Mackenzie Lueck disappearance: Police spotted digging holes at Utah home after neighbors report recent fire, ‘strong stench’
Police combing a Salt Lake City home for clues on the whereabouts of missing University of Utah student Mackenzie Lueck were spotted digging holes into its backyard early this morning following claims from neighbors that its owner recently was burning something that let off a “strong stench.”
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In the overnight hours, investigators were seen carrying shovels into the property’s backyard.
Aerial footage captured hours later by a helicopter belonging to news station
KSL then showed police inspecting numerous, freshly-dug holes.
Brown paper bags -- presumably police evidence -- were spotted lined up in front of the home’s doorway, the Salt Lake Tribune
reported. A car also reportedly was towed away by investigators.
“We just want to make sure…[we] get all the information that we can before we share just speculation,” Salt Lake Assistant Police Chief Tim Doubt told reporters late last night.
Neighbors who spoke to the newspaper say they recently saw the homeowner burning something in his backyard and smoke from the fire was traveling into their windows.
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“It definitely assaulted your nose,” Joseph Peterson, who lives one block west of the home, told the Salt Lake Tribune, describing how he got home one night from work only to smell a “strong stench” in the air.
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It’s not clear if the unknown individual that Lueck is said to have met at the park is the owner of the home or the renter.
An Airbnb listing of the property advertised "beautiful and affordable basement rooms in the heart of [Salt Lake City] with shared common area" for $27 and $30 a night.
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But neighbors are worried about the search, and fear something "really bad" has happened at the property.
“The K-9’s [were] here. They’ve been in the backyard. They’ve been looking in the car," CP told Fox News. "I told my husband ‘this is bigger than just a dope deal, or something – something really bad has happened over there.'”
