SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake City Police have recovered and positively identified the body of MacKenzie Lueck, Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown announced Friday.
Brown said Lueck's body was recovered from Logan Canyon on Wednesday.
"Please note this continues to be an open investigation. It is not uncommon for investigative efforts to continue, as the case progresses, to meet our obligation to the discovery of proof and the ongoing responsibility to collect all available evidence," said Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill in a news conference Friday morning.
A week ago, police arrested Ayoola Ajayi in connection with Lueck's murder.
"It is critically important to note while an arrest has been made and a suspect has been booked into jail, the booking speaks only to allegations in our system of justice and a presumption of innocence applies to all our community, and that presumption applies in this matter, as well as including this person," Gill said.
Formal charges are expected to be screened next week.
Lueck's family reported her missing on June 20 after not hearing from her since the early morning hours of June 17. She had texted them to let them know she had landed at the Salt Lake City International Airport after a flight from Los Angeles. She took a Lyft to Hatch Park in North Salt Lake and met with an unknown person.
Police confirmed last week that they traced her location and Ajayi's to the park at nearly the same time, about 3 a.m. that morning.
Lueck was a University of Utah student majoring in kinesiology and pre-nursing, and her family and friends said she had missed classes, exams and a flight back home the following Sunday for a friend's wedding.
