On July 19, 2004, Mark Hacking reported that his 27-year-old wife Lori Hacking was missing. According to Mark, Lori left their house in Salt Lake City, Utah sometime between 5:30 and 6:00 a.m. to go for a jog in Memory Grove Park. At 10:49 a.m., Mark called the police to report his wife had disappeared.

Around 2:00 a.m. on July 20, Mark Hacking was picked up by the police who were responding to a "disturbance." It has been reported that Hacking was found wandering around naked and needed medical attention. Later that morning, he was checked into the psychiatric unit at the University of Utah Medical Center.

Based on a credit card statement, the police learned that on Monday morning before he reported his wife missing, Mark Hacking purchased a new mattress and two pillows. It was then discovered that Mark Hacking lied about graduating from the University of Utah and being accepted into medical school in North Carolina. All of this contributed to the police labeling Mark Hacking as a "person of interest." That seems to be the new term now a days. However, there is nothing wrong with calling him a "suspect." The term suspect does not mean he did it. It does not mean he is guilty. It means he has not been cleared of any suspicion. In most cases, there are several people who could be called suspects.

Since his hospitalization shortly after Lori's disappearance, Mark Hacking has not been talking. However, there are a few statements that he gave the day he reported Lori missing.

In talking about his wife going for a run, he stated "She never made it in this morning."

I am bothered by the phrase "made it in." The word "made" is usually used when someone has not arrived at a certain destination. For example, "She never made it to the park." Most people would state she never returned home or she never came back. We would have to examine Hacking's personal dictionary to see how he uses the phrase "made it in." Before Mark Hacking reported his wife missing, he called her office. Hacking spoke to Brandon Hodge asking him "By the way, how is Lori?" Hodge responded, "Well, she had not made it into work yet." Perhaps Mark Hacking's language was influenced by Hodge who used the phrase "made it into work."

In responding to the search being conducted by the police and volunteers, Mark Hacking stated, "If she is there, that means the unimaginable happened - and that is very difficult."

This is not how an innocent concerned husband would speak. Although things were not looking good, most husbands would still have hope their wife is ok. You did not see other family members talking like this.

Mark Hacking goes on to say, "It's hard because when I'm searching I'm not looking for somebody sitting on a rock or walking around. I know I'm searching for someone who is hurt."

How does Mark Hacking "know" he is searching for someone "who is hurt"? We believe what people tell us. This is a clear indication he knows more than what he is saying.

After Mark Hacking was admitted to the hospital and it was discovered that he had lied about his education, his father, Douglas Hacking, confronted his son. "I looked him in the eye and I said 'I need you to tell me if you had anything to do with Lori's disappearance.' I have to tell you that he looked me in the eye and said 'No.'"

Recognize this is a very weak denial. The father did not ask his son if he had anything to do with Lori's disappearance. He only told him, "I need you to tell me if you had anything to do with Lori's disappearance." When Mark Hacking said "no" he may have been saying "No, I am not going to tell you if I had anything to do with her disappearance."

Every news article I read quoted Douglas Hacking as making a statement to his son and not asking him a question. Therefore, I have to believe that the quote listed above is correct. The one exception was CNN.com. They quoted Douglas Hacking as saying "I looked him in the eye and I said 'Did you have anything to do with Lori's disappearance?'" It would appear that CNN took the liberty of paraphrasing what Douglas Hacking said. Remember, a quote needs to be a quote. When you paraphrase you change the language and lose potentially valuable information. So much for CNN's claim to be the most trusted news network!

When we look at the statements made by Mark Hacking we have to conclude that he probably did have something to do with Lori Hacking's disappearance. The other evidence that is slowly surfacing would also confirm this.

UPDATE

On August 5, 2004, it was reported that Mark Hacking confessed to his brothers that he killed his wife and put her body in a trash bin. The confession took place on July 24, 2004 while Hacking was hospitalized in a psychiatric unit.

UPDATE

On April 15, 2005, Mark Hacking pled guilty to killing his wife Lori Hacking. Hacking told the judge, "I intentionally shot Lori Hacking in the head with a .22 rifle." On June 6, 2005, Mark Hacking was sentenced to six years to life in prison.

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