Posted on 07/27/2004 10:15:01 AM PDT by Bonaparte
Missing: The family hires a criminal defense attorney to represent Mark Hacking, who remains hospitalized
By Ashley Broughton
and Matthew D. LaPlante
The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake Tribune
2004-07-27 00:39:09.532
Three days before she disappeared, Lori Hacking may have uncovered her husband's deceptions.
She received a phone call at her work, started crying and went home early, said a colleague at Wells Fargo Institutional Brokerage and Sales.
"I could hear her say things such as, 'But he's already been accepted. He's already applied. This can't be correct,' said Darren Openshaw, a Wells Fargo employee who overheard the phone call about 2:15 p.m. on July 16.
Openshaw said he believes the caller was from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
"I don't know for sure it was the school," he said. "I can only assume."
Lori Hacking and her husband, Mark Hacking, were preparing to move to Chapel Hill, where he said he had been accepted to medical school.
But last week, shortly after Mark Hacking reported his wife missing, police learned he had never applied at North Carolina and had lied to his family about graduating from the University of Utah.
His family members, meanwhile, said Monday that they have retained Salt Lake City criminal defense attorney Gilbert Athay to represent him. Family spokesman Scott Dunaway said the move was necessary because of news media reports regarding Mark Hacking.
Monday marked one week since Lori Hacking, 27, dis- appeared.
The Salt Lake City woman, who reportedly was five weeks pregnant, failed to return from an early-morning jog in City Creek Canyon, according to her husband.
Friends have said that Mark Hacking contacted them about his wife's disappearance about 10 a.m., claiming he had twice run his wife's usual jogging route three miles each way, looking for her before he called police.
But police said last week that before Mark Hacking reported his wife missing, he was purchasing a new queen-sized mattress at a South Salt Lake furniture store.
Authorities have been unable to confirm Lori Hacking was in the canyon that morning and consider her husband, Mark Hacking, the only "person of interest" in the case.
Dunaway said relatives were not aware of the phone call Lori Hacking apparently received at work July 16.
The last time Lori Hacking contacted her mother was by e-mail July 14 or 15, he said, making arrangements for her to take care of the couple's cat while they were preparing for their move to North Carolina.
Before Lori Hacking received the phone call on Friday, Openshaw said, he had seen her looking at UNC-Chapel Hill's Web site.
Afterward, "she hung up the phone and sort of sat there crying," he said. "We asked her if she was OK and if she wanted to leave a little early."
She did. But by the time she arrived at her going-away party held that evening, she seemed fine, Openshaw said. Co-workers were so relieved at her elevated mood that they didn't bother to inquire about the phone call.
"We didn't think of it," he said. "We assumed everything had been worked out, that there may have been a misunderstanding. Whatever it was that upset her seemed to have been resolved."
Pictures from the party, held at a supervisor's cabin in the Uinta Mountains, show Lori Hacking in a baggy gray University of Utah sweatshirt, smiling widely with her husband's arm wrapped around her shoulder.
Another shot depicts her standing next to her supervisor, Randy Church, and a cake that reads: "We'll miss you, Lori."
But those present didn't intend the party to be the last time they saw Lori Hacking. Her last day at Wells Fargo was to be Aug. 5, according to a company spokesman.
Those at the party said the guest of honor didn't speak in detail about her future plans, but seemed optimistic about the impending move.
Openshaw said he asked Mark Hacking at the party whether he was planning on rooting for UNC or rival Duke. "He said he didn't really get into stuff like that."
A close friend of Lori Hacking, who saw the couple at a housewarming party the night before she disappeared, said she made no mention of an upsetting phone call.
"Lori was just acting totally normal," said Erin Galbraith, a former college roommate of Lori Hacking. "I would have sensed something weird. I was in their apartment. I was looking at boxes."
Mark Hacking remained hospitalized Monday, Dunaway said, after suffering what relatives have called a "breakdown" the evening of June 19.
Police last questioned Mark Hacking on Wednesday. "To go back and re-question him on the same issues when we don't feel he's been truthful the first time - I don't think that would do us any good," said Detective Dwayne Baird, a police spokesman.
