Salt Lake City Police confirmed the tragic news on June 28, 2019 that MacKenzie Lueck – the University of Utah senior who had been missing since June 17 – was dead. Ayoola Ajayi, 31, was arrested in connection with the case and charged with aggravated murder, aggravated kidnapping, obstruction of justice and desecration of a body. “The arrested person’s neighbors informed detectives that they observed him burning something in his backyard with the use of gasoline on the dates of June 17 and June 18,” Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown said at a news conference. “The search warrant resulted in the findings of a fresh dig area on his property, which is the same area that the arrested person was reported burning something. A forensic excavation of the burn area was conducted, which resulted in the finding of several charred items that were consistent with personal items of MacKenzie Lueck.” MacKenzie was from El Segundo, California and had just returned to Salt Lake City after a trip home to visit her family when she went missing.
