OMM Newsroom
Utah authorities have used advanced DNA technology to link serial killer Ted Bundy to the murder of 17-year-old Melissa Ann Smith, whose body was discovered by hunters nearly 52 years ago, according to the BBC.
Smith, the daughter of a local police chief, was found on 27 October 1974 with signs of rape and torture.
In April, Utah officials identified teenager Laura Ann Aime as another of Bundy’s victims. Evidence collected in that case was later used to help solve Smith’s murder.
Before his execution in 1989, Bundy confessed to killing two other teenage girls in Utah. He has been linked to at least 30 murders across the United States.
At a news conference on Tuesday, Utah County Sgt Mike Reynolds said authorities were still examining other Bundy cases in the state. “With every case closure may we stomp the memory of Ted Bundy out,” he said.
Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera said the case should offer hope to victims of other unsolved crimes. “Every single day forensics is changing and we have the ability to take a look at these cases again and again,” she said.
Rivera also praised detectives for preserving evidence for decades, saying it “demonstrates the need to preserve evidence even when decades pass”.
In April, the director of the Utah Bureau of Forensic Services told the Salt Lake Tribune that the state had 444 unsolved death investigations, including 258 homicides.
Bundy, one of the United States’ most notorious serial killers, began his attacks in the Pacific Northwest and later targeted victims across the country.
He often approached women in public, winning their trust with his charm or by pretending to be injured before luring them to secluded places and killing them.
Bundy was first arrested in 1975 for kidnapping a woman and sentenced to 15 years in prison. In 1977, he escaped by jumping from a prison library window. After being recaptured, he escaped again eight days later and continued killing until he was caught in 1978.
