More than 50 years after the body 17-year-old Melissa Ann Smith was found by hunters in Utah, officials have determined that notorious serial killer Ted Bundy was responsible for her murder.
The announcement comes months after Utah officials linked Bundy to the 1974 murder of another 17-year-old girl, Laura Ann Aime, using DNA evidence. Summit County Attorney Margaret Olson said that the Utah State Crime Lab concluded on July 14 that the DNA profile recovered from Aime's body matched a profiled recovered from Smith's body.
"This DNA evidence, when considered alongside evidence related to pattern, motive, means and opportunity establishes that Ted Bundy was responsible for Melissa Ann Smith's murder," Olson said at a news conference on Oct. 27.
"The Summit County Attorney's Office has carefully reviewed the evidence and approved the closure of this case. Although Ted Bundy is no longer alive to face prosecution, advances in forensic science and the continued dedication of law enforcement professionals have helped provide answers in a case that has remained unsolved for over 50 years."
Bundy confessed to about 30 murders, including Aime's, but wasn't convicted of many of them because he declined to provide any details about crime scenes and authorities suspected he was lying to gain more infamy. He's estimated to have killed anywhere between 20 and 100 women in at least seven states, including California, Washington, Colorado, Utah, Idaho and Florida.
He was convicted of three of the murders and executed by the electric chair in Florida in 1989.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Utah officials link Ted Bundy to murder of another 17-year-old girl
