Found Deceased UT - MacKenzie "Kenzie" Lueck, 23, Salt Lake City, 17 June 2019 #4

[curiousjo]

It’s 3 am! I would not expect Lyft driver to be very busy... Bar time is 1 am.CNN about to do update.

 

[Jethro4WS]

That is a few miles away from the park. Said person would have to go west on center street a few miles, and then left on Redwood Road about a mile. This exit as actually currently closed right now, you can't get through to it because they have that entire section of the road closed. But I don't know if it was closed that night too, or if it's just the past few days it has been closed. But that is the way that makes the most sense for the Lyft driver to take from the airport, because had they taken I-15, they would have had to back track and get off at 2600 South. So if that road was open, that's the way they went that night.

I found this from UDot the interchange was closed on June 15 and 16. So it isn't clear if it were open. I guess that would depend on when on the 17th it was opened again.

Project Summary

 

[PommyMommy]

I think she met up with someone in the airport. (When she was touching her chest in the photo.)
This person may have followed her from the LAX airport to Salt Lake, and may have surprised her.
Someone who met her in LA ? What about the ex boyfriend?

I'm pretty sure it was stated in today's presser that she didn't speak to anyone in the airport. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, I hope. MOO

 

[shanadk]

Anyone know the number of people who have been murdered and or are still missing after meeting someone on a dating app ??
Just curious

I have no statistics. But I met a real first class Psycho, on Match dot com. (this was around 2006)
Not a murderer, thankfully.... but physically abusive and stole from women.

 

[chihuahua]

This is way out there. Guess I might as well be silly and just post it.
With the funeral, the flight coming up this past weekend that she missed, and the upcoming wedding she was going to, that's a lot going on.
She missed the exam. It is obvious she took her education seriously and would not do this on purpose.
There are many graduates in most colleges who get possession of exams in advance by stealing or buying them.
Under all of this strain, could ML have been meeting a friend or acquaintance of hers' that had such info?
What happened then tho?
Hmmm surely on the wrong track with this post.
Jmo based on having passed exams this way.
Chi out on a branch

 

[SaintGirl]

Here is another reason why I am having trouble believing the story about going to the park to meet someone.

If she had intended on meeting someone else instead of going directly home first then why didnt she just have the person pick her up at the airport instead of telling the person to meet her at the park where she had to pay a Lyft driver to get to the park.

She had to call this other person to arrange to meet so its easier to tell the person to just come up to the airport and she could have waited outside the terminal for a pickup there.

The whole "park story" is bothering me right now.

I get your point, but my guess is she wanted to see him (fairly sure it’s a him) more than he wanted to see her and she made concessions by meeting close to where he was. Or she was being selfless and offered because of the time. At 3 am even driving 15 minutes can seem long if you’ve been sleeping.

 

[ocsalumni]

It takes a lot of mental gymnastics to come up with a good reason why you can meet someone at the park but can't drive 10 minutes further.

Wasn't her lyft ride fairly long? Like over 20 minutes? If she was meeting up with someone like a SD she may have offered to meet them at the park so that he wouldn't have to drive all the way to the airport to see her.

MOO/Speculation

 

[jbacon]

I keep thinking about the "mystery person" she met at the park. If I am a 23-year-old girl, I have just gotten off a plane at 2 am after attending a family members funeral, and by her friend's admission she was traumatized by I might not be so quick to want to go home. So, what would I do? I would probably call a friend, a friend I knew had a good chance of being up to hang with for a while maybe get something to eat. I kept thinking about the unknown person at the park as being someone she must not have known very well primarily fueled by the talk of *the subject we aren't allowed to talk about* however, it's more likely she called someone she knew. Maybe it wasn't someone in her close-knit circle of friends but perhaps someone outside of that. Someone, she felt comfortable to show up in yoga pants and a messy ponytail. Maybe a coworker, old friend, family friend, or just someone she felt would be able to comfort her and hang for a while so she could unwind? I think it's easy with all the talk to jump on to the stranger/date train here, but it might be someone closer to home?

I want to get on board with this but the missing piece to this is if that’s the type of person she’s meeting why did they meet at the park. Not at the airport. Not at a gas station right off the freeway. So. Many. Options. For a close friend or an acquaintance or a co worker that part of your story does def not fit in.

 

[wary]

Thinking out loud... If she hopped in that car she had a plan to get home later? How was she planning to get home?

1: the person who met her was going to drive her home.

2: after the late date, conversation, or whatever, she was going to get another Lyft home.

3: going to spend the night at the home of the person who picked her up, followed by either 1 or 2 to eventually get home.

What other possibilities?

 

[Seattle1]

I would be so curious to see the route the driver took as there is no easy way to get to Hatch Park from airport.

Lyft spokeswoman Lauren Alexander said the route the driver took contained no irregularities and ended at the address requested by Lueck.

I'm assuming driver took route per their standard map/gps device...

 

[margarita25]

As someone who drives regularly I immediately wondered what I would do in that situation. I like to consider myself a good human being who looks out for others, and I have daughters. I try to be conversational with riders, but some put out the vibe right away that they don't want to be talked to. There are also times where it's just you and a young lady and you don't want to come off as creepy so you keep to yourself for the most part. The ratings are precious to drivers, so coming across wrong to a passenger isn't something a lot of drivers want to do.

