Hacking May Have Learned Of Husband's Lies

Salt Lake Tribune ^ | July 27, 2004 | Ashley Broughton & Matthew D. LaPlante

[Spunky]

I just read this.

Utah Code Ann. §§ 76-5-201, et seq. declares that a person commits criminal homicide if he intentionally, knowingly, recklessly, causes the death of another human being, including an unborn child.

Utah considers any stage of pregnancy to be a viable fetus under the law - so this would be a double homicide.

[TheSpottedOwl]

What was Scott Peterson's motive? Who knows. I agree that he didn't kill his wife because he wanted to be with another woman. It has been said that Amber Fry called his home when he stood her up Christmas Eve. What if Laci answered the phone, found out about Amber, then confronted Scott? Pathological liars cannot bear to be unmasked. I don't think Scott wanted this child in the first place. If Laci threatened divorce, it would mean child support and possible alimony payments. Dump it all together and, SNAP!

I wonder what kind of evidence the police have in this case. Just because we haven't heard anything about luminol in this case, doesn't mean they don't have that evidence. SP could have killed his wife by strangling her from behind. This would explain the lack of bruises and scratches. We know that the killer duct taped her crotch area. That might be because he didn't know whether the baby might instantly pop out, or for fear that fluids might seep out after death. Scott is smarter than Mark.

It has been reported that Laci sold some inherited jewelry. Imo, that is odd considering their nice home and cars. That's the kind of thing you do in financial desperation.

Let's just sit and wait for the possible bomb that the prosecution may drop in that case.

[Bonaparte]

"Questions 1, 2, and 3 have the same answer. He murdered her. It's just a matter of finding where he disposed of her body."

Well put, TSO. I theorize, perhaps wrongly, that if this comes to trial and the jury turns in a verdict of guilty/1st deg non-capital/recommended 30 years without parole, the prosecutor could broker with the judge a sentence reduction to 20 years without parole on condition that Hacking shows them a body. That would tie things up as neatly as circumstances permit. Closure for the family, decent burial for Lori, freedom for Hacking when he's pushing 50 instead of 60, no lingering juror remorse, less chance of expensive appeals. IOW, nobody gets everything, everybody gets something and justice is done (more or less).

Alternate option is, of course, pre-trial plea arrangement. That would be better for everybody, but if Hacking is stubborn and unrealistic and/or his lawyer is egotistical, it might not be in the cards.

[spectre]

Confliction about the "apartment rage killing" evidence information, according to CTV and a Utah reporter, a detective on the case says they have no indication or evidence of a RAGE killing or anything like that. Say absolutely not. (What to believe?)

Has anyone talked about her purse? If she drove her car for the "jog", then she must have had her car keys with her and locked her purse in the car?

sw

[MEG33]

It is true that Lori was adopted..

[TheSpottedOwl]

http://www.misfitting.com/cgi-bin/mt-comments.cgi?entry_id=549

Scroll down for a comment by a coworker of Mark's.

I seemed to have picked up a virus or something on my computer. I've been having problems all day with this search thing popping up, and not allowing me to do much of anything. I'm giving up on the search for now, perhaps others have had better luck. I have Spybot and Adaware, ran them earlier when I couldn't get into my email on yahoo, but now it's starting back up again.

[Bonaparte]

"So, if they can confirm the pregnancy, he'll be facing two counts."

Splendid! More bargaining power for prosecution. I would surmise that Mormon jurors look through very squinty eyes at baby killers. But even better, his crime would now seem to qualify as a capital offense under (1)(b) at post 164.

If news accounts I've read so far are accurate, he may not have known she was pregnant, since it was reported that Lori had told her sister-in-law (who said she saw the positive pg test) that she was planning to tell Hacking some days hence as a sort of timed surprise. But who needs the "pecuniary gain" element (in this case, a "pre-emptive" gain) when you've already got (1)(b)?

"Maverik... all over the place."

I saw maybe 40 SLC Maveriks listed at superpages. Spunky also filled me in on Hacking's reported smoking deception. You might find my response to him mildly amusing.

"...Hacking apartment is about five blocks from here."

Thankyou! This is just like being a TV news anchor -- "We go now to our field correspondent, lady lawyer. LL, can you tell us what you can see out there? 'Well, Bonaparte, looking out the office window, I see Memory Grove...'" LOL! Free Republic is my favorite toy! Your info re times/distances pretty much makes everything fall into place. Thankyou. So Lori only drove to MG out of personal safety considerations and Hacking could have gotten there quickly on foot. Every place he had to go post-mortem was within easy striking distance except, most likely, where Lori's body is.

Amazingly small world re your daughters' acquaintance with the Hacking kids. I believe Sarah is the sister Lori confided in about her pregnancy. I suspect Althany will be calling small armies of character witnesses if this makes it to trial. The prosecutor could counter by sending out "invitations" to people like your daughter (oops!).

