Posted on 08/03/2004 2:27:33 PM PDT by johnfrink
The husband of a missing pregnant woman told a "reliable citizen witness" in the psychiatric ward that he killed his wife as she slept before throwing her body in a trash bin, according to a court filing.
The statement, released Tuesday by the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Department, also says investigators found human blood on a knife in the bedroom of Mark Hacking's apartment and on their bed's headboard and a bedrail.
Blood found in the bedroom matched traces of blood found in Lori Hacking's car, according to the statement.
Mark Hacking was arrested Monday on a charge of aggravated murder, two weeks after he said his wife failed to return from a morning jog. He has not been formally charged and is being held without bail.
It doesn't sound like a death penalty case.
I've heard speculation that both families may request that the DA not seek the death penalty due to their religious beliefs. The DA could ignore the request, but I doubt it's a good career move to piss off the Mormons if you work for Salt Lake City.
He's being held under the same rules as everyone else: They have to arraign him within 72 hours of arrest or let him go.
For future reference:
Utah 76-5-202. Aggravated murder
http://www.le.state.ut.us/~code/TITLE76/htm/76_05028.htm
Utah 76-5-203. Murder
http://www.le.state.ut.us/~code/TITLE76/htm/76_05029.htm
Unless you have a very strong addiction (sucking down a pack a day or more), it's easier to hide than you think, as long as you take a few precautions. Only smoke outside, preferably upwind; wash your hands immediately after smoking; use strong breath mints; etc. Also, if you work in an place where lots of people smoke (and you'd be amazed at how high the percentage of smokers is in a hospital environment), the "I just hang around with smokers" excuse goes a long way. I quit smoking years ago, and remain amazed how easily that smell attaches to your clothes if you do nothing more than hang out in a smoky bar for a half hour.
Anyone know just what Hacking's job was? If he wore scrubs, he probably changed them often, making it even easier to hide the smell.
Yeah, that is pretty crass.
As for Sandy Berger, it's not that WE can't handle the truth, it's that the media won't REPORT the truth. I have written several emails to media outlets begging for coverage on the Sandy Berger theft and the subsequent cover-up.
Good point. But while Scott Peterson and Mark Hacking are both evil murderers of their pregnant wives, they are very different kinds of murderers.
Mark Hacking is a sociopath and pathological liar, for certain. Probably a control freak, too. Chances are, he was abusive and didn't want to lose control of his wife.
By contrast, Scott Peterson is simply two-diminsional and plastic. He is likeable and even charming on the surface, but has nothing underneath. For whatever reason, he's incapable of caring about another person. Appearantly, he saw his wife as some kind of liability at some point. Chances are, poor Laci never really knew the man she married.
While both could be said to have a personality disorder, neither are insane. If they are proven guilty after a fair trial, the just penalty should be obvious.
So then I'm the "jaded" one?
I don't know about that. Peterson led a dual life just as Hacking did--surely you've heard about or read the stories he told his mistress. For instance, at one point he was in the bathroom at his mother-in-law's house, running the shower to cover his conversation, and talking to Amber--telling her he was in Maine, fishing or hunting, and would soon be leaving for Europe. Mind you, it wasn't until much later that she found out that he was married.
In my estimation, both ladies died for the same reason--their worthless husbands didn't want to give up the lie they were living in order to live a real life.
Simply commenting on another poster's contrib re Burglar in this thread.
Also, he may well have showered at the hospital everyday.
The one thing that has bothered me from Day 1 was, what kind of man sat idly by while his wife jogged ALONE in the early a.m.???????
Here's a complete article:
Aug 3, 5:36 PM (ET)
By PAUL FOY
Police: Hacking Said He Killed His Wife
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - The husband of a missing pregnant woman told a "reliable citizen witness" in the psychiatric ward that he killed his wife as she slept and then threw her body in a trash bin, according to a court filing.
The document, released Tuesday by the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Department, also says investigators found human blood on a knife in the bedroom of Mark Hacking's apartment and on the couple's headboard and bedrail.
Blood found in the bedroom matched traces of blood found in Lori Hacking's car, according to the statement.
Mark Hacking was arrested Monday on a charge of aggravated murder, even though his wife's body has not been found. Lori Hacking has not been seen since July 19, when Hacking said his wife failed to return from a morning jog.
(AP) Mark Hacking is shown in this police photo released Aug. 2, 2004. Police arrested Hacking, the...
Full Image
Investigators believe the 27-year-old woman was killed in the couple's apartment and that her body is buried somewhere in 3,000 tons of trash at the county landfill. Searches using dogs were to resume Wednesday night.
Mark Hacking, 28, has not been formally charged. He is being held without bail and was placed on suicide watch.
While thousands of friends and volunteers turned out to search for the missing woman, police already were investigating her husband and searching the couple's apartment.
Police were seen removing a box spring - but no mattress - from the apartment. They refused to confirm that they had seized an old mattress from a nearby trash bin.
On the morning that Hacking reported his wife had disappeared, police have said, he was buying a mattress even though he told friends and authorities he had been searching her jogging route.
Two days later, news organizations discovered that Hacking had lied about graduating from the University of Utah and lied about being accepted at a medical school in North Carolina, where the couple was to have moved within just days.
Mark Hacking was hospitalized after he was seen running around naked outside a motel where he had taken a room, hours after making an emotional appeal on television for help in searching for his wife.
Lori Hacking's brother, Paul Soares, told "The Early Show" on CBS on Tuesday that the situation is unimaginable.
"It's been described as surreal and that's really how we feel: a situation that you just can't believe is happening," said Soares. "It does come as a shock to me because we did know Mark for so long. But, at the same token, you just don't know what someone's capable of."
Lori Hacking had told friends that she was five weeks pregnant, but police said she had not confirmed a home pregnancy test by visiting a doctor. If her body is found and the pregnancy is confirmed, prosecutors could add an additional murder charge.
It doesn't sound like a death penalty case.
He planned it out well in advance. The story about going to medical school was to explain his leaving Utah. Either just before leaving, or on the road, he would kill her, dump her body, and pop up in a third location, neither Utah nor North Carolina, to be caught soon thereafter. Apparently, he panicked when he found out that she knew he was lying about medical school, and she had told co-workers about the call. So, he still killed her, but he went into some stupid "Plan B" mode -- as if Plan A wun't dumb enough.
LE does this every day in prison cells.
Since the "reliable witness" will undoubtedly have to testify against Hacking in a trial, I doubt the police would ask a relative to snitch. A relative may have told this info to the police, but it just makes sense that the cops would have an alternate trained LE officer in the ward, posing as a mental case.
Leni
Pretending to be in medical school when he wasn't could make him look pretty crazy.
Why is that?
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