The site where Melissa Smith was found

On October 18th, 1974, serial killer Ted Bundy abducted Melissa Anne Smith from Midvale, Utah.

Nine days later, two deer hunters discovered her remains on this hillside in Summit Park.

The teenager had a man's blue nylon sock tied around her neck. An autopsy report indicated she had also sustained multiple head injuries.

Bundy had raped, beaten, and strangled the high school student to death.

Following the murder, he pulled his Volkswagen Bug over at this section of the I-80, dragged her body down the side of the hill, and dumped it in some scrub oak.

Smith was the daughter of Midvale police chief Louis Smith. Her murder took place just sixteen days after Nancy Wilcox disappeared from the nearby city of Holladay.

Abduction

This site is 23 miles away from the pizza parlor where Smith was last seen.

That evening, the 17-year-old met a friend at a restaurant called Pepperoni Pizza, which was situated at 100 West Center Street in Midvale.

On the night of her disappearance, Smith was supposed to be staying at a friend's house. However, those plans fell through after her friend failed to answer the phone.

Realizing she had been stood up, she left the parlor at around 9.30 p.m. to walk back to her house.

Smith never made it home that night. At some point during her journey, Bundy intercepted her.

After leaving the parlor, she likely walked west on West Center Street and then south on Oak Street. She would have turned right at the end of Oak Street and crossed Veterans Memorial Highway under the overpass.

Shortly after she left the parlor, a witness claimed that they heard a loud scream coming from the area around Midvale Elementary School. Therefore, it is possible that she never made it as far as the overpass.

Smith's makeup was intact, and her nails were undamaged. This indicated that there wasn't a struggle and that she was caught off guard. If Bundy stuck to his favored M.O., then it is likely that he struck her on the head with a crowbar.

One unconfirmed report suggests that he may have been asking women in the area to assist him with a car issue.

It is not known if Smith was attacked as she was walking along the street or if Bundy managed to lure her to his Volkswagen Bug. The exact location of her abduction is also unclear.

The only thing that remains certain is that she left a pizza parlor that evening and was later found murdered on a hillside in Summit Park.