Melissa Ann Smith’s body was found by a deer hunter in a remote forested area near Utah’s Park City on October 27, 1974. Nearly 52 years later, a DNA investigation made a breakthrough in the case, linking serial killer Ted Bundy to the murder conclusively.
But so far, there was no confirmed evidence linking Bundy to the death. She was found dead with marks of torture and rape on her body. Authorities long suspected Ted Bundy was behind the murder. Authorities suspect he may be linked to more deaths. He committed the Chi Omega murders, and the Kimberley Leach murders while on the run.
17-year-old Melissa Ann Smith was the daughter of the then police chief of Midvale, a suburb south of Salt Lake City, Utah. She was last seen on the evening of October 18, 1974, after leaving a friend at a pizza parlor in Midvale. Two days before Ted Bundy’s execution on October 24, 1989, he had vaguely mentioned Smith to Salt Lake County detective Dennis Couch. Smith had said he was unable to distinguish the names, unlike his 30 other victims, whom he identified. Ted Bundy confessed to murdering 30 women and girls between 1973 and 1978. Bundy escaped police custody twice in 1977, leading to multi-state manhunts for nearly a year. He was arrested for the final time on February 15, 1978, in Florida.
Melissa Ann’s Smith’s family, however, refused to attend the press conference.
“We owe that to the families of these cold cases,” the Sheriff said.
The Sheriff of Salt Lake County Rose Rivera revealed that a detective from Summit County reached out to her office with a lead in July 2025. The Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office was able to locate the original reports on the investigation that eventually became key to the Ted Bundy link.
Key to the discovery and closure of the half-a-decade-old cold case was stored evidence and a tip last year.
