DNA evidence links Ted Bundy to 1974 Utah murder of police chief's daughter
Investigators used DNA from a separate 1974 case to confirm Ted Bunder as the killer of Melissa Ann Smith, closing the 52-year-old cold case.
DNA analysis has confirmed that serial killer Ted Bundy was responsible for the 1974 murder of 17-year-old Melissa Ann Smith, the daughter of the then-Midvale Police Chief Louis Smith. The breakthrough came after investigators matched DNA from the killing of another Utah teen, Laura Ann Aime, to Bundy and then compared it with evidence preserved from Smith's case for more than five decades.
Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office Detective Ben Pender, who leads the unsolved homicide unit, said the evidence will be retained for potential use in other investigations that may be linked to Bundy. > "We're gonna hold on to this evidence, and we're gonna utilize it in cases that we believe may be connected to see if we can't resolve not only our case, but anybody else who may have a case with Bundy," Pender told Fox News Digital.
Smith's body was discovered by hunters on Oct. 27, 1974, in a wooded area near the Summit-Salt Lake county border. While investigators had long suspected Bundy, the DNA match provided the definitive link needed to close the case, which was formally concluded on the 52nd anniversary of the discovery.
Pender emphasized the importance of preserving evidence, noting that "we maintain that evidence forever" and that DNA was not available at the time of the original investigation. He cautioned that not all cold cases can be solved through DNA, as some lack suitable material or have degraded samples.
The investigation also highlighted ongoing efforts to resolve other unsolved homicides, including the disappearance of Nancy Wilcox, a case in which Bundy confessed but whose body has never been recovered. Pender stressed the need for accurate attribution of crimes to avoid wrongful assumptions about Bundy's involvement in unrelated cases.