Notorious serial killer Ted Bundy linked to unsolved 1974 cold case 50 years after disappearance

Authorities in Utah have officially connected notorious serial killer Ted Bundy to another unsolved murder from 1974 after modern DNA testing confirmed a match half a century after the teenager's death.

At a news conference on Tuesday afternoon, officials with the Summit County Sheriff’s Office announced that physical DNA evidence and circumstantial proof have conclusively tied the executed serial killer to the brutal 1974 murder of 17-year-old Melissa Ann Smith.

The breakthrough comes months after law enforcement in Utah achieved a similar forensic milestone, utilizing DNA technology to definitively connect Bundy to the 1974 slaying of another 17-year-old victim, Laura Aime.

In April, the Utah State Crime Lab confirmed that biological material recovered from Aime’s body matched Bundy's genetic profile.

Following that development, the same forensic team turned its attention to preserved evidence from Smith's crime scene, beginning advanced testing in mid-July before identifying an identical match.

Bundy was responsible for a string of brutal murders throughout the 1970s (Bettmann/Getty Images)

"Although Ted Bundy is no longer alive to face prosecution, advances in forensic science and continued dedication of law enforcement professionals have helped provide answers in a case that has remained unsolved for over 50 years," Summit County Attorney Margaret Olson told reporters. "Most importantly, we remember Melissa Ann Smith and the somber significance of finally bringing this investigation to a close."

Olson noted that the genetic breakthrough was evaluated alongside compelling evidence concerning Bundy's known criminal patterns, motives, means, and timeline of opportunity in the region during late 1974.

The announcement was delivered exactly 52 years to the day after Smith’s body was originally discovered in a wooded area along the northwest border of Summit County, roughly 100 miles north of Provo.

Summit County Sheriff Kacey Bates explained that while detectives long believed Bundy was responsible for the high school student's slaying, official confirmation eluded investigators for decades.

Although Bundy is no longer alive to face justice, authorities hope the discovery will help to bring closure to the affected families (Bettmann/Getty Images)

"Although there was much speculation regarding a suspect at the time, a suspect was never named, and the case was never officially closed," Bates said.

Investigators in the region are currently evaluating whether Bundy can be tied to three additional unsolved mid-1970s cold cases: 16-year-old Nancy Wilcox, 15-year-old Susan Curtis, and Deborah Smith, whose body was discovered near Salt Lake City International Airport in 1976.

Before his execution in Florida's electric chair in January 1989, Bundy confessed to murdering at least 30 women across Washington, Utah, Colorado, and Florida between 1974 and 1978.

Detectives have maintained that his true death toll remains much higher, with modern DNA testing finally closing files that haunted investigators for half a century.