The Other McCain

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Nigerian Immigrant Could Face Death Penalty in ‘Sugar Baby’ Murder Case

Posted on | July 10, 2019 | Comments Off on Nigerian Immigrant Could Face Death Penalty in ‘Sugar Baby’ Murder Case

Ayoola Ajayi (left) is accused of murdering Mackenzie Lueck (right).

The Salt Lake Tribune:

The man accused of killing University of Utah student MacKenzie Lueck has been charged with aggravated murder and aggravated kidnapping days after police found her body in Logan Canyon.
Ayoola Ajayi, 31, faces four felony counts, including second-degree felony obstruction of justice and third-degree felony desecration of a body, in the high-profile case that has captivated the state and the nation since Lueck disappeared on June 17.
The charges, filed Wednesday by Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill, say Lueck died of blunt force trauma to her head. Gill said her body was found with her arms bound behind her back by a zip tie and rope. . . .
Ajayi had been booked into jail June 28 on suspicion of the same counts. The aggravated murder charge carries a potential death penalty if Ajayi is convicted.
“I can absolutely tell you that no deals have been made whatsoever,” Gill said at a news conference Wednesday, adding, “I think it would be premature to talk about the death penalty.” . . .Investigators have said that Lueck took a Lyft from the airport to Hatch Park in North Salt Lake in the early morning of June 17. She was picked up there by Ajayi, police said, and her phone stopped transmitting data at that point. A police search of Lueck’s phone showed he was the last person who communicated with her.
Gill declined to comment on the “prior history” between Lueck and Ajayi, or on “the nature or the contents” of texts between [Lueck and Ajayi] early on June 17. . . .
Cellphone records showed Ajayi was near Logan Canyon on June 25, Gill said. On July 3rd, police went to Logan Canyon to search for Lueck’s body and located a disturbed area of soil under trees. They discovered a charred human body and DNA testing returned a profile consistent with Lueck, he said.
“This was an area that was off the main road” in Logan Canyon, Gill said. “A wooded area.”
The canyon is two hours north of Salt Lake City. He did not comment on where he believes Lueck was killed. Ajayi attended Utah State University, which is located in Logan, near the canyon.

“No deals have been made” — the prosecutors believe they have enough evidence to convict Ajayi in a courtroom trial, so they have no motive to offer a plea bargain. We might suppose that Ajayi would have a better chance of avoiding the death penalty if he pleads guilty, and of course, this would spare the taxpayers the expense of a trial, but if the prosecution believes they’ve got an open-and-shut case, they’re not going to let Ajayi off with anything less than life without parole.

Notice that the prosecutor doesn’t want to get into the details on why this college girl agreed to meet Ajayi at a park at 3 a.m.  Mackenzie Lueck had apparently been meeting men through “sugar baby” sites and dating apps, and what were she and Ajayi texting about? Well, I doubt she agreed to get hogtied and beaten to death, and have her corpse burned and dumped in a remote canyon.  But that was Ajayi’s plan, allegedly.



 

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Category: Utah, Violence Against Women

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