Bundy’s DNA could help police

Convicted serial killer Ted Bundy.

Convicted serial killer Ted Bundy.

Published Aug 11, 2011

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Miami - DNA taken from serial killer Ted Bundy and preserved for decades by Florida authorities has been added to an FBI national database, in what authorities say could help solve long-cold criminal cases.

Bundy, one of the most notorious murderers in US history, was executed in 1989 after confessing to the murders of 36 women, although police say he killed several more people.

A blood sample taken from Bundy in 1978 has now been used to create a complete genetic profile that police can check against when seeking to match forensic evidence.

“The DNA profile of Mr Ted Bundy was downloaded to the national database on Friday, spokeswoman Heather Smith of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement told AFP.

“So far we don't have any information of any results that his DNA matches with samples of DNA from other old crimes.”

FDLE officials located the Bundy blood sample in a court in Columbia County, about 610 kilometers north of Miami. Authorities had arrested Bundy in connection with the murder of a 12-year-old girl there in 1978.

The FDLE recently determined that the DNA sample was complete enough to upload to the FBI registry.

Bundy's DNA “will be compared with other DNA evidence taken from unsolved cases across the country,” Smith said.

In 2002, authorities sought to create a genetic Bundy profile from a sample taken at an autopsy but it was not complete enough to upload it to the national database.

Florida authorities had re-committed to finalizing Bundy's DNA sample after a request from detectives in Tacoma, Washington, who are investigating the long-cold case of an eight-year-old girl who disappeared in 1961. Bundy lived in Tacoma for several years.

Bundy was put to death in the electric chair on January 24, 1989 in Florida, after being convicted of murdering three people, including the 12-year-old girl in Columbia County. - Sapa-AFP

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