SALT LAKE CITY — loved ones of a Utah university student who had been discovered strangled and burned this past year following a seek out her that grabbed the nation’s attention called the person whom pleaded bad to her murder a “monster” Friday before he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole as they confronted him.

Mackenzie Lueck’s dad, Gregory Lueck, told Ayoola A. Ajayi which he had no compassion for him because Ajayi had showed no compassion for their child, and stated he hopes Ajayi spends the remainder of their life in jail searching over their neck in fear.

Ajayi has recognized he planned the loss of the 23-year-old Lueck, who he came across for an app that is dating arranged to fulfill in a park. For her, authorities say after they returned to his home, he bound and strangled her, then burned and hid her body while police and loved ones searched.

“I’m maybe not certain you even have any such thing to anticipate into the afterlife, if you have belief in that,” Gregory Lueck stated. “My child Mackenzie Lueck ended up being a sweet, amazing woman with the entire world in front of her. She was a kindhearted individual that cared about other people. Now, we will not need the chance to see her blossom in life.”

Her cousin, Carly Stevens, stated through rips: “This is really a nightmare you can’t awaken from. We will never ever be in a position to forgive exactly exactly exactly what occurred to her. We will never ever forgive the monster whom took her life. Never ever in my own life have actually we felt anger the method we have actually the very last 16 months. Do not have we been so afraid for my entire life because I’m sure just just how genuine evil is in this globe.”

FILE – In this, file picture, Ayoola A. Ajayi seems in 3rd District Court in Salt Lake City. Ajayi pleaded responsible into the loss of a Utah university student Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2020, significantly more than a 12 months after her disappearance sparked a large-scale search that ended with all the development of her charred keeps inside the yard. Ajayi is expected to be sentenced to life in prison without having the risk of parole into the loss of 23-year-old Mackenzie Lueck. (Jeffrey D. Allred/The Deseret Information via AP, File)

Ajayi Pleaded Guilty Previously This to Aggravated Murder and Desecration of a Corpse month

The Lueck family members had not stated much publicly since their daughter’s charred stays were based in the summer time of 2019 in Ajayi’s yard in Salt Lake City. Ayaji later told police he buried the others of her human body in a shallow grave in a canyon almost 100 kilometers (161 kilometers) north, where she ended up being found together with her hands bound behind her.

Ajayi, 32, listened along with his head straight straight straight down as Lueck’s parents and cousins talked throughout the hearing in Salt Lake City, that was livestreamed for news to watch. Whenever provided the opportunity to talk, he apologized to Lueck’s parents in a quick declaration.

“Mr. and Mrs. Lueck, I’m sorry for just what used to do. We deserve exactly just exactly what I’m going to have,” Ajayi stated. “I’m sure this won’t bring her straight back.”

Ajayi pleaded accountable previously this to aggravated murder and desecration of a corpse in an agreement with prosecutors that removed the possibility of the death penalty month. Prosecutors dropped costs of aggravated kidnapping and obstructing justice.

A native of Nigeria, Ajayi held a card that is green enables him to lawfully work and inhabit the U.S., prosecutors have stated. He had been information technology worker that has stints with high-profile businesses and had been quickly into the Army nationwide Guard.

Authorities haven’t talked about a motive for the killing, but prosecutor Marc Mathis stated during the hearing that proof shows that Ajayi desired to understand what it felt want to destroy somebody.

Ajayi Planned the Slaying ahead of the Meeting during the Park

“This ended up being murder for murder’s sake,” said Mathis, of this Salt Lake District Attorney’s workplace.

Lueck went missing in 2019, after returning from a trip home to El Segundo, California, for her grandmother’s funeral june. Lueck took a Lyft to meet up with him in a park, prosecutors have stated. Her phone had been deterred one minute following the text that is last never ever switched right right back on.

Ajayi www.datingrating.net/jdate-review planned the slaying ahead of the conference during the park and switched off the video clip in the home-security system before he left to satisfy her, Hamilton has stated. Once they came back to their Salt Lake City home, Ajayi tied her up and started initially to choke her. She attempted to stop him, after which it he place a belt around her neck, pressed her onto her belly and strangled her, the lawyer stated.

Lueck’s mom, Diana Lueck, remembered her child as a sort, loving and caring young girl who had been a genuine “spitfire.”

Cousin Chloe Stevens said her fondest memories of her relative originate from summers as soon as the musical organization of cousins would play within their backyard that is grandmother’s pool Ca. That’s where she past saw and hugged her cousin before she came back to Utah and ended up being killed, Chloe Stevens stated as she cried.

“I replay those last moments together within my mind over and over repeatedly, stricken with grief with us just a little bit longer,” she said that I cannot somehow keep her. “The discomfort of Kenzi’s loss plus the permanent break it has kept inside our household is indescribable. It haunts me personally daily that I happened to be unable to protect her.”