A man has been charged with the murder of missing University of Utah student Mackenzie Lueck, authorities confirmed on Friday.
Former Army IT specialist, Ayoola ‘AJ’ Ajayi, 31, was pictured being taken into custody by a number of armed SWAT officers outside his 1028 S West Temple home this morning.
Shortly afterwards, investigators charged him with the murder of Lueck, 23, who disappeared on June 17 after taking a Lyft from the airport to a park located miles away from her apartment in Salt Lake.
Investigators conducted a 19-hour search of a Ajayi’s home in a middle class neighborhood on Salt Lake City’s west side in the early hours of Thursday, identifying him as a ‘person of interest’.
Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown revealed in a press conference on Friday afternoon that an excavation of the property’s garden discovered burned ‘female human tissue’, which forensic experts later matched to Lueck’s DNA.
A number of the 23-year-old’s personal possessions were also found among the charred remains.
