SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4 News) – As the search for missing University of Utah student Mackenzie Lueck stretched into its eighth day, we got our first look at surveillance photos of the 23-year-old in the final hour before her disappearance early on the morning of Monday, June 17th.
The Salt Lake City Police Department released still photos of Lueck from surveillance videos recorded at Salt Lake City International Airport where Lueck arrived after returning from her grandmother’s funeral in California.
While there’s no key evidence in the pictures, they do show what Lueck was wearing and her apparent calm demeanor in the hour before her disappearance.
Police say time stamps on the videos reveal that Lueck got off her plane at 2:09 a.m. then proceeded to Baggage Claim where she retrieved a suitcase and then was picked up at 2:41 a.m. by a Lyft driver who took her to North Salt Lake and dropped her off at Hatch Park at 3 a.m.The Lyft driver told police that Mackenzie got into another car with someone waiting inside. That’s where the trail went cold.
SLCPD Assistant Chief Tim Doubt says investigators need the public’s help.”We encourage the public to help us answer these lingering questions such as who was the person she met in Hatch Park?” Assistant Chief Doubt said. “Does Mackenzie have an alternate phone that she has used in the past or is using? Does she have social media accounts that we don’t know about? Is anyone in contact with Mackenzie online currently or within the last week?”
The SLCPD has established a Mackenzie Lueck Tipline at 801-799-4420. Assistant Chief Doubt said that 125 tips have come in as of Tuesday afternoon but they still don’t know the make or model of the car Lueck entered or even if it was a man or a woman behind the wheel.”After discussions with her family and friends we see no indication that she has gone off the grid before,” Assistant Chief Doubt told reporters. “This kind of behavior is uncharacteristic for her according to them. In regards to her online activities we are aware of this aspect and continue to look into all facets of her life for leads to her disappearance.”
Chief Doubt said that his department has asked the FBI for their assistance in the investigation. Lueck’s family have still not spoken publicly about her disappearance. At Tuesday’s news conference, a friend named Juliana Cawley read a brief statement in which the family referred all inquiries to the Salt Lake City Police Department.
