For fifty-one years, the family of Laura Ann Aime wondered who killed their seventeen-year-old girl. After being classified as a cold case for decades, they finally have an answer. DNA has now confirmed the identity of her killer as serial killer Ted Bundy. The announcement came on April 1, 2026.
Aime went missing on Halloween night in 1974 after leaving a party. While Bundy had long been considered a suspect in her death, the case went cold due to a lack of definitive evidence. Now, advanced forensic technology has finally provided absolute certainty.
The Breakthrough
According to the UCSO, the case was cracked wide open thanks to modern technology and investigators “meticulously” combing through the original evidence.
“Existing evidence was submitted to the Utah Bureau of Forensic Services so we could utilize the various forms of advanced forensic sciences and professionals,” the agency stated in a press release. “The results were magnificent as they confirmed irrefutably that DNA evidence recovered from Laura’s body verified the existence of DNA belonging to Bundy.”
The push for answers was reignited as the 51st anniversary of Aime’s disappearance approached, prompting Investigations Sergeant M. Reynolds and Cold Case Detective J. Hall to take a fresh look at the evidence.
A Tragic Discovery
Aime’s body was discovered less than a month after she vanished by two college students on a Thanksgiving Day hike. Her remains had been left near State Road 92 in the American Fork Canyon.
The crime scene was horrific: authorities noted that Aime’s body was bound, severely beaten, and found without clothing. Deputies also recovered a nylon stocking at the scene that had been used to strangle her.
Closing a Dark Chapter
Between 1974 and 1978, Ted Bundy went on a horrific rampage, raping and murdering dozens of young women and girls across California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, and Florida.
While Bundy confessed to dozens of murders before his death, Aime’s case remained officially unsolved until this DNA match. Bundy’s reign of terror ultimately ended when he was executed in the electric chair at Florida State Prison on January 24, 1989. Thanks to the relentless work of Utah investigators, one more family finally has the definitive answers they have deserved for over half a century.
