Utah teen Melissa Ann Smith identified as victim of Ted Bundi

Summit County officials announced Tuesday that DNA evidence confirms serial killer Ted Bundi as the perpetrator of the 1974 killing of Melissa Ann Smith, a 17-year-old whose body was discovered in a wooded area of Summit County.

"Although there was much speculation regarding a suspect at the time, a suspect was never named, and the case was never officially closed," Summit County Sheriff Kacey Bates said at a news conference. The determination follows a July 14 comparison of DNA from Smith’s case with DNA previously matched to Bundi in the 1974 murder of Laura Ann Aime, another Utah teen. Summit County Attorney Margaret Olson said the DNA match, together with evidence of pattern, motive, means and opportunity, led investigators to conclude Bundi was Smith’s killer. The Utah Department of Public Safety has identified three additional cold cases that may be linked to Bundi: the 1974 murder of Nancy Wilcox, the 1975 disappearance of Susan Curtis, and the 1976 death of Deborah Smith. Utah’s crime laboratory began using a new genotyping technology in 2023 that can generate full DNA profiles from degraded samples, enabling the recent breakthroughs. Smith, the daughter of Midvale police chief Louis S. Smith, was last seen on Oct. 18, 1974, after leaving a friend’s pizza parlor. Her body was found nine days later by a hunter in Summit Park. At the time, investigators considered a possible connection to Bundi, who was then incarcerated in Utah for a kidnapping conviction. Bundi was later transferred to Colorado, escaped custody twice, and ultimately was apprehended in Florida in 1978. He was executed in the electric chair on Jan. 24, 1989. Authorities estimate he may have been responsible for at least five Utah murders. The case closure brings resolution to the Smith family, whose mother Joan died in 2024 and whose sister Jolene died in 2014.