On July 10, 2019 Salt Lake City County District Attorney Sim Gill revealed new details in the homicide case of Mackenzie Lueck. Lueck, a Utah State University college student, was murdered last month after meeting a man she was communicating with online, 31 year old Ayoola Ajayi.

On July 3rd police discovered her charred body in a wooded area of Logan Canyon and painted a horrifying picture: Mackenzie was found with her arms bound behind her back with zip ties & rope, and 5 centimeter hole in the left side of her head with part of her skull missing.

In the days leading up to the grisly discovery, neighbors had reported “a horrible smell coming from a fire in Ajayi’s backyard” and observed him pouring gasoline into the blaze.

Detectives executed a search warrant and conducted a forensic investigation of his backyard, finding a human bone, part of a scalp with hair, charred muscular tissue, and other items of evidentiary value.

An autopsy concluded Mackenzie Lueck died from intracranial hemorrhaging due to blunt force trauma.

The Mackenzie Lueck Press Conference Transcription is below, which includes additional details and a question and answer session with reporters:

[ Begin Mackenzie Lueck Press Conference Transcript 07/10/19) ]

SIM GILL: Good morning everyone. My name is Sim Gill. I’m the Salt Lake County District Attorney. This morning I am joined by Jeff Hall, Blake Nakamura, my two Chief Criminal Deputies, as well as to my right Mark Mathis, Josh Graves and Heather Lindsay who will be my colleagues who will be prosecuting this case that we’re going to talk about today. This morning as we speak The Salt Lake City District Attorney’s office is in the process of right now filing charges against Ayoola Ajayi :

• 1 count of aggravated murder; first-degree felony.
• 1 count of aggravated kidnapping; 1st degree felony 
• 1 count of obstructing justice; 2nd degree felony and
• 1 count of desecration of human body a third degree felony.

The basis of our charges were developed but not limited to the following facts as presented by  our charging documents.

That Said State: That onn June 20th 2019, Greg Lueck reported to Salt Lake City Police Department that he had not received any communication from his daughter, Mackenzie Lueck, since she returned to Salt Lake City from California on June 17th 2019.

Cell phone records for Mackenzie showed that she exchanged several text messages with an individual later identified as Ayoola Ajayi in the early morning hours of June 17th 2019. Mackenzie’s last texts to Ajayi that morning was at 2:58 a.m.

Salt Lake City police detectives began to search for Mackenzie and discovered that after arriving in Salt Lake City on June 17th, she took a Lyft from Salt Lake City International Airport to Hatch Park in North Salt Lake City. Lyft records indicated that Mackenzie was dropped off at Hatch Park at approximately 2:59 am.

Cell phone records for both Mackenzie and Ayoola Ajayi place them at Hatch Park during this time. Additionally Mackenzie’s cell phone records indicate that her phone was powered off at 2:59 a.m., and was never powered back on.

A forensic analysis of the phone record shows that Ajayi’s phone was back at his residence located at 547 North 1000 West in Salt Lake County Utah (Ayoola Ajayi address) at approximately 3:07 a.m.

On June 26th 2019, investigators executed a search warrant on Ajayi’s home. Detectives discovered what appeared to be a freshly dug site behind Ajayi’s garage. During the forensic excavation of the site police located a human bone, charred muscular tissue, part of a scalp with hair, a cell phone and other charred personal items. Furthermore, in an alleyway adjacent to Ajayi’s home, investigators located charred black fabric, buckles, and other items of evidentiary value.

DNA testing of the muscular tissue returned a profile consistent with a DNA profile obtained from the personal items belonging to Mackenzie.

While executing the search warrant detectives were directed to one of Ajayi’s neighbors who reported that on June 17th 2019 the neighbor detected a “horrible smell” coming from a fire in Ajayi’s backyard. The neighbor stated this fire was located behind Ajayi’s garage in a pit covered by a white door in the same area detectives found the freshly dug site. The neighbor also observed Ajayi pouring gasoline on the fire.

