Posted on 07/27/2004 7:48:59 AM PDT by Doctor Wu
Search at Landfill Resumes, Lori Hacking’s Husband Hires an Attorney
Jul 26, 2004 9:50 pm US/Mountain
Salt Lake City police investigating the disappearance of 27-year-old Lori Hacking were back Monday night at the landfill they searched last week.
They are using cadaver dogs as they did last week.
Police Detective Dwayne Baird says the search last week had not been completed when the dogs had to be taken to another assignment.
Asked by why they were searching at night, Baird told 2News that the dogs had just become available again and they also worked better at night.
Meanwhile, the husband of Lori Hacking has hired an attorney.
High-profile attorney Gil Athay has been retained to represent Mark Hacking.
Speculation about Mark's possible role in Lori's disappearance has been fueled by news that Mark lied about attending medical school in North Carolina.
The Associated Press has learned that Lori Hacking may have known about her husband's deceptions three days before she disappeared.
Lori Hacking's co-workers at the Wells Fargo Brokerage Service say she tearfully left work July 16th after receiving a phone call believed to be from the University of North Carolina.
Mark Hacking is considered a ``person of interest'' in the case, but not a suspect.
After a week of nearly constant coverage from local and national media, the family of the missing pregnant woman said the emotional toll was too much and appointed a spokesman Sunday.
Relatives of Lori Hacking continued to cling to diminishing hopes that she may still be alive, but said they couldn't take speaking publicly about it any more.
The move Sunday followed intense efforts to gain press attention, which have wavered in recent days after reports heightening interest in Hacking's husband, Mark, and the possibility he was involved in the disappearance.
Nevertheless, more than 3,000 volunteers turned out Sunday to search and distribute fliers. Several churches canceled meetings and services so members could participate in the search, part of which was conducted along the banks of the Jordan River.
The turnout was the largest since the woman disappeared. On Tuesday, 1,200 searched, but that number dwindled to a few hundred the following day.
About 200 people attended a candlelight vigil at Memory Grove Park, where the woman's car was found and where it had been presumed that she disappeared while jogging. The vigil was organized by two friends of the woman, who thanked volunteers and urged them to turn about again Monday morning and continue the search.
The families of both Lori and Mark Hacking had been holding as many as two news conferences a day since Lori was reported missing a week ago. Relatives hoped the coverage would help bring in volunteers to search for the 27-year-old and circulate her photograph.
But on Sunday, the emotions from a week of unsuccessful searches and the continued investigation into a bizarre series of lies from Mark Hacking had taken a toll.
``We are all exhausted and we feel we need to concentrate our efforts and our energies on finding Lori,'' Thelma Soares, Lori's mother, said while fighting off tears Sunday morning before a family friend took over as spokesman.
Spokesman Scott Dunaway, a leader in Soares' church, said the family had learned little as far as new developments in the investigation.
Detective Dwayne Baird, a Salt Lake City police spokesman, wouldn't confirm or deny a Deseret Morning News report, citing unnamed sources, that a bloody knife with strands of hair was among items taken from the Hackings' apartment.
``We took a lot of things out of that apartment,'' Baird said.
Baird said he wasn't sure where those reports came from, but they could have leaked from other agencies assisting Salt Lake City police in the investigation. He declined to name the other agencies.
Baird said police were still waiting on test results from a search of the apartment and surrounding area. He said experts probably haven't gotten a chance to do much work on the samples, which were turned in Tuesday and Wednesday. State offices were closed Friday for Pioneer Day, a state holiday celebrating Mormon pioneers' arrival in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847.
``It's a state lab, so they have other cases they have to work as well,'' Baird said. ``I don't think the world understands we're on a holiday weekend.''
Baird said Mark Hacking continued to be a ``person of interest'' in the case, but was still not named as a suspect.
``This is a guy who has for the last several years lied about medical school. We have to look very carefully at the validity of everything he said,'' Baird said.
On Saturday, police recovered a clump of dark hair from a trash bin at a gas station less than a block from the store where Mark Hacking bought a mattress before reporting his wife's disappearance last Monday.
Detective Phil Eslinger said police don't know if it was Lori's hair, but responded to the tip from a person who found it.
``We are looking into everything,'' he said.
Inconsistencies in Mark Hacking's college background and future plans have turned the family's weekly briefings from pleas for help into reluctant defenses. The family said they want to keep the focus on finding Lori, and they're afraid the focus on Mark will detract from those efforts.
``We continue to entertain all possibilities and we are prepared for whatever the outcome may be,'' said Douglas Hacking, Mark's father. ``We would like to think Mark had no part in it. Our love for him has not changed and our ultimate goal is still to bring Lori home.''
Mark Hacking, 28, was checked into a medical facility after police found him running naked early Tuesday outside a motel four blocks from his apartment.
Speculation about his credibility was fueled by news that he never graduated from college or applied for medical school. He had told friends and family he was headed to medical school in North Carolina. Lori Hacking vanished days before the couple was to move.
Both Mark and Lori Hacking's parents have said they've visited Mark in the medical facility. Douglas Hacking said his son told him that he had nothing to do with Lori's disappearance.
So9
"Lori Hacking's co-workers at the Wells Fargo Brokerage Service say she tearfully left work July 16th after receiving a phone call believed to be from the University of North Carolina. "
All the future prosecutors have to do is retrieve the Wells Fargo and/or Univ. NCs phone records for that day/time
She was pregnant..5 weeks, I believe..does Utah have the same law..special circumstances, like California, witht her Lacy Peterson case..and doers the fetus's age make a difference..?
I know he is presumed innocent until proven guilty, but I think all the police are doing is trying to find the body to wrap this thing up and charge him!
An attorney isn't going to get him out of this mess.
sw
Maybe not. How are you Spec?
and
Ping!
I don't think it is. I doubt there is that much left of her....
Why post this LOCAL story since it was designed to knock Sandy Burglar's bungling off the front pages?
They could do even better if they get lucky. Many brokerage firms routinely tape phone calls to brokers and broker's assistants (which I think is what Mrs. Hacking was) for quality control and liability purposes. If this firm does that, and if the UNC person called on a public line, there is a chance the call may have been taped.
Of course, even if the call was not taped, they should be able to get the details of the call from the UNC person.
>>designed to knock Sandy Burglar's bungling off the front pages?<<
Designed?? By who?
Do you think Berger killed her?...or kidnapped her??
Is it a conspiracy??
Get a grip.
Its a Karl Rove conspiracy.
"Do you think Berger killed her?...or kidnapped her??"
Yuk yuk.
No, I don't. Don't be silly.
HOWEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm convinced that the collectivist media will scour the news for LOCAL LOCAL LOCAL "girl disappearance" stories in order to remove stories like Berger from the top of the news feed.
YOU get a grip on tabloid trash replacement into the national news feeds!
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