Utah authorities are connecting serial killer Ted Bundy to another 1970s homicide
DNA evidence and a prior Bundy-linked case helped investigators close the 1974 homicide after more than 50 years, officials said.
- On Tuesday, October 27, 2026, Summit County Sheriff Kacey Bates announced that forensic evidence definitively linked serial killer Ted Bundy to the 1974 murder of 17-year-old Melissa Ann Smith, officially closing the decades-old cold case investigation.
- Investigators achieved this breakthrough by comparing Y-STR DNA profiles from Smith's remains with evidence from the 1974 murder of Laura Ann Aime, another Bundy victim whose case Utah County authorities resolved last April.
- Summit County Attorney Margaret Olson stated the evidence established Bundy's "pattern, motive, means and opportunity," with forensic advances and evidence preservation proving critical after 52 years.
- Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera emphasized preserving evidence for cold cases, while Detective Ben Pender noted solving Smith's homicide "does not close the book on Ted Bundy" as investigations continue.
- Authorities are currently working to determine if Bundy is responsible for other unsolved 1970s cases in Utah, including the 1974 disappearance of 16-year-old Nancy Wilcox under active investigation.
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243 Articles
On October 27, 1974, hunters discovered the body of 17-year-old Melissa Ann Smith in a forest in Salt Lake County. A month later, the teenage girl of the same age, Laura Aime, was found on the roadside of a highway in Utah County.
In the fall of 1974, two girls were murdered in the U.S. state of Utah. For decades, the investigators puzzled, then a DNA hit proves: It was one of the most notorious serial killers in history.
17-year-old Melissa Ann Smith was found murdered. 52 years later, the murder mystery has been solved. Serial killer Ted Bundy is identified as the perpetrator, writes CNN.
Utah authorities have announced that they have identified Ted Bundy as responsible for the murder of Melissa Ann Smith, a 17-year-old girl found dead in 1974. The conclusion results from further DNA analysis and reinforces the serial killer's link to crimes that have remained decades unsolved
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