Utah authorities say DNA evidence links serial killer Ted Bundy to the 1974 murder of 17-year-old Melissa Anne Smith, closing her homicide case and adding to the victims linked to him.
According to ABC News US, Summit County Sheriff Kacey Bates said on Tuesday that law enforcement had identified Smith as one of Bundy’s victims. Guardian World reports that state authorities announced at a Tuesday news conference that Bundy was responsible for her murder through DNA evidence. Smith went missing in 1974, and her nude body was found days later, according to Guardian World.
Guardian World also reports that a Y-STR DNA profile recovered from the body of 17-year-old Laura Ann Aime was a genetic match to one found on Smith’s body. ABC News US reports that Utah county detectives confirmed in April that Bundy had killed Aime. She went missing on Halloween night in 1974, and her body was found a month later on the side of a highway.
Bundy is reported to have killed at least 30 women and girls between 1974 and 1978 across the American West and Florida, according to Guardian World. He was executed by electric chair in Florida on Jan. 24, 1989. In his final days he gave a series of confessions, some to previously unknown crimes that have not all been confirmed. ABC News US reports that his victims were initially linked to Washington state in 1974, and that he later killed in Utah, Colorado and Idaho.
Bundy was never charged with Aime’s murder while alive because there was not enough evidence, according to the sources. Preserved evidence and advances in DNA forensics later allowed investigators to build a profile that matched him.
The sources differ on the officials involved. ABC News US cites Summit County Sheriff Kacey Bates, while Guardian World quotes Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera. The lead agency is not clearly stated. Only Guardian World reports the timing and condition of Smith’s body, and NBC News was available only as a headline and short excerpt, so its details could not be checked. The sources do not give the date of Smith’s death or the date her body was found, and they include no response from Bundy-related parties or family. The sources also do not report any further steps in the Smith case or any additional investigations.
Sources
This article was written with AI assistance from the published reporting listed above. It is part of the World Brief daily news podcast.