Utah to close decades-old case linking Ted Bundy to 1970s killing

Utah authorities have closed the 1974 murder case of 17-year-old Melissa Ann Smith, whose body was found by hunters in Summit County. Investigators say DNA evidence, including a profile developed in the separate case of Laura Ann Aime, and other findings identified Ted Bundy as Smith’s killer. The announcement came 52 years after Smith’s body was discovered and followed the DNA-linked resolution of Aime’s 1974 murder. Bundy, who was executed in 1989, confessed to killing at least 30 women and girls; forensic advances continue to connect him to previously unresolved cases.