Exactly 52 years after a hunter found 17-year-old Melissa Ann Smith’s body in Utah, authorities announced that DNA evidence had allowed them to close her killing as a Ted Bundy case.
Summit County Attorney Margaret Olson announced the findings on October 27. Investigators connected DNA evidence from Smith’s case with evidence from Laura Aime, another Bundy victim whose Utah County case was resolved in April 2026. They also had access to Bundy’s DNA profile, which was on file in Florida.
Smith disappeared on October 18, 1974, after visiting a pizza parlor and a restaurant. Her father was the police chief in Midvale, south of Salt Lake City.
A hunter discovered her body in Summit County 9 days later.
“This case demonstrates the importance of preserving evidence,” Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera said. Investigators emphasized that attributing a killing to Bundy still requires evidence, even when he’s long been suspected.
Technology Utah’s state crime lab acquired in 2023 made it possible to recover DNA from aging evidence, including tiny samples and material containing DNA from multiple people. Olson said the circumstances of Smith’s death also fit Bundy’s “pattern, motive, means and opportunity.”
Bundy killed at least 30 women and girls across multiple states during the 1970s. Florida executed him in 1989 following convictions for 3 murders, including the deaths of 2 women at Florida State University’s Chi Omega sorority house. He confessed to additional killings before his execution, but some remain unconfirmed.
Investigators are still working on the 1974 death of 16-year-old Nancy Wilcox in Utah. Detective Ben Pender said information points toward Bundy, but authorities haven’t established that he killed her.
