In rural southeastern Utah, residents say the random killings of three women in early March left a “dark spot” on the tight-knit community they call home.

Ivan Miller, 22, of Blakesburg, Iowa, is charged in Utah’s 6th District Court with three counts of aggravated murder in connection with the deaths, each carrying a possibility of the death penalty if he is convicted.

Prosecutors allege Miller killed Margaret Oldroyd, 86, inside her Lyman home on March 4. Later that day, they say, he also killed Linda Dewey, 65, and her 34-year-old niece, Natalie Graves, as they set out on a hike just west of Capitol Reef National Park.

The suspect did not know the women when he targeted all three for their vehicles, prosecutors argue.

Here’s what we know about the events leading up to killings.

Roadtrip ends in a wreck

In February, Miller left his Iowa home for a seemingly unplanned roadtrip across the West, a cousin told The Salt Lake Tribune.

Miller’s family had grown concerned in the years and months leading up to the trip, the cousin said, believing the 22-year-old was struggling with a mental health disorder as he expressed “delusional thoughts” and began acting “differently.”

[Read more: What we know about Ivan Miller, the Iowa man accused of killing 3 women in southern Utah]

On Saturday, Feb. 28, Miller was driving along a remote stretch of State Route 24 in Utah’s Piute County when his pickup struck an elk.

After impact, he crashed into a guardrail near mile marker 40.

Later that night, Gary Brian, owner of Brian Auto Parts in Loa, said he received a call from dispatch asking him to tow the wrecked truck.

Brian learned Miller didn’t have collision insurance, so he towed the pickup back to his shop.

As they talked, Miller told Brian he planned to return home to Iowa, and Brian agreed to help handle the vehicle, he said.

In Loa, Miller transferred its title to Brian so it could eventually be taken to a salvage yard, though the vehicle was never formally sold.

Around midnight, Brian said, he drove Miller to the Snuggle Inn in Loa.

Nothing about the interaction raised concern, Brian said.

There were “no red flags,” Brian said, adding that “he was kind. He was polite.”

Staying in Loa

Miller stayed at the Snuggle Inn — one of two inns in the small town of about 600 people — until Monday, March 2, according to a statement the business later posted on Facebook.

Miller “appeared to walk away from our premises during the early morning hours,” the inn said, and “apparently, within days, allegedly committed heinous crimes in our community.”

That same day, Miller called Brian to say he had found a ride back to Iowa. But he planned to return to Brian’s shop later in the week to grab belongings from his truck.

“That’s why it was a shock,” Brian said in an interview on March 6, at his shop in Loa. “It was as normal as any tow, as any person.”

In its statement, the Snuggle Inn said it was “shocked and deeply saddened” by the killings.

The hotel offered condolences to the families of the three women, noting that one was a “good family friend.”

One woman killed, then two more

After leaving the Snuggle Inn, Miller went to nearby Lyman, a Wayne County town along state Route 24 just a few miles from Loa. Prosecutors haven’t said whether he walked or how he got there.

Oldroyd’s home is the first house seen when entering Lyman from the west.

According to charging documents, Miller went onto her property and hid in a shed, where he spent the night.

At some point, investigators say, he watched Oldroyd leave and later entered her home.

On March 4, prosecutors allege, Miller waited behind a door until Oldroyd sat down to watch television, then shot her in the head.

After, prosecutors say, Miller tried to clean up the scene. Deputies later found blood and drag marks leading out of the home.

Oldroyd’s body was discovered in a cellar beneath a shed on the property. Investigators suspect she had been moved using a wheelbarrow.

Miller then took her vehicle — a Buick Regal — and left the area, charging documents state.

However, that same day, prosecutors said Miller decided he wanted a different car.

He parked the Buick near the Cocks Comb trailhead, just south of Torrey, charging records allege, and saw Dewey and Graves get out of a 2022 white Subaru Outback.

The women had driven to the trailhead, outside the tiny town of Teasdale, to go hiking.

Around 4:30 p.m., their husbands arrived and discovered both women had been shot. Dewey had also been stabbed multiple times in the chest.

One of the men called 911.

The Subaru Outback was missing, along with Dewey and Graves’ credit cards. Miller used Dewey’s card to buy gas, prosecutors said.

Investigators later found Oldroyd’s Buick Regal hidden under a tree near the trailhead.

Tracking the Subaru

Deputies began tracking license plate reader data and identified the Subaru traveling eastbound that evening near Bicknell, another small Utah town along State Route 24.

One of the husbands, an owner of the Subaru, also helped investigators track it, using an app on his phone that showed the location of the car’s key fob, prosecutors said.

The app placed the Subaru near Main Street and Hallmarc Drive in Farmington, New Mexico, around 9:13 p.m. on March 4.

Authorities later learned the SUV had also been seen near Durango, Colorado, and then was spotted at a Phillips 66 gas station in Pagosa Springs.

On March 5, it was found abandoned in Pagosa Springs, and officers there later arrested Miller nearby, according to court documents.

He was booked into the Archuleta County jail in Colorado.

Charged with murder

The same day authorities arrested Miller in Colorado, prosecutors in Utah charged him with three counts of murder.

Miller told investigators that he killed the women because he “needed money,” the charging documents state. He also “confessed that it ‘had to be done,’” the documents state, “but he did not like to do it.”

On March 6, the day after his arrest, Miller appeared in a Colorado courtroom, where a public defender said Miller would fight extradition to Utah.

Wayne County Attorney Michael Winn said he intends to seek the death penalty. The Utah attorney general’s office has offered to assist with the prosecution.

An Archuleta County judge ruled that Miller is not eligible for bail because the charges he faces are eligible for the death penalty. The next significant Colorado court hearing in the case is scheduled for May 28.

A Utah court date has not been set as authorities await extradition.

‘Tragic and senseless’

In the days after the killings, relatives, friends and community members gathered at the trailhead where Dewey and Graves died.

They left flowers, photos, letters and string lights at a growing memorial to honor the aunt, niece and Oldroyd.

Friends of Oldroyd spoke of her steady kindness.

She long worked at Royal’s Market, the grocery store in Loa, and was often seen at Sunday services at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ meetinghouse in Lyman.

Relatives and friends of Dewey, who lived in Torrey, said she was the “heart” of her family and called her loss “devastating.”

Graves, who grew up in Utah and later moved to Massachusetts with her husband, Taylor, was a familiar presence among Real Salt Lake supporters.

During the March 14 match, some fans paused for a moment of silence in her honor — a quiet tribute in a stadium where she had long cheered from Section 9 with the Rogue Cavaliers Brigade, according to Royal Riot, a podcast that covers the team.

After the game, veteran Real Salt Lake player Justen Glad presented a jersey with Natalie’s name, and the number 1, to her husband.

On the day of the match, Royal Riot in a social media post called Graves’ killing “tragic and senseless.”

“Her loss is felt throughout the Riot and all of the stadium,” the post read.