Baird said Mark Hacking has been cooperative with authorities, however.
Police are still awaiting test results from the state crime lab. "They have a lot of material," he said.
Athay said he was retained to represent Mark Hacking late Thursday and has met with him several times. He would not describe the meetings or discuss his conversations with his client.
Asked why Mark Hacking needs an attorney, Athay said, "Everybody needs a lawyer when they're under investigation or suspicion."
He said he was returning calls to reporters Monday because of curiosity regarding his role in the case, but said he will not be saying much in the future.
"You know me," he said. "I'm pretty closed-mouthed and tight-lipped."
Mark Hacking called his wife's office about 10 a.m. on July 19, speaking first to Brandon Hodge, another trading assistant she was training. He didn't ask where his wife was, but instead how she was doing, Hodge told The Associated Press.
''By the way, how is Lori?'' Hacking reportedly asked. Hodge said he replied, ''Well, she's not made it into work yet.''
Church then took the phone and recalls Hacking saying she hadn't returned from a sunrise jog at Memory Grove, a downtown park near the office. Hacking made it seem he was calling from his apartment, Church told the AP.
''Oh, my God, her [work] clothes are still here,'' Hacking reportedly said to Church, who had been expecting Lori Hacking at 7 a.m. and says she was never late to work.
''I said, 'You need to call police immediately. Just get off the phone,' Church said.
Police said Mark Hacking's call came in at 10:49 a.m. Monday - about 25 minutes after he used his credit card to buy the mattress at Bradley's Sleep Etc.
In other developments Monday:
l Salt Lake City Police officers used dogs to search the city landfill Monday night. Baird said they were finishing up a search of the area that had started last week. High temperatures and the availability of the dogs were the reason for the night search, he said.
l Police said they are looking into a lead that Mark Hacking may have visited an R.C. Willey Home Furnishings store nearby before going into Bradley's.
l Authorities have asked anyone who was in Memory Grove Park or City Creek Canyon between 5 a.m. and 11 a.m. on July 19 to call 799-3000 or 799-INFO (4636).
l Police continued to decline comment on reports of blood and a bloody knife found at the Hackings' apartment, saying the information is evidentiary in value.
l Police rejected a Salt lake Tribune open-records request for initial police reports in the Lori Hacking case, as is routine in most disappearance cases. In a letter to the newspaper, Capt. Mark Peck said releasing the information might interfere with a law-enforcement investigation, disclose investigative techniques or deprive a person of a right to a fair trial.
l A BFI Waste Services driver who picked up the Hackings' garbage at about 3:30 p.m. on July 19 said he saw nothing unusual and wasn't asked by police to inspect his collections, as is often the case in drug investigations and other crimes.
l The Salt Lake City office of the FBI said it has not been involved in Lori Hacking's case. The FBI has offered its help through agents and profilers but police have so far has not accepted, said spokesman Bob Wright.
aebroughton@sltrib.com
mlaplante@sltrib.com
---
Tribune reporters Stephen Hunt and Michael Westley contributed to this story.
Hi Bonaparte,
thanks for the ping. I appreciate you starting this pinglist.
JockoManning
So he calls her work 10am on 7-19; talks to person she's training (what about? Does he know this person?), and then just offhandedly asks 'by the way, how is Lori?'.
Lori's boss gets on phone, concerned that Lori has never been late and is usually there at 7am. After being told by Lori's boss to hang up and call police, Mark goes to get the mattress-taking time, according to reports we've read, to go to 2 different stores.
Then, he finally calls police at 10:49.
Now many folks have said they have purchased new mattresses before moving, but were they under this kind of circumstance?
Also, during presser today, investigator said many tips coming in re: mattress, then said they 'already have what they are looking for'.
Lori's boss also stated that MH gave him the impression that he was calling him from home.
It has also been reported that MH called a couple friends about Lori at about 10 AM, while he was still at the mattress store.
These are the SLC investigating officers saying it was a "rage killing" (those words) that took place in the apartment? If so, that's the same as charging MH with murder, mirandizing, cuffing, booking and incarcerating him.
