Police say they cracked 51-year-old Moab murder case

When Moab Police Detective Jeremy Drexler first started working one of Moab’s more high-profile cold cases — the murder of Ann Woodward on March 2, 1973, at Woody’s Tavern — he thought infamous serial killer Ted Bundy was his primary suspect.

Leslie Ann Estes, the eldest child and last remaining sibling of Ann and Leslie “Woody” Woodward, hugs Moab Police Detective Jeremy Drexler at the conclusion of Friday’s press conference. Photos by Doug McMurdo

After all, Bundy committed one of his many murders in Utah at around that time and a thorough investigation yielded no local suspects, at least any they could prove a case against. But Drexler went where the facts took him: To the Nebraska grave of Doug Chudomelka, who rented a Walnut Lane trailer for $100 a month as he worked for the Rio Algom Mine from the early to mid-1970s.

Chudomelka, a man with a history of violence, died at 67 in 2002, nearly 30 years after police say he strangled and probably sexually assaulted Woodward, 46, who was the wife of then-Woody’s owner Leslie “Woody” Woodward.

Drexler theorizes that Chudomelka, who would have been about 36 in 1973, was angry at Woodward for beating him at poker, but he admits it could also have been a crime of opportunity rather than rage.

He knows without a doubt that the pair played cards, that Chudomelka drank beer and smoked Camel cigarettes that night, and that he brutally murdered Woodward, leaving her half-dressed body on the floor between two pool tables. Her pants were off. The right leg was inside out and tied into a knot. Her shirt had been unbuttoned.

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Police say they cracked 51-year-old Moab murder case

Police say they cracked 51-year-old Moab murder case

Police say they cracked 51-year-old Moab murder case

Police say they cracked 51-year-old Moab murder case

Police say they cracked 51-year-old Moab murder case