SALT LAKE CITY — More criminal charges were filed Tuesday against the man accused of murdering Mackenzie Lueck as investigators have identified another woman who claims he sexually assaulted her a year earlier.
Ayoola Adisa Ajayi, 31, was arrested on Friday, June 28, 2019 and booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of aggravated murder, aggravated kidnapping, desecration of a human body and obstruction of justice in connection with the disappearance of University of Utah student Mackenzie Lueck.
Salt Lake County Jail
Ayoola Adisa Ajayi, 31, of Salt Lake City, is charged in 3rd District Court with aggravated kidnapping, a first-degree felony, and three counts of forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony.
A woman told investigators that she began communicating with Ajayi through a dating app in March of 2018. The woman went to Ajayi’s house, 547 N. 1000 West, where he cooked her dinner. But then he started to “intensely” kiss her and touch her, according to the new charges.
The woman attempted to get away, but Ajayi “pinned her down on the couch against her will,” charging documents state. Ajayi continued to sexually assault the woman, leaving bruising and bite marks on her, according to the charges.
But after getting out of Ajayi’s house, the woman did not go to authorities in 2018, said Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill.
“She did not report it when this happened. That’s understandable given the trauma that she had gone through. It is not uncommon that people sometimes not report that. But we’re very glad she came forward and we’re very comfortable with the evidence in this case,” he said.
As the investigation into the Lueck case continued, Gill said information was received about the second woman.
“She was a person who reached out to us as part of our ongoing investigative efforts,” he said.
FILE - This undated photo taken from the Facebook page #FindMackenzieLueck shows Mackenzie Lueck, 23, a senior at the University of Utah.
Associated Press
Lueck met up with Ajayi early on the morning of June 17 at Hatch Park in North Salt Lake, according to charging documents. From there, police believe the two went to Ajayi’s house.
Dating apps have also been part of the investigation in the Lueck case.
On June 26, after Lueck had been missing for a week, Salt Lake police swarmed Ajayi’s home, collecting multiple bags of evidence. They were also seen digging holes in his backyard near the area where neighbors had previously seen him pouring gasoline on items and burning them. Female human tissue was found in the backyard. An autopsy conducted by the Utah State Medical Examiner’s Office determined Lueck died from blunt force trauma to the left side of her skull.
After she was killed, prosecutors say Ajayi poured gasoline on her body and burned it. Her charred remains were found by police in a shallow grave under a grove of trees in Logan Canyon on July 3.
On June 28, Ajayi was taken into custody by a SWAT team.
In Lueck’s death, Ajayi faces charges of aggravated murder, a capital offense; aggravated kidnapping, a first-degree felony; desecration of a human body, a second-degree felony; and obstruction of justice, a third-degree felony, in connection with the death of 23-year-old Lueck, a University of Utah student.
Last week, Ajayi was charged with an additional 19 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony, after police found child pornography on electronic devices seized from his home.