Hearing in Mackenzie Lueck murder case postponed as more evidence surfaces

A flyer informing people of Mackenzie Lueck disappearance is pictured in Hatch Park in North Salt Lake on Monday, June 24, 2019. According to Salt Lake City police, the 23-year-old University of Utah student was last seen making contact with a person in a vehicle at the park about 3 a.m. on June 17. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

Timeline extended on three criminal cases for Ayoola Ajayi

SALT LAKE CITY — Prosecutors say they are sifting through more information tied to the death of Utah college student Mackenzie Lueck.

Third District Judge Vernice Trease granted their request Monday to postpone a two-day hearing for Ayoola Adisa Ajayi, who is charged with aggravated murder, a capital offense.

Deputy Salt Lake County District Attorney Marc Mathis told Trease he and his colleagues need more time to sort through the evidence and hand it over to Ajayi’s defense attorneys, but didn’t give any details on the new information.

The preliminary hearing, designed to help a judge determine if the case is strong enough to go to trial, had been scheduled to begin March 12 in Salt Lake City. A new date has not yet been set.

Ajayi has not yet entered pleas to the charges of aggravated murder, a first-degree felony and capital offense; aggravated kidnapping, also first-degree felony; desecration of a human body, a second-degree felony; plus obstruction of justice, a third-degree felony.

His defense team agreed to the change.

A shackled Ajayi, appearing briefly in court in a yellow jail uniform, replied “yes, your honor,” when the judge asked if he wanted to waive his right to a speedy hearing.

Lueck, 23, a University of Utah student from El Segundo, California, met Ajayi early on June 17 at Hatch Park in North Salt Lake before going to Ajayi’s house, police have said. Her charred remains were found by police in a shallow grave in Logan Canyon on July 3.

Although attorneys did not shed any light on the new details, recently unsealed search warrants provide more details on the steps police took to link Ajayi to Lueck’s disappearance.

When police interviewed the Lyft driver on June 21 who drove Lueck to the North Salt Lake park, he said Lueck was met by a woman who helped her transfer her luggage into Ajayi’s car, according to the warrants.

And a man renting the basement Airbnb in Ajayi’s house told police that to his belief, he spotted Ajayi burning pallets and what appeared to be a white door in the backyard of his home in Salt Lake City’s Fairpark neighborhood.

In a separate case that also was pushed back Monday, Ajayi is accused of sexually assaulting a woman during a dinner date at his Salt Lake City home in March 2018. Prosecutors filed charges in that case after the woman saw news coverage of Lueck’s death, recognized Ajayi and contacted police.

A trial on the sexual assault charges had originally been set for last week. It has not yet been rescheduled.

Ajayi has pleaded not guilty in that case to charges of aggravated kidnapping, a first-degree felony, and three counts of forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony.

In a third criminal case, he faces 19 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony, after police reported finding child pornography on devices seized from his home in their homicide investigation.

Ajayi is due back in court for a status conference on April 27.

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