The notorious serial killer Ted Bundy has been found responsible, through DNA evidence, for the murder of a 17-year-old Utah girl who went missing in 1974 before her nude body was found days later, state authorities announced at a Tuesday news conference.

The breakthrough in the investigation of Melissa Ann Smith’s death comes months after Utah county detectives confirmed in April that Bundy had killed another Utah girl, 17-year-old Laura Ann Aime, in 1974.

Bundy had confessed to killing Laura during a string of admissions he made before being executed in 1989 for two of his murders.

Laura was last seen during a Halloween party, before being found dead and severely beaten in late November 1974.

It was not until this year, though, that new DNA testing backed Bundy’s account.

Bodily fluid extracted from Laura’s body was a match to Bundy’s known DNA profile, law enforcement officials said then.

That discovery put into motion the closure of Smith’s homicide investigation.

The Y-STR DNA profile recovered…