SALT LAKE CITY — More than 50 years after a hunter found her body, Utah authorities say DNA ties serial killer Ted Bundy to the 1974 killing of 17-year-old Melissa Ann Smith, CBS News reported.
Summit County Attorney Margaret Olson said at a news conference Tuesday that investigators are satisfied Bundy was responsible. Besides DNA, she said the case had the hallmarks of Bundy’s “pattern, motive, means and opportunity.”
A highly similar DNA profile linked to Bundy was found in evidence from Smith’s autopsy, Utah County Sgt. Mike Reynolds said. Investigators made the connection through work on the case of Laura Aime, another Bundy victim whose case was resolved in April.
“This case demonstrates the importance of preserving evidence,” Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera said.
Bundy killed at least 30 women and girls in several states in the 1970s. He was executed in Florida in 1989. A vial of his blood found in Florida in 2011 allowed his full DNA profile to be entered into the FBI’s national database.
Sources: CBS News. Thee Arizona Times uses AI-assisted reporting reviewed against the sources listed.
Photo: Unknown / Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
