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A man has been arrested on suspicion of murdering and burning the body of a 23-year-old sugar baby who disappeared earlier this month.

The remains of Mackenzie Lueck, 23, were dug up in the backyard of suspect Ayoola Ajayi, 31, on Friday

Police in Utah have accused veteran Ajayi of killing the woman and burning her body after DNA evidence confirmed that the corpse belonged to the missing college senior.

Lueck, a University of Utah nursing student, went missing on June 17 and is believed to have sent her last text messages to Ajayi, a former US Army IT specialist.

Detectives say she was last seen arriving at Salt Lake City airport where she took a cab ride ride to meet a man in a park around 2am.

(Image: Instagram)

Ajayi was arrested on charges of aggravated murder, aggravated kidnapping, desecration of a body and obstruction of justice following a SWAT team raid on his apartment complex, according to KSL.com .

Police Chief Mike Brown said his neighbours smelled gasoline and saw him burning something on June 18 and 19.

He said: “The search warrant resulted in the findings of a fresh dig area on his property which is the same area that the arrested individual was reported burning something.”

(Image: Instagram)

“A forensic excavation of the burn area was conducted, which resulted in the finding of several charred items that were consistent with personal items of Mackenzie Lueck.

“Other charred material was located which has now forensically been determined to be female human tissue.

“A DNA profile of that human tissue was obtained during forensic testing by the Utah state lab.

“That DNA profile was compared and is consistent with the DNA profile obtained through further forensic testing of personal items of Mackenzie Lueck.”

(Image: Instagram)

According to reports, Mackenzie used online dating to find sugar daddies over the age of 35 and recently boasted about two such relationships before she died.

Mackenzie also offered advice to other aspiring sugar babies in post made three months ago to a private Facebook group, the Daily Mail reported .

She said: "I have some experience on seeking arrangements, online only, tinder, and currently have two lol."

"Set your age preferences from 35+. You'll have the most luck there. Private message me, if you have more questions! I have experience."