DNA technology links Ted Bundy to Utah teen found dead in 1974

Evidence from another victim’s case helped investigators solve Smith’s killing

Utah authorities have used advanced DNA technology to link Ted Bundy to the murder of Melissa Ann Smith, a 17-year-old who was the daughter of a local police chief. Hunters discovered Smith’s body 52 years ago, on 27 October 1974. She was found with signs of rape and torture.

The identification came after Utah officials identified teenager Laura Ann Aime as another of Bundy’s victims in April. Evidence gathered from Aime’s case was subsequently used to help solve Smith’s killing.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Utah County Sgt. Mike Reynolds said more Bundy cases were still being examined in the state. “With every case closure may we stomp the memory of Ted Bundy out,” he said.

Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera said the Smith case should be a sign to other cold-case victims “that there is hope out there.” She also said, “Every single day forensics is changing and we have the ability to take a look at these cases again and again.”

Rivera praised detectives for preserving evidence from Smith’s case for so long, saying it “demonstrates the need to preserve evidence even when decades pass.” In April, the director of the Utah Bureau of Forensic Services told the Salt Lake Tribune that Utah had 444 unsolved death investigations, including 258 homicides.

Bundy confessed before his execution in 1989 to killing two other teenage girls in Utah, and he has been linked to at least 30 murders across the United States. His spree began with attacks throughout the U.S. Pacific Northwest.

Bundy was known to often approach women in public places, gain their trust through charm or a fake injury, and lure them to secluded areas to kill them.

Bundy was first arrested in 1975 for kidnapping a woman and sentenced to 15 years in jail. In 1977, he escaped by jumping out of a prison library window. He was recaptured for eight days and then escaped again, continuing to kill until he was finally caught in 1978. Reynolds said investigators were still examining other Bundy cases in Utah.