An ominous development in the search for missing University of Utah student Mackenzie Lueck: Police served a search warrant on a Salt Lake City home believed to be connected to the case Wednesday—and around midnight, officers were seen carrying shovels to the backyard. Assistant Salt Lake City Police Chief Tim Doubt said around 10pm that investigators would be at the home for hours, the Salt Lake Tribune reports. "Given the nature of this case, we just don’t want to make a mistake," said Doubt. He said there was a "nexus" between the home and the 23-year-old's disappearance, but declined to say whether an arrest had been made. Police were seen towing a car from the home and placing bags of what appeared to be evidence outside the garage.
Lueck was last heard from early on June 17, when she arrived at Salt Lake City International Airport on a flight from California, where she had been at her grandmother's funeral. A Lyft driver told police he dropped her off at a park around 3am, where she met an unknown person in a vehicle. Surveillance footage showed Lueck texting somebody while she was at the airport. Earlier Wednesday, Doubt said detectives had spoken with the last person known to have communicated with Lueck and that person was assisting the investigation, Fox reports. He described the investigation as "more of a digital search for a person" than a "normal, typical missing person with bloodhounds." (On Tuesday, police released the last known footage of Lueck.)