During the execution of the search warrant, detectives seized Ajayi’s vehicle where a subsequent search revealed a strong odor of gasoline emitting from the trunk. Inside the trunk was a red gasoline can. Further investigation revealed that Ajayi had purchased a similar gas can at Smith’s location near his residence at approximately 9 a.m. on June 17th 2019.

Subsequent analysis of Ajayi’s phone records place Ajayi’s cell phone near Logan Canyon on June 25th 2019 between 2:30 and 4:30 pm. On July 3rd 2019, law enforcement responded to Logan Canyon to search for Mackenzie’s remains.

After a lengthy search detectives located a disturbed area of soil under a grove of trees. Under the soil detectives located a charred human body. DNA testing of the body returned a profile consistent with Mackenzie’s profile. Mackenzie’s arms were bound behind her back by a zip tie & rope. A 5 centimeter hole was located on the left side of her skull with part of her left scalp missing.

Dr. Zachary Michalicek with the Utah Office of Medical Examiners performed an autopsy on Mackenzie. Doctor Michalicek determines that Mackenzie suffered blunt-force trauma to the left side of her skull resulting in significant intracranial hemorrhaging, which would have been fatal. Doctor Michalicek preliminarily determined the manner of death to be homicide.

Based on those facts, we have filed the charges that I mentioned to you. Let me also note at this time that the preceding facts which give us support filing of these charges, the presumption of innocence that is the hallmark of our justice system, is applicable here and applicable to this defendant at this time.

I also want to take a second at this moment to share with you that Blake Nakamura, myself and Amy from our counseling unit spoke with the Lueck family, Greg and Diane, and to inform them of the charging decision.

And we had a good discussion and a difficult discussion but I would again reiterate their request to you, the media, and to our community to please honor their privacy as their family goes through this grieving process. They further asked me to express on their behalf the generosity…[becomes emotional & pauses]…the generosity of so many strangers and friends.

The support in the prayers that have helped them through this very difficult time. They are genuinely appreciative and moved by the outpouring of love and compassion, and they wanted me to expressly thank everyone who has reached out to them in that capacity. That concludes the description of filing of our charges at this time I will take some very limited questions.

REPORTER:  In regards to a motive here, any idea what happened there? Why did he do what he did?

SIM GILL:  Again, the purpose today is to outline the basis of the evidence that we have for the filing of charges. I understand there is a great concern about those kind of issues, and what I would say to you is two things. One: Please note this continues to be an ongoing, active investigation. It has not come to a conclusion. The work that we are engaged in as public prosecutors and from our law enforcement partners, that work is open, active and engaged at this moment as we speak. As to any issue of motivation in those issues…. those issues will come out as we continue to move forward in our criminal justice process.

REPORTER: How did they first come in contact with each other and how long did they know each other?

SIM GILL: As we stated In our probable cause statement, that there is reason to believe there was a…. we have evidence that indicated that communication occurred between the two parties and that there was a… we have developed through law enforcement connections of that contact, and we certainly as I indicated their cell phones certainly put them together at the same locations. So there was a prior contact that was established through law enforcement efforts.

REPORTER: Two points of reference. One, when was her cell phone turned off again? Two, can you go over all the charges again?

SIM GILL: Yes. So what we know is that her phone records indicate her phone was powered off at approximately 2:59 a.m. and was never powered back on again subsequent to that. The totality of the charges that we have filed so far is the count 1 criminal homicide aggravated murder, count two aggravated kidnapping, count 3 obstructing justice, count four abuse or desecration of the human body.

REPORTER: Two questions. Can you first describe the crime scene in the canyon? Like, in layman’s terms? Can you say was it a shallow grave or….when you disturbed soil, what does that mean exactly? And I guess the second part is, were any deals made with the defendant in order to find her remains?

