Serial killer Ted Bundy linked through DNA to 1974 murder of Utah girl

Discovery comes months after Utah county detectives confirmed that Bundy had killed another Utah girl that year

The notorious serial killer Ted Bundy has been found responsible, through DNA evidence, for the murder of Melissa Ann Smith, a 17-year-old Utah girl who went missing in 1974 before her nude body was found days later, state authorities announced at a Tuesday news conference.

The breakthrough comes months after Utah county detectives confirmed in April that Bundy killed another Utah girl, 17-year-old Laura Ann Aime, in 1974.

Bundy had confessed to killing Laura during a string of admissions he made before being executed in 1989 for two of his murders.

Laura was last seen during a Halloween party, before being found dead and severely beaten in late November 1974.

It was not until this year, though, that new DNA testing backed Bundy’s account.

Bodily fluid extracted from Laura’s body was a match to Bundy’s known DNA profile, law enforcement officials said then.

That discovery put into motion the closure of Smith’s homicide investigation.

The Y-STR DNA profile recovered from Laura’s body was a genetic match to one found from Melissa’s body.

“This case demonstrates the importance of preserving evidence, even when decades have passed,” said Salt Lake county sheriff Rosie Rivera on Tuesday. “We have the ability to take a look at these cases again and again.”

Between 1974 and 1978, Bundy went on a violent rampage, sexually assaulting and killing at least 30 women across the American west and Florida.

“The voices and cherished memories of Melissa Ann Smith and Laura Ann Aime and others involved in these cases ring louder than the hate and sedition of the one that took their lives,” said Mike Reynolds, a sergeant with the Utah county sheriff’s office sergeant on Tuesday. “With every case closure may we stomp the memory of Ted Bundy out.”