50 Years Later: New Victim of Ted Bundy Confirmed in Case That Spanned 7 States and Dozens of Murders

A NEW victim of prolific serial killer Ted Bundy has been revealed, 37 years after his execution.

Officials closed a cold case on Wednesday, connecting the murder of a Utah teen killed in 1974 to Bundy.

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Ted Bundy kidnapped, raped and killed dozens of women in the 1970sCredit: Bettmann Archive
 

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Laura Ann Aime disappeared in 1974 and has now been confirmed as one of Bundy’s victimsCredit: Utah County Sheriff’s Office
 

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Bundy was arrested several times and managed to escape jailsCredit: Alamy
The Utah County Sheriff’s Office closed the door on a 52-year-old cold case involving Laura Ann Aime, who was 17 when she disappeared on Halloween night.

Officials said they collected DNA evidence that was found to be a positive match to Bundy, providing “definitive evidence” that he killed Aime.

Aime’s nude and beaten body was found by hikers on November 27, 1974, roughly a month after she disappeared.

“Case evidence similarities indicated that the manner of abuse and the likely cause of death was comparable to the modus operandi of Theodore ‘Ted’ Bundy,” the sheriff’s office said on Wednesday.

America’s worst serial killers: From the Zodiac Killer to Ted Bundy

Bundy included Aime when he confessed to murders in several US states before he was executed in 1989.

However, Bundy was never charged in the teen’s death.

“At the time of his admission, the Utah County Sheriff’s Department and Utah County Attorney’s Office both declined to accept Bundy’s verbal accountability for Laura’s homicide, as the open Utah County case was unable to satisfactorily convict Bundy based upon the evidence in possession and with the available investigative sciences for the time,” the sheriff’s office said.

Officials were able to close the case thanks to “new forensics techniques.”

Baby dies after being shot by stray bullet being pushed in stroller by mom

Officials used DNA technology that can separate mixed DNA profiles, which allowed them to identify a male DNA profile from a fluid sample collected in the case.

Utah County Sheriff Mike Smith said that evidence collected in 1974 remained usable despite all these years.

Investigators added the profile into the national database and got a “hit” in Florida. Utah officials then worked with a crime lab in Florida to match the DNA profile to Bundy.

“With that evidence and the full support of the Utah County Sheriff’s Office, we bring this case to a closure,” Smith said.

“And most importantly, we bring closure, hopefully, to the Aime family, who have endured over 50 years of the loss of their loved one.”

Officials said having Bundy’s full DNA profile will allow other cold cases involving the killer to be solved.

Another case is close to closure due to the evidence they provided in this case, the sheriff’s office added.

Ted Bundy’s Victims

Bundy confessed to over 30 murders, but experts have estimated there could be over 100 victims. Here are some of the victims that we know of

1974
Washington, Oregon
February 1: Lynda Ann Healy (21)
March 12: Donna Gail Manson (19)
April 17: Susan Elaine Rancourt (18)
May 6: Roberta Kathleen Parks (22)
June 1: Brenda Carol Ball (22)
June 11: Georgann Hawkins (18)
July 14: Janice Ann Ott (23)
July 14: Denise Marie Naslund (19)

Utah, Colorado, Idaho
October 2: Nancy Wilcox (16)
October 18: Melissa Anne Smith (17)
October 31: Laura Ann Aime (17)
November 8: Debra Jean Kent (17)

1975
January 12: Caryn Eileen Campbell (23)
March 15: Julie Cunningham (26)
April 6: Denise Lynn Oliverson (25)
May 6: Lynette Dawn Culver (12)
June 28: Susan Curtis (15)
1978
Florida
January 15: Margaret Elizabeth Bowman (21)
January 15: Lisa Levy (20)
February 9: Kimberly Diane Leach (12)

Survivors include…
January 4, 1974: Karen Sparks (18)
November 8, 1974: Carol DaRonch (18)
January 15, 1978: Karen Chandler (21)
January 15, 1978: Kathy Kleiner (21)
January 15, 1978: Cheryl Thomas (21)

Officials said if Bundy were alive today, they would have pursued the case to the fullest extent.

Michelle Impala, Aime’s sister, said the family had assumed the case was closed for years until recently.

“I’m sure that my mom and dad would be really happy to know that it is closed,” she said.

“Just to know that Ted Bundy is gnashing his teeth in hell is really … I hate to think of people doing that, but with him and a few other people in the world, that’s what they deserve.”

“It’s really quite amazing that people are still interested in Laura’s case,” she said while choking up.

Impala, who was 12 when Aime died, recalled being close with her older sister, whom she shared a room with.

Aime was passionate about animals and spent a lot of time with her horse feeding him red licorice, which he then refused to eat after her death, Impala said.

“We were always together … I thought she was fun because you know, I’m a little kid just following her around.”

Who was Ted Bundy?

Bundy, one of the most notorious killers in US history, was responsible for killing over 30 young women between 1974 and 1978.

His sadistic rituals brought nationwide obsession with his crimes, resulting in the production of several films and shows about the serial killer.

Several women went missing in Seattle, Washington and nearby Oregon in 1974, where locals talked of women being lured into cars by a man named Ted who faked injuries.

He moved to Utah in 1974 where he attended law school and soon after people began disappearing from the state.

Bundy was known to revisit some crime scenes where he continued to sexually violate his victims’ corpses.

Bundy decapitated at least 12 of his victims, keeping their heads as trophies.

He was arrested in 1975 for kidnapping Carol DaRonch, one of the few who survived his attacks. He was sentenced to up to 15 years in prison, but in 1977, he jumped out of the jailhouse library window and disappeared.

He was captured eight days later. But in December 1977, he climbed out of a hole in the ceiling of his cell and fled to Florida.

A month later, he broke into a sorority house at Florida State University, killing two women and bludgeoning three others.

He was convicted of those crimes in July 1979 after it was found he was responsible for the bite marks on one of the bodies.

Baby dies after being shot by stray bullet being pushed in stroller by mom

His last victim was 12-year-old Kimberly Diane Leach, who was found dumped under a shed after she was kidnapped in Florida.

Bundy was ultimately executed by electric chair at the age of 42 on January 24, 1989.