DNA ties Ted Bundy to 1974 murder of Utah Teen, Melissa Ann Smith.

PARK CITY, Utah, USA, October 27, 2026

Utah authorities have officially closed the murder of 17-year-old Melissa Ann Smith fifty-two years to the day after the body was found, noting the DNA connection and decades of investigation prove it was the serial killer Ted Bundy who killed her. Summit County Sheriff Kacey Bates made the announcement at a press conference Tuesday at the Summit County Justice Centre. He said that although there had been much speculation about a suspect in 1974, none was ever named and the case was never officially closed.

Smith, of Midvale, vanished Oct. 18, 1974, from a pizza parlor. On October 27, nine days later, sometime in a wooded area close to the Summit-Salt Lake County line, her body was discovered. She was the daughter of the Midvale police chief, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. Bundy was rumored to be the suspect and was living in Salt Lake City and attending law school at the University of Utah that fall. He confessed to killing other Utah girls, such as Laura Ann Aime, but he never confessed to the murder of Smith before he was executed in Florida in 1989.

However, the key to the breakthrough was another case. In the early part of this year, the Utah State Crime Lab created an STR profile from DNA found on Aime’s remains and directly compared it to a known profile of Bundy’s DNA on file in Florida. Aime’s case was closed by Utah County on April 1. Aime was killed a few weeks after Smith, and her body was discovered in November 1974 in Utah County.

Investigators went one step further. They used evidence left over from the Aime case to create a Y-STR profile, an analysis of DNA from the Y chromosome. They compared it to a Y-STR profile they had created from biological evidence found on Smith’s body. The crime lab determined that the profiles matched. Since 1974, Salt Lake County had the original reports and physical evidence, Detective Ben Pender said, and the material tested was from the examination performed after Smith’s body was discovered. The Summit County Attorney’s Office requested those tests be conducted by the Utah State Crime Lab.

Authorities took special care to state that that was a result, not a reality. Male relatives can have the same profile as Y-STR DNA is passed down the paternal line. Unlike the STR profile in the Aime case, the Y-STR result in Smith’s case was not considered a “stand-alone” identification of Bundy. Rather, it was the evidence of pattern, motive, means and opportunity, coupled with the matching profiles, that investigators concluded he was the perpetrator. That DNA, along with that evidence, proves Bundy killed Smith, Margaret Olson, Summit County Attorney, said. The results were submitted to her office prior to her granting the closure. The logic is interesting in that the less specific the genetic marker is, the more it may help to bring to a conclusion if considered along with other evidence. It also offers an explanation as to why the case could only be solved after the AIME profile was created for comparison.

This new investigation was launched in May 2025 after Utah County investigators reached out to Summit County due to some similarities between the Aime and Smith cases. The late Summit County Sheriff’s Lt. Alan Siddoway started looking at Smith’s file and collaborated with Pender, Utah County investigators, and the state crime lab. Siddoway’s death occurred weeks prior to the announcement, and Bates gave him credit for years of hard work on the case. Bates also said that to the dead we owe the truth, as Siddoway often said, quoting the French philosopher Voltaire. Evidence and data were shared between the Salt Lake County, Utah County, and Summit County Sheriffs’ Offices throughout.

This case highlights the importance of homicide evidence, even after a crime has been committed for many years, said Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera. Since 1974, her agency has kept the evidence and does not destroy it in homicide cases, leaving room for investigators to come back to it as new forensic technologies develop. It would be a “duty” of investigators to find out what went on, not “close the case” on an assumption they had held for a long time about Bundy, she also said. The office had the case material since the original investigation, which is what made the new testing possible.

Smith’s relatives were notified before the announcement and informed of the results. They are not living in Utah anymore and refused to take part in the invitation. A family member reached by investigators was very pleased the case was solved, but did not wish to be involved in a public statement, according to the Sheriff’s Office. The city of Midvale sent a message with their love to Smith’s family and all those who loved her.

Bundy is known to have killed and assaulted women in Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Utah, and Florida from 1974-1978 and confessed to dozens of murders, but many more are thought to have been his. His death in 1989 means that there will be no trial. Like most recent cold-case resolutions, it’s closure and answers for the family, not a court verdict.

This is not the end of the Bundy investigations, police said. The announcement doesn’t end the inquiry against Rivera, who said it didn’t close the book, and investigators are still working on the disappearance of another Utah teenager whose case has been linked to him for years, Nancy Wilcox, Rivera said. Every time they’re done, Sgt. Mike Reynolds of Utah County hopes the memory of Bundy will be erased.

Reference:

1. Brenner, R. “The police chief’s daughter, found in Summit Park in 1974, was murdered by Ted Bundy, DNA confirms.” TownLift, October 27, 2026. https://townlift.com/2026/10/the-police-chiefs-daughter-found-in-summit-park-in-1974-was-murdered-by-ted-bundy-dna-confirms/
2. Deseret News. “Ted Bundy tied to 1974 Utah cold case homicide.” October 27, 2026. https://www.deseret.com/utah/2026/10/27/ted-bundy-tied-to-1974-cold-case-homicide/
3. The Salt Lake Tribune. “Utah teen Melissa Ann Smith killed in 1974 identified as Ted Bundy victim.” October 27, 2026. https://www.sltrib.com/news/2026/10/27/utah-teen-melissa-ann-smith-killed/
4. Gephardt Daily. “Summit Co. cold case murder solved 52 years after body found; Ted Bundy DNA found on victim Melissa Ann Smith.” October 27, 2026. https://gephardtdaily.com/local/summit-co-cold-case-murder-solved-52-years-after-body-found-ted-bundy-dna-found-on-victim-melissa-ann-smith/
5. KSTU / Fox 13 via Local News 8 (CNN Wire). “Cold case solved: DNA links serial killer Ted Bundy to 1974 murder of Utah teen.” October 27, 2026. https://localnews8.com/news/top-stories/2026/10/27/ted-bundy-solves-utah-cold-case/
6. Newsweek. “Ted Bundy: List of Known Victims as DNA Links Serial Killer to Utah Murder.” https://www.newsweek.com/ted-budy-killed-melissa-smith-12626313
7. Cowboy State Daily. “Another Utah Bundy Victim Confirmed Using Breakthrough DNA Testing.” October 27, 2026. https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/10/27/another-utah-bundy-victim-confirmed-using-breakthrough-dna-testing/
8. True Crime News. “Utah cold case closed 52 years later after DNA links Ted Bundy to crime.” October 28, 2026. https://truecrimenews.com/2026/10/28/utah-cold-case-closed-52-years-later-after-dna-links-ted-bundy-to-crime/
9. Straight Arrow News. “DNA links another Utah teen’s murder to infamous serial killer Ted Bundy.” https://san.com/cc/dna-links-another-utah-teens-murder-to-infamous-serial-killer-ted-bundy/
10. Associated Press via AOL. “New DNA testing confirms serial killer Ted Bundy slayed a Utah teen in 1974” (on the Aime case, April 2026). https://www.aol.com/articles/dna-testing-links-unsolved-death-192557563.html
11. Utah Bureau of Criminal Identification. Melissa Ann Smith cold case page. https://bci.utah.gov/?p=15154