Ted Bundy tied to 1974 Utah cold case homicide
by Pat Reavy ksl · KSL.comKEY TAKEAWAYS
- Police closed the 1974 murder case of Melissa Ann Smith on Oct. 27.
- DNA evidence linked Ted Bundy to Smith's death, ending a 50-year investigation.
- Authorities emphasize ongoing efforts to solve other cold cases tied to Bundy.
PARK CITY — The body of 17-year-old Melissa Ann Smith was found on Oct. 27, 1974, by hunters in Summit County near the border with Salt Lake County.
On Tuesday — the 52nd anniversary of that discovery — Summit County Sheriff Kacey Bates announced that Ted Bundy had officially been linked to her death.
"After 50 years, we have reached a point that so many have worked for: Today, I'm announcing the closure of the 1974 homicide investigation into the death of Melissa Ann Smith," the sheriff said.
Bates was joined by members of the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office, Utah County Sheriff's Office, Summit County Attorney's Office and the Utah State Crime Lab on Tuesday, who all worked jointly to bring the investigation to a close. Summit County Sheriff's Lt. Alan Siddoway, a 42-year law enforcement veteran who passed away due to cancer on Oct.11, was also recognized for his instrumental work in solving the case.
Melissa's mother reported her missing on Oct. 18, 1974. After her body was found, there was speculation that her murder could be tied to other recent homicide investigations in the area.
"Although there was much speculation about a suspect at the time, a suspect was never named and the case was never officially closed," Bates said Tuesday.
Earlier this year, it was announced that the case of Laura Ann Aime, 17, of Fairview, who disappeared on Halloween night 1974 after leaving a party in Lehi but whose body wasn't found until Nov. 27, 1974, just off the American Fork Canyon Road by hikers, had been officially tied to Bundy thanks to advances in DNA technology.
Tuesday, investigators announced that evidence collected from Laura's case allowed them to bring closure to Melissa's case.
DNA, plus pattern, motive, means and opportunity, "establishes that Ted Bundy is responsible for Melissa Ann Smith's murder," said Summit County attorney Margaret Olsen.
It has been assumed for many years that Bundy was responsible for the deaths of the two teens, but the cases couldn't officially be closed until the DNA evidence was confirmed. Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera calls it a reminder "that the work that we do today makes a difference decades from now.
"We get the opportunity to show that there is hope out there," Rivera said about others who have unsolved cases involving loved ones who were killed or are still missing.
When asked why investigators put so much work into solving cases that are a half-century old, Rivera said, "We owe that to the families of these cold cases."
"No one is just going to walk away and blame everything on Ted Bundy, even though many cases have been that way," the sheriff said. "We're going to do everything we possibly can to find the truth."
The Summit County Sheriff's Office says it notified a family member of Melissa's of the case breakthrough. Her next of kin no longer live in Utah and declined an invitation to attend Tuesday's announcement.
Salt Lake County sheriff's detective Ben Pender, an expert in cold case homicides, says closing the Melissa Ann Smith homicide investigation "does not close the book on Ted Bundy.
"We actually have one (case), Nancy Wilcox ... even though the information kind of leads to Ted Bundy, again, we're not certain on Nancy Wilcox either. We'll continue to work that case," he said.
Bundy confessed to killing Wilcox in October of 1974, but police are still working on backing that up with evidence. Bundy also confessed to killing Debra Jean Kent in November of 1974 and kidnapping Carol DaRonch in November of 1974. He was arrested in Utah in 1975 and executed in Florida in 1989. Bundy is linked to more than 30 murders in Utah, Washington, Florida, Oregon and Idaho.
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.