Investigators say preserved forensic evidence helped resolve the killing of 17-year-old Melissa Ann Smith more than five decades later.
SALT LAKE CITY, UT — DNA evidence has linked serial killer Ted Bundy to the 1974 killing of 17-year-old Melissa Ann Smith, allowing Utah authorities to close a homicide investigation that remained unresolved for 52 years.
Officials announced the finding Tuesday, Oct. 27, exactly 52 years after Smith’s body was discovered in Summit County. Summit County Attorney Margaret Olson said investigators concluded Bundy was responsible after reviewing DNA evidence along with other information concerning the pattern, means and opportunity surrounding the crime. The finding adds Smith to the cases that authorities say can now be scientifically connected to Bundy decades after his death.
Smith disappeared Oct. 18, 1974, after spending time at a pizza parlor and a restaurant, according to contemporary reporting cited by investigators. Nine days later, a hunter discovered her body in a wooded area of Summit County. Authorities suspected Bundy over the years, but the available evidence had not been strong enough to formally resolve the case. Utah’s cold case records continued to list Smith’s death as an unsolved homicide.
The breakthrough followed the resolution of another 1974 Utah homicide involving 17-year-old Laura Ann Aime. Investigators announced in April that DNA evidence had confirmed Bundy’s involvement in Aime’s killing. Bundy had admitted killing Aime before his execution, but investigators had continued working the case because a confession alone did not establish the scientific evidence they wanted before closing it.
Evidence preserved in the Aime investigation helped investigators revisit Smith’s case. Authorities said a Y-STR DNA profile recovered from evidence associated with Aime matched a genetic profile found in evidence from Smith. Investigators were also able to compare the evidence with Bundy’s DNA profile, which was maintained in Florida, where he was convicted and later executed. The combined forensic findings gave authorities evidence that had not been available to detectives working the cases in the 1970s.
The renewed investigations were aided by advances at Utah’s state crime laboratory. The laboratory obtained technology in 2023 that can recover genetic information from samples that are extremely small, degraded by age or contain DNA from more than one person. That capability has allowed investigators to return to evidence that had been carefully stored for decades and test it with methods unavailable when the crimes occurred.
Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera said the Smith investigation showed why law enforcement agencies preserve evidence from unresolved cases even when decades pass without an arrest. Authorities said investigators did not simply assume Bundy was responsible because of his history or earlier suspicions. Instead, they continued examining physical evidence until newer forensic methods could provide stronger answers.
Smith’s relatives were notified about the findings, according to the Summit County Sheriff’s Office. They declined to attend the news conference or speak publicly about the announcement. Smith’s parents have died. Her father had served as police chief in Midvale, a community south of Salt Lake City.
Bundy was executed in Florida in 1989 after being convicted of three murders. Before his death, he admitted responsibility for numerous killings committed during the 1970s, but authorities have said not every confession was independently confirmed. The FBI has described his known crimes as spanning several states, including Utah, Washington, Colorado, Idaho and Florida. Investigators believe he killed at least 30 women and girls, although questions about additional victims have continued for decades.
The resolution of Smith’s homicide does not end efforts to examine other Utah cases with possible connections to Bundy. Investigators are continuing work on the 1974 disappearance and death of 16-year-old Nancy Wilcox. Authorities have said information in that case has pointed toward Bundy, but they have not established that he was responsible and continue to treat the investigation as unresolved.
Author note: Last updated Oct. 28, 2026.