A case in Utah which has been unsolved since 1974 was finally solved by the Utah police in connection with the serial killer Ted Bundy through the use of DNA profiling and corroborative evidence.
Smith, the daughter of then-Midvale Police Chief Louis Smith, was last seen on October 18, 1974, after leaving a pizza restaurant in Midvale. Nine days later, on October 27, a hunter found her body in a wooded area near Summit Park on the Summit-Salt Lake County border. The case stayed open for more than five decades even though Bundy had long been viewed as a strong suspect.
The developments leading to the breakthrough started in April 2026 when Utah County detectives used DNA genotyping technology to establish that the serial killer Ted Bundy murdered Laura Ann Aime, who was 17 years old, in November 1974.
On July 14, 2026, the Utah State Crime Lab matched a Y-STR DNA profile recovered from Smith’s 1974 autopsy evidence to the Y-STR profile from Aime’s case. Y-STR testing looks at genetic markers on the male Y chromosome that pass from father to son. It connects evidence to a male lineage rather than identifying one person with the same precision as full nuclear DNA. Investigators combined the matching profiles with Bundy’s known pattern of targeting young women, his methods, motive, means, and opportunity in the Salt Lake area in 1974.
At a news conference on October 27, 2026 exactly 52 years after Smith’s body was found Summit County Sheriff Kacey Bates announced the formal closure. Summit County Attorney Margaret Olson stated:
“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.”
Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera underscored the practical lesson:
“This case demonstrates the importance of preserving evidence, even when decades have passed.”
Officials from Salt Lake County, Utah County, and the Utah State Crime Lab participated. Family members, who no longer live in Utah, were notified.
Bundy, who went to the University of Utah law school in 1974, was put to death in Florida on January 24, 1989. The man is suspected to have committed 30 murders in different states. The authorities also said that they are still investigating other potential cases in Utah from that time period.
This resolution provides one more victim of Bundy, and demonstrates how effective forensic analysis can be even in cases that occurred many years ago.
