Ex-wife of suspect arrested for murder of Mackenzie Lueck says he once threatened to ‘have someone come kidnap’ and ‘kill’ her
Jessica Schladebeck
3 hrs ago

© Associated Press
The ex-wife of a man arrested in the murder of University of Utah student Mackenzie Lueck said she has not been in contact with the alleged killer because she’s long been afraid of him.
Tenisha Ajayi, who currently lives in Dallas, Tex., first met Ayoola Ajayi through a family friend. In an interview with KUTV on Monday, she expressed shock over his arrest in the death of 23-year-old Lueck, but acknowledged he showed signs of violence throughout their relationship.
“I just stopped talking to him because I was fearing for my life,” she said. “He didn’t want me to do nothing. He didn’t want me to talk to nobody or nothing.”
Tenisha claimed Ajayi became increasingly controlling while they were together and eventually started to threaten her – that’s when she decided to officially leave him.
“If I wouldn’t do what he told me to do, he got real aggressive,” she told the news station. “He was like I’ll have someone come and kidnap you and kill you.”
According to court records, Tenisha Ajayi filed for divorce last October, and it was finalized in January. While she has not spoken with Ajayi for years, she said she would be willing to talk with the police and help their investigation in anyway she can.
Ajayi was arrested Friday for allegedly killing Lueck and burning her body. He was charged with aggravated murder, aggravated kidnapping, obstruction of justice and desecration of a body.
Authorities have not released a motive behind Lueck’s slaying.
The University of Utah senior went missing June 17 after she arrived at the Salt Lake City airport from Los Angeles, where she had been attending her grandmother’s funeral.
From there, Lueck ordered a Lyft from the airport and met a man in nearby Hatch Park around 3 a.m. Authorities have since identified the him as 31-year-old Ajayi, who was named a person of interest after evidence was uncovered on the victim’s phone.
Police said the suspect’s neighbors also spotted him burning something with gasoline in his backyard on June 17 and 18. A later excavation of his property turned up several charred personal items and human remains, which DNA testing confirmed to belong to Lueck.
Court documents also released Monday revealed Ajayi was previously investigated for a rape allegation made by his co-worker in 2014.
According to a North Park Police report obtained by the Salt Lake Tribune, the pair worked together at a financial company in Logan. She told authorities on Nov. 24, 2014 she’d been at Ajayi’s home when he raped her.
She said it started as a consensual encounter – “one thing led to another,” but she "suddenly found herself in a compromising position,” she told investigators.
The woman said she didn’t want to have sex, but he forced her to anyway, the Tribune reported.
“She kept saying to me that she felt that it was her fault, because she was not assertive enough,” an officer wrote in the report. “I explained that all she needed to do was to say no, and that should be enough.”
She also immediately told police that she did not wish to press charges, only that she wanted the incident on the record “in case he did the same thing to someone else.”
Ajayi was never interviewed by police. He has no criminal history in Utah aside from traffic violations.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/ex-wife-of-suspect-arrested-for-murder-of-mackenzie-lueck-says-he-once-threatened-to-have-someone-come-kidnap-and-kill-her/ar-AADK5Jc?ocid=spartanntp

See his Afonja face

Mackenzie Lueck investigation: Prosecutors have been granted an extension to file charges in the Utah college student's case

By Madeline Holcombe and Chris Boyette, CNN 47 mins ago


The suspect charged in the murder of Mackenzie Lueck is seen being arrested on Friday.
The man suspected of killing missing Utah college student Mackenzie Lueck will continue to be held in jail without bail for another week after prosecutors on Tuesday received an extension to file charges.
A motion granted by Utah's Third District Court gives the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office until next week to charge Ayoola Ajayi in Lueck's death, the district attorney's office said in a statement.
Unless a court rules for an extension, a suspect may only be held in custody for 72 hours before charges are filed or they must be released.

Ajayi, 31, was arrested Friday and booked into the Salt Lake County jail. He is expected to be charged with Lueck's murder and several other counts, including aggravated kidnapping, Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown said.

Female tissue found in his home

Lueck has been missing since the morning of June 17. The University of Utah student texted her parents at around 1 a.m. after landing at Salt Lake International Airport, police said. Airport surveillance footage showed her rolling her luggage through the airport in the early morning hours.

Photo gallery by USA Today

She then took a Lyft to Hatch Park, where she was last seen.
Investigators tracking Ajayi's phone say he and Lueck were both in the park within a minute of each other.
Then her phone stopped receiving data or location services, police said.
Investigators searched Ajayi's home and property last week, police said. As they did, his neighbors told police they saw him using gasoline to burn something in his backyard on June 17 and 18, Brown said.
Police said the search yielded multiple items of evidence.
"A forensic excavation of the burn area was conducted, which resulted in the finding of several charred items that were consistent with personal items of Mackenzie Lueck," Brown told reporters.
Police also discovered charred material that was determined to be female human tissue consistent with Lueck's DNA profile, he said.

A man who wanted a soundproof room

Ajayi lived about five miles from the park where Lueck was last seen.
According to his LinkedIn page, he is a former information technology specialist for the US Army and recently worked for Dell and Goldman Sachs. CNN has reached out to the US Army and Dell for comment.
His neighbor, Tom Camomile, told CNN prior to his arrest that Ajayi was a "computer geek."
"I think he's a man of high integrity," he said, "but you don't know anyone."
In 2014, Ajayi was investigated for a "Sex Offense/Rape Complaint," according to North Park Police Department Chief Jeff Simmons. The woman involved did not want to pursue charges against him.
Brian Wolf, a contractor, told CNN that Ajayi asked him to build a soundproof room in his home with a secret, thumb print protected door.
Ajayi told him the soundproofing was for listening to loud music. He also wanted hooks up high so he could put in a wine rack, Wolf said.
"People ask me to build all kind of stuff all the time but nothing like this. This was just way too weird," Wolf, who declined the job, said.

'A ball of light'

Lueck was a part-time senior studying kinesiology and pre-nursing at the University of Utah. She was set to graduate in 2020, according to CNN affiliate KSL. Her sorority sisters said she was outgoing and kind.

"(She) was the kind of person who would ... have a good time no matter what she was doing and have everyone involved, enjoying themselves," Lueck's sorority "big" sister Carly Reilly told KSL.
Michelle Galison, also a member of the University of Utah's Alpha Chi Omega sorority told the station that Lueck was unforgettable.
"I will remember her as a ball of light. That's what she was. A blond bubble of happiness," Galison told KSL

His neighbor, Tom Camomile, told CNN prior to his arrest that Ajayi was a "computer geek."
"I think he's a man of high integrity," he said, "but you don't know anyone."

Exactly what I thought of Ayo when I knew him. But alas the heart of man is secretly evil. May he find forgiveness.