Utah Shooting: Easthampton Woman One of 3 Killed In Triple Homicide

An Easthampton woman was one of the three victims killed last week while hiking in Utah. Residents in Wayne County have begun the grieving and healing process with wellness events and memorials after the brutal triple homicide struck the tight-knit community. Family members and friends honored the three women killed by laying handmade arts and poems. They also tied ribbons to trees and stacked small rock cairns.

Natalie Graves Killed in Utah Triple Homicide

Graves and her aunt, Linda Dewey, 65, were shot and stabbed near the Cockscomb Trailhead in Torrey, Utah, on March 4. Their bodies were found by their husbands after the two women failed to return from a hike. A third victim, Margaret Oldroyd, 86, was killed separately in her home in Lyman, Utah. Authorities from Utah’s Department of Safety state there is no evidence linking the trailhead victims to Margaret Oldroyd beyond being killed by the same suspect.

Authorities say all three women were murdered by the same man — Ivan Miller, 22, of Blakesburg, Iowa, within hours of each other. Natalie Graves had spent her adult life building something beautiful—a dancer since age 5, a board member, a cancer researcher, and a wife. Last week, she was murdered on a hiking trail in rural Utah. She was 34 years old.

Graves and her aunt, Linda Dewey, 65, were shot and stabbed near the Cockscomb Trailhead in Torrey, Utah, on March 4. Their bodies were found by their husbands after the two women failed to return from a hike. A third victim, Margaret Oldroyd, 86, was killed separately in her home in Lyman, Utah. Authorities say all three women were murdered by the same man — Ivan Miller, 22, of Blakesburg, Iowa — within hours of each other.

Who Was Natalie Graves?

Born in Salt Lake City, Natalie Graves discovered dance before she could read a clock. She began at age 5 and never really stopped. She went on to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts in modern dance from the University of Utah — the same school where she met her husband, Taylor Graves. By her family’s account, the two were inseparable for 16 years.

That connection between Taylor and Natalie was unmistakable to anyone around them. A GoFundMe post set up by Joseph Kolchinsky — CEO of Boston tech company OneVision, where Taylor Graves works — described, in a statement obtained by Gazette Net, what they had as “a rare and profound bond.” Kolchinsky donated $5,000 to the fund himself. Within five days, it had raised more than $38,000.

Natalie was not just a dancer. She also held a Master of Business Administration and a Master of Healthcare Administration, both from the University of Utah. She worked at Clario, a clinical trial data management company in Boston, and previously served on the cancer clinical trials team at the Huntsman Cancer Institute. According to her obituary, “She was proud of her work helping people facing difficult times.”

After Salt Lake City, she and Taylor relocated to Easthampton, Massachusetts, where she became a board member of the Northampton Community Arts Trust and embedded herself in the Valley’s arts community. She was, by all accounts, someone who gave generously — to art, to science, to the people around her.

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The Killings: What Investigators Say Happened

The sequence of events that ended Natalie Graves’ life began days earlier, somewhere near Capitol Reef National Park, when Miller hit an elk with the vehicle he was driving. Without a car, he sold the damaged one and was left stranded in rural southern Utah with no money and no way home.

What followed, according to charging documents, was a series of calculated, cold-blooded decisions. Miller first went to the home of Margaret Oldroyd in Lyman, Utah. He shot her from behind while she was watching television, then took her Buick. He then drove roughly 10 miles to a trailhead near Torrey — near the Kidman area of Wayne County — where Natalie Graves and Linda Dewey had just parked their Subaru and were preparing to hike.

Miller allegedly shot and stabbed both women, attempted to conceal their bodies in a dry creek bed, and drove off in their Subaru. He later told investigators he didn’t like the Buick and wanted a different vehicle. Taylor Graves and Dewey’s husband found their wives’ bodies at the trailhead and called 911. They also flagged down a park ranger.

The trail is used primarily by locals. Investigators tracked Miller using license plate readers and vehicle tracking systems. They followed his path from Utah through northern Arizona and into Pagosa Springs, Colorado. Pagosa Springs is a small mountain town in the southwestern part of the state, where he abandoned the stolen Subaru.

He was arrested there and found carrying a large knife and a .45-caliber pistol. His first court appearance in Colorado was scheduled for March 6. Miller later told investigators that he killed the three women to steal their cars and credit cards in order to get money and get back to Iowa. The killer has been charged with aggravated murder. He had no prior connection to the victims.