Suspect Arrested in Case of Missing Utah Student Mackenzie Lueck

Suspect Arrested in Case of Missing Utah Student Mackenzie Lueck
Mackenzie Lueck, 23, a senior at the University of Utah.(#FindMackenzieLueck via AP)
Jack Phillips
6/28/2019
Updated:
6/28/2019

An arrest was made in the disappearance of University of Utah student Mackenzie Lueck, according to officials, saying it “took one person into custody” in the case.

Salt Lake City police didn’t offer any details on the arrest, but it made an announcement on Twitter.

Lueck, 23, was last seen meeting an unknown person at around 3 a.m. on June 17 at a Salt Lake City park after she was dropped off by a Lyft driver.

The Salt Lake City Police Department said, “SLCPD will be providing an update on the MacKenzie Lueck case in the media briefing room at the Public Safety Building at 11:30 a.m.,” according to its Twitter page.

On June 27, a person of interest was named in the case.

The announcement came shortly after authorities spent about 19 hours searching the man’s home in a middle-class Salt Lake City neighborhood. Neighbors described officers entering the home with shovels and police dogs. Investigators were also seen taking large brown bags out of the house, according to The Associated Press.

Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown said the homeowner spoke with investigators but was not in custody and declined to name him. But authorities said they believe the house has an unspecified connection to the disappearance of 23-year-old Mackenzie Lueck.

Online court and property records identify the man as 31, divorced this year and with no criminal record in Utah. The Associated Press is not naming him because authorities have not done so.

Investigators want to find a mattress and box spring they say the homeowner gave away last week, and speak with whoever took it, Brown said.

Lueck disappeared June 17 after taking a Lyft from the city’s airport to a park, where police said she met someone at about 3 a.m. They have said the Lyft driver had no connection with her disappearance.

“I feel very concerned and very worried,” her friend Kennedy Stoner told ABC News. “It’s out of character for Kenzie to go just off the grid like this.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Jack Phillips is a breaking news reporter with 15 years experience who started as a local New York City reporter. Having joined The Epoch Times' news team in 2009, Jack was born and raised near Modesto in California's Central Valley. Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/jackphillips5
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