TORREY, Utah — A man who authorities accuse of killing a southern Utah woman, stealing her vehicle and driving it to a nearby trailhead and killing two women who were hiking together before fleeing in one of their vehicles has been arrested, officials announced Thursday.
The series of events happened late Wednesday afternoon. Authorities were alerted to the killings by the husbands of the hikers who went to the trail near Capitol Reef National Park looking for them, said Lt. Cameron Roden of the Utah Highway Patrol. The husbands told authorities one vehicle was missing from the trailhead and they didn't know who owned the other.
Roden said authorities discovered the first woman who was killed after identifying the owner of the vehicle. There is no indication the suspect had any connection to the victims, he said.
Investigators were still looking into when the suspect arrived in Utah and what he was doing prior to the killings, Roden said.
Authorities used license plate readers and vehicle tracking services to follow his path, from Utah through northern Arizona and into the mountain town of Pagosa Springs in southwestern Colorado where he abandoned the stolen vehicle, Roden said. The suspect was found after a short search, he said.
Officials have not identified the hikers who were friends but said they were in their 30s and 60s, and the other woman in her 80s. The hikers had no connection to the other woman who lived in a home in Wayne County about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the trail, officials said.
Investigators haven’t found a motive for the killings yet and don’t believe the suspect targeted the women for any other reason other than just “convenience”, Roden said.
Before the suspect was taken into custody, residents in Wayne County were asked to remain vigilant and schools nearby were closed Thursday. Officials asked for help finding a white Subaru Outback but warned people not to approach it.
The State Bureau of Investigation and Crime Lab were supporting the homicide investigation and multiple scenes were being processed in Torrey, Utah, and the surrounding area, Roden said.
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Slevin reported from Denver and Brumfield from Cockeysville, Maryland.