The Case of MacKenzie Lueck

[Music] hey you and welcome my name's mike and in this all new maybe video we're talking about the unluckiness of mackenzie lueck mckenzie was a student at the university of utah oh boy once again we're in utah huzzah and one day she perused a website looking for well not love and she didn't find it uh there either spoiler alert instead she would find the author of a book that's so bad it's kind of funny but the rest of the story isn't funny so let's give it a go you and i come on it all started when mackenzie stopped replying to text messages stopped opening snapchats she was getting from well she generally just went awol from her friends and family in june 2019. see around that time mackenzie's grandmother whom she was close with had recently passed away so when she began ghosting people it seemed like you know she was she's more than likely just in mourning for granny and didn't want to talk to anyone mackenzie she was from california she'd actually just come back from there to utah after attending her granny's funeral at age 23 she was the second oldest of four children and the only girl she'd grown up with her family in el segundo attended high school there and now she was in not meta utah she was a student at the university of utah in salt lake city majoring in kinesiology that's not right and pre-nursing after a few days when well uh nobody could get true to her find out where she was it was on the 20th of june at about 4 p.m that her dad called the salt lake city police department to report her missing see she had just been with her family and then on the 17th of june she flew back to salt lake international airport but then she simply disappeared the last thing anyone knew was a text she had sent when she landed in salt lake city in the early hours of june 17th around 2 am she texted her mother landed love you mama the search for mckenzie and you know trying to find out where she'd gone after she'd landed then began it appeared that once she got off the plane and out of the airport she got into a lift and from there nobody knew did she get into the car it drove there was some kind of car accident did the driver try and steal her away well that's what the search aim to find out that's why it's called a search her university classmates and friends were out in full force spreading the word missing hosters continue to pepper salt lake city streets hoping to find an answer to the question what happened to mackenzie lewick where could she have gone her car has not been moved things are adding up kinsey hasn't been heard from in nearly a week she's been missing since monday the police have said that they have no reason to believe she's in danger but at this point it's been seven days kenzie if you can hear this we are all worried and looking out for you 24 7. now the cops were kind of uh slow to act asher be grand you know they weren't exactly itching and rare to go and i'll tell you why you can disappear if you want if you really really want i mean i wouldn't recommend it it's kind of a dickish uh thing to do to you know your friends and family but um you know it's not against the law and she was 23 years old she you know she wanted to go off on a bit of a wonder about the place she could and there was no signs of fail play you know at this time the police thought that's exactly what happened and she would turn up one way or the other which is not very helpful it would be over a week after you know she had last been heard from on june 25th that they'd be like all right here for [ __ ] sake we'll do a press conference janey mac jesus uh we have a still photo pulled from the airport surveillance cameras showing mackenzie during the time she spent in the airport after her flight landed going by the time stamps on the video she deplaned at 209 am and got into the lift at 2 40 am over the course of approximately 31 minutes mackenzie walked from the gatway to catch the lift with a quick stop to pick up her luggage she did not appear to talk to anyone in the airport that's when they got the finger out and that's when they also released their images of her at the airport i would like to say again mckenzie in the case you just want to be left alone please let us know you are safe that's when the police tracked down and spoke to that lift that left driver who said yep you know i picked her up the airport we drove dropped her off you know dropped her off safe and sound but he didn't drop her off at home not that he would know where her home is i'm paraphrasing here instead he picked her up from the airport and dropped her off at a park at about 3am there the lyft driver said she got out of the car and he saw her meet with someone and get in their car before driving off this was confirmed to be you know plausible he had left her there confirmed via phone and call data and he had picked somebody else up right after detectives have spoken with the lyft driver and learned that mckenzie was met at hatch park by an individual in a vehicle the lyft driver left mackenzie at the park with that person and stated that mckenzie did not appear to be in any type of distress we have not yet confirmed the make and model of the car or a description of the person s-h-i-t is getting pretty real excuse my language so and what um [Music] secrets did uh old mackenzie have well her friends would say she was shy and looking for her own path forward for want of a better word she grew up in the church of latter-day saints but seemingly wasn't really into that sort of stuff which is you know ironic because she moved to utah they knew she was trying to be more outgoing more adventurous meeting somebody in a park atream probably not a kind of adventurous anybody really wants to be but the lyft driver said they seemed friendly casual it seemed like she knew whoever this guy was it was then that something happened completely by chance actually it happened a couple of weeks earlier three weeks before mackenzie lewick disappeared private investigator rob joseph randomly met the university of utah student at a downtown bar i became aware that mckenzie is the girl that went missing for joseph her disappearance became a personal quest to find out what happened i believe this was her first contact with this guy joseph a former salt lake city police officer has been uncovering leads since monday while at a bar in the city a former cop turned a private eye had actually met mackenzie and they started chatting just randomly and she just happened to reveal to him that she was on a dating website a very specific one called seeking arrangements it's uh if you're looking to find yourself an l literally l sugar daddy on this place you can quote upgrade your relationship from whatever piece of [ __ ] relationship you're in right now with some loser to some rich old guy that will mentor pamper and also have three other