Ayoola Ajayi, a 31-year-old Army veteran, has been named as the suspect in the murder of missing University of Utah student Mackenzie Lueck. Ajayi was arrested by the SWAT team on Friday, June 28 and charged with aggravated murder, aggravated kidnapping, and desecration of a body.
Lueck’s body was found burned and buried in the yard of Ajayi’s home.
Ajayi currently works at Dell as a Senior Technical Support Analyst following his two-year stint as an IT specialist in the United States Army. He had also had a modeling page with Model Management and previously worked as a systems administrator for Goldman Sachs. Ajayi did not have a criminal history.
Ajayi was discharged from the Utah Army National Guard in June 2015 after six months of service
Ajayi, who went by “AJ,” had also previously self-published a book about murder titled Forge Identity.
Ayoola Ajayi Ethnicity & Nationality
“Ayoola Ajayi was born and raised in Africa. He has been a salesman, an entrepreneur, and a writer. He has survived a tyrannical dictatorship, escaped a real life crime, traveled internationally, excelled professionally in several industries, and is currently curating a multi-platform advertising campaign for his debut novel, Forge Identity, a sample of which can be found on Kindle, Amazon, Facebook, and any current social media. He lives in salt lake,” according to Heavy.com.
According to his modeling page, Ajayi was 6-foot-1 and listed his ethnicity as “Black/African roots.”
His ethnicity and nationality have not been officially confirmed at this time.
The synopsis for his book read:
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?
Lueck was last seen on Monday, June 17, after arriving at the Salt Lake City Airport. She hopped in a Lyft and was driven to a local park that was five miles from the home of Ajayi.
Our deepest condolences go out to Lueck’s family and friends during this incredibly difficult and tragic time.
