MOAB, Utah, June 28, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — Police say DNA evidence collected from a pair of pants used to strangle and murder a 46-year-old Moab woman inside the bar she owned in 1973 has identified her killer.
On March 2, 1973, Ann Woodward was found dead inside Woody’s, the Moab bar she owned with her husband. Police say the mother of four was robbed, assaulted and strangled with the leg of her own pants.
“Ironically, 51 years later, that pair of pants is what led us to her killer,” Moab City Police Chief Lex Bell said Friday.
Police credit the meticulous collection and storage of evidence by investigators at the time of the murder for the recent resolution in the case.
DNA evidence collected from Woodward’s clothing and cigarette butts from the bar recently identified Douglas K. Chudomelka as Woodward’s killer, Moab City police detective Jeremy Drexler said.
“I want to extend my condolences to the Woodward family and hope today’s announcement kind of provides some small measure of solace and closure from 1973,” Drexler said.
Chudomelka was a regular at the bar who worked in the nearby mine, and was one of 30-plus suspects interviewed by detectives in 1973, Drexler said. He died in Nebraska in October 2022.
“[Chudomelka] was approximately 35 years old when he took Ann from her husband, her children and the community of Moab,” Drexler said. “He had a criminal history that expanded several states and several decades. If he was alive today, I would be asking Grand County District Attorney Steve Stocks for an arrest warrant for Douglas K. Chudomelka for the crime of first-degree murder for his actions on March 2, 1973.”
Detectives at the time determined Woodward had been sitting at the bar with another person the night she was killed. Cigarette butts collected from the ashtray next to where she was sitting were among the 29 items of evidence collected and stored by the Grand County Sheriff’s Office.
Drexler reviewed the evidence in September 2023 and sent several pieces of that evidence — including Woodward’s clothing and the cigarette butts — to the state crime lab for DNA testing. Results were received May 21 and indicated Chudomelka’s DNA was on the pants, shirt and cigarette butts.
DNA evidence on the pants was particularly significant, Drexler said, because Chudomelka’s DNA was found on the inside of the right pant leg, which he said was used to strangle Woodward.
When the woman’s pants were removed, the right leg went inside out, while the left leg did not, he said.
Chudomelka’s DNA also was found on all of the buttons on Woodward’s shirt, Drexler said.
Starks said he “strongly believes” the evidence collected would support a murder charge against Chudomelka if he were still alive.
“Had he not passed, we would have filed criminal information against him, we would have asked for an arrest warrant and an extradition,” the district attorney said. “I hope today brings some closure to the family, because I truly believe that had this case been presented to a jury, he would have been found guilty beyond reasonable doubt for the murder of Ann Woodward.”
Annie Dalton, Woodward’s granddaughter, thanked the law enforcement agencies on behalf of the family for their work over the years during a news conference Friday.
“I think this closure has been a long time coming,” Dalton said, “and I just want to thank all of you that were involved.”
