Student met her killer through sugardaddywebsite
Mackenzie Lueck arranged to meet a man in the park, but she was walking into a deadly trap
Student Mackenzie Lueck had been on a visit back to her hometown to see family, but it was under sad circumstances. Mackenzie, 23, had travelled the 700 miles to El Segundo, California, so she could attend her grandmother’s funeral and was now on a flight back to Salt Lake City, Utah, where she attended university.
She was a popular student at the University of Utah, where she was studying pre-nursing and kinesiology, the science of human body movement. It wasn’t surprising that she was following a future in caring for others, as Mackenzie was nurturing and compassionate. She was sporty, too – playing water polo at high school and competing on the swim team. With three brothers, spirited Mackenzie held her own.
Mackenzie landed at Salt Lake City Airport in the early hours of
17 June, 2019. She sent a message to her mum that read, “Landed. Love you Mama.” Then she headed for a taxi. Surveillance footage recorded her walking out to the exit. The plan was for Mackenzie to head back to her house, but instead she took a taxi to Hatch Park, in North Salt Lake, which was about 13 miles away. The driver left her at the park at 3am. Then Mackenzie disappeared.
The next day, Mackenzie’s parents started to worry that their daughter’s phone was going straight to voicemail. Any iMessages sent to her phone were green instead of blue – suggesting the phone wasn’t on or was out of service.
SUSPICIOUS TEXTS
On 22 June, Mackenzie’s parents reported her missing and a search began. The last person to see her was the taxi driver, but he was quickly eliminated as he’d picked someone up after dropping the student off.
Records showed that Mackenzie was messaging a phone number right up to 2.58am. The taxi driver dropped her off at 2.59am and from that moment, her phone had been turned off. Investigators placed the mobile Mackenzie was messaging in the same park. Had she arranged to meet someone there? The mystery deepened.
It was also revealed that the phone belonged to tech worker Ayoola Ajayi, a Nigerian-born US citizen, and he’d been chatting to Mackenzie since 2018. They’d met through dating app Seeking Arrangement – a site that connects “sugar babies” with “sugar daddies”, or young women with older, rich men.
Traditionally, the connections are a financial agreement, and it turned out that Mackenzie was on several similar sites. While no one was judging her life choices, it looked as though this connection had placed Mackenzie in danger.
Detectives went to Ajayi’s home on 24 June.
He denied knowing Mackenzie. He said that because he operated his home as an Airbnb, his Wi-Fi was open to anyone and as the messages had been sent via a third party text messaging service, it could be argued someone else had sent them.
However, it was soon discovered that Ajayi, 31, did have the Seeking Arrangement app installed on his mobile. Plus, his phone placed him at the park at the same time as Mackenzie. Fears grew that the young student was in trouble.
Investigators left to get a search warrant and returned on 26 June. When they arrived, they found a freshly dug area in the backyard and evidence there had been a fire. A neighbour said she’d seen flames and smoke coming from Ajayi’s back garden around 17 June. She’d seen him put petrol on the fire and noted a smell that was “something I’ve never smelled before”.
Investigators also searched Ajayi’s vehicle, which they reported smelled strongly of petrol. There, they found a red petrol can – one he had purchased at 9am on 17 June.
A SHAllow grAVE
The disturbed ground was excavated and some human tissue and bone was found, which was a match to Mackenzie. More charred items were discovered in a nearby alleyway. It was clear that Mackenzie had died on his property.
Ajayi was arrested. Further investigation revealed that after the police had come knocking, he’d hastily moved Mackenzie’s body. More research into his phone
movements led the police to Logan Canyon – 85 miles north.
After a lengthy search, they found Mackenzie’s charred remains in a shallow grave. Her arms had been bound behind her back. An autopsy determined that her cause of death was blunt-force trauma on the left side of her skull.
Mackenzie’s family, friends and loved ones were devastated. They held an emotional vigil at the university. They asked for privacy and didn’t speak out about the circumstances around Mackenzie’s death.
Before she died, she had told some friends that she’d met two sugar daddies through Tinder and she’d regularly searched for men over the age of 35 in order to be a sugar baby, but many in her life had no idea.
The police determined that Ajayi and Mackenzie had arranged to meet in the park that night. He’d driven her back to his house, where he’d killed her. When the police came, he’d panicked and moved her body.
Further investigation into Ajayi’s character revealed an ex-wife and a former housemate, who both said he had a temper problem. He had even written a book about two characters who are killed and burned, which was subsequently taken off Amazon.
A construction worker also came forward to say that Ajayi had approached him about building a secret soundproof room under his porch, with hooks mounted high and a fingerprint entry scanner. Ajayi had said it was to hide alcohol from his Mormon girlfriend.
In October this year, in order to avoid the death penalty, Ajayi admitted to killing Mackenzie. He pleaded guilty to first-degree aggravated murder and third-degree abuse or desecration of a human body. The deal also included admissions of guilt in connection to an unrelated sexual assault of a woman in March 2018, who came forward after seeing the case in the media. He was accused of “intensely” kissing and forcefully groping the woman, who he had met through a dating app.
During the investigation, authorities found pornographic images of children on Ajayi’s computer. Those charges were dismissed as part of the plea deal.
In court, through his lawyer, Ajayi admitted he had made plans to kill Mackenzie before he met her at the park. Before leaving home, he turned off security cameras at his house.
After driving Mackenzie back to his home, he bound her with zip ties and strangled her with his hands and then a belt as she lay on her stomach.
“Miss Lueck protested this and told Mr Ajayi to stop,” the lawyer said. “Mr Ajayi did not stop.”
He stopped when she stopped moving. Ajayi then attempted to burn her body, fuelled by petrol, then when the police appeared, he moved the body to Logan Canyon.
At the sentencing, the district attorney questioned a motive for the killing.
“The only conclusion that the evidence can suggest is that Ayoola Ajayi simply wanted to know what it felt like to kill someone,” he said.
“Tragically, for Mackenzie Lueck and her family, he chose her. This was murder for murder’s sake.”
LIVING A NIGHTMARE
Mackenzie’s family remembered her caring nature in the way she looked out for her friends, loved animals and how the aspiring nurse held her sick grandmother’s hand when she was dying in hospital. Mackenzie “brought a feeling into the room no one else could”, one relative said.
Mackenzie’s parents listed the milestones they would never get to share with their daughter. “My life has been changed by the selfish, premeditated decision you made on June 17, 2019,” her mum, Diana, said. “Instead of planning my daughter’s graduation party, I planned her memorial.”
Dad Greg told Ajayi that he wanted him to spend the rest of his life watching his back in prison.
“I have no compassion for you, as you had no compassion for my daughter,” he said. “My daughter Mackenzie Lueck was a sweet, amazing young lady with the world ahead of her. She was a kind-hearted person who cared about others. Now, I will not have the opportunity to see her blossom in life.”
Ajayi was dressed in an orange prison uniform, a face mask and shackles.
“I’m sorry for what I did, and I deserve what I get – deserve what I’m going to get. I know this won’t bring her back,” he said.
The judge gave him life in prison without the possibility of parole. She said he demonstrated “cruelty and depravity” in his actions against Mackenzie.
Mackenzie’s heartbroken family describe losing the young woman as a living nightmare they can’t wake up from. And that meeting Mackenzie fearlessly went to in the middle of the night was proof that wicked predators do exist in real life.
‘Her charred remains were found in a shallow grave, her arms bound behind her back’