Mackenzie Lueck’s Accused Killer Allegedly Tried to Have Soundproof Secret Room Built

Zachary Stieber
By Zachary Stieber
July 1, 2019US News
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Mackenzie Lueck’s Accused Killer Allegedly Tried to Have Soundproof Secret Room Built
Salt Lake City police take Ayoola A. Ajayi into custody in connection with missing University of Utah student MacKenzie Lueck in Salt Lake City on June 28, 2019. (Kristin Murphy/The Deseret News via AP)

The man accused of murdering Utah college student Mackenzie Lueck allegedly told a contractor in detail about a secret soundproof room he wanted built.

Brian Wolf, the contractor, said that he recognized Ayoola Ajayi’s house when he was watching the news.

Wolf said Ajayi contacted him in April after getting his contact information from a plumber. Wolf arrived at the house under the impression he’d be looking at fixing issues stemming from a flood but Ajayi instead asked him to erect a secret room.

“He said he wanted to sit in there and listen to his music as loud as he wanted to. I thought it was kind of weird to sit in a little room to listen to music real loud,” Wolf told KSL. “It wasn’t a big area. It was just weird.”

NTD Photo
Salt Lake City police take Ayoola A. Ajayi into custody in connection with missing University of Utah student MacKenzie Lueck in Salt Lake City on June 28, 2019. (Kristin Murphy/The Deseret News via AP)

Ajayi informed the contractor he wanted the room to have a lock that could only be opened with his thumbprint and large hooks placed around six feet above the ground, anchored in concrete walls. He claimed the hooks were for a liquor cabinet that he wanted to hide from his “Mormon girlfriend.”

“That was another reason I was like, ‘That’s kind of weird that you need a soundproof room to listen to music and drink your alcohol in,’” Wolf said.

“Then the soundproofing came in and the … fingerprint thumb lock [keypad] thing, and then he was adamant about telling me that money was no [object] and he wanted it done as soon as possible,” Wolf added to the Deseret News. “It just got weirder and weirder, the more he was talking to me.”

Wolf said he sat down after work and saw the news that Ajayi had been linked to the murder of Lueck.

“I was shaking, and I don’t know, it was just overwhelming,” he said. “I called the Salt Lake City Police Department right away and told them what I knew. … They were saying he was a person of interest, and what he wanted me to build, this woman was missing, it was just way too close to reality.”

Wolf said he departed Ajayi’s house knowing he wouldn’t build the room and Ajayi later messaged him opting out of the proposed project himself.

He said that he hopes Ajayi is locked up for life for what he allegedly did.

“I’d go crazy,” he said of the thought of having his daughter go missing for a week and then learning she’d been killed. “I can’t imagine what that family is going through. … I’m still trying to soak it all in. It’s sad what happened to [Lueck], and I hope that dude goes away forever.”

NTD Photo
Mackenzie Lueck in file photos. (Salt Lake City Police Department)

Friends Accuse Ajayi of ‘Hunting’ Women

Ajayi, who was charged with aggravated murder on June 28, was “hunting for women,” Lueck’s friends claimed.

Kennedy Stoner, a sorority sister and friend of Lueck’s, told Fox News that the alleged planned secret room showed that Ajayi “was planning on doing this to someone.”

“I don’t know if it was exactly Kenzie but there was definitely a plan there,” she said.

Katie Kvam, another friend, called Ajayi “an evil, sick person.”

They also hit out at people trying to blame Lueck for the death. Officials said the college student met with Ajayi at a park, getting dropped off by a Lyft in the early hours of the morning.

“If Kenzie knew what was gonna happen she would not have met that individual at the park,” Kvam said. “Her death is not her fault… and for people to say things other than that is hurtful. It’s hurtful to us. It’s hurtful to her family. It’s hurtful to other victims out there. It just doesn’t make sense.”

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