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Woman Felt 'Trapped And Caged' By Man Accused Of Killing College Student Mackenzie Lueck
A woman claims Ayoola Ajayi, the man accused of killing University of Utah student Mackenzie Lueck, sexually assaulted her last year during a dinner date.
More than a year before Ayoola Ajayi was named as University of Utah student Mackenzie Lueck’s suspected killer, he allegedly sexually assaulted another woman he met over a Mormon dating app.
While awaiting trial for the slaying and desecration of the 23-year-old kinesiology student, Ajayi, 31, was in court on Thursday, facing charges of aggravated kidnapping and forcible sexual abuse in connection to the alleged sexual assault, according to The Deseret News.
A two-page written statement composed by the woman at the center of the March 10, 2018 incident was physically passed to the judge in the case, a court official confirmed to Oxygen.com.
In it, the anonymous woman recounted how she was allegedly sexually violated against her will: “I was unable to move, and felt paralyzed, trapped and caged,” the statement reads, according to The Deseret News.
The woman claimed to have met a bachelor named “AJ” on Mutual, an app aimed at Church of Latter-day Saints members, and said they set dinner plans after some online communication.
Authorities say that man is Ajayi, whose alias is “AJ,” according to the probable cause statement filed in court on Aug. 20 and reviewed by Oxygen.com.
Both Ajayi and the woman met for a first date at his home. They dined before watching a movie, which is when Ajayi put his arm around her and started kissing her “intensely,” while also moving his hand to touch the woman “between her legs," she wrote.
When the woman tried pulling away from Ajayi on the sofa and compelled him to “stop,” he turned aggressive, the document claims. Ajayi allegedly “got on top” of the woman and “pinned her down on the couch against her will.”
The woman alleged Ajayi then began groping her genitals and started “grinding on her” with his penis over her clothes before yanking her bra down, where he “began biting her left breast … three times,” according to the document.
The woman claims to have suffered bite marks and bruises from the attack.
Prosecutors say they came upon evidence of the alleged sexual assault while pursuing leads after Lueck’s homicide.
In a third case pending against Ajayi, authorities charged him with 19 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor after investigators found a cache of disturbing photos stored on Ajayi’s computer.
Ajayi's defense attorney Neal Hamilton disputed the woman's version of events, claiming she originally told authorities a different story.
Hamilton went on to say that both the woman and Ajayi communicated after their date, despite her allegedly initially telling investigators she blocked his number
The attorney also asked for a chance to question the woman, who did not appear at Thursday’s hearing.
Lueck's story captured nationwide attention when she went missing after returning to Salt Lake City from a trip to her native El Segundo, California for her grandmother's funeral. She then took a Lyft from Salt Lake City International Airport to Hatch Park in North Salt Lake, and police said Lueck was last seen getting into Ajayi's car on June 17 at that park.
Ajayi was arrested 11 days later.
Lueck's beaten and burned remains were found on July 3 in Logan Canyon.
Ajayi's murder trial is set to proceed on Oct. 7, a court official confirmed.
