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Ted Bundy, the infamous serial killer, reportedly stalked one of his teenage victims, even masquerading as her boyfriend, months before her brutally beaten and unclothed body was found in Utah, according to her family.
Laura Ann Aime, aged 17, became a target of Bundy, a notorious predator, until she vanished from a Halloween party over five decades ago. Earlier this month, authorities confirmed that Bundy was “without a shadow of a doubt” responsible for her murder.
“It appears Ted Bundy followed my aunt on several occasions before ultimately taking her life. He approached her multiple times,” Aime’s niece, Taura Stucki, shared with The Sun.
Bundy, who confessed to murdering 30 women between 1974 and 1978 across several states, was infamous for his modus operandi of targeting primarily young female hitchhikers.
Stucki, now 30, accessed information from a private investigator working on her aunt’s case. The files revealed that Bundy’s intentions towards Aime extended beyond a random encounter on the road; he had been in contact with her at school.
Bundy’s first known interaction with Aime was when he jumped in to protect the minor during a schoolyard incident.
“These kids were throwing leaves down her shirt. He came up to her and put his arm around her and was like, ‘Leave my girlfriend alone,’” Stucki said.
Aime reportedly looked Bundy, then about 27-years-old, before telling him off saying, “I’m not your girlfriend,” the outlet added.
Stucki had known about Bundy’s predatory targeting of her aunt for years, but found solace when officials in Utah County confirmed he had killed Aime.
“So, I always knew that, but then to see it like he actually did stalk her is kind of crazy to me because most of his victims, it seems like he just picked them up right then.”
The 17-year-old was last seen leaving a Halloween night party in Lehi, going to a convenience store to purchase some items.
Two college students discovered Aime’s corpse in the American Fork Canyon on Thanksgiving, a month later.
Officials believe Aime’s body was tossed several feet off the side of the highway, and was found severely beaten with no clothing.
Aime’s father, Stucki’s grandfather, was unable to identify his daughter by her face because the severity of the injuries.
“This one time she was thrown off of her horse into a barbed-wire fencing and she had scarring from it. That’s actually how her dad ended up identifying her body,” Stucki said.
Aime is believed to be at least the third victim of Bundy’s – who was studying at the University of Utah at the time.
She is also one of the only ones that Bundy was known to have stalked before killing her, Stucki said.
Before his execution in 1989, Bundy had verbally acknowledged killing the teen, but prosecutors kept the homicide case open for decades until investigators obtained evidence to corroborate the monster killer’s words.
Stucki was relieved to learn officials were still investigating her aunt’s death over half a century later.
“They made us feel like family. They called her the daughter of Utah County, which was just so crazy to think like, people still cared, 52 years later, she’s still remembered,” Stucki said.
Officials revealed Aime’s case had many similarities to other Bundy murders but many discrepancies and other issues delayed detectives from making an official ruling, even considering other suspects until pinning it on Bundy.