SIM GILL: Ok. So let me answer them this way. First of all, if anybody’s been up in Logan Canyon they know it’s a fairly forested area. This was an area that was off the main road, even as mentioned by the police chief from his press conference. It was in a shallow grave and it was in a wooded area with debris that was there in a Grove as we said. As far as the second issue is concerned, what I’m prepared to say is this is the effort of an ongoing investigation…function,  and at this time that is what we’re going to say and leave it because it continues to be an ongoing investigation and prosecution. I can absolutely tell you no deals have been made whatsoever.

REPORTER: Will you seek the death penalty in this case?

SIM GILL:  I think that it’s appropriate to recognize this is charged as a criminal homicide aggravated murder. And I think it would be premature to talk about the death penalty. Under our system in the state of Utah, that is a possibility that’s here but that determination is typically reserved, with good reason, after the preliminary hearing for the prosecution to formally make that election. And the reason the legislature did it that way, is it continues to be an active prosecution, active investigation. We’re receiving all the information that is relevant and pertinent to making a well-informed decision and we will exercise that option and make that decision at the appropriate time And I think it would be inappropriate to talk about it beyond that

REPORTER: Could you clarify the time frame? Have the charges been filed?

SIM GILL: Yes they have been filed. As I came down and started the press conference they were being filed at that moment, and I confirmed they have in fact been filed at this time.

REPORTER: Do you have reason to believe this was premeditated?

SIM GILL: Again, that will be the weight of the evidence that will come forward. At this time our goal is to simply lay out the basic fundamental evidentiary points and factual points to support the charging decision we made.

REPORTER: You charged aggravated murder. The statue requires premeditation.

SIM GILL: That statue requires specific intent. The statement by the ME (medical examiner) indicates a blunt force trauma to the left side that is fatal. That speaks for itself.

REPORTER: Is there indication that anyone else was involved in this? In kidnapping, disposing of the body, anything else?

SIM GILL: Again, what I would simply say is at this time this continues to be an ongoing active investigation and it would be inappropriate and premature for me to comment on anything—–

REPORTER: —can you say what it is you still need to find? What piece of evidence are you looking for?

SIM GILL: I think that it’s important for people to recognize this is not like television where all of a sudden everything is wrapped up and we’re done and everybody’s responsibilities get over. In a case such as this, over the last twenty-four years what I have noticed is in a case like this you are constantly working. Our perseverance, our diligence, and our responsibility as public prosecutors and law enforcement does not finish by merely filing of the charges. There is a lot of other work that needs to be done and there is work that is being done and we will continue to engage in that, and in fact it is not uncommon to continue to engage up to trial in scenarios like this. And that commitment is the commitment that LE has made, that is a commitment that we have, and there are other aspects that are we still continue to develop and refine as we continue to engage in the investigative process.  

REPORTER: Do we have a time of death or when this happened? 

SIM GILL: All I will say is consistent with our probable cause statement. We know that factually what has been put out in the public has been there was a drop off that occurred at approximately 2:59 / 3:00, and we know that from the neighbor that there were certainly burnings that were occurring in the backyard later the following day. That’s about as specific as I’m going to get at this point.

REPORTER: Can you give us a sense of what those texts…sort of the the subject matter of those texts…was there something kind of general about those texts?

SIM GILL: All I will say at this time the issue when the started out was a missing person, and the objective was to find Mackenzie. The objective was to fill in those missing pieces and what those texts certainly establish is the contact between Mackenzie and the defendant in this matter, and all the subsequent investigations that led up to it support the filing of those charges. I’m not going to at this time speculate or comment on the nature or contents of those texts, but what is important is the contact and digital time connection was established through the investigative efforts.

REPORTER: Do you know why the original investigators didn’t want to look at the case as a possible attempted crime, they went into it as a missing persons case?

