SPANISH FORK, Utah — The murder of a 17-year-old Utah girl in 1974 has been definitively connected to serial killer Ted Bundy, officials in the Beehive State announced on Tuesday.
“This case is now officially closed,” Utah County Sheriff Mike Smith said during a news conference.
Laura Ann Aime was last seen at a Halloween part in Utah County on Oct. 31, 1974, the sheriff’s office said in a news release issued on Wednesday. She reportedly told others at the party that she was going to buy a pack of cigarettes, but the teen never returned.
Her body was found by hikers on Nov. 27, 1974, down an embankment, KTVX reported. Officials said she was strangled, raped, and murdered.
Bundy originally told law enforcement officials that Aime was one of his victims, but it had never been proven conclusively.
He was executed in Florida’s electric chair on Jan. 24, 1989, after his convictions for the 1987 murders of Florida State University coeds Lisa Levy and Margaret Bowman; and the 1978 killing of 12-year-old Kimberly Leach, who was kidnapped and murdered in Lake City, Florida.
At the time of his death, Bundy claimed to have been responsible for at least 30 murders.
He also claimed to have killed Aime, but Smith said that Bundy did not elaborate or provide details that would have tied him to the murder.
“Although Bundy did claim that he committed the murder of Laura, the confession he gave was deemed to be not enough evidence to close the case and rule out any other party having had committed this crime, as had been speculated at the time,” Smith said during a news conference. “Fortunately, we have had new forensics techniques become available through our partnership with the Utah Department of Public Safety crime lab that made the closure of this case possible.”
Bundy had moved to Salt Lake City in the fall of 1974 to attend law school at the University of Utah, the Tribune reported. He had already killed at least nine women and attacked one more in Washington, Oregon and Idaho, officials said; the Pacific Northwest were looking for a killer named Ted, according to the newspaper.
Bundy was believed to have killed at least five young women in Utah, the Tribune reported.
“We can now say, without a doubt, Ted Bundy did kill Laura Ann Aime,” Smith said. “If Bundy were alive today, we would have pursued this case to the fullest extent, and we would have pushed this criminal case and asked for capital punishment and the death penalty from the Utah County Sheriff’s Office.”
Aimes’ sister, Michelle, said that her family was appreciative of the evidence team for following through with the case to closure, KUTV reported.
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