On October 31, 1974, the family of Laura Ann Aime reported her missing. A few weeks later, hikers found her body partway down an embankment just off the American Fork Canyon Road.
Now, 18,780 days after she was reported missing, investigators confirmed that Aime was killed by noted serial killer Ted Bundy.
"We bring this case to a closure and more importantly closure to the Aime family," Utah County Sheriff Mike Smith stated at a press conference Wednesday morning.
Watch: Utah County investigators discuss investigation into death of Laura Aime
Smith said the break in the case came following investigators' reviewing every cold case in Utah County. The sheriff added that the investigators in 1974 did a good job in preserving the evidence, which provided crucial information to the detectives.
Bundy had confessed to killing Aime, but investigators had held off on concluding that he had committed the murder due to the lack of physical evidence at the time. Now, over a half-century after Aime's body was discovered, police say they can claim without a doubt that Bundy was the one behind the murder.
The DNA that was developed throughout the review of the case could also prove helpful in further investigation into Bundy's crimes. A detective with the Utah County Sheriff's Office says that they have been able to share their DNA profile with other departments.
They added that they believe that profile will result in the closing of another case in the near future, but they didn't specify which case.
Ted Bundy had previously been confirmed to have killed and assaulted several young women in Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Utah, and Florida between the years of 1974 and 1978. He would confess to 28 murders, but investigators believed he was responsible for hundreds of deaths.
Bundy, in August 1974, was accepted to attend Law School at the University of Utah and moved to Salt Lake City. Laura Ann Aime would be reported missing just two months later.
In 1979, Bundy was sentenced to death for the murder of two college students in Florida. He was again sentenced to death in 1980 for the rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl.
Bundy was executed via Florida's electric chair in 1989.
