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.
On the other hand, if I were on the Scott Peterson jury I would surely vote to acquit based on everything I've heard.
Heaven knows that every woman I have ever been involved with has learned of my lies!
They are all still alive, though...
I don't know if he meant to disappear entirely--I was wondering if the whole point of moving out of state would be to better continue his big lie, while still maintaining his family ties. Much easier to do at a distance, I would imagine.
However, that would most certainly be out of the question if his wife spilled the beans to everyone, and she may have threatened to do just that. After the call from the university, isn't it possible she did a little more research, and found the rest of the big lie--that he never graduated, etc.? Easy enough to do, if she was so inclined.
Someone else pointed out that liars like this guy just hate being exposed....
Can't they check with the school to see if there was any phone communication with his wife?
I stated earlier: "This has not been confirmed by authorities." regarding the knife. According to Fox, it has now been confirmed.
It proves he was desperate to have a mattress pronto. He found a good deal at the store across the street, but blew it off because he couldn't take it home with him that day.
Why was he so desperate? If he needed a mattress so badly, why throw the old one away before he had a new one?
My guess--he'd gotten rid of the old one the night before, because it was drenched in her blood. (And the box springs--everyone see the footage of it being hauled away?--sure looked like it had a bloodstain on it.)
I wonder if he planned to just 'disappear' after he left SLC and start a new life, without wife, family or, oh yeah, baby.
You know, you just may have hit on something. That is entirely plausible. People like that shed their skin like reptiles, and turn into someone else, just like that. They don't like it when someone interferes with their plans. In fact they are very good at salting the trail with false information to cover up their lies and misdeeds.
The DNA could be retreived by a hairbrush or toothbrush, and also by the blood found in their apartment. When her body is found, I'm sure they'll also DNA test the baby.
Pinz, I'm paying close attention to this story for now. The trial probably won't interest me too much, but at the same time I'm very interested in why he did what he did, and what led to his overall behavior in the first place.
"...maybe they decided on one at a prior time, but were either price shopping, waiting for it to go on sale, or trying to find it in stock?"
Your other point is plausible. Let's stipulate to it. He could have seen an ad for that particular mattress on sale at both of the stores he went to that morning. He went into the first store but they were either sold out or the shipment was delayed. So he went to the second store and made the purchase.
Was it just coincidence that he did this right after his wife mysteriously disappeared, right after she'd had an upsetting phone conversation that threatened to topple his shaky house of cards, and just before the bedroom tested positive under luminol, the police carted away the old boxspring and announced that he wasn't telling them the truth under questioning?
How about this? What if I telephoned that furniture store today and asked if the mattress MH bought was on sale at a discount that day?
Most certainly. Lies are what this guy ran his life on. A "sickness" to a degree. That's what it looks like to me.
I don't think she was the one doing the pushing. I think it's because he's from a family of over-achievers (by all accounts) and it left him feeling deficient in the achievement department. So he compensated by making up a stellar life as a top student and soon-to-be doctor. Being exposed would have meant admitting he was an all-around failure, and who knows, Lori might have even called him that.
LOL! Considering your handle, you probably wouldn't have offed them yourself but contracted it out. Professionalism would have demanded it.
Besides, some women love guys they can keep catching in lies. They stay with them forever, enjoying all the perks of that high moral ground.
I hope someone can find that pic. I saw the original one of Lori, but never saw the one you're talking about.
You know, many people have been in social situations where you just don't want to be there, but good manners say otherwise. This was probably one of them. No matter what lies Mark told Lori, she probably knew at this point that something was really wrong. She couldn't exactly blow off her going away party, though.
Self preservation is the name of the game. I think the authorities should move him to a different facility and see how he reacts. After all, he was employed at the facility he's at now.
Haha! Well, as long as its good natured and innocuous stuff, I agree that women don't mind it so much in that it gives them an almost permanent moral high ground, which they usually have anyway! ;-)
Why could that not be the case here? I'm speaking from personal experience as someone raised in archaic Catholic beliefs. My Church condones divorce and anullment in certain situations. My mother ate fish on Friday until she was hospitalized, even though the Church lifted the restriction back in the seventies. She also believed in Christian martyrdom.
Many people who belong to mainstream religions hold extremist views. It was not my intention to insult you or Mormons in general. I'm very glad to hear that your sister was given help and advice from her Church and family. You all did the right thing.
In my heart, I know Lori is dead. Until they find the body there is always the tiny possibility that she bolted. I don't think I'd call that a scam. What would she gain? Some time to get her head together. I don't think that a woman like Lori would pull a stunt like that though. You do realize that we're all just speculating here, right?
Just caught Mark Fuhrman on FOXnews with John Gibson show. Mark sees this much the same as we do.
This is true, but he did lie to everyone about graduating from college. What this before or after his marriage? If they were married when he lied about that, it would bump your theory. She could be an evil witch, and do just what you said she did, and it could explain MH's episode at the motel. Let's wait and see what happens. Anything is plausible at this point.
Your relative and my ex would get along splendidly. I don't want to go into the TMI territory, but unfortunately I have years of experience dealing with liars.
Are you sure? I vaguely recall one of these articles stating that the facility he's in now is not where he worked.
Might be a newsie's mistake, but I heard the same thing reported--that he worked at the facility where he now resides. Think they mentioned that on Fox this morning, too.
Thanks, MS. Wouldn't be the first time we've seen differing media accounts.
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