SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Aug. 20, 2019 (Gephardt Daily) — Ayoola Ajayi, charged in the murder of 23-year-old University of Utah student MacKenzie Lueck, now faces felony charges in a unrelated 2018 case.
Ajayi, 31 is now charged with the abuse of a woman he contacted through a dating app and met in person prior to the alleged attack, on March 10, 2018.
“Following an in-person meeting, Ajayi invited (the woman) to his house and offered to cook her dinner,” says a probable cause statement filed Tuesday morning. The charges are one count of aggravated kidnapping, a first-degree felony; and three counts of forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony.
“On about March 10, 2018, (the woman) went to Ajayi’s residence, located in Salt Lake County. Following dinner, (the woman) and Ajayi began watching television on Ajayi’s couch, at which point Ajayi began ‘intensely’ kissing her and trying to touch her ‘between her legs.'”
The probable cause statement says the woman then attempted to stop Ajayi and get away, but he got on top of her and pinned her down on the couch, against her will.
Ajayi then placed his hand on her thigh, and began grinding against her, pressing his male organ between her legs, over her clothing, the statement says.
Ajayi pulled the woman’s shirt up and her bra down, the woman told police. He grabbed the woman’s left breast, and began biting, she said. The woman said she was bitten three times on the nipple and breast, which caused her significant pain and left bruising and bite marks, she said.
Child exploitation charges
This is the second set of charges to be filed against Ajayi since those related to the death of Lueck. Just a week ago, the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office announced it had filed 19 charges of sexual exploitation of a minor against Ajayi, a second-degree felony.
The new charges were based on images found on Ajayi’s computer, which was seized and searched as part of the Lueck homicide investigation, a statement from the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s office said.
Several images are described as showing girls, estimated age 4 to 7, performing a sex act on a male. Others are described as showing girls, estimated age 4 to 8, posed to showcase specific body parts.
The DA’s office has requested the court issue a warrant of arrest for Ajayi to ensure he appears to face charges, noting that he is currently in jail.
Lueck case
Ajayi was taken into custody in the Lueck case after phone records linked the two just before she went missing on June 17 of this year.
Human tissue later recovered in Ajayi’s backyard burn pit had a DNA profile consistent with Lueck, and her belongings also were found in the ashes.
The rest of Lueck’s body was recovered from a shallow grave in an undisclosed area of Logan Canyon on July 25, after Ajay’s phone records placed him at that site. He was taken into custody on July 28 and is being held without bail.
Charges Ajayi faces in the Lueck case are aggravated murder, a first-degree felony; aggravated kidnapping, a first-degree felony; obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony; and abuse or desecration of a dead human body, a third-degree felony.
Adding the charges in the three cases together, Ajayi faces three first-degree felonies, 23 second-degree felonies; and one third-degree felony.
