Police charged a man with murder in the case of missing Utah college student Mackenzie Lueck
Elizabeth Smart kidnapping trial prosecutor Brett Tolman breaks down how social media and a digital footprint led investigators to their suspect in Mackenzie Lueck's case.
The estranged wife of the man accused of killing University of Utah student Mackenzie Lueck said in a new interview she fled from husband Ayoola Ajayi because he allegedly became mentally and physically abusive.
Ajayi, the 31-year-old charged Friday with aggravated murder in Lueck's death, is still legally married to Tenisha Jenkins Ajayi, but the two were no longer together after she left him and went into hiding, she said.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Tenisha said she met Ayoola while she was pregnant in 2011, and the couple wed in June of that year.
"My Godmother said to me I’ve got someone for you,'" Tenisha said. "I asked her, 'Is he crazy, is he a killer?' But she said he was a good person."
At first, she said Ayoola was "cool" and "loving," and took care of her four children. But once her child was born, Tenisha said things changed. Ayoola allegedly told her he wanted to move from the couple's Dallas, Texas home back to Utah, a relocation Tenisha said she didn't support, citing her children.
Soon, Ayoola became angry and aggressive, she said, adding the two never consummated their marriage "because I was kinda scared of him."
"He was telling me not to talk to anybody. He used to check up on me. He started to get more and more aggressive," Tenisha told the Daily Mail. "Eventually he said he would kill me if I didn’t go to Utah."
She said the last time the two saw each other, at a friend's house in Dallas, Ayoola attacked her.
"He tried to tie me up with a phone cord. When I went to run, he blocked the door. I ended up jumping through a window and cutting my arm on the glass," Tenisha said. "He chased me into the street with a knife and cut me in the hand. I didn't go to the police but I moved out of my apartment so he couldn’t find me."
Tenisha said Ayoola refused to sign divorce papers, and alleged a friend of Ayoola's repeatedly called her and said she was going to be kidnapped.
"I was really frightened. He kept saying he was going to kill me," she said, adding that the calls prompted her to change her phone number and go into hiding afterward.
Ayoola was charged in Lueck's death after the 23-year-old disappeared on June 17 near a park in Salt Lake City, Utah. He was previously named as a person of interest after officials dug holes in his backyard and removed unknown items for forensic investigation.
The murder suspect in recent months also expressed a desire to build a secret, soundproofed room, according to a contractor who told Fox News that Ayoola wanted a secret door and hooks on the walls.
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Lueck's friends described Ayoola to Fox News on Sunday as an "evil, sick person" who was "hunting for women."
Authorities have not yet announced how they concluded Lueck was murdered, or how the killing occurred.
Fox News' Cristina Corbin contributed to this report.
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