Laura Aime and the evidence that outlived Ted Bundy
Bundy was suspected for decades and admitted the killing before his execution, without details. In 2026 a DNA profile from 1974 evidence finally matched him.
- When
- Disappeared October 31, 1974; found November 27, 1974
- Where
- Lehi and American Fork Canyon, Utah County, Utah
- Status
- Suspect died before trial
Content note murder of a teenager, sexual violence, serial killer. No graphic images.
In brief
On Halloween 1974, Laura Ann Aime, 17, of Fairview, Utah, left a party in Lehi, reportedly headed to a convenience store, and did not come back. On Thanksgiving, nearly a month later, two college students hiking found her body partway down an embankment off American Fork Canyon Road. She had been beaten and strangled. Ted Bundy, then a law student at the University of Utah, became a suspect, and shortly before his execution in Florida in 1989 he acknowledged killing her, but gave no details and was never charged. Utah County kept the case open. Evidence collected in 1974 was preserved, and using newer technology, the state crime lab recovered a male DNA profile from it. In March 2026, the national DNA database returned a match to Bundy through a reference sample held in Florida. On April 1, 2026, Utah County Sheriff Mike Smith announced that the case was closed. Bundy was never charged or tried for Laura's murder.
Turning pointIn March 2026 a DNA profile recovered from evidence kept since 1974 was run through the national database. The match came back from Florida: Ted Bundy.
- Victim
- Laura Ann Aime, 17, of Fairview, Utah
- Last seen
- Leaving a Halloween party in Lehi, October 31, 1974
- Found
- November 27, 1974, by hikers near American Fork Canyon Road
- Suspect named
- Ted Bundy, who acknowledged the killing before his 1989 execution, without details
- DNA match
- March 2026, through the national CODIS database
- Case closed
- April 1, 2026, by the Utah County Sheriff's Office
Timeline
1974
Laura Ann Aime, 17, is the daughter of a family from Fairview, in central Utah.
October 31, 1974
Laura goes to a Halloween party in Lehi.
October 31, 1974
She leaves the party alone, reportedly to walk to a convenience store, and is reported missing.
November 27, 1974
On a Thanksgiving hike, two college students find her body partway down an embankment off American Fork Canyon Road. She has been beaten and strangled.
1970s
Investigators suspect Ted Bundy, then a law student at the University of Utah, who is later convicted of other killings.
January 22, 1989
Two days before his execution in Florida, Bundy talks with a Utah detective about killings in the state, and authorities say he acknowledges killing Laura, without giving details. He is executed on January 24.
2023
With newer DNA technology available, Utah County investigators reopen the case and send evidence preserved since 1974 to the state crime lab, which recovers a single male DNA profile.
March 2026
The profile is entered into CODIS, the national DNA database. Florida notifies Utah that it matches Ted Bundy's reference sample. Labs in both states confirm.
April 1, 2026
At a news conference in Spanish Fork, Sheriff Mike Smith announces that Laura's case is officially closed. Her younger sister, Michelle Impala, is there.
The full story
Halloween, 1974
Laura Ann Aime was 17, from Fairview, a farming town in central Utah. On Halloween night in 1974 she was at a party in Lehi, north of Provo. At some point she left alone, reportedly to walk to a convenience store. She did not come back.
On Thanksgiving, nearly a month later, two college students out hiking found her body partway down an embankment off American Fork Canyon Road. She had been beaten and strangled.
The suspect
Detectives came to suspect Ted Bundy, then a law student at the University of Utah, who would become one of the most notorious serial killers in American history. Bundy was later convicted of murders in Florida and sentenced to death. In January 1989, days before his execution, he spoke with a Utah detective about killings in the state. Authorities say he acknowledged killing Laura but offered no details. That was not enough to close the case, and he was never charged with it. He was executed on January 24, 1989.
The evidence
Utah County kept the evidence collected in 1974. In 2023, with newer DNA technology available, investigators reopened the case and sent it to the state crime lab, which recovered a single male DNA profile. They entered it into CODIS, the national DNA database. In March 2026 Florida reported a match to the reference sample it had held since Bundy’s arrest there in 1978: Ted Bundy.
Closed
On April 1, 2026, Utah County Sheriff Mike Smith announced that Laura’s case was officially closed. Her younger sister, Michelle Impala, who was 12 when Laura disappeared, was there to hear it. Bundy was never tried for Laura’s murder, and never will be. After more than fifty years, the evidence finally put his name to it.
What the video couldn't include
A confession wasn't enough
Bundy's statements before his execution were not enough to close the case: he gave no details investigators could verify. The sheriff said the DNA provided the definitive evidence that had been missing.
Her sister
Michelle Impala was 12 when Laura disappeared. At the announcement she embraced Brent Bullock, one of the original investigators.
Not a Halloween costume case
Laura disappeared on Halloween night, but nothing in the record connects the killing to a costume or to the party itself.
Other cases
The breakthrough prompted other agencies to look again at unsolved cases from the 1970s. Wyoming investigators said they were reviewing four cases, though no evidence had pointed to Bundy.
Bundy in Utah
Bundy is linked to the killings of at least eight young women in Utah. Laura's is among the cases he discussed before his death.
The video and the record
The episode tells this case in about 1 minutes with illustrated recreations. Here is how its key moments line up with what is documented.
Laura Aime had left a party in Lehi, Utah, reportedly headed to a convenience store
Documented
The 'reportedly' reflects how the AP described it.
Before his nineteen eighty-nine execution, authorities say he acknowledged killing Laura but gave no details
Documented
Attributed to authorities. Bundy was never charged in her case.
More than fifty years later, a Utah crime lab recovered a male DNA profile
Compressed
Testing began after the case was reopened around 2023, and results took about a year.
Utah County's sheriff said Laura's case was closed
Documented
April 1, 2026.
The party, the canyon, the lab, the announcement
Reconstruction
AI-generated illustrations. No photographs of Laura or the scene are reproduced.
What the four marks mean
- Documented
- Shown as it is recorded in court filings, police statements, or consistent reporting.
- Reconstruction
- A reasonable visual recreation of a documented event. The event happened; the image is illustrative.
- Compressed
- Real events shortened, merged, or reordered to fit the runtime.
- Dramatized
- A storytelling choice (framing, wording, emphasis) that the record does not establish.
Sources
- [1]Utah Department of Public Safety, Bureau of Criminal IdentificationCold Case: Laura Aime
- [2]KSL.com“Ted Bundy now officially linked to 1974 murder of Utah teen”
- [3]Deseret News“Ted Bundy now officially linked to 1974 murder of Utah teen”
- [4]ABC News“Ted Bundy 'without a doubt' killed 17-year-old girl, sheriff says”
- [5]Associated Press, via ABC7 Los Angeles“New DNA testing links unsolved death of Utah teen Laura Ann Aime to serial killer”
- [6]Associated Press, via Spectrum News“New DNA testing confirms serial killer Ted Bundy killed Utah teen in 1974”
- [7]The Salt Lake Tribune“Ted Bundy killed Utah teen Laura Ann Aime in 1974, investigators announce”
- [8]Cowboy State Daily“ID Of Utah Ted Bundy Victim A 'Bombshell' DNA Breakthrough That Could Solve Other Cases”
- [9]KSL.com, via East Idaho News“Looking back at Ted Bundy's Utah confession 30 years ago”
- [10]Oxygen“Ted Bundy Linked to 1974 Murder of Laura Ann Aime Through DNA Evidence”
VerifiedKey facts in this file were checked against multiple consistent reports and first-person or official accounts. Last reviewed October 6, 2026. How we check cases
