DNA Evidence Links Ted Bundy to Utah Teen’s 1974 Killing After 52 Years

Authorities in Utah have linked notorious serial killer Ted Bundy to the 1974 murder of 17-year-old Melissa Ann Smith after DNA testing helped solve a case that remained unresolved for 52 years.

Summit County officials announced the breakthrough on Tuesday, October 27, exactly 52 years after hunters discovered Smith’s body in a wooded area near Summit Park, close to Park City, Utah. Investigators said the findings allowed them to formally close the long-running homicide investigation.

Smith, the daughter of a police chief in Midvale, Utah, disappeared on October 18, 1974. She was last seen after visiting restaurants in the Salt Lake City area, and her body was found nine days later. Although investigators had previously considered possible links to Bundy, the evidence had not been sufficient to formally attribute the killing to him.

According to authorities, the latest breakthrough followed DNA testing in the separate 1974 murder of Laura Ann Aime, another 17-year-old Utah teenager whose death was linked to Bundy earlier this year. Investigators compared a DNA profile recovered from Aime’s case with biological evidence preserved from Smith’s autopsy and found a match.

Officials said the DNA findings, considered alongside evidence relating to the pattern of the crime and Bundy’s opportunity to commit it, supported their conclusion that he was responsible for Smith’s death.

The investigation also highlights advances in forensic science. Utah’s state crime laboratory introduced new technology in 2023 that allows investigators to develop more complete DNA profiles from small, degraded or mixed samples that were difficult to analyse using older methods. The technology has helped authorities revisit evidence collected decades ago.

Summit County Attorney Margaret Olson said investigators were satisfied that Bundy was responsible for Smith’s murder. Law enforcement officials also stressed the importance of preserving evidence, noting that developments in forensic science can provide answers to families long after a crime occurs.

Bundy was executed in Florida in January 1989 after being convicted of murders committed in the state. He confessed to killing numerous women before his execution, but investigators have continued to examine individual cases to establish which crimes can be conclusively attributed to him.

The latest finding does not end investigations into other suspected victims. Authorities are continuing to examine the 1974 disappearance of 16-year-old Nancy Wilcox, who is believed to have been among Bundy’s possible victims in Utah. Other unsolved cases have also been examined for potential links.

Bundy is known to have murdered women and girls in several US states during the 1970s. The latest DNA breakthrough adds another confirmed case to the record of his crimes and demonstrates how advances in forensic testing can help resolve cold cases many decades later.