Arizona license plate readers help track Utah triple murder suspect

PHOENIX — A Utah triple murder suspect was caught on license plate readers going through a small Arizona town before being arrested in Colorado.

Ivan Miller, 22, is accused 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, according to the Associated Press.

Page police said at the request of Utah law enforcement, they entered the vehicle’s license plate number into the license plate reader database and immediately discovered Miller was driving east through Arizona. 

Authorities used 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, Lt. Cameron Roden of the Utah Highway Patrol told the Associated Press. The suspect was found after a short search, he said.

“It should be noted that yesterday, 6,675 vehicles traveled past those two LPR’s, but the only vehicle that was flagged was the one the suspect was driving,” Page police said. “This demonstrates that LPR’s are only notifying law enforcement about specific vehicles we are searching for and have been entered into the database for specific reasons.”

There is no indication that Miller had any connection to the victims, Roden said. 

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