The Case of Melissa Anne Smith

Melissa Anne Smith, 17, disappeared from a tavern in Midvale, Utah, on 18 October 1974. Her body was discovered in the Wasatch Mountains nine months later. Ted Bundy later confessed to her murder, although he was never separately convicted of killing her.

Melissa was the daughter of Utah police chief Louis Smith. She was a senior at Skyline High School and worked part-time as a waitress. On the night of 17 October 1974, Melissa went to a tavern in Midvale. She was last seen shortly after midnight on 18 October, when she left the establishment. She never returned home. Her disappearance became one of the earliest cases in Utah connected to Ted Bundy.

Melissa was last seen leaving the tavern in Midvale. Her remains were discovered on 27 April 1975 in the Wasatch Mountains near American Fork Canyon, approximately six months after her disappearance. Investigators determined that she had suffered severe blunt-force trauma. The location where her remains were found was later associated with another Bundy victim, Laura Ann Aime.

Police investigated Melissa's disappearance and searched for her after she failed to return home. Her father's position as a local police chief brought considerable attention to the case. As additional young women disappeared in Utah, investigators began examining possible connections between the cases. Ted Bundy eventually confessed to killing Melissa. Bundy's confession, combined with the recovery of her remains, established her as one of his identified victims.

Ted Bundy was never separately tried or convicted for Melissa Smith's murder. He confessed to killing her before his execution in 1989. Her remains were recovered in the Wasatch Mountains in 1975, bringing an end to the uncertainty surrounding her disappearance.

Melissa's father, Louis Smith, was the police chief of Midvale at the time of her disappearance. Her murder therefore had a particularly personal impact on the local law-enforcement community investigating Bundy's growing series of crimes.