(NBC NEWS) – Tonight, a “Dateline” exclusive, detectives in the murder investigation of college student Mackenzie Lueck speak out for the first time.
Lueck was murdered in 2019 after landing home in Salt Lake City and taking a Lyft to meet Ayoola Ajayi, whom she had connected with on a site for young women looking to meet prosperous men.
Here is a preview of Keith Morrison’s report:
Before Mackenzie Lueck disappeared in June 2019, a disturbing story had gone national.
Several stories, actually, about women being assaulted while using Lyft or Uber.
And, perhaps no surprise, Mackenzie’s friend Ashley Fine imagined something like that – or worse.
ASHLEY FINE: I assumed that the Lyft driver abducted her, or maybe they were in a car accident and had the car driven off the road.
The detectives thought that was a possibility too. So they wanted very much to find that elusive Lyft driver who gave Mackenzie a ride the night she vanished.
TIFFANY SAYES: We wanted to know if he was in fact going to be a suspect or not.
He was, though, nowhere to be found. Just as odd? Mackenzie’s phone, the detectives learned, was turned off just as her Lyft ride came to an end.
NATE WILEY: So, we’re able to get the destination from the airport all the way up to a north Salt Lake address, and she was dropped off at Hatch Park up in north Salt Lake, just before 3 a.m.
A park? At 3 a.m.? Why would Mackenzie come here?
Watch “The Waiting Car” on Thursday’s “Dateline” at 10 p.m. on NBC4.
