Summit County ties 1974 murder of 17-year-old Melissa Smith to Ted Bundy

The Summit County Sheriff's Office and County Attorney's Office on Tuesday closed the 1974 murder of 17-year-old Melissa Ann Smith, saying DNA and other evidence conclusively show that serial killer Ted Bundy killed her. ^[1][2]

Smith was reported missing in Salt Lake County on Oct. 18, 1974, after she did not come home. A hunter found her remains near Toll Canyon in the Summit Park area on Oct. 27, 1974, 52 years ago Tuesday. Sheriff Kacey Bates and County Attorney Margaret Olson announced the finding with Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera, Utah County Sheriff Mike Smith and Utah State Crime Lab DNA analysts. ^[1][2]

Earlier this year the crime lab and the Utah County Sheriff's Office matched DNA from the body of 17-year-old Laura Aime, found in November 1974, to Bundy's known DNA profile from Florida, and that case was closed. On July 14, 2026, the lab compared Y-STR DNA from Aime's body with Y-STR DNA from Smith's remains and found a match. The County Attorney's Office reviewed the case and cleared it this month. ^[1]

Bundy confessed to killing more than 30 women in Utah, Washington, Florida and Colorado but was convicted of three of the murders, and was executed in 1989. ^[1]