Ted Bundy linked to Utah murder of 17-year-old girl after DNA test

Newly tested DNA evidence has connected notorious serial killer Ted Bundy to the 1974 murder of a 17-year-old Utah girl whose body was found naked, beaten, bound and dumped along a state highway in Utah.

Utah County Sheriff Mike Smith announced on Wednesday, April 1, that new testing found − “without a doubt” − that DNA recovered from Laura Ann Aime’s body more than 50 years ago is Bundy’s.

“This case is now officially closed,” Smith said during a news conference on Wednesday. “Most importantly we bring closure, hopefully, to the Aime family who have endured over 50 years the loss of their loved one.”

Aime was last seen leaving a Halloween party on Oct. 31, 1974, when she left to go to a convenience store. Nearly a month later on Nov. 27, 1974, two college students on a hike came across her battered body, dumped several feet from the highway near State Road 92 in the American Fork Canyon. A nylon stocking had been used to strangle her, and evidence showed that she had been kept alive for at least several days after her abduction.

The discovery of Aime’s body, which came a day before Thanksgiving, devastated her family, who describe the teen as a beautiful free spirit who loved the outdoors and found joy in everything she did, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office.

The break in the 52-year-old murder came after cold case detectives reviewing the case found that it appeared to be solvable because of the advancement of forensic science in recent years, the sheriff’s office said.

Detectives submitted evidence to the Utah Bureau of Forensic Services, and “the results were magnificent,” the sheriff’s office said.

“They confirmed irrefutably that DNA evidence recovered from Laura’s body verified the existence of DNA belonging to Bundy,” the office said.

Bundy confessed to about 30 murders, including Aime’s, but wasn’t convicted of many of them because he declined to provide any details about crime scenes and authorities suspected he was lying to gain more infamy. He’s estimated to have killed anywhere between 20 and 100 women in at least seven states, including California, Washington, Colorado, Utah, Idaho and Florida.

He was convicted of three of the murders and executed by the electric chair in Florida in 1989.

Amanda Lee Myers is a senior crime reporter who covers cold case investigations and the death penalty for USA TODAY. Follow her on X at @amandaleeusat.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ted Bundy linked to Utah murder of 17-year-old girl after DNA test