>>My guess--he'd gotten rid of the old one the night before, because it was drenched in her blood.<<
If this were true, he would have been arrested over a week ago. I doubt, given all the other stuff, he would have done that great a job keeping blood from every other place there.
As of right now, I honestly don't think the police have a clue what happened. That may or may not change, but until the confirm she is actually dead, this case is going nowhere.
"Many pathological liars cannot handle the truth when it suddenly comes into their face."
So tragic and true. Many shades of narcissistic personality disorder with M. Hacking, Scott Peterson, 1960's radical liberal Ira Einhorn, most tyrannical dictators (hello Theresa shove it Heinz). Nut cases, they're everywhere.
Mr. Hacking, he couldn't live up to HIS expectations of himself so he displaces his rage onto another.
Alicia Acuna, I believe, said the traditional 'Fox News has learned from sources...' about it being a rage killing in the apt.
Have any of Mark's friends came forward? I've heard from Lori, and Lori and Mark's friends, but haven't heard from any of his friends, other than his brothers. Seems like they could locate someone he went to college or high school with, but maybe they've been told not to talk by investigators?
Did anyone else see report on Fox Report? While writing down the above stuff, I thought I heard that the blood had not been cleaned up in apt? If true, will be interesting to see what the holdup in arresting Mark is. Wonder if they have found the clothes he shed before roaming around naked yet.
If the police have called this a "rage killing," that means the blood traces were everywhere, including opposite walls and probably the ceiling as well. Arterial blood shoots everywhere. It also means all the blood work is now complete and a match to Lori's.
Between the time she was last seen that Sunday night and when she was reported missing the following morning, MH was a busy boy, cleaning that house like a whippet -- but not good enough.
Meanwhile, our good friend 1L says the police are clueless about this case.
>>Lots of people have been convicted of murder in the absence of any dead body and those convictions have held up.<<
Give me some examples.
>>So all the lab and forensics work would have been completed within 24 hours of her death?<<
Blood type work can be done very quickly. If she has disappeared and her blood (or anyone's blood) is all over the house or all over a mattress, he would have been brought in for for questioning, read his rights, etc. To my knowledge, this hasn't been done. He didn't retain an attorney until last Thursday, according to reports.
>>All the conferencing with the prosecutor's office concerning the likely insanity plea and how the investigation would need to account for that could be accomplished, along with all the rest, within 24 hours of her disappearance?<<
Unless you can provide a source that indicates this, it is pure speculation on your part. My statement stands: the police would have moved with much greater intensity had your's and other's speculation of a bloody murder scene actually been there.
Now, if you were to speculate that the police haven't done much of this due to him being in the wacko ward and not a flight risk, then that makes a lot more sense. However, it is still pure speculation.
I fail to understand why you can't wait until the facts come out here to make comment. How in the hell is that unreasonable? Or are you simply getting off on this?
I hope the latter is not true. There is going to be plenty of time to make comments if and when 1) she is determined to be dead and 2) the allegation is that he killed her. What you are risking is that either 1 or 2 might not ultimately be true. So answer my question: what's the hurry?
My pleasure, Jocko.
Makes ya wonder if this supposedly smart guy ever watched one of the many forensic shows on teevee (reality and/or dramas like CSI). Surely he would have realized that mere washing wouldn't erase the proof the police would be looking for. I missed the Fox news on this--thanks to all who reported it.
Hey, this isn't a courtroom. We're allowed to speculate. And the Fox news report mentioned in several posts seems to back up our suspicions.
COPS: 'Rage Killing in Hacking Home'.
The police obviously believe that she is dead, and are looking for her body.
Ok, we can start your education now.
Do you remember a case a few years back in New Jersey? Wealthy guy, attractive girlfriend. Took her dead body out to sea on a boat and dumped it. Body never found. He was convicted and he stayed convicted.
There. I met you halfway. Go research it. When you've done that, I'll feed you more cases.
"Blood type work can be done very quickly..."
Bye, guy.
Article linked in 117 confirms MH did, in fact, work in the same facility in which he is now an inmate.
Instead, he wound up buying the mattress he came home with from a store across the street.
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