Utah authorities say they used advanced DNA technology to link Ted Bundy to the 1974 murder of 17-year-old Melissa Ann Smith, according to BBC News reporting by Max Matza published October 27, 2026. BBC News reported Smith—daughter of a local police chief—was found by hunters on October 27, 1974, with signs of rape and torture.
The new DNA link
BBC News says the development follows Utah officials’ April identification of teenager Laura Ann Aime as another Bundy victim. Evidence gathered in Aime’s case was subsequently used to help solve Smith’s case, according to the outlet.
What officials said
At a Tuesday press conference, Utah County Sgt Mike Reynolds said more Bundy cases are still being examined in the state. “With every case closure may we stomp the memory of Ted Bundy out,” he said, per BBC News. Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera said the case should signal to other cold case victims “that there is hope out there.” She added, “Every single day forensics is changing and we have the ability to take a look at these cases again and again,” and praised the long-term preservation of evidence, which she said “demonstrates the need to preserve evidence even when decades pass.”
Cold case context in Utah
In April, the director of the Utah Bureau of Forensic Services told the Salt Lake Tribune there were 444 unsolved death investigations in the state, including 258 homicides, according to BBC News.
Bundy background (per BBC News)
Before his 1989 execution, Bundy confessed to killing two other teenage girls in Utah, BBC News reports. The outlet notes he has been linked to at least 30 murders across the US. BBC News summarizes that Bundy began attacking victims in the Pacific Northwest, often approaching women in public places, gaining trust with charm or a fake injury, then luring them to secluded areas. He was first arrested in 1975 for kidnapping and sentenced to 15 years. In 1977 he escaped by jumping from a prison library window, was recaptured for eight days, escaped again, and continued killing until his 1978 capture, according to BBC News.
