"Why could that not be the case here? I'm speaking from personal experience as someone raised in archaic Catholic beliefs."
That's just it. The kind of attitude towards divorce you are talking about is an extreemist CATHOLIC attitude.
In their case, the church is there to help keep a marriage together, but it never judges or punishes people just for getting a divorce, or getting married again after getting divorced. The kind of attitude towards divorce just isn't part of Mormon culture. It just isn't reasonable to think that she would fear anything more than personal embarasment for getting a divorce, especially in the face of the family's willingness to give Mark the benifit of a doubt (so far) in the face of all this.
There is no indication that this was even heading towards a divorce, and unless there was abuse or recently discovered infidelity it's unlikely that she would rapidly decide to seek a divorce without trying to patch things up first.
Her parents have shown themselves to be slow to judge others harshly, and quick to forgive. Surely their daughter knew they were like that.
"You do realize that we're all just speculating here, right?"
Yes, but speculation should start with the known facts and work forward, not pick a pre-determined end and then try to work backwards to some of the facts. There are real people involved in this, and I'm sure you wouldn't want people attributing harsh characteristics to you just to advance a totaly blue-sky speculation.
At this point it really doesn't seem reasonable at all to think she bolted or that she feared her parents reaction to them getting divorced. Mark had motive, means, and opportunity to kill her. She doesn't seem to have any motive run off without telling anyone and cause all this commotion.
Don't throw stones, brother.
The facts are that Lori Hacking's husband is a pathological liar. He worked at a psychiatric center. She worked at Wells Fargo as a trainee trader. His brothers were professionals, he was not. Normal people might feel a little resentful about that, but they sure wouldn't build up a web of lies to make their outside appearance look better. The fact is that Lori Hacking is gone. There is forensic evidence suggesting that a rage killing took place in their apartment. MH calls friends and Lori's work, then buys a mattress, then runs around naked at a motel. Of course it's just speculation that he had anything to do with it, or that Lori knew there was a problem. I'm going by her mother's continual defense of this person who was her husband. I've seen it before. It's a mindset, not a specific religion.
When it comes to religious lunacy, keep David Koresh, Andrea Yates, and the Hale Bop Comet crowd in mind. They look just like you and me.