Posted on 07/31/2004 11:22:44 AM PDT by Bonaparte
Deseret Morning News, Saturday, July 31, 2004
Police reject Hacking rumors
Heat and smells make landfill search tough
By Jennifer Dobner, Pat Reavy and Wendy Leonard
Deseret Morning News
Rumors overtook truth in the Lori Hacking case Friday after police suspended, at least temporarily, the search of a west-side landfill that has been a focal point in the search for the missing jogger.
 Using cadaver dogs, searchers look through trash at the Salt Lake Valley landfill. To be effective, the dogs are used at night and can search only 20 minutes at a time.  Chris Bergin, Deseret Morning News |
At least five calls making that claim came to the Deseret Morning News, but each time police denied the rumor and later issued the following statement:
"The Salt Lake City Police Department has become aware of the rumors related to the discovery of a body in connection to the Lori Hacking/missing persons case. This is to advise you that they are only rumors and false in nature. When there is additional information in this case it will be released through the Salt Lake City Police Department public information officers."
Lori Hacking, 27, who was said to have gone for a morning jog, was reported missing July 19 by her husband, who claimed she had not returned from a run in Memory Grove. Volunteer searches of the grove and its surrounding canyons and open space proved fruitless, and police now say they believe she may not have been in the park that day.
Hacking's husband, Mark Hacking, 28, has been named a "person of interest" in the case after police learned he had lied about many aspects of his life.
The landfill, which daily receives more than 2,500 tons of refuse, became a primary focus for police after a tip. Officers with cadaver dogs have made four trips to the facility, spending a full three nights sifting through garbage.
Police have declined to discuss precisely what they are seeking. But at least a week ago, officers and search dogs made stops at numerous trash containers at locations along 100 South, not far from the Hackings' apartment, 127 S. Lincoln St. (945 East).
Dumpster searches
A manager for Ace Disposal said Friday that the day after Lori went missing, police took possession of a company Dumpster from behind a meetinghouse of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at 951 E. 100 South, less than one block from the Hackings.
Ace also owns the trash container behind the Hackings' apartment, but police did not take that one, said the manager, who asked that his name not appear in the newspaper. A driver for the company also has been questioned, the manager said.
"They didn't say why they confiscated (the Dumpster) and have not returned it or said when they will give it back," he said. "They interrogated one of our drivers a couple of days later. We asked him about it, but he said he couldn't talk about it. (Police) pretty much told him to button it."
Police may have been interested in the driver's testimony because the trash container behind the Hacking apartment cannot be emptied by a mechanical arm that lifts it from the front of the truck and tips the garbage into the back of the truck, the manager said. Rather, it must be emptied from the back of the truck and requires the driver to move it into position.
"He would see everything that was in it," the manager said.
Police spokesman detective Phil Eslinger confirmed that a trash container has been collected as part of the evidence in the case, but said he did not know from which address that Dumpster was taken.
Police were otherwise silent about the case Friday, saying there was no new information to report and therefore spokespersons were "not going to rehash it right now," Eslinger said.
However, KSL Radio reported early in the day that there may be more people who saw Lori Hacking the Sunday night before her disappearance. The station said that about 10:30 p.m. Sunday, Lori visited a friend who has a new baby. That was two hours after the time a convenience store clerk said Hacking and her husband purchased soda from his store. Until Friday, the clerk was thought to perhaps have been the last person known to have seen Lori.
Eslinger could not confirm the report but said that if the story can be substantiated, police would like to speak with the new mother.
Daunting task
The landfill search has been a daunting task, complicated by the volume of material and intense heat.
"It's garbage, it's summer, yeah it smells," said Bud Stanford, operations manager at the Salt Lake Valley Solid Waste Management Facility. He said facility staff are assisting police, using a bulldozer and an excavator to move the garbage around. The one- to two-acre area being searched is 18 to 20 feet deep.
The most important asset police have is four cadaver dogs, Labradors and bloodhounds, trained to detect the odor of decomposing flesh.
"For optimum efficiency, a dog must concentrate on a small area for only about 20 minutes," said California-based search and rescue dog trainer Marcia Koenig. "Then they need a break" so they don't become confused by the plethora of smells.
"When working on an area with lots of scents, the dogs may not find all the pieces (they are looking for), and they must pick out pieces from the background of scents," Koenig said. She said the first sign the dogs have found something important is extremely intense sniffing at one site. Dog handlers must be very familiar with their dog's reactions to determine if what they've found is something of value to the investigation.
Koenig said that below two feet, methane gas may be present as a byproduct of decomposition, and that requires safety precautions for searchers.
"A landfill is an extremely difficult type of search for them to work," she said. "I don't think they will find anything there."
However, a recent landfill search involving cadaver dogs in Rhode Island located body parts, something that doesn't often happen, Koenig said.
E-mail: jdobner@desnews.com, preavy@desnews.com
© 2004 Deseret News Publishing Company
The news just reported that all searches have been called off, based on information given to the police from Mark Hacking.
Sounds like at least a partial confession to me.
did they actually say "based " on info from Marko ?
Yes they said it was based on information from Mark Hacking.
Apparently the family has also called off their search too.
Thanks, LeGrande! Utah Girl also pinged me to a radio station report that Hacking's parents have gone to police with info Mark gave them that may "make the search unnecessary."
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