sugar babies [Music] not gonna lie that seems kind of um dodgy kind of weird but whatever floats your boat becca get as much money out of these old bastards as you can her profile on that site was then quickly found and it seems from her facebook posts that this was um something she was more than familiar with so then likely whoever's car she got into had something to do with that whoever you know would soon be revealed when they got a hold of mackenzie's phone records and it showed that she had been in contact with a fella a fella named aj aj's phone was also in the park that night within one minute of mackenzie's phone being there so yeah after days of silence a move on mckenzie's instagram account this happened yesterday it suddenly followed a page called fatherless and that is what led police to a home in fair park the owner of that house now being called a person of interest so the police then decided hey maybe we should head on over you know start yapping away with him have a goo at his place which they did roll the body cam he's not happy about it yeah they didn't give me the saturn i authorized it before and then when they said i should have a search warrant here can i borrow your fundamental call my liar i'm going to give you her phone number right now you remember her name went that susana is there anything else in there let's make sure [Music] clear in the bathroom they are scrolling through my phone without the wiring they are going through my phone no garage no house no cars i have no update by the way we both got our best i look like what you like the mailbox i am usps like we said as soon as we know something i'll tell you okay hope he's not the postal service that means he's going to raise his rates every day not be efficient exactly would you say you're going to witch library it's a library of this road on the other side of the freeway yeah yeah okay that's a new one right yeah it's very new it has couch that i can just leave but i will be there and i don't have a phone but if you guys walk in i will sit where you can see me okay i will tell them maybe they'll send me to pick you up let's see if you want to come back the police officer's happy after that get my nice red camry but if you pee in it i'll take you to jail but i have to feed you all right aj good luck so is that where you'll probably be yeah unless you want me to stay i'm happy to stay no you're welcome to leave if you want to i just if we wanted to come talk to you is that where you think you'll be yes okay all right good luck man thank you for spending a couple hundred dollars what's going on man so detectives are ready to talk to you about everything that's going on real fast so if you want to come i'll give you right back to the house real quick for this [ __ ] news i know i'm going to drive you back in my car it's the camera so we'll stay we'll stay away from the news yeah we're not going to go by i don't want my face on the news i will do that so it does okay so stand up real quick go ahead we're just gonna get you out are you guys doing something no no stand up don't worry you're gonna be the tent for a little bit you're being detained but just for a second okay i gotta put you in handcuffs just while we're driving per policy we're gonna we're just gonna go talk to the detectives you need to talk to the detectives and i need to transport you back so my policy says every time someone's in my car they will wear handcuffs so that's why they're new so that they can come right back we'll take you to another spot so you're not by the numbers okay we should talk about the news either you didn't have a conversation with her or you did we know you did we know that you had a conversation continuing we know that your phone takes you up in the exact same area as she was dropped off coincidence nope facts yep did you meet with her up in salt lake that night no okay your phone records are going to show different a week and a half now to prepare and we have been very busy because i care about mckenzie and i want her i think you did care about her i agree and i i know that there's more for you to tell me and you're holding back and i don't understand why hey jane i just told you that your phone records and the location put you up at the meet do you think honestly and expect me to believe that you ended that conversation and somehow you and her and her location end up in the exact same spot oh i'm not doubting you if i see that too if i'm in your case i would be asking myself what are you asking me right now it's not a miraculous question yeah i agree with you okay stuff doesn't just happen no yes i agree with you i'm telling you to explain that and so far you have not how do i explain something i don't know are you saying you don't know or you don't remember because those are two different things aj anything in your pockets that i need to be aware of or anything like that put that in there for you we'll put that in there for you whose cups are those hold on with that for a second for me do me a favor just stand up and face the wall for me i'm gonna make sure you got everything off yet aj was then arrested aj real name ayula ajayi 32 years old was originally from nigeria and he had met mackenzie on seeking arrangement they had been in contact since 2018. he had previously been a model gatorain we turned siemens and was briefly a member of the utah army national guard and at this time was working as an i.t specialist he also had been an author was an author i don't know maybe he's going to turn into a series of a little book called forge identity let's uh give it a find out what the summary is i'm sure it's good ezekiel was almost 15 when he witnessed a gruesome murder an angry mob burned his neighbor alive in the street and the man died at his feet sadly it was not the last time he witnessed such horror with his well-respected father as guide and mentor ezekiel saw this death then a death much closer to home when a loved one was killed in the same brutal terrifying way 50 feet from him and he could do nothing to stop it staggering to recover from these severe traumas he finds relief and joy in meeting his first love becomes embroiled in grand theft and experiences heartbreaking betrayal ezekiel must decide if he will join the ranks of a criminal mastermind or fight to escape the tyranny that has surrounded his young life or even beat them at their own game when trust is lost can he even trust himself i don't know but i'm excited to find out oh no sounds amazing i mean even that trailer on the books facebook page looks just um i'm speechless it's so good the reviews aren't great aj had previously been a student at the university of utah studying computer science but after encountering visa issues and some said he may have stolen an ipad he was barred from campus he eventually returned but never got the degree he had been married