Uploaded June 2019 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Salt Lake City, Utah (FOX13) A man has been arrested and will face charges of murder, kidnapping and obstruction of justice in the death of missing University of Utah student MacKenzie Lueck.
Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown identified the man as Ayoola Ajayi and confirmed he is the person of interest named earlier this week. He also said he would only say the man's name a single time during his remarks.
"After an exhaustive week of investigation we are filing charges of aggravated murder, aggravated kidnapping, obstruction of justice and desecration of a body in the homicide of MacKenzie Lueck," Brown said.
Ajayi was arrested Friday morning after SWAT personnel responded to an apartment complex in Salt Lake City. Police said he was on his way to be booked into jail as of about noon Friday.
Brown said their investigation confirmed that all phone and social media activity from Lueck's accounts ceased around 3 a.m. on June 17, shortly after she was last seen at Hatch Park. She had taken a Lyft to the park and the driver told police she willingly got into a vehicle and left the park with someone that morning.
Her last communications were with Ajayi, Brown said, and both parties' cell phones were at Hatch Park within less than of a minute of each other. That overlap occurred shortly before Lueck's online/cellular activity ceased.
Brown said they began investigating Ajayi. When officers served a warrant on his home, neighbors reported they had seen the man burning something in his backyard, using gasoline as an accelerant, on June 17 and 18.
Read more here: fox13now.com/2019/06/28/man-arrested-on-suspicion-of-murder-kidnapping-in-disappearance-of-mackenize-lueck
Salt Lake City, Utah (FOX13) A man has been arrested and will face charges of murder, kidnapping and obstruction of justice in the death of missing University of Utah student MacKenzie Lueck.
Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown identified the man as Ayoola Ajayi and confirmed he is the person of interest named earlier this week. He also said he would only say the man's name a single time during his remarks.
"After an exhaustive week of investigation we are filing charges of aggravated murder, aggravated kidnapping, obstruction of justice and desecration of a body in the homicide of MacKenzie Lueck," Brown said.
Ajayi was arrested Friday morning after SWAT personnel responded to an apartment complex in Salt Lake City. Police said he was on his way to be booked into jail as of about noon Friday.
Brown said their investigation confirmed that all phone and social media activity from Lueck's accounts ceased around 3 a.m. on June 17, shortly after she was last seen at Hatch Park. She had taken a Lyft to the park and the driver told police she willingly got into a vehicle and left the park with someone that morning.
Her last communications were with Ajayi, Brown said, and both parties' cell phones were at Hatch Park within less than of a minute of each other. That overlap occurred shortly before Lueck's online/cellular activity ceased.
Brown said they began investigating Ajayi. When officers served a warrant on his home, neighbors reported they had seen the man burning something in his backyard, using gasoline as an accelerant, on June 17 and 18.
Read more here: fox13now.com/2019/06/28/man-arrested-on-suspicion-of-murder-kidnapping-in-disappearance-of-mackenize-lueck
