Serial killer Ted Bundy linked to another murder as victim tally continues to grow
Serial killer Ted Bundy has been connected to another murder 50 years after a teenager’s body was discovered by a hunter.
Bundy killed at least 30 women and girls in multiple states in the 1970s, and many more escaped or survived with injuries. He has been dead since 1989 but his victim tally continues to grow due to advances in DNA testing.
The Summit County, Utah, prosecutor said on Tuesday that detectives have concluded that Bundy was responsible for killing 17-year-old Melissa Ann Smith in 1974, a death that had long been listed as a cold case.
“This case demonstrates the importance of preserving evidence,” said Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera.
Bundy was executed in 1989 by electric chair in Florida for the 1978 murders of two women at the Chi Omega sorority house at Florida State University.
Before his execution in 1989, a homicide detective out of Salt Lake County interviewed Bundy about the murders of Smith and Laura Ann Aime, and the disappearances and possible homicides of Nancy Wilcox, Debby Kent and Nancy Baird.
Bundy admitted to killing Kent and Wilcox but denied killing Baird, according to local Utah news station KTVX. Bundy said he had a hard time “placing the names” when it came to Aime and Smith and was unable to remember encountering either of them.
In April, Utah authorities announced that Bundy was responsible for killing Aime, who disappeared on Halloween in 1974.
In his final days, Bundy made a series of confessions, including details regarding crimes previously unknown to law enforcement. Not all of those cases have been verified.
“With every case closure, may we stomp the memory of Ted Bundy out,” said Sergeant Mike Reynolds with the Utah County Sheriff’s Office, who participated in the investigation.
