ANOTHER ONE

Chilling New Twist in Ted Bundy Murder Mystery

Advances in DNA testing are confirming what investigators and criminologists believe is Bundy’s true victim count.

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The late serial killer Ted Bundy has been found responsible for another victim from a 1974 murderous rampage in Utah, authorities announced Tuesday. In addition to the Halloween murder of Laura Ann Aime, solved in April, new DNA testing has connected the killer to the death of 17-year-old Melissa Ann Smith, a more than 50-year-old cold case. “This case demonstrates the importance of preserving evidence,” Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera said. Summit County Attorney Margaret Olson said at a news conference that besides the DNA evidence, Smith’s death had the hallmarks of Bundy’s “pattern, motive, means and opportunity.” A hunter found Smith’s body in Summit Park on Oct. 27, 1974, nine days after she was reported missing and about four days before Aime. Officials say they’ve been in touch with Smith’s next of kin, none of whom still live in the area. Bundy was executed by electric chair in Florida in 1989 for the murders of two women at the Chi Omega sorority house at Florida State University. Advances in DNA testing are growing the number of confirmed victims. Bundy killed at least 30 women and girls in multiple states in the 1970s, but investigators and criminologists believe this count could be as high as 100 or more victims. He gave a number of confessions in his final days about some crimes unknown to police, many of which have yet to be DNA-verified.