Tech worker charged with murder in death of college student

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A tech worker was charged Wednesday with murder and kidnapping in the death of a Utah college student whose body was found in a wooded area with her arms bound behind her.

Prosecutors said Ayoola A. Ajayi, 31, was the last person Mackenzie Lueck communicated with before she disappeared on June 17.

She died of blunt force trauma to the head, and her body was found with her arms bound with zip ties and ropes, District Attorney Sim Gill said while announcing the charges.

He declined to discuss a motive or the nature of the connection between Lueck and Ajayi.

Gill became emotional as he described the Lueck family's reaction to the charges.

"They asked me to express on their behalf the generosity of so many strangers and friends," he said. "They are genuinely appreciative and moved by the outpouring of love and compassion."

Lueck disappeared shortly after she returned from a trip to her California hometown for the funeral of her grandmother and took a Lyft from the airport to a park.

She met Ajayi there, apparently willingly, but a short time later her phone was turned off "and never powered back on," Gill said.

Police later found the charred phone in the backyard of Ajayi's home in Salt Lake City, along with a bone, muscle tissue and part of Lueck's scalp, Gill said.

A neighbor reported a fire and a "horrible smell" coming from the yard on the day Lueck disappeared, Gill said.

Her body was later discovered in a shallow grave in Logan Canyon, 85 miles from Salt Lake City. The site is near Utah State University, where Ajayi had attended classes. Phone data puts him at the canyon a week after Lueck disappeared, Gill said.