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/ f FD-350 (Rev, 7-16-63) @ ) ¥ (Mount Clipping in Space Below) P 8 © First vi Du WE Deseret News staff writer ee A year ago Utah was shocked by the murder of two girls and the disappear- “ance of a third. The cases ¥. still are unsolved. On Ceci. 27, 1974, two deer . hunters found the nude body of Melissa Smith, 17-year-old daughter of Midvale Police Chief Louis Smith, near Summit Park, Summit County. : She had been raped, beaten and strangled. She | had been dead 48 to 72 hours. Miss Smith had been mis- sing for more than a week and was last seen at a Murray restaurant. On Nov. 27, 1874, the nude bedy of Laura Anna Aime, 17, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Aime, 485 N. Main, Salem, Utah County, was found in American Fork Canyon. She too had been raped, beaten and strangled. She had been dead about a week. The girl’s parents said she had been away from home about six weeks. She had {been seen by friends and her i parents in American Fork, Nwhere she had been living, as late as two weeks before’ TED ace Melissa Smith her body was found. Area lawmen believed: then and still contend that the two cases are so similar they must be connected. ‘‘There are strong similarities between the two cases — the methods of operation in the two crimes are so similar — that it is likely the same person or persons committed both crimes,” said Utah County Sheriff Mack Holley. On Nov. 8, 1974, Debra Kent, 17, daughter of Mr, and Mrs. Dean H. Kent, 24 E. 3500 South, Bountiful, left a theater production at Vie- wmont High School to get the family car, parked in the school parking lot, and pick up her brother who was at a skating rink. She left the theater about 10:10 p.m. ani hasn’t been seen since. ’ Her parents left the auj ditorium about 10:30 p.m. and waited in the foyer. Later they went outside and found their car had not been moved. It was parked exact- ly as it had been when they came to the school earlier. Debra’s purse was in the car with her driver’s license still in it. Her parents became wor- ried and notified Bountiful police. The next day, a Saturday, police searched the scho grounds and adjacent areas A ground and air search o; the foothills was made. : The only clue police found File # 29-125 Revd ji<|la25 (_] Being Investigated __ Sat Lake QL, Date: 1O - ACIS Edition: Even wy Author: Editor: Title: Character: or Classification: 74 Submitting Office: DUA SLA HED coaudtee LIVDRABHS ot SERIALIZED <2. FILEDS A 26 1975 OCT <¥ oo ay