The women were found Wednesday at two locations near Capitol Reef National Park in south-central Utah.
Utah Deaths

Authorities investigate the deaths of two women on a trail just west of Capitol Reef National Park near Teasdale, Utah, on Thursday.George Frey / AP

An Iowa man charged in the slayings of three women in Utah is alleged to have confessed to the killings, telling authorities “‘it had to be done’ but he did not like to do it,” court documents filed Thursday show.

Charging documents filed in Sixth District Court in Utah allege that Ivan Miller, 22, told law enforcement officers that he shot the women with a .45-caliber handgun and stabbed one of them multiple times.

“Miller said he did it because he needed money,” the documents allege.

He was charged with three counts of aggravated murder, according to the documents. It was not clear whether he has a lawyer to speak on his behalf.

The women, who have not been identified, were found Wednesday at two locations near Capitol Reef National Park in south-central Utah.

They do not appear to have had previous connections to Miller, a spokesperson for the Utah Highway Patrol said.

A forensic scientist enters a home.
A forensic scientist enters a home where a woman was found dead in Lyman, Utah. George Frey / AP

One of the women, described as elderly, was found in a cellar under a shed on her property in Lyman, according to the documents.

Miller is alleged to have told authorities that he’d stayed the night in the shed and entered the woman’s home when she left. He waited for her behind a door, the documents allege, then shot her in the back of the head as she sat down to watch television.

Miller said he dragged the woman to the basement and took her car, a Buick LeSabre, the documents allege, “but he did not like the car and wanted to find a different vehicle.”

He told authorities that he parked near a trail and saw two women — one younger, the other older — get out of a white Subaru, according to the court documents.

Miller said he approached the women and shot them, the documents allege. When the older woman continued moving, Miller said, he stabbed her in the heart multiple times with a knife, according to the documents.

He then dragged the women to a ditch and laid them next to each other, the documents say.

Miller said he took the women’s credit cards and used one to buy gas., the documents say

The husbands of the women who were shot on the trail discovered their bodies and called authorities, a spokesperson for the Utah Highway Patrol said. A Bureau of Land Management ranger who was sent to the scene discovered the elderly woman’s Buick there.

A woman hangs a pink ribbon on a pole.
A woman hangs a pink ribbon on a pole in Lyman, Utah, on Thursday in honor of a woman who was killed Wednesday.George Frey / AP

The spokesperson said investigators believe that after Miller abandoned that car, he took a vehicle that belonged to one of the other victims — described in the documents as a Subaru Outback — and fled.

The husband of one of the victims was able to track the location of the Subaru’s key fob, according to the documents. Authorities tracked the vehicle to Pegosa Springs, Colorado, where Miller was arrested at 2:45 a.m. Thursday.