More than 50 years ago, two hunters found the body of a 17-year-old girl in the woods in northern Utah, but the investigation into the death went cold and remained open for decades.
On Tuesday, officials said that a major development in a similar case and advancements in forensic science had linked the decades-old death of Melissa Ann Smith of Midway, Utah, to Ted Bundy, one of America’s most notorious serial killers.
It was the second time this year that officials in Utah have concluded that Mr. Bundy had murdered a Utah teenager whose killing had gone unsolved for decades. In April, Utah County investigators said they had confirmed that Mr. Bundy killed Laura Ann Aime, also 17, whose body was found by two hikers southeast of Salt Lake City on Nov. 27, 1974.
In July, the Utah State Crime Lab confirmed that the DNA profile recovered from Ms. Aime’s body matched the DNA profile recovered from Ms. Smith’s body, according to Margaret Olson, the Summit County attorney, who spoke at a news conference on Tuesday.
The 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,” Ms. Olson said.
A law student at the time, Mr. Bundy often abducted young women from college campuses at night or crowded parks in the daytime, when their defenses were lowered, in familiar settings. Witness accounts and other evidence have suggested that he used his good looks and soft-spoken charm to lure victims. Sometimes he displayed a bandaged arm or leg, to gain sympathy.
He often throttled his victims and then sexually abused and mutilated them before disposing of their bodies in remote areas.
The Summit County attorney’s office has reviewed and approved the closing of Ms. Smith’s case, Ms. Olson said.
“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,” Ms. Olson said.
Ms. Smith’s mother reported her missing in Salt Lake County, Utah, on Oct. 18, 1974, the Summit County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. Hunters found her remains in the woods nine days later, on Oct. 27, near Summit County’s border with Salt Lake County, the sheriff’s office said.
The Summit County Sheriff’s Office led the investigation, with assistance from the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office. A suspect was never named, and the investigation remained open.
Mr. Bundy confessed to killing 30 women, including Ms. Aime, before he was executed in Florida in 1989 for the 1978 murders of two Florida State University students. The Utah County Sheriff’s Office said it did not consider Mr. Bundy’s confession sufficient evidence to close Ms. Aime’s case because he had refused to provide any details that would corroborate his claim that he had killed her.
The authorities said that living relatives of Ms. Smith had been hard to find but that they did manage to speak to someone who “was very, very gratified” that investigators “were able to bring this to a resolution,” Sgt. Skyler Talbot, a spokesman for the Summit County Sheriff’s Office.
The case emphasizes the importance of preserving evidence, even when decades have passed since the crime, officials said.
“Every single day forensics is changing,” Sheriff Rosie Rivera of Salt Lake County said on Tuesday, “and we have the ability to look at these cases again and again.”
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