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.
You're homing in on it, Spunky. Good memory!
That's the one. Excellent!
Looking over the news items, I've started to put together a timeline and the following is the first such "timeline" problem I encountered. Any insights and commentary you can offer are appreciated.
It's been established that, after failing to obtain a mattress right away at the first store, Hacking arrived at the second one at ~9:45 AM on Monday, July 19. He settled on a mattress to buy and gave them his credit card, then went outside to make some cel calls while his card was cleared and the mattress was prepared for transport. This was at ~10:00 AM.
One of the places he called was Lori's place of work, the Wells Fargo office. At that time he spoke to two people in her office. The first was Brandon Hodge, an employee Lori had been training. During that conversation, he asked him, "By the way, how is Lori doing?" Hodge replied that she had not come to work that day. Then Lori's boss, a guy named Church, got on the line. During that conversation, Hacking said, "Oh, my God, her [work] clothes are still here," at which point Church told him to get off the phone and call the police immediately.
Hold that thought.
While Hacking was outside the store waiting for the transaction to go through, he also called some friends, telling them he didn't know where she was and had jogged her route in Memory Grove going both ways, a total of 6 miles, in an effort to find her.
Question #1: If Hacking had been so concerned about Lori's whereabouts that he went on an exploratory jog that morning, then why didn't he call her office on his cel right after he failed to find her? Why did he wait under 10 AM to do so? He wouldn't have bothered looking for her if she had returned home at her usual time. And after completing the search jog, it would have been well past the 7 AM time she always got to her office (co-workers and boss said she was "never late"). If he was so concerned about her whereabouts, why would he go shopping for a mattress instead making a simple cel call first? Are we to believe the man would be worried enough to drive downtown to a park and run for miles in search of his wife but not be worried enough to spend 30 seconds calling her office to see if she was there?
Question #2: Why did he not call the police right after his phone conversation with Church? Why did he wait for 30 or 40 minutes to do that, electing instead to keep fooling with the mattress people, then drive home with the mattress, then meet his friends at Memory Grove to continue looking for Lori? When he got there, his friends told him that they had already reported her missing to the police. Only then did he call them himself. That call was logged at 10:49 AM.
Question #3: Why would he have said to Church, "Oh, my God, her [work] clothes are still here," if he was not at home, but sitting outside a mattress store -- a store he was about to calmly walk back into and spend another ~20 minutes fooling with a mattress purchase? Lisa Downs, co-owner of Bradley's Sleep Etc, said he was still there at 10:35 AM. Church later stated he was put off to discover from news accounts that Hacking had apparently misrepresented his whereabouts during their conversation.
Your thoughts, please?
(And there are other timeline problems here, involving such things as how long it would have taken Hacking to do all the things he said he did and still get to the first mattress store at the time he did. I still need to estimate the times and distances involved there and any assistance would be most appreciated.)
Forgot to ping you with the rest to post 143.
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,595080310,00.html
Latest from the Deseret News.
Fox news or faux news?Rage killing evidence
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,127115,00.html
http://kutv.com/topstories/local_story_207210614.html
Lori Hacking stories here and video archive.
http://www.sltrib.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?article=2383564
Latest...I am just really giving you links to things if you need them to post an article..Runningbear posts a bunch of articles at once on the Laci Posts and it keeps us from getting howls(almost) from the purists....;)
I kind of like the howls of the "purists." Inspires me to post a lot more articles and really get into the case.
Oops! Make that "forthwith."
It probably has already been posted but what I find suspicious is that he didn't use the mattress store's delivery service, maybe things are different in that state.
Last summer I ordered a new mattress same day delivery if I wanted and they not only deliver free of charge but take away the old mattress. Same goes on appliances deliver and take old away.
Why would someone want to hassle moving a mattress when the store would do all the work for you? Unless that store had a no delivery policy.
He seemed to want that mattress mighty bad...and fast.
Did Lori have a life insurance policy. Its possible he killed her because of that.
I know Savage likes to say this is all a coverup to keep us from focusing on the crooked pols. I don't agree.
Americans have always dug mysteries. Ellery Queen, Nero Wolfe, Perry Mason, Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, heck, Encyclopedia Brown! It goes on and on. And for pure entertainment sake, these disappearance cases are better than fiction, because they are still unfolding.
Just because you don't care about it doesn't mean people in general aren't interested in finding out more. It's market-driven, not pushed on the viewing, listening, and reading public.
His big lie was blowing up in his face. They were moving for him to attend med school and they find he had not graduated from college, much less been accepted to med schol..Stress and resentment got to him, I think.He had lied to all the families and Lori..very elaborate and sick.
Yeah well this is as Fishy as the Peterson murder IMO.
Hey here is a partial listing of Mattress stores. I live in a little town and can get a mattress same day delivery. It just shows me that he was hiding something by not allowing it to be delivered and as others pointed out who buys a mattress before moving.
Even the worst mattress most of us would wait and if the mattress was that bad/lumpy sleep on the couch.
Hackings mattress sounds like it may have been saturated in blood and the smell from that would start reeking oh and it is evidence.
Bradley's Sleep Etc
2255 South 300 West
Salt Lake City, UT 84115
801-484-1007
Email:
business profile |phone phone |map & details
Comfort Mart
6148 South State Street
Salt Lake City, UT 84107
801-264-1155
Toll-free: 800-298-6298
Fax: 801-264-1144
Email: comfiematt@aol.com
phone phone |email email |map & details
Crown Bedroom
4290 South State Street
Salt Lake City, UT 84107
801-261-1000
Email:
business profile |phone phone |map & details
Far West Mattress
2987 West 3500 South
Salt Lake City, UT 84119
801-840-2479
Email:
business profile |phone phone |map & details
Flobeds
Service available in your area
http://www.flobeds.com
Toll-free: 800-356-2337
Fax: 707-964-4804
Email: flocare@flobeds.com
email email
Furniture Mattress Supply
16 West Central Avenue
Salt Lake City, UT 84107
801-261-0565
Email:
business profile |phone phone |map & details
Haagar's Mattress Factory
307 East 2100 South
Salt Lake City, UT 84115
801-484-2215
Email:
business profile |phone phone |map & details
Magic Rest Products
3540 South Main Street
Salt Lake City, UT 84115
801-281-8688
Email:
business profile |phone phone |map & details
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Good thinking, Lori. I haven't seen anybody bring that up yet. Surprising since it's such a classic motive. In this case, though, I would tend to doubt that was Hacking's game. The police have called this a rage killing and my impression so far is that Hacking saw his wife as a threat to his continuing pretense of accomplishment. However, if Lori does turn out to be life-insured and Hacking's convicted of killing her, he won't get a penny of it.
Hey I agree my son has had the Dem Con daily gavel to gavel and I still have had time to look at local and national news.
If anyone wants to see the Dem Con CSAPN has it uninterupted. That is the channel he has chosen I asked him why not the other channels with commentary such as Fox with Shep and he said he wants it straight and plain he is into it and when our WC vender who is a lib showed up he even commented to my son that he IS a die hard political junky and that the vender being a lib political suave guy would not watch the boring Dem Con.
Heh Heh my son retains everything he's taking notes to see how flip floppy this all gets by Nov.
Hey, a man's crib is too important to put on a back burner. Missing wives? They can wait.
BINGO!!!
No one but Fox has reported the rage killing but they could have found castoff from wielding the knife over and over...She was probably asleep....The police press conference had no real info except to quit the mattress hunt, call ins as they already "have all they need"..
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