\n<\/p>\n
SPANISH FORK, Utah — <\/span>New DNA testing has definitively linked the unsolved death of a Utah teenager in 1974 to the infamous serial killer Ted Bundy<\/a>, the local sheriff\u2019s office said Wednesday.<\/p>\n Laura Ann Aime, 17, went missing Halloween night 51 years ago after she left a party alone to go to a convenience store. About a month later, her body was found on the side of a highway, bound, beaten and without clothing.<\/p>\n Investigators long suspected that Bundy was responsible \u2014 police said he verbally acknowledged his culpability leading up to his execution<\/a> \u2014 but the case remained open until they could be sure. Bundy was one of the nation\u2019s most prolific serial killers, with at least 30 women and girls\u2019 deaths linked to him in several states in the 1970s. His murders \u2014 which occurred in sorority houses, parks and elsewhere \u2014 set the nation on edge. Bundy\u2019s arrest drew widespread fascination, in part because many considered him to be charming and handsome.<\/p>\n At the time of Aime\u2019s killing, Bundy was living in Salt Lake City and studying law at the University of Utah.<\/p>\n \u201cLaura Aime is the quintessential daughter of Utah County. We felt the pain the family feels when she was taken. We felt the pain that you felt this whole entire time, and we\u2019ve had the desire to deliver to you some type of healing, we can\u2019t really say closure,\u201d Utah County sheriff\u2019s Sgt. Mike Reynolds said in a news conference earlier Wednesday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n