Reading your description of your daughter's impressions re Mark and putting them together with everything else I've learned about him and his family, I'm put in mind of what Dr. Robert Hare has said about sociopaths -- that they're born, not made. Doing a little speculating of my own, my guess is that while Mark's parents were undoubtedly shocked and horrified by the murder, they both knew deep down that Mark had always been a mischief maker and liar.

One point you may be able to help me with is the whole issue of temporary insanity and how it could apply in a case like this in Utah. When the police were quoted by Fox News as calling this a "rage killing," I was thinking in California mode (always risky) and cringed since, in this state, a phrase like that could only help the defendant. Do the exclusions to affirmative defense cited at bottom of post 164 do away with the McNaughton rule?

[MEG33]

I have no virus showing, yet yesterday my Norton had to be turned off to allow me to get online...???

[JockoManning]

fiesti would like to be added to the ping list.

thanks.

[Bonaparte]

"...may be hard for them to match up the DNA on Lori Hacking since she was adopted.

I hadn't heard this before. Have you?

Yes, I did hear that she was adopted and that it could make it harder to match it up. I don't know just how this will play out. In cases like this, I would suppose the original adoption agency would still have records of the birth parent/s and that those records could be subpoenaed. Or perhaps the state would have those records if the agency folded. Then a search could be made for those parents and samples obtained. For all I know, Lori's parents may actually be acquainted with those people and they may already have been contacted.

Early pregnancy screening may have included tests which revealed something more about Lori's blood than just her type, Rh factor, etc.; something unique to her or at least very uncommon; something that would show up from crime scene evidence as well.

Remote possibilities could include things like blood taken for autologous transfusion in anticipation of intraoperative losses (extremely unlikely in this case) or ova laid away for possible in vitro fertilization (the Hackings were reportedly having trouble reproducing).

You've asked a very intriguing question, as you so often do, Spunky.

[Bonaparte]

Good research job, Spunky. However, if you flip back to post 164, you'll see that section (1)(b) does the same thing as the section you've quoted but without the intentionality or conscious knowledge provision. This is fortunate for prosecution, since it appears from the accounts that Hacking didn't know about Lori's pregnancy, that she was going to tell him at a later time. To be sure, she may have told him just prior to her murder, but somehow I doubt he would be admitting that. Under the circumstances, I can't say I would blame him for keeping yet another secret like this.

[Bonaparte]

Done!

[TheSpottedOwl]

So, it's possible that he could plea bargain for a lighter sentence? I agree about finding Lori's body, but if evidence shows that Mark killed her, he shouldn't get off so lightly.

[JockoManning]

TheSpottedOwl says, 'Have you ever visited Sam Vaknin's site on Narcissism? It's an education on how their minds work. They think and behave believing that they're smarter than everyone else. Pay close attention to the topic of "narcissistic injury".'

do you happen to have a link?

thank you.

[Bonaparte]

Has anyone talked about her purse? If she drove her car for the "jog", then she must have had her car keys with her and locked her purse in the car?

The evidence at this point is all but overwhelming that she never drove her car to Memory Grove that morning and that she didn't go jogging either. You might say she was "dead tired" from the earlier morning exertions.

[JockoManning]

one thing I have wondered ... the last person who saw Lori besides her husband, was Mark's sister, and she said that was late Sunday evening.

It occurs to me that maybe Lori was hurt/gone by then, and Mark got his sister to lie about having seen her. If so, Lori may have been hurt even earlier?

[JockoManning]

I am wondering about Sunday too, if Lori wasn't hurt / injured / hidden for a long period of time before Mark reported her "missing" Monday.

[JockoManning]

I think the Laci Peterson case was pre-meditated murder. I think the Lori Hacking case was probably unplanned and a bad bad scene where husband's efforts to control wife escalated till he severely injured her and possibly killed her.

To me they are very different.

[JockoManning]

Scott Peterson's motive was that he was a totally selfish loser who wanted a fresh start in life without the inconvenience of child support payments and killing his pregnant wife seemed like the most convenient way to accomplish that. It was pre-meditated.

[Bonaparte]

In a perfect world, I would put the noose around his neck and you would whip the horse. It would have happened last Tuesday and we wouldn't even be having this conversation. In the world we've got, it's usually going to be a trade-off. Of the four parents involved, only one of them (Eraldo Soares) looks even remotely likely to insist on the death penalty for this killer. The other three would probably be just as glad to 1)not have to see him die after a lengthy and extremely unpleasant trial/appeal and 2) have Lori back for a decent burial.

Don't get me wrong -- I think all 4 will want him out of circulation for the protection of society, but I think their pain and grief about Lori must be excruciating. Maybe we'll get lucky. Maybe Hacking will confess, show police the body and, for once in his life, take his medicine like a man in front of the firing squad. But I'm not holding my breath. We're going to have to settle for what's gettable and I won't like it any more than you will if this killer is set loose in another 20 years or so.