A Nigerian-born American citizen, Ayoola Ajayi, has pleaded guilty to killing a college student whom he contacted through a dating website last year.
Mackenzie Lueck, a 23-year-old pre-nursing student at the University of Utah, went missing on June 17, 2019, shortly after arriving at the Salt Lake City airport following her grandmother’s funeral in Los Angeles.
Investigators discovered that Ajayi, 32, was the last person the deceased communicated with, and he was taken into custody on June 28 after a search of his home led to the discovery of a freshly dug area along with burnt human tissue and personal items belonging to Lueck.
Lueck’s corpse was later recovered, on July 3, in Logan Canyon, about 85 miles north of Salt Lake City, where he had buried her a second time.
Salt Lake County District Attorney, Sim Gill, announced on Wednesday, October 7, 2020, that Ajayi pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated murder and one count of desecration of a human body.
Gill said Ajayi will avoid a possible death sentence and will be sentenced later in October to life in prison without parole, according to a report by the New York Times.
The DA said Lueck’s family has been informed about the plea agreement.
“Hopefully, this is the beginning of closure for them, and maybe for the retrieval of some measure of justice for this incredible loss they’ve suffered as a family,” he said.
Lueck was discovered by authorities with her arms bound behind her back by a zip tie and rope.
The killer who barely spoke during his sentencing hearing is expected to be formally sentenced Oct. 23. to life without parole.
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Potiskum local government