well was still technically by this stage but separated from a woman named tanisha who left him due to his violent outbursts i can't explain his but he was like real aggressive real real aggressive because he wanted me to remove her you talked to be with him and i told him no and i jumped through the window and he had a bush and i was trying to stab me with the knife and i end up cutting my hand he was living in salt lake city and his house was listed on airbnb though it had um some things that airbnb certainly does not allow i hope first of all cameras all over the house three of them in the bedroom alone watching you while you snooze a few months uh before mackenzie went missing aj had asked the contractor hey come on over here to he asked his contractor to build a secret underground layer i in his house he said you know could you build like a little secret kind of room under the house under the front porch you know a little hidden door the reason he told the contractor was that you know he wanted to hide his alcohol his booze from his mormon partner his mormon girlfriend you know he's like i'm just gonna put booze in there don't worry about it it's nothing you know sinister he then said uh hey you know i listen like to listen to music super loud so could you soundproof that little compartment as well would be my little little drinking cubby and then he also asked the contractor to install hooks on the ceiling hanging out um and that's not all the one other thing he asked the contractor to do was to make sure it makes it secure not like you know lock and key secure i'm talking biometric fingerprint scanning secure what because of the implication the contractor note uh the [ __ ] out of there so he had a history of not one but two sexual assaults neither time charges were pressed police searched his backyard [Music] he was released the next day for a day because he was then rearrested ksl tv was on the scene as this unfolded and captured this exclusive video you can see officers and tactical gear gathering on the side of the building weapons drawn murder suspect arula ajayi is then seen slowly walking toward the officers with his hands raised one hand holding a cell phone to his ear as he reaches the officers the 31 year old hands over the phone the swat team members lower their guns and place the jagi in handcuffs officers then enter the building minutes later they return and transfer a joggie across the street to the back seat of a police car later this afternoon crime scene vehicles showed up and entered the building with bags and cameras this all happened very quickly really less than a half hour after an exhaustive week of investigation we are filing charges of aggravated murder aggravated kidnapping obstruction of justice and desecration of a body in the homicide of mackenzie lewick the man charged with these horrific and tragic crimes is the person of interest iola i will not be saying the killer's name again police uncovered in his backyard evidence that he had burned something in a makeshift fire pit there they found some of mckenzie's belongings and uh well some of mckenzie camera's on what you got [Applause] burned what okay uh what do you got here did they hand this to you yeah right here all right i need you to secure this don't let anybody out of that house or into the backyard where was this found she picked it up you can't burn stuff in there all right yeah don't touch anything aj had bought a gas can six hours after she got into his car and neighbors would say he lit a big fire there around the 17th 18th of june mackenzie's body however was still missing then still using aj's phone data they learned that a week after mckenzie's disappearance had traveled north to a place called logan canyon and he was there for two hours following the signals left by his phone they found mackenzie in the woods we've recovered the body on wednesday the lewick family would like to express their gratitude for the effort put forth by the salt lake city police department her friends say that mackenzie shouldn't be labeled or judged for someone that she wasn't based on rumors being spread by people who don't know her they say mckenzie was the kindest and sweetest person someone that could always lift their spirits and make them laugh aj had planned to murder mackenzie from the very get-go he'd even he'd already turned off these surveillance uh you know in his house before they even got there he was he was thinking ahead he then strangled her with a belt and she was she passed due to blunt force trauma to the head he then burned her body and then dumped it in the woods to the north aj would be charged with kidnapping and sexual assault both of those relating to the two other women he attacked also uh well he was charged with 19 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor when uh pictures were found on his computer [Music] swell in relation to mackenzie luke he pled guilty to first degree aggravated murder and third-degree desecration of a human body he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in october 2020 [Music] you know uh one fella yeah fella from dead road i i fell meaning a retired fbi agent said that and thought that aj was on his way to becoming a serial killer he certainly wasn't a pro at this the crime scene was handled so poorly um and the way he tried to hide evidence was done so badly i think he was a burgeoning very dangerous uh possibly going to be a serial killer aj himself said it was all planned out you know he had covered his tracks to a degree and he killed because he just wanted to know what it felt like and as we've seen before once you um once a killer you know pops very hard to stop some good came out of this case though uh mckenzie's sorority you know sisters they set up a non-profit mackenzie's voice to help in other missing persons cases and provide support to the families which is great unlike aj achaya i mean yeah here look at that that's a guy who knows he's really screwed now good [Music] thank you so much for watching i really really appreciate it i will see you as always real soon in the next one till then take care of yourselves [Music]

Channel: That Chapter

Views: 1,894,691

Rating: 4.9119868 out of 5

Keywords: that chapter, mackenzie lueck, ayoola ajayi

Id: sOUGc9NiNbc

Length: 25min 38sec (1538 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 12 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/wr3decoy]

I saw another story about this and it took me until the interrogation to figure out it was something I've heard about before. Sad that her parents were put in the position to defend her honor after she was killed.

[u/MSchmidt8080]

He was a model....???? For what??? His feet? Horrible con artist. Glad he was locked. He could truly make more victims if not stopped. Plesse - no matter how desperate- beware of online meet people!!!