New details have emerged about the suspect and cause of death related to a University of Utah student who was last seen alive in Salt Lake City on June 17.
As CrimeOnline has previously reported, 23-year-old Mackenzie Lueck’s body was found in a Utah canyon earlier this month, about 85 miles north of where she reportedly disappeared.
According to the New York Post, the victim’s body was reportedly found with her arms tied behind her back. Prosecutors say her body had been burned and there was a two-inch hole found in her skull.
In a statement on Wednesday, District Attorney Sam Gill revealed that evidence points to blunt force trauma to the head as Lueck’s cause of death.
He also added that the victim’s family asked him to “express on their behalf the generosity of so many strangers and friends” through this difficult period.
The new findings became public as the suspect in her murder, 31-year-old Ayoola Ajayi, was in court to hear the charges against him. Investigators say they also found evidence of charred human remains at his home and accuse him of dousing Lueck’s body in gasoline before setting it ablaze.
He is expected to face criminal counts including aggravated murder, kidnapping, desecration of a body, and obstruction of justice.
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