Serial killer Ted Bundy linked to 1974 murder of a 17-year-old Utah girl — how did investigators solve the case over 50 years after her body was found

Ted Bundy, the infamous serial killer, has been found responsible for the murder of a 17-year-old Utah girl who had gone missing in 1974 before her body was found days later, state authorities said at a news conference on Tuesday (Oct. 27). Bundy died in 1989, but the tally of his victims continues to surge due to advances in DNA testing technology.

When was the victim killed?

The announcement comes more than 50 years after hunters found the body of Melissa Ann Smith in a wooded area on October 27, 1974. Smith was the daughter of Louis Smith, the then police chief of Salt Lake City suburb Midvale. She had last been seen at a restaurant just south of Salt Lake City in Midvale.


Louis Smith resigned from the police department six years after his daughter's murder and died in 1985, according to The Salt Lake Tribune. His other daughter, Jolene, died in 2014, and his wife, Joan, died in 2024, as per the publication.

How was the case solved?

Investigators believe that Bundy was behind the killing of Ann Smith in 1974, a death that had long been listed as a cold case, Summit County Attorney Margaret Olson said at the news conference.

Other than DNA testing, Smith's murder had what are considered the hallmarks of Bundy's "pattern, motive, means and opportunity," Olson added.

Officers were able to close Smith's case by making key DNA connections between Smith and Laura Ann Aime, another victim of Bundy's whose case was solved in April in Utah County. "This case demonstrates the importance of preserving evidence," Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera said.

"With every case closure, may we stomp the memory of Ted Bundy out," Utah County Sgt. Mike Reynolds said. Officials have been in touch with Smith's relatives, none of whom live in the area now.

Ted Bundy was executed in 1989

Ted Bundy was executed by electric chair in Florida at the age of 42 in January 1989 for the murders of two women at the Chi Omega sorority house at the Florida State University.

The actual toll of his victims was much higher: Bundy killed at least 30 women and girls in several states across the US in the 1970s, and many more escaped or survived with injuries. In his final days, the serial killer confessed to several of his crimes, including some that were previously unknown to the police.