SALT LAKE CITY, UT — Police in Salt Lake City have arrested a man in relation to the homicide of Mackenzie Lueck, the 23-year-old University of Utah student who was last heard from in the early morning hours of June 17.
On Friday, Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown told reporters at a press conference that the person of interest whose home was searched on Wednesday night is charged with aggravated murder, aggravated kidnapping, obstruction of justice and desecration of a body.
Brown identified the accused as 31-year-old Ayoola Adisa Ajayi.
“I will not be saying the killer’s name again,” Brown said.
Brown said authorities are continuing to investigate to determine whether the accused had help or acted alone.
On the day Lueck was last heard from, she had landed at Salt Lake City International Airport after a visit to California for a funeral. Lueck left the airport around 2:40 a.m. and took a Lyft to Hatch Park where she met someone with a car. Around the time that she reached Hatch Park at 3 a.m. on June 17, all communications ceased from Lueck and her phone stopped receiving data or location services, Brown said.
Brown said the accused denied having any contact with Lueck or knowing what she looked like. He admitted to texting with Lueck on June 16 around 6 p.m. but nothing after, according to Brown.
Investigations of phone records showed the location of both Lueck and the accused’s phones to be Hatch Park within a minute of each other, according to Brown. That was around the same time Lueck’s phone stopped receiving any data.
Neighbors told police that they saw the accused burning something in his backyard with gasoline on June 17 and 18. Police conducted a forensic investigation and found charred items that were consistent with Lueck’s personal items, according to Brown. Police also found evidence that was forensically confirmed to be charred female human tissue, Brown said.
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A DNA profile obtained during forensic testing compared and was consistent with a DNA profile obtained from Lueck’s personal items, according to Brown.