Utah closes 52-year-old Melissa Ann Smith case, naming Ted Bundy as her killer

Utah officials closed the 1974 killing of 17-year-old Melissa Ann Smith on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, and named serial killer Ted Bundy as the man who killed her. Summit County Attorney Margaret Olson announced the decision at a news conference in Summit County, 52 years to the day after hunters found Smith's body.

Smith was 17 and from Midvale, Utah. She disappeared on October 18, 1974, after leaving a pizza restaurant where she had been visiting a friend. Hunters found her body nine days later, on October 27, 1974, in a wooded area near the line between Summit County and Salt Lake County. For decades, investigators suspected Bundy but could not prove the connection.

Olson said the Utah State Crime Lab concluded on July 14, 2026, that the Y-STR DNA profile recovered from the body of Laura Ann Aime matched the Y-STR DNA profile recovered from Smith's case. The finding, along with other evidence and reports, was presented to the county attorney's office on October 7. Olson said the DNA evidence, considered alongside evidence about pattern, motive, means and opportunity, establishes that Bundy was responsible for Smith's murder.

How the Aime case opened the Smith case

Aime was also 17. She disappeared on Halloween in 1974, and Utah County closed her case in April 2026 after DNA work linked Bundy to her killing. That result gave Summit County investigators a profile to compare with evidence preserved from Smith's case.

Salt Lake County had kept the 1974 Smith evidence. When a Summit County detective reached out in June 2025, a Salt Lake County detective located the original investigative reports and evidence that helped connect the cases, Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera said at the news conference. Rivera said the result shows why evidence should be kept even when decades pass.

What the DNA result does and does not show

Y-STR DNA is passed down the father's line. Male relatives can share the same Y-STR profile, so a Y-STR match does not identify one man on its own. That limit matters here. The case was closed on the match between the two cases plus the other evidence Olson described, not on a DNA profile presented as a sole fingerprint.

Bundy was executed in Florida in 1989 for the 1978 murders of two women at the Chi Omega sorority house at Florida State University. He confessed to about 30 murders, including Aime's, according to USA Today, though not all of those confessions were confirmed. No prosecution can follow the Smith closure, because Bundy is dead. Officials said they have been in touch with Smith's next of kin, none of whom still live in the area.

Investigators are still working on the disappearance of Nancy Wilcox, who disappeared in October 1974 at age 16. Officials described her as another likely Bundy victim in Utah, and said that case remains under investigation.

Questions and answers

Why close a case when the man named is dead?

Summit County Attorney Margaret Olson said her office reviewed the evidence and approved the closure. With Bundy dead, there is no one to charge, but the closure gives the case a formal finding after 52 years.

Does the DNA match alone prove Bundy killed Smith?

No. Y-STR DNA passes down the father's line and is shared by male relatives, so the match does not identify one man on its own. Investigators said the match, together with evidence about pattern, motive, means and opportunity, establishes that Bundy was responsible.

Is every Utah Bundy case now closed?

No. Officials said they are still working on the disappearance of 16-year-old Nancy Wilcox, another likely victim in Utah, and that case remains under investigation.