The bar where Ann Woodward was murdered

This is the location where Ann Hammer Woodward was murdered.

It is called Woody's Bar, and it is located at 221 South Main Street in Moab, Utah.

The 46-year-old mother of four owned and operated this bar with her husband, Leslie H. "Woody" Woodward.

Woodward failed to return home after closing the bar by herself during the early hours of March 2nd, 1973.

Later that morning, at approximately 6.45 a.m., her husband arrived and found her partially nude body lying on the floor between two pool tables.

She had been raped and strangled to death with her own trousers.

Someone had opened the cash register and stolen an undetermined amount of money. A pack of playing cards was also found on one of the tables.

The police believed that a customer committed the crime after closing time.

Investigators collected 29 pieces of evidence from the scene, including hair, fingerprints, and the victim's clothing. Attempts to match these items against suspects failed, as forensic technology was still in its infancy.

Although various leads were followed and polygraph tests were performed, the case hit a brick wall when the main suspects hired attorneys and refused to talk.

In 2006, the police reopened the investigation in the hope that advances in DNA technology might finally lead to an arrest. They also tracked down boxes of evidence that had been scattered across the MCPD, the Grand County Sheriff's Office, and the Grand County Attorney's Office.

This new investigation failed to identify the killer.

In 2022, funds were made available for additional DNA testing using modern technology. In the months that followed, Moab City Police Detective Jeremy Drexler gathered all of the evidence from the crime scene and categorized it.

In May 2024, the State of Utah Crime Lab found a match.

One of the initial suspects in Woodward's murder was a 35-year-old mine worker named Douglas Keith Chudomelka. Chudomelka frequented the bar and had a lengthy criminal history.

Forensic testing determined that a swab from the inside of Woodward's pants matched his DNA.

Samples collected from cigarette butts also proved that he was sitting at the bar on the night of the murder.

Chudomelka died in Nebraska on October 18th, 2002.

After spending time in Moab, he became a truck driver who traveled extensively. He also spent time in California, Alabama, Nebraska, and Iowa. The authorities plan on uploading his DNA to the national database, CODIS. This will allow authorities in other states to cross-reference his DNA against unsolved cold cases.

Photos

Photos of the bar and other related images.

Woody's Tavern

Image source: Google Maps

This Google Street View image of Woody's Tavern was captured in September 2022—nearly 50 years after Ann Woodward was brutally murdered.

Woodward owned and operated the bar with her husband, Leslie H. "Woody" Woodward. However, on the night in question, she had been working by herself.

Leslie remarried 12 years later. He passed away on Christmas Day in 2005 at the age of 84.

Murder

Image source: The Daily Herald

The police believed that Woodward was killed by someone who remained in the tavern after closing time.

Her husband discovered her partially clad body at around 6.45 a.m.

Lead

In March 1973, the Deseret News newspaper reported that Grand County Sheriff W. H. Bowman had a good lead in the case.

Unfortunately, this lead failed to result in an arrest.

Although the news article above states that roughly $50 was taken from the cash register, other news reports described the money as an "indeterminable amount".

Sexual predators will often take valuables from their victims, even though robbery isn't their primary motive.

For example, serial killer Ted Bundy reportedly stole money from some of the women that he murdered. He did this simply because he was broke, and the cash was there for the taking.

Similarly, Long Island murder victim Tina Foglia was missing a diamond ring, even though investigators believe that she was killed to cover up a sexual assault.