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Utah authorities have identified notorious serial killer Ted Bundy as the killer of 17-year-old Melissa Ann Smith, closing a homicide investigation 52 years to the day after her body was discovered.
Smith’s body was found by hunters on Oct. 27, 1974, in a wooded area near the border of Summit and Salt Lake counties. Despite years of speculation, authorities never officially named a suspect and the case remained open for more than five decades.
The breakthrough came after DNA evidence in the killing of another 17-year-old Utah girl, Laura Ann Aime, produced a hit to Bundy in the Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS.
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Investigators then compared DNA evidence from the Aime case with evidence preserved from Smith’s killing and determined the profiles matched.
Ted Bundy sits in a courtroom in Miami, Fla., July 13, 1979. (Bettmann Archive via Getty Images)
“This DNA evidence, when considered alongside evidence related to pattern, motive, means and opportunity, establishes that Ted Bundy was responsible for Melissa Ann Smith’s murder,” Summit County Attorney Margaret Olson said Tuesday.
The Smith investigation was revived after developments in Aime’s case prompted Utah County investigators to contact Summit County in May 2025 about similarities between the two killings.
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Aime vanished after leaving a Halloween party to buy cigarettes on Oct. 31, 1974. Her body was discovered by hikers near American Fork Canyon days later.
Investigators determined Aime had been raped, strangled and murdered.
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For decades, Bundy was considered the prime suspect in Aime’s death. He began studying law at the University of Utah just two months before she disappeared.
Evidence from Smith’s 1974 investigation had been preserved for more than five decades, allowing investigators to revisit the case as forensic technology advanced.
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Theodore “Ted” Bundy is pictured after the murders of FSU coeds Margaret Bowman and Lisa Levy, who were beaten and strangled at the Chi Omega House Jan. 15, 1978. (Getty Images)
Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office Detective Ben Pender said homicide evidence is kept indefinitely for exactly that reason, allowing investigators to return to old cases when new information or technology becomes available.
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Authorities said Smith’s family has been notified that the case was solved. A relative contacted by investigators was “very, very gratified” by the resolution but declined to attend Tuesday’s news conference or speak publicly.
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Serial killer Ted Bundy’s digitally enhanced mugshot from Salt Lake County in 1975 (Alamy)
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Bundy killed at least 30 women and girls across multiple states during the 1970s.
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Ted Bundy in custody Feb. 18, 1978 (IMAGN)
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In his final days, Bundy confessed to a series of killings, including crimes that had previously been unknown to police, though not all the cases have been confirmed.
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He has been linked to killings in Florida, Utah, Colorado, Oregon and Washington between 1974 and 1978.
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Serial killer Ted Bundy’s digitally enhanced photo from his high school yearbook in 1965. (Alamy)
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Bundy was convicted and sentenced to death for murdering two Florida State University students in 1979 and received another death sentence the following year for the rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl.
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He was executed in Florida’s electric chair in 1989.
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Despite closing Smith’s case, investigators said their work to identify Bundy’s other possible victims is not over.
“It does not close the book on Ted Bundy,” Pender said, pointing to the unresolved case of Nancy Wilcox. He said investigators have information suggesting Bundy may be connected to Wilcox’s case but have not reached a definitive conclusion and will continue investigating.
Fox News Digital’s Julia Bonavita and The Associated Press contributed to this report.