The Case of Debra Jean Kent

Debra Jean Kent, 17, disappeared from the parking lot of Viewmont High School in Bountiful, Utah, on 8 November 1974. Ted Bundy later confessed to murdering her and directed investigators to the area where he had left her remains. A patella recovered there was identified as Debra's through DNA testing in 2015.

Debra was a 17-year-old student from Bountiful who attended Viewmont High School. On the evening of 8 November 1974, she attended a school play with her parents. During the evening, Debra left the school to collect her younger brothers from a nearby skating rink. She was expected to return to the school afterwards, but she never came back. Earlier that same day, Ted Bundy had abducted Carol DaRonch from a shopping mall in Murray, Utah. DaRonch escaped from Bundy and later identified him as her attacker. Bundy subsequently drove toward Bountiful, where Debra disappeared that evening.

Debra was last seen in the parking lot of Viewmont High School after leaving to collect her brothers. Investigators later determined that Bundy had abducted her from the area. Before his execution, Bundy confessed to killing Debra and directed investigators to Fairview Canyon, where he said he had left her body. A search in 1989 located hundreds of animal bones and one human bone - a patella. The bone was initially given to Debra's family, but it was not scientifically identified at the time.

Debra's disappearance became part of the growing investigation into young women disappearing across Utah and the Pacific Northwest. Bundy confessed to her murder shortly before his execution in 1989 and provided information that led investigators to Fairview Canyon. For decades, however, there was no definitive identification of the human bone recovered there. In 2015, Bountiful investigators learned that Debra's family had retained the patella. Modern DNA testing compared the bone with samples from her family and confirmed that it belonged to Debra.

Ted Bundy was never separately tried or convicted for Debra Kent's murder. He confessed to killing her before his execution in 1989. In 2015, DNA testing confirmed that the human patella recovered from Fairview Canyon belonged to Debra, providing her family with definitive identification more than 40 years after her disappearance.

Debra's identification finally resolved one of Utah's most enduring missing-person cases and confirmed the location Bundy had provided before his death.