New Ted Bundy victim identified after Halloween cold case cracked
Warning: This article contains discussion of kidnapping, rape and murder which some readers may find distressing.
Ted Bundy was already considered one of the worst serial killers in human history but he's just had another victim added to his list.
The Vermont-born villain was perhaps atypical in his personality as a serial killer, as he would often lure in women with his good looks and charming personality, often convincing them he was in need of assistance.
However, he was also brutal and would usually rape the young women before strangling and killing them, attracting national attention when he acted as his own attorney in the first televised court case in the US.
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Although he did escape prison on two separate occasions, he was eventually convicted and sentenced to death by the electric chair in 1989, uttering some strange final words after his time on death row.
Bundy did confess to the killing of 17-year-old Laura Ann Aime before his death but it is only now, nearly 40 years later, that police have been able to gather enough evidence to conclude that he definitely did it.
Aime had left a party in Utah back in 1974 to go and buy cigarettes but she was never seen alive again, with her naked body discovered in the mountains nearly a month later.
Now, 37 years on from her death, police have been able to gather enough evidence to rule that Bundy was indeed the killer, following a DNA breakthrough while studying the bodily fluids that were found on her body.
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday (1 April), Utah County Sheriff Mike Smith said: "Although Bundy did claim that he committed the murder of Laura, the confession he gave was deemed to be not enough evidence to close the case and rule out any other party having had committed this crime, as had been speculated at the time.
"Fortunately, we have had new forensics techniques become available through our partnership with the Utah Department of Public Safety crime lab that made the closure of this case possible."
Advanced DNA technology meant that the mixed profiles on the victim could be linked one single profile in Florida, which belonged to Bundy.
"We can now say, without a doubt, Ted Bundy did kill Laura Ann Aime," Smith said.
"This case is now officially closed."
Her sister Michelle Impala, who was just 12 when her sister was killed, also welcomed the news that her sibling's case was no longer cold, celebrating the fact that her killer is 'in hell'.
She said: "Just to know that Ted Bundy is gnashing his teeth in hell - I hate to think people are doing that, but with him and a few other people in the world, that’s what they deserve."
If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article and wish to speak to someone in confidence, contact the Rape Crisis England and Wales helpline on 0808 500 222, available 24/7. If you are currently in danger or need urgent medical attention, you should call 999.
James Moorhouse