DNA evidence links Ted Bundy to 1974 killing of Utah teenager
publishers 63articles 70first reported 27 Oct, 16:00 UTCdeveloping since 27 Oct · 6 editions
Utah authorities have linked serial killer Ted Bundy to the 1974 killing of 17-year-old Melissa Ann Smith, closing a cold case more than five decades after her death.
Smith disappeared in October 1974, and her body was found days later on a hillside in Summit Park, Utah. Authorities announced Tuesday that DNA evidence connected her killing to Bundy, who was executed in 1989.
The finding followed renewed testing in the case of Laura Ann Aime, another 17-year-old Utah victim killed in 1974. Bundy confessed to killing Aime before his execution, but DNA testing did not support that account until this year. Investigators said bodily fluid recovered from Aime’s body matched Bundy’s known DNA profile.
A Y-STR profile recovered in Aime’s case was also a genetic match to one obtained from Smith’s body, according to law enforcement officials. That evidence led authorities to identify Bundy as Smith’s killer and close the investigation.
Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera said the case showed the value of preserving evidence so it can be examined again as forensic technology advances. Bundy sexually assaulted and killed at least 30 women across the western United States and Florida between 1974 and 1978.
HOW THIS STORY WAS MADE
Written from 8 articles, 2 with the publisher's own text; 8 independent newsrooms once syndicated copies count as one (5 if wire copies count as one too); this version written 48 h after the record first saw the story; the editor kept it as written.
- Publishers
- 63
- Source articles
- 70
- Given to the writer
- 8, 2 with the article's own text
- Independent newsrooms
- 8 (5 if wire copies count as one)
- This version written
- 48 h after the record first saw the story
- Second model (editor)
- kept as written
- Publication gate
- passed
- Human review
- none
WHAT THE EDITOR DID
The second model checked the writer's draft against the same sources and published it as written.
Written by a language model from the sources above, then checked by a second model that may only cut, attribute or correct. How it works →