Bundy linked to 1974 Utah murder

The confirmed victim count for serial killer Ted Bundy rose to at least 31 on Tuesday when authorities linked him to the 1974 murder of a 17-year-old Utah teenager.

Summit County Attorney Margaret Olson announced the finding at a news conference. She said investigators are satisfied Bundy killed Melissa Ann Smith. Smith’s body was found by a hunter in the woods in 1974. That discovery happened exactly 52 years before Tuesday’s announcement.

The case was previously a cold case. It closed because of DNA evidence. Investigators compared DNA found on Smith with DNA on file for Laura Aime. Aime was another Bundy victim. Her case resolved in Utah County last April. Bundy’s DNA was stored in Florida, the state where he was convicted and executed in 1989.

Utah’s state crime lab installed new technology in 2023. The technology extracts DNA from small, degraded, or mixed samples. Olson said the death also matched Bundy’s pattern, motive, means, and opportunity.

Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera said the closure demonstrates the importance of preserving evidence. Her department has investigated other Bundy-linked homicides. “We have to solve these cases to the best of our ability,” Rivera said. She noted that Utah takes the investigation seriously and does not blame everything on Bundy without science.

Smith’s relatives were contacted about the findings. They declined to attend the news conference or speak to reporters, according to the Summit County sheriff’s office. Utah County Sgt. Mike Reynolds said every case closure helps stomp the memory of Ted Bundy.

Bundy was executed by electric chair in Florida for the 1978 murders of two women at the Chi Omega sorority house at Florida State University. He confessed to other crimes in his final days, though not all were confirmed. Authorities said he had victims in Colorado, Idaho, and Washington state as well. They are working to solve the 1974 death of 16-year-old Nancy Wilcox in Utah. Det. Ben Pender of the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office said solving the Smith homicide does not close the book on Bundy.