If I knew the destination was a park (often the pin placed on the map is not the exact destination or doesn't say the name of the location), I might ask her if she wanted me to wait to make sure she was safe, but other than that, when I saw that someone was meeting her, I can see where the driver would just carry on and finish his night. Some of these guys are driving 12 hours or more a day...

Exaaactly.

I had mentioned that drivers have mentioned to me how not all passengers want to talk, are on their phones, etc, and that they don’t push conversation and try to respect these boundaries. They can tell if someone wants to chat or not.

If Kenzie met up with her vehicle, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary, I don’t find it strange for a Lyft driver not to recall specific details. As you said, they’re doing this all day...

Here’s another thought. Perhaps this person lives far away, so if it was a new development to meet up, the person could have said, I’ll start heading that way, you start heading this way (to save time), and we can meet up half way.

Actually nah, I don’t really think that. It wasn’t that far away. Never mind. Scratch that idea.

 

[girlhasnoname]

Could it be as simple as Kenzie arrived so late, was still upset and just wanted to talk to someone? Maybe she didn't want to wake up her roommates barging in at 3:00 am.

I don't think this HAS to be about drugs or dates, but the problem I have is. if this was an innocent, hang out, vent and cry session, why hasn't the person come forward???

 

[Kapua]

True, but it's also definitely not standard protocol to hop in a drug dealers car and make a quick buy with a lyft driver right there waiting for you to hop back in and witnessing a super obvious drug deal.

That said, I don't think drugs had anything to do with this. I think it's possible that she had a few drinks before/during her flight and met someone for a nightcap, and chose not to drive because she was a little drunk or thought she would be by the time she went home. That doesn't explain why she would get dropped off at the park, but it could be that the person she was meeting was in transit from point a to point b, didn't have a connection to the pickup area, and the park was a somewhat central meeting point for the two of them.

I also have a feeling that whoever she met was someone close to her own age, as opposed to someone substantially older. Just a gut feeling.

A nightcap at 3AM in Salt Lake City??? Not unless the city has changed a LOT since the last time I visited, or either her or her friend brought a bottle.

 

[ZhaZhaHa]

IMO:

What doesn't matter:
-what she was wearing (in respect to HOW she was dressed, of course we want to know what she was last seen in)
-How many bags she had and how full they were
-her traffic citations in her past
-random other run-ins with the law regarding property, etc etc etc


What DOES matter:
-What has been said on the podcast. It matters to me, IMO IMO
-She didn't go home after an early morning flight/long and emotional weekend
-that the Lyft driver saw her get in another car and is reported to have made other stops after her drop off
-the person who met her at 2:50am HAS NOT COME FORWARD. This is the scariest thing.

 

[SoCalGirl]

I think she met up with someone in the airport. (When she was touching her chest in the photo.)
This person may have followed her from the LAX airport to Salt Lake, and may have surprised her.
Someone who met her in LA ? What about the ex boyfriend?

This person would've had to have been on the same flight. Why wouldn't he make himself known? I've met guys on flights before and we usually walk off the plane together and chit-chat while collecting luggage. Then we would've exchanged phone numbers. Why would she meet someone at LAX or on the plane, not communicate with him at all after de-planing, and then accept an invitation from him to meet at some park 15 minutes away, both in separate vehicles? I don't understand some of these mental pretzels - she'd probably been texting this guy over the weekend (new or someone known), arranged to meet up when she got back into town, texted parents to say arrived safely, and then texted the guy to let him know she arrived. They met at the park because it was mid-way or they'd met there before. Lyft driver dropped her off with a car/person waiting, she hopped in the car, and....we don't know what happened next but it resulted in her disappearance.

 

[shanadk]

I wonder if robbery could have been at least part of the motive.
Her appearance doesn't scream rich, but she is well dressed (casual knits for travel, but good quality), her bag is good quality, and I believe her mini backpack is also.

 

[ZhaZhaHa]

A nightcap at 3AM in Salt Lake City??? Not unless the city has changed a LOT since the last time I visited, or either her or her friend brought a bottle.

It has not. My husband was there on business a few weeks ago and surprised he couldn't get a beer in a steakhouse after a certain hour...like 9pm?!

 

[MsBetsy]

The amount of luggage now bothers me- I think 95% of men would have gotten out and helped with that luggage, providing the Lyft driver with a pretty good view and description.

Perhaps it was a female friend that she met.

Or maybe the person just didn't want to get out of the car and risk being identified.

 

[MassGuy]

I think she met up with someone in the airport. (When she was touching her chest in the photo.)
This person may have followed her from the LAX airport to Salt Lake, and may have surprised her.
Someone who met her in LA ? What about the ex boyfriend?

Law enforcement said that she didn’t communicate with anyone at the airport.

They’d know, because all of it would have been caught on surveillance.

She took a Lyft to a destination of her choosing, apparently to meet someone.

I can’t envision a scenario where that all fits together with the known facts here.

 

[jbacon]

A nightcap at 3AM in Salt Lake City??? Not unless the city has changed a LOT since the last time I visited, or either her or her friend brought a bottle.

Yeah bars stop serving at 1 am and close at 2. Not happening.

 

[RustyNail19]

It takes a lot of mental gymnastics to come up with a good reason why you can meet someone at the park but can't drive 10 minutes further.

Not necessarily. I live here and despise the airport. It’s under construction and a pain in the butt to navigate right now, especially at night. I even had my own mother take a uber to the nearest park n ride station and met her there; picked her up from there.