Mattress, Box Spring Sought In Case Of Missing Utah Student

SALT LAKE CITY, UT — Authorities in Salt Lake City are looking for a mattress and box spring in relation to the disappearance of 23-year-old Mackenzie Lueck, the University of Utah student who has not been heard from since the early morning hours of Monday, June 17.

Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown told reporters at a press conference on Thursday that the owner of the residence where police served a search warrant Wednesday night is a person of interest in the case. However, Brown said the homeowner is free as of this moment.

Detectives collected multiple pieces of evidence from the home that are in the process of being tested. No arrests have been made in the case, Brown stressed.

Brown said that on Wednesday night, multiple people alerted police to the fact that a mattress and box spring were given away from the residence in the city's Fairpark neighborhood.

Police want those who took the items to contact them at 801-799-3000. Police also want to collect the items themselves.

Asked whether police now believed foul play was involved, Brown said police were not revealing that information at the moment.

On the day Lueck was last heard from, she had landed at Salt Lake City International Airport after a visit to California for a funeral. Lueck left the airport around 2:40 a.m. and took a Lyft to Hatch Park where she met someone with a car. So far, police have not provided a description of the person of the car.

The Lyft driver told police that Lueck did not appear to be in distress. Police said that Lueck texted her mother at 2:01 a.m. that day while she was still at the airport. Lueck was also texting with someone else while at the airport and police said they have been in contact with that person.

On the day that she was last heard from, Lueck was wearing black leggings and a white t-shirt with a peace sign on it. She is described as a white female with blonde hair and brown eyes. Lueck is five-feet-six inches tall and weighs 145 pounds, according to the description provided by Salt Lake police.

A dedicated tip line has been set up at 801-799-4420 for anyone with information relating to the case.

In the time that Lueck has not been heard from, she missed an exam and a scheduled flight to Los Angeles on June 23. Detectives have tried to locate Lueck via her phone but it is turned off.

Police announced the new information on the same day that the family of Lauren McCluskey, the 21-year-old Univeristy of Utah student who was fatally shot outside her dorm in October 2018, announced a lawsuit against the school. According to The Salt Lake Tribune, the woman's parents are suing for $56 million and the suit alleges that police on campus could have prevented the track star's murder.