for Miller in May. Because Miller is facing death penalty-eligible charges in Utah, Edwards said, he can’t bail out of jail.

Miller was arrested in Pagosa Springs early Thursday after authorities tracked him using license plate reader data and an app that showed the location of the key fob of the car driven by one of the slain women.

He has been charged in Utah’s 6th District Court with three counts of aggravated murder, charges that potentially carry the death penalty.

Miller hit an elk in Loa with his truck earlier this week, charging documents say, and that left him stranded in southern Utah after he sold it to the company that towed it away.

Miller’s brother told The New York Times that the man had left Iowa about two and half weeks ago and taken the truck on a solo cross-country road trip.

Out of money after staying in a hotel, prosecutors allege, Miller headed to the tiny nearby town of Lyman, fatally shot Margaret Oldroyd, 86, in her home Wednesday and took her Buick Regal.

Then, because “he did not like the car and wanted to find a different vehicle,” charges against him allege, Miller drove about 15 miles to the Cocks Comb Trailhead and shot Linda Dewey, 65, and her niece Natalie Graves, 34, after they got out of a white Subaru Outback.

He allegedly told authorities he stabbed the older woman when she continued to move. He then took the Subaru and the women’s credit cards, charges allege, intending to drive home to Iowa.

Previous charges in Iowa

Miller had been scheduled to appear in court Friday in Iowa — where he is accused of breaking into a state park cabin.

On New Year’s Eve, two park rangers went to a cabin at Lake Wapello to clean it and get it ready for a guest to arrive later that day.

But they unexpectedly found the door unlocked, court documents say, and when they went inside, they saw signs that someone had been staying there: Food was on the counters, along with a few pre-rolled marijuana joints. There were blankets on the bed, a setup to play Xbox — and two loaded rifles and ammunition.

Then, charging records allege, Miller softly knocked on the door, put his hands in the air and told the rangers, “OK, you can arrest me now.”

The ranger later wrote in an affidavit that Miller told him he had worked the lock open on the cabin a few days before, and had been staying there “so he could get somewhere warm.” The state park is about 10 miles south of his last listed address in Blakesburg, Iowa.

Iowa prosecutors charged Miller with burglary, theft and drug and weapons charges.

‘I have no clue’

Miller’s brother, who spoke to The Times on condition that he not be identified by name, said in the interview that he and his brother had grown up Amish.

Court records listed Miller’s previous place of residence as Blakesburg, Iowa — but the mayor of that town said he didn’t recognize the photo of Miller shown on the news.

“I have no clue who this guy is,” Mayor Mike DeWild told The Salt Lake Tribune on Friday. “And we’re a small town — everybody knows everybody.”

The principal of the high school that serves that part of rural Iowa had no recollection of Miller ever being a student there. “It could have been something where they were a homeschooled student,” said Jordan Buell, principal of Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont Junior/Senior High.

“We’re just a small, rural farming community,” Buell said. “It’s what you would picture to be a little bit of small-town America.”

DeWild said Blakesburg, with a population around 260, boasts a farmer’s co-op, a convenience store and an elementary school. For bigger needs, folks go 20 miles east to Ottumwa.

“The fact that we’ve still got a dot on the map has been pretty impressive here in the last few years, to tell you the truth,” he said.

Another sign of Blakesburg’s small size: DeWild isn’t just the mayor, but also the fire chief. The news from Utah has affected people in Blakesburg, he said.

“You hear the name of your town in the news, and you hope it’s good news,” he said. “And when it’s not, it’s disappointing.”

DeWild added, “I feel very bad for the communities down there” in Utah.

The question of the death penalty

In Utah, defense attorneys Neal Hamilton and Katie Filler have asked a judge to officially appoint them as Miller’s representation in the Wayne County case.

Miller’s Colorado defense team have advised them that jail officials there won’t let the Utah attorneys visit Miller behind bars — unless a judge has taken the procedural step to appoint them as the man’s legal counsel, Hamilton noted in a Friday court filing.

The attorneys also asked 6th District Court Judge Mandy Larsen for an order allowing those visits, as well as permission for the defense team to collect blood, hair and urine samples.

“Given the nature of the allegations against Mr. Miller,” Hamilton wrote, “time is of the essence for the defense team to visit Mr. Miller to document his state of mind and preserve essential evidence” in the case.

He and Filler both hold contracts to represent indigent defendants in Utah, Hamilton wrote, noting that he has the special qualifications required to handle a death penalty defense.

Wayne County Attorney Michael Winn declined to speak Friday about whether he will pursue that penalty in Miller’s case.

In Utah, prosecutors don’t have to announce whether they will seek a death sentence until after a defendant has had a preliminary hearing and has entered a plea — a process which can take months.

In another recent high profile case, Utah County prosecutors were quick to announce that they wanted the death penalty for the man they charged in the killing of Charlie Kirk — announcing their decision to seek it the same day they filed charges against Tyler Robinson. But that case is an outlier, and prosecutors in Utah typically take more time before making that announcement.