A DNA breakthrough has solved the 52-year-old murder of a Utah police chief's teenage daughter, and the cold-case detective who helped crack it says notorious serial killer Ted Bundy could have other victims investigators do not even know about.
uncertain
investigators → solve → victims
Melissa Ann Smith, 17, the daughter of then-Midvale Police Chief Louis Smith, was found dead in 1974.
asserted
Smith → find → 1974
For decades, investigators suspected Bundy but lacked the evidence needed to definitively tie him to her murder.
asserted
investigators → suspect → murder
That changed in July, when DNA evidence in the killing of another 17-year-old Utah girl, Laura Ann Aime, was matched to Bundy, allowing investigators to compare evidence preserved from Smith's case for more than half a century.
"
asserted
investigators → change → century
There may be more victims out there that we're not even aware of, and I think there's always been that speculation," Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office Detective Ben Pender told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview Wednesday.
uncertain
Pender → think → interview
Pender, a 35-year law enforcement veteran assigned to the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office unsolved homicide and missing person unit, said investigators plan to preserve the evidence that helped solve Smith's murder so it can potentially be used in other cases.
asserted
it → assign → cases
"We're gonna hold on to this evidence, and we're gonna utilize it in cases that we believe may be connected to see if we can't resolve not only our case, but anybody else who may have a case with Bundy," Pender said.
uncertain
Pender → go → Bundy
Smith's body was discovered by hunters on Oct. 27, 1974, in a wooded area near the border of Summit and Salt Lake counties.
asserted
body → discover → counties
"These cases that are unsolved are unsolved, in my opinion, for a reason, and because they are extremely difficult to solve," Pender said.
asserted
Pender → solve → reason
Although investigators had long suspected Bundy, similarities between Smith's killing and his other crimes were not enough to definitively tie him to her death.
asserted
similarities → suspect → death
Investigators needed evidence establishing that Bundy was responsible rather than relying on a similar method of operation, Pender said.
asserted
Pender → need → operation
"DNA is not always the answer, but it definitely is a piece that's missing a lot of times in these cases that, with everything else with the case, will maybe bring that together," Pender said.
asserted
Pender → miss → that
The break investigators needed ultimately came from the Aime case.
asserted
investigators → need → case
Aime vanished after leaving a Halloween party to buy cigarettes on Oct. 31, 1974.
asserted
Aime → vanish → Oct.
Her body was discovered by hikers near American Fork Canyon days later, and investigators determined she had been raped, strangled and murdered.
asserted
she → discover → Canyon
Bundy was considered the prime suspect for decades, but authorities lacked evidence conclusively tying him to the killing.
asserted
authorities → consider → killing
Investigators eventually developed a DNA profile from evidence in Aime's case that was linked to Bundy.
asserted
that → develop → Bundy
Remaining evidence from her case then gave investigators an opportunity to compare it with evidence preserved from Smith's killing.
asserted
evidence → remain → killing
Pender said investigators had retained reports and evidence from the original Smith investigation, including evidence collected during her postmortem examination.
asserted
investigators → say → examination
Utah County investigators reached out to Summit County after the breakthrough in the Aime case to determine whether the remaining evidence could help resolve Smith's murder.
uncertain
evidence → reach → murder
Summit County then turned to Pender because Salt Lake County had maintained evidence from the 1974 investigation.
asserted
County → turn → investigation
Investigators worked with the Utah Bureau of Forensic Services to compare DNA evidence from the two cases and determined the profiles matched.
asserted
profiles → work → cases
The DNA findings, combined with evidence involving Bundy's pattern, motive, means and opportunity, led authorities to conclude Bundy killed Smith and formally close her case Tuesday, 52 years to the day after her body was found.
asserted
body → combine → day
The breakthrough would not have been possible without evidence preserved by investigators for more than five decades.
asserted
breakthrough → preserve → decades
"It's extremely important, in all of these cases, to preserve the evidence," Pender said.
asserted
Pender → preserve → evidence
"We, in all homicide cases, we maintain that evidence forever."
asserted
we → maintain → evidence
"We don't ever get rid of that, even if a case is resolved or solved, and we don't get rid of it for this very reason," he added.
asserted
he → rid → reason
But Pender cautioned that solving one decades-old murder through DNA does not mean investigators can simply run every unsolved killing potentially connected to Bundy through a database.
asserted
investigators → caution → database
Some have DNA evidence while others do not, and evidence collected decades ago may have degraded, been handled before investigators understood the importance of preserving DNA or contain genetic material from multiple people.
uncertain
investigators → have → people
"Back then DNA wasn't a thing, so nobody knew of it," Pender said.
asserted
Pender → know → it
Advances in forensic technology continue to give investigators new opportunities to examine old evidence, but the limitations of individual cases remain.
asserted
limitations → continue → cases
Pender said his caseload includes 34 unsolved homicides and 14 adult missing person cases in which investigators suspect foul play.
asserted
investigators → say → play
He stressed that those cases are not believed to be connected to Bundy, with one notable exception.
asserted
cases → stress → exception
Nancy Wilcox remains missing, and Pender said Bundy confessed to killing her.
asserted
Bundy → remain → her
Her body has never been recovered, preventing investigators from closing the case based solely on his confession.
asserted
body → recover → confession
Smith's case, Pender said Tuesday, "does not close the book on Ted Bundy."
asserted
Pender → say → Bundy
Investigators intend to continue working on Wilcox's disappearance and preserve the Bundy evidence for any other cases in which it could prove useful.
uncertain
it → intend → which
Other cases potentially tied to Bundy could also yield new answers through DNA, Pender said.
uncertain
Pender → tie → DNA
"I think it's definitely possible," Pender said.
asserted
Pender → think → ?
"It just depends on what information other agencies maybe have in their particular cases."
asserted
agencies → depend → cases
…and 10 more, not listed.
The Aporia
