The medical examiner identified human tissue. just fragments, my new. they could not be certain who or what they had, exactly. we had tissue samples, or pieces, so, in order to charge somebody and arrest them, that needed to be confirmed. we knew that would take time. so, without solid proof that murder had been committed, they once again, reluctantly, let aj go. that was probably the hardest part in the investigation, watching him walk out the door that night. mckenzie s friends heard that he was released. it took it as a sign of hope. that maybe mckenzie was still alive, and he was hiding her because the police let him go the next day. then, at daybreak, detectives got a call from the state crime lab about the remains found in the backyard. they were they were able to identify
Phone came up into these moments. about two months north of here and then goes partially up to the canyon, then returns back to salt lake city a couple hours later. that was not to us. had he, a nervous killer, exhumed her body from the backyard fire pit to rebury her appear? they set off the search logan canyon. it took us the better part of a day until we found her. that has to be another part tough part of your job? it was horrific, a sight that none of us wanted to see. the search for mckenzie was over, but the investigation was not. in the weeks following, a woman came forward to say that she had been sexually assaulted by a.j. a year earlier. at aj s residence, the same residents were mckenzie was killed. she said that she met him
Unlike mckenzie, she told us that she was anything but a new be when we spoke to her in 2019. at the time the 20 something had been with a sugar daddy for six months, he was 63. do you mind telling me how much he paid you? my allowance is 1200 a month. she told us it took her a long time to find and arrangement. you have to fish through all of those guys who like, literally, say let s meet up at a hotel, have sex and i will give you money. and i m like that s a prostitute. shades of gray could be confusing for anybody said it, let alone a novice on seeking arrangement. i ve seen girls who have had sugar daddies they re not even the same person after. did you read a mackenzie s profile? yes i. did she came from a
Through a dating app, a religious one. aj was charged with aggravated kidnapping and forcible sexual abuse in that case. the evidence was tightening around him, evidence of what he did to mckenzie was growing. finally, october 7th, 2020, a.j. pleaded guilty to murdering mackenzie lewis. as part of his plea deal, he admitted that he thought about killing mackenzie, and then he planned the killing of mackenzie, a thoroughly premeditated murder. that he knew that he was going to murder mckenzie before she even touched down at the airport he selected her as his victim, right? right. was there any explanation at all of what is motivation was to do it? none, he never offered any reasoning as to why. or even how. aj also pleaded guilty to
why would you meet in the middle of the night, in a park? and there was something else, whether mckenzie did it or the person she met, we don t know, but remember right after the lyft driver dropped her off at the park, someone turned off mckenzie s cell phone. which happens to be contrary to seeking arrangement most important rule. you never want to get stuck without a phone, that is your lifeline. mckenzie lost her lifeline, but before it went silent she was busy texting, soon investigators would follow her digital trail to the elusive man who received those messages. coming up. we got an ip address that comes back to his residence. tracking text messages. he said all have an open wi-fi because i run an airbnb business. and so it could be anybody. did he run an airbnb business? and a tip from a concerned neighbor. she described it as just being a really offensively smoky and odorless when dateline continues.