SIM GILL:  I think it is important to not sort of make it into a binary distinction. Remember how this organically developed. We had an adult who came here. Who took a Lyft and for all intents and purposes the transfer was amicable, and so at that initial point you have adults, adults make decisions. But if you continue to let the timeline unfold, you have the missing of a test, then you have a missing of a flight return back to California. So I don’t think it’s fair to sort of say that somehow law enforcement didn’t take that seriously. They had to sort of do it in a sequential order to actually build the case that they needed to be able to rule certain things out, and that was really part of the investigative process that they engage in. 

REPORTER: Just to clarify the timeline do we believe that she was killed at his home and then taken to Logan, or killed at Logan and  taken to his home? And why did he keep part of the body at his house and try to burn it?

SIM GILL: Okay, again we’re talking about the specifics which I think will become clear as we move forward, but based on probable cause that we’ve laid out we certainly can say we know that she made contact with the suspect. We know where he ended up after from Hatch Park, we can also see where the body was recovered which was at Logan Canyon.

REPORTER: Sim, any particular challenges given the locations and given the way this case is spread out that your office is faced with?

SIM GILL: No, this is like any complex homicide that our office would encounter. The effort by law enforcement was commendable, and they’ve done a great job and continue to do a great job. And as any case as I’ve said, the presumption of innocence is there, the burden of proof is upon us and our job is to put together the best possible case that we can, and we feel very comfortable with the charging decisions that we’ve made and we will continue to be committed to that prosecution as we go forward.

REPORTER:  Just to clarify one thing, do you have any evidence that suggests these two had any contact prior to the night she went missing?

SIM GILL: I’m not going to comment about the prior history or anything like that. For the purposes of why we’re here today suffice it to understand that what we are saying is the contact did occur and there was communication that occurred between the two parties. 

REPORTER: [Audio cuts out]

SIM GILL: Certainly prior to the 3 meeting that happened there was some contact between the two parties.

REPORTER: Is there any reason to believe at this point

SIM GILL: Again, I don’t want to speculate about that but I will say that law enforcement are doing their due diligence and making sure that we continue to work this case because this case is far from over.

REPORTER: What’s the timeline for initial appearance and the trial?

SIM GILL: Okay so the charges have been filed. The next step is in the court’s hand. Generally that can happen as soon as 24 hours, but I think more reasonably it’s probably going to be between tomorrow and Friday. That’s what we’re looking at but that’s the court to bring them up for that initial…

REPORTER: Just to make sure I understand the timeline right it does appear there was a lag of about a week between where the neighbor reporting the fire and the body being brought to Logan Canyon? 

SIM GILL: Certainly there was a search warrant the neighbor talks about that, but that was consistent with that information that was shared with law enforcement. We said in the probable cause statement That they were executing a search warrant on June 26th and while executing that search warrant….remember you have to understand sequentially…an investigation moves from trying to understand who the contacts are, then someone may be a person of interest, then you have to establish if somebody is a suspect before you move to the decision of making an arrest and ultimately filing those charges. So as the information was being processed they executed a search warrant on June 26th. While they were down there talking they had a conversation with a neighbor who then informed them about what her observations were pertaining to the 17th.

REPORTER: [Audio cuts out]

SIM GILL: Again what I will say is what I stated in our probable cause statement which is that subsequent analysis of Ajayi’s cell phone records place Ajayi’s cell phone near Logan Canyon on June 25 2019 between 2:30 and 4:30 pm.

REPORTER: Sim, is that the time when  police start investigating this as a possible criminal case?

SIM GILL: Certainly, I think that police have indicated that they had identified a contact, initial contact was made and there was contact being made by the suspect, and they were engaged in their investigation. 

REPORTER: Just to be absolutely crystal clear it’s believed they met together at the park in Salt Lake City?

SIM GILL: Yes, as we said in our probable cause statement we have cell phone data information that places both of them at Hatch Park during that time, okay?

SIM GILL: Alright thank you very much for your time. We will end it at this time. Thank you.

[ End Mackenzie Lueck Press Conference Transcript]