After 52 years, the 1974 murder of a Utah teenager has been definitively linked to the infamous serial killer Ted Bundy, according to a Wednesday, April 1, announcement.
While seemingly ripped from the latest murder mystery documentary, officials were not joking when they said 17-year-old Laura Ann Aime was killed by Bundy after vanishing on Halloween night in 1974.
Aime’s remains were found just weeks later — on Thanksgiving Day — by hikers in American Fork.
According to police, Aime was raped and strangled to death.
Utah County Sheriff Mike Smith said DNA evidence collected from the scene recently returned a positive match to Bundy.
Investigators have returned to the Colorado home once occupied by the family of JonBenét Ramsey and collected new evidence for testing, authorities revealed. Each year as the anniversary of the 6-year-old’s 1996 death approaches, the Boulder Police Department provides an update on the case, which they claim is active and ongoing. “Last year we gave […]
Despite over five decades of waiting, Smith said the evidence “endured the years” and remained “pristine,” leading authorities to confidently identify Aime as another Bundy victim.
The antisocial Bundy was 42 when he was executed in Florida on January 24, 1989. The serial killing rapist confessed to killing 30 women. An official body count is unknown.
Some have speculated it could be close to 100.
Investigators said that Bundy’s full DNA profile is kept in Florida but came up as a match to evidence tied to the Utah teen’s case.
“With that evidence and the full support of the Utah County Sheriff’s Office, we bring this case to a closure,” the sheriff said at a Wednesday news conference. “And most importantly, we bring closure, hopefully, to the Aime family, who have endured over 50 years in the loss of their loved one.”
A man accused of raping and murdering a 13-year-old girl in 1982 has been found guilty by a California jury after DNA from his cigarette linked him to the decades-old cold case, according to prosecutors. James Oliver Unick, of Willows, was convicted of murder on Friday, February 13, with the special circumstance “related to the […]
The charismatic Bundy confessed to investigators that he had killed Laura Ann, but the admission was not enough to officially close the case at the time.
Smith credited technological advances in DNA evidence investigation for their ability to officially link the teen’s violent death to Bundy.
Before his arrest in 1978, Bundy killed women in seven states.
Investigators still suspect he’d had more victims, many of whom he kidnapped and sexually assaulted.
For The Traitors fans in desperate need of more content, look no further than Peacock’s aftershow. Inspired by Dutch series De Verraders (which previously led to a popular U.K. version), The Traitors brings together celebrities, especially reality TV stars from different franchises — including Survivor, Big Brother, Real Housewives and more — as they compete […]
Bundy’s reign of terror came to an end in February 1978 when, having previously escaped from custody, Florida police stopped the stolen vehicle he was driving.
While on Florida’s death row in the early 1980s, Bundy contacted federal investigators and extended an offer to help in developing a profile of the Green River Killer, later identified as Gary Ridgway.
The lead investigator in the Green River killings flew from Washington to Florida to sit with Bundy, who offered insights into how a serial killer thinks. The profile Bundy helped them develop eventually led to Ridgway’s capture.