More than 50 years after 17-year-old Laura Ann Aime disappeared in Utah, authorities say they have finally confirmed that notorious serial killer Ted Bundy was responsible for her death. Utah officials announced on Wednesday, April 1, that newly analyzed DNA evidence conclusively tied Bundy to Aime, closing a case that had remained unresolved since 1974.
According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Aime vanished on Halloween night after leaving a party in Lehi, Utah. Her body was discovered nearly a month later by hikers in American Fork Canyon. Investigators long believed Bundy was behind the killing because the circumstances closely matched his known pattern of targeting young women in Utah during the mid-1970s.
Bundy even referenced Aime when he confessed to multiple murders shortly before his execution in 1989, but there was never enough physical evidence to formally close the case.
That changed after the Utah Department of Public Safety used forensic technology acquired in 2023 that can separate mixed DNA samples. Investigators extracted a male DNA profile from evidence collected decades ago and entered it into a national database.
The sample produced a match to Bundy’s DNA profile in Florida, where he was executed in 1989. Sheriff Mike Smith said the evidence was so definitive that, if Bundy were alive today, prosecutors would seek both criminal charges and the death penalty.
Laura Ann Aime’s family said the confirmation brings a painful but meaningful sense of closure. Her younger sister, Michelle Impala, said the family had long suspected Bundy was responsible, but hearing it officially confirmed still mattered.
She described Laura as an outdoors-loving teenager who loved horses, animals, and life on her family’s farm.
One detail that stayed with the family for decades: after Laura died, her horse reportedly stopped eating the red licorice treats she used to bring it.
Bundy moved to Salt Lake City in 1974 to attend law school at the University of Utah. During that time, investigators believe he killed at least five women in Utah and possibly more. Several victims, including 17-year-old Debra Kent, were never found.
Laura Ann Aime is now considered Bundy’s sixth confirmed victim in Utah. The recovery of Bundy’s full DNA profile may also help investigators revisit other cold cases connected to him across multiple states.
