Utah officials announced on October 27, 2026, that serial killer Ted Bundy was responsible for the 1974 murder of 17-year-old Melissa Ann Smith. The announcement occurred 52 years to the day after hunters discovered Smith's body in a wooded area on October 27, 1974.
Summit County Attorney Margaret Olson stated during a news conference on October 27 that a DNA profile recovered from Smith's body matched a profile from the body of another Bundy victim, 17-year-old Laura Ann Aime. Utah officials had previously linked Bundy to Aime's 1974 murder for the first time in April. Olson said the DNA evidence, combined with evidence regarding pattern, motive, means, and opportunity, establishes Bundy's responsibility for Smith's murder.
Smith was the daughter of the Midvale police chief at the time of the crime. Her father, Louis Smith, resigned from the department six years after the murder and died three years later. According to The Salt Lake Tribune, Smith's other daughter, Jolene, died in 2014, and her mother, Joan, died in 2024. Smith's remaining living relatives declined to attend the news conference or speak to reporters.
Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera noted that the case highlights the importance of retaining evidence for decades. She stated that when a Summit County detective contacted her agency in June 2025, a Salt Lake detective located original investigative reports and evidence that helped connect the cases.
Bundy was executed by the electric chair in Florida in 1989 after confessing to approximately 30 murders. He was estimated to have killed between 20 and 100 women across at least seven states, including Utah, California, Washington, Colorado, Idaho, and Florida. Bundy was convicted of three murders, including the killing of 12-year-old Kimberly Leach.
Detective Ben Pender stated during the Tuesday news conference that officials believe Bundy may also be responsible for the killing of 16-year-old cheerleader Nancy Wilcox, who was last seen alive in Bundy's yellow Volkswagen on October 3, 1974. That case remains under investigation.
