Bizzee, I have no doubt whatsoever he might try something like that. His lies have always worked for him in the past, and I think he believes in his ability to snow anyone and everyone. (And hey, it seems to be working ok for Scott Peterson...)
Published 8/1/2004 11:19 PM
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- The vigil for a missing Utah woman became a waiting game Sunday after Lori Hacking's loved ones released a statement implying that her husband, Mark, had come forth with the dreaded confirmation that she was indeed lying dead in an undisclosed location.
The proverbial other shoe appeared to be dropping Sunday when Lori Hacking's family members said there was no longer a reason for the public to look for the missing woman; however the police remained silent Sunday night about the chances that homicide detectives would be putting the cuffs on Mark any time soon.
"The primary person of interest, Mark Hacking, remains at a local medical facility and has not been in the custody of the police," police said in a written statement Sunday afternoon. "We continue to follow-up on all leads in this case."
The announcement virtually snuffed out any hope that Lori Hacking would miraculously be found alive, and seemed to ensure that her troubled husband's arrest was not only imminent but was a mere formality.
"I know it is bad to say, but in a way it is exciting because we are getting closer to finding out what happened," Saysha Nielson, a member of the Hacking's Mormon church ward told the Salt Lake Tribune Sunday. "Apparently, it is on his shoulders somehow."
The developments appeared to come as a surprise to investigators who had suspected from the beginning of the case that foul play had been involved in the young pregnant woman's disappearance on July 19. One day later, her husband checked himself into a psychiatric ward where he has since remained; he is the son of a well-known Utah pediatrician.
During that time, worried volunteers frantically beat the bushes around the canyon park where Lori, 27, had reportedly gone jogging. Meanwhile, detectives were focused on trashcans and dumpsters in the area as well as a landfill where dogs trained to sniff out corpses spent four nights going over a 2-acre swath estimated to hold 2,500 tons of garbage.
"The search of the landfill will continue this Friday, Aug. 6, when the dogs become available to continue the search," said the statement that was read to the anxious media by Det. Dwayne Baird.
Baird did not take questions at the brief news conference, nor did he elaborate on the brief statement that basically said Mark Hacking had said something to an in-law that was then relayed to the police.
"A member of the Hacking family came in and provided additional substantive information," Baird said. "This information, along with other leads, will continue to be followed up on by investigators."
Questions left hanging open were whether or not they knew where Lori's body was, and when Mark Hacking would be arrested.
Authorities in Salt Lake City have been telling the media that patience should be the watchword. Forensic evidence as of Sunday appeared largely to be in the realm of DNA identification, which can take a matter of weeks or months to complete. Hacking's status as a self-admitted psychiatric patient calls into question the credibility of any statements he made to his wife's bewildered and torn family.
At the same time, friends and relatives reported that nothing was obviously amiss with the young couple that would corroborate any history violence within the Hacking home.
That image of domestic bliss was called into question after the media discovered Mark Hacking had not been accepted to medical school in North Carolina -- even though he had told people he that he had been and that he and his wife who was only five weeks pregnant, would be moving east in the fall.
The parallel to the disappearance of Laci Peterson in California was difficult to escape. Like Lori Hacking, Laci was by all outward appearances a happy young woman who was expecting her first child and who was looking forward to the rest of her life with a man whom it would be highly charitable to even call him "flawed."
yes. Lies and obfuscations unfortunately do work, too much of the time. (#42 comes to mind...)
Mark may have told them she is dead, but I don't think he will ever admit he's the one who made her that way. Just MHO. I'll be happy if I'm wrong.