DNA catches Ted Bundy 52 years later, links America’s notorious serial killer to teenage girl’s murder

• DNA technology has linked Ted Bundy to the 1974 murder of 17-year-old Melissa Ann Smith in Utah.

• Smith’s case was solved after investigators used evidence from another Bundy victim, Laura Ann Aime, identified in April.

• Authorities say more cold cases connected to Bundy are still being reviewed.

• The breakthrough highlights how modern forensic technology is helping solve decades-old crimes.

For more than five decades, the murder of 17-year-old Melissa Ann Smith remained one of Utah’s unanswered mysteries. Now, authorities say they finally have an answer, and it points back to one of America’s most notorious serial killers, Ted Bundy.

Utah officials have used modern DNA technology to connect Bundy to Smith’s killing, 52 years after her body was discovered by hunters on 27 October 1974.

Smith, who was the daughter of a local police chief, was found with evidence showing she had been raped and tortured before her death.

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The breakthrough came after investigators revisited another cold case linked to Bundy. In April, authorities identified 17-year-old Laura Ann Aime as another victim of the serial killer. Evidence from that investigation helped provide the missing link needed to solve Smith’s case.

Before his execution in 1989, Bundy admitted to killing two teenage girls in Utah. He has since been connected to at least 30 murders across several US states, although investigators believe the actual number of victims may be higher.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Utah County Sgt Mike Reynolds said authorities were still reviewing other cases connected to Bundy.

“With every case closure may we stomp the memory of Ted Bundy out,” Reynolds said.

Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera said the discovery should give hope to families of other victims whose cases remain unsolved.

“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 investigators who preserved evidence from Smith’s case for decades, saying it showed why keeping forensic materials is important even when a case goes cold.

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“It demonstrates the need to preserve evidence even when decades pass,” she said.

According to Utah’s Bureau of Forensic Services, hundreds of death investigations in the state remain unsolved, including hundreds of homicide cases. Officials say advances in DNA technology are now helping detectives reopen cases that once seemed impossible to solve.

Ted Bundy remains one of the most infamous serial killers in American history. He carried out attacks across the Pacific Northwest and other parts of the United States during the 1970s.

Known for using his charm and pretending to be injured or helpless, Bundy often gained victims’ trust before luring them to isolated locations where he attacked them.

He was first arrested in 1975 after being accused of kidnapping a woman and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. But in 1977, he escaped by jumping out of a prison library window.

After being recaptured, Bundy escaped again later that year and continued his killing spree until he was finally arrested in 1978.

He was executed in Florida’s electric chair in 1989, but decades later, DNA technology continues to uncover more details about the crimes linked to him.