Source : Perth Now news
DNA connects serial killer Ted Bundy to the death of another Utah teenager, authorities say, 52 years after her body was discovered in the woods by a hunter.
Bundy has been dead since 1989, but the tally of his confirmed victims continues to grow due to advances in DNA testing.
He killed at least 30 women and girls in multiple states in the 1970s, and many more escaped or survived with injuries.
Investigators are satisfied that Bundy was responsible for killing 17-year-old Melissa Ann Smith in 1974, a death that had long been listed as a cold case, Summit County Attorney Margaret Olson said at a news conference on Tuesday.
They were able to close the case by making crucial connections with DNA found on Smith and Laura Aime, another Bundy victim whose case was resolved in April 2025 in Utah County.
Bundy’s DNA was on file in Florida, where he was convicted and ultimately executed.
Besides that evidence, Smith’s death showed hallmarks of Bundy’s “pattern, motive, means and opportunity”, Olson said.
Utah’s state crime lab obtained new technology in 2023 that extracts DNA from samples even if they are small, degraded from age or contain DNA from multiple people.
“This case demonstrates the importance of preserving evidence,” said Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera, whose department has also investigated homicides linked to Bundy.
Smith’s relatives were contacted about the findings but declined to attend the news conference and declined to speak to reporters, the Summit County Sheriff’s Office said. Her parents are dead.
Smith’s father was police chief in Midvale, south of Salt Lake City.
She was at a pizza parlour and a restaurant before she disappeared on October 18, 1974, The Salt Lake Tribune reported at the time.
Nine days later, her body was found in Summit County.
“With every case closure, may we stomp the memory of Ted Bundy out,” Utah County Sergeant Mike Reynolds said.
Bundy was executed by electric chair in Florida in 1989 after being convicted of three murders, including the killing of two women at the Chi Omega sorority house at Florida State University.
He gave a series of confessions in his final days, including to some crimes that were previously unknown to police.
Not all of those cases have been confirmed.
Besides Florida and Utah, authorities said Bundy had victims in Colorado, Idaho and Washington state.
