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SALT LAKE CITY — A desperate search is underway for a 23-year-old Salt Lake City woman and University of Utah college student who suddenly vanished. In her last text to her mother she said she had arrived at the Salt Lake International Airport and was taking a Lyft car home.
MacKenzie Lueck is from Salt Lake and is a senior at the University of Utah. Last weekend she flew to California to attend her grandmother’s funeral.
She flew back to Salt Lake on Sunday night and arrived early Monday morning.
“We are devastated. We truly need her to be found,” said Lueck’s cousin, Jolyn Mendelson, to KSL TV. “It was 1 o’clock in the morning she texted and said the plane had landed and that was the last text she put out. Then she got into a Lyft car at the airport and that was the last she has been seen.”
Police say they were not notified by the family until Thursday at 4 p.m. and say they are still investigating whether she actually did get into an official Lyft car.
In a statement, Lyft said, “We recognize how scary this must be for those who know and love Ms. Lueck. The safety of our community is fundamental to Lyft and we are actively assisting law enforcement with their investigation.”
They said the route contained no irregularities and ended at the destination as originally entered by the rider. The driver continued providing rides immediately after the ride ended.
“Whether she’s endangered or not that’s a tough thing to say right now. We are just treating it as we’d like to find her and we are just trying to track down any leads right now,” said Salt Lake City Police Department detective Michael Ruff. “We want to try and contact her one way or the other if she’s missing or she isn’t we need to make sure she’s okay.”
Meanwhile several of her friends canvased a Salt Lake neighborhood putting up fliers in hopes of finding their friend.
They say it’s unlike her to miss an important exam, and leave her work and her life behind.
“I feel extremely overwhelmed extremely sad and depressed over the matter,” said Kennedy Stoner, her friend.
“Just really unlike her to not answer a phone call or a text for four days. For your phone to be off for four days is very alarming,” said her friend Ashley Fine.
