Oct. 8 (UPI) -- A Salt Lake City man has pleaded guilty to murdering a 23-year-old student last year after they met on a dating website.
Ayoola Ajayi, 32, pleaded guilty Wednesday to aggravated murder and desecration of a human body for the death of MacKenzie Lueck.
Under the terms of the deal, a judge is expected to sentence Ajayi on Oct. 23 to life in prison with no possibility of parole. He avoided the death penalty as part of the agreement.
Defense attorney Neal Hamilton said Ajayi killed Lueck, a University of Utah student, after they met June 17, 2019. Lueck had just returned from her grandmother's funeral and took a Lyft ride from the Salt Lake City airport to Hatch Park to meet with Ajayi.
Hamilton said Ajayi planned to kill Lueck before they met.
The two traveled to Ajayi's home, where he tied up Lueck and strangled her until she stopped moving. Officials said she died of blunt force trauma to the head.
Hamilton said his client then burned Lueck and her belongings in his backyard and buried the remains. After police visited Ajayi at his home to question him about Lueck's disappearance, he then dug up her remains and reburied her in a shallow grave at Logan Canton.
After his arrest a week later, Ajayi told police where her body was buried.
