Suspect held in killing of L.A. student

SALT LAKE CITY — A college student who went missing 11 days ago after last being seen in a Salt Lake City park at 3 a.m. was the victim of a kidnapping and homicide, authorities said Friday.

Salt Lake City police chief Mike Brown said Ayoola Ajayi will be charged with aggravated murder, kidnapping and desecration of a body in the death of 23yearold Mackenzie Lueck. He was arrested Friday by a SWAT team.

Brown said he told the missing woman’s parents in Southern California about the arrest.

“This is one of the most difficult phone calls I’ve ever made,” Brown said. “We are devastated and heartbroken by this news,”

Police say Ajayi, 31, met Lueck at the park after she took a Lyft from the airport. It was not immediately clear how the two had known each other previously but police said they had communicated electronically the day before she disappeared.

Brown says burned evidence, including Lueck’s things and her remains, was found at his home. The home was searched on Wednesday and Thursday.

It wasn’t immediately clear if Ajayi had an attorney. He has not returned previous messages from the Associated Press.

Lueck was a parttime student at the University of Utah in her senior year majoring in kinesiology and prenursing. She has been a student since 2014 and has an offcampus apartment.

She is from El Segundo (Los Angeles County) and flew to California for a funeral before returning to Salt Lake City, police said. Her family reported her missing on June 20 and became more concerned after she missed a planned flight back to Los Angeles last weekend.

A man who identified himself as Lueck’s uncle held back tears as he read a statement from her family at a news conference Friday thanking police for their work.