Lori's outraged father lashes out

Salt Lake Tribune ^ | 2004-08-07 | Matthew D. LaPlante and Matt Canham

[MizSterious]

Lori's outraged father lashes out


''Monstrous act'': In a statement, Hareld Soares decries the tragic death of his daughter, his son-in-law's lies and cowardice, says he seeks justice, not vengeance
By Matthew D. LaPlante and Matt Canham
The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake Tribune

2004-08-07 01:10:22.092

Four days after his wife vanished, Mark Hacking wrapped his large arms around his father-in-law's small frame and promised he wasn't responsible.

    Now, believing his daughter's body is among thousands of tons of waste paper, plastics and rotting food, Hareld Soares is lashing out at his son-in-law.

   "As the facts about my little girl's death emerge, I am outraged," Soares said in a statement Friday. "The innumerable lies she was told by her husband for years on end were selfish and shameful. The cowardly way in which she and her baby were brutally murdered in cold blood while she slept is despicable."

   Police allege Mark Hacking, 28, killed his wife, Lori, in the early morning hours of July 19 and threw her body into a Dumpster, the contents of which were discarded at the Salt Lake County landfill that afternoon.

   For the seventh night in two weeks, detectives on Friday scoured a two-acre plot of the landfill, searching with cadaver dogs for any sign of her body.

   "The gutless attempt at covering up this monstrous act is appalling. It is difficult to imagine a more disrespectful way of disposing of her remains. No family should have to lose a daughter and sister this way," said Soares, a teacher from Fullerton, Calif.

[MizSterious]

More of his statement:

"Our criminal justice system . . . was created to punish perpetrators of such odious acts," Soares said. "I am hopeful and confident that the authorities in Salt Lake will seek and accomplish appropriate justice.

   "I do not seek vengeance, simply justice and a proper burial for my little girl."

Mr. Soares has been just incredible throughout this ordeal. I don't know how he's managed it.

[MizSterious]

Lori Hacking pinglist--if you want on or off, send me a freepmail.

[MizSterious]

And this from CBS News 48 Hours--looks like they might be doing a show on this case.

---

Hidden Truth: Lori Hacking Case
Aug. 6, 2004


On July 24, while sitting in a psychiatric hospital, Mark Hacking's brothers say he told them that he killed his wife, Lori, and then put her body in the trash. It is believed her body is buried under more than 2,000 tons of garbage.

By all accounts, Mark Hacking worshipped his wife of five years, and he wasn’t afraid to show it. Correspondent Maureen Maher has this 48 Hours update.

---

“He adored her. And she adored him,” recalls Lori’s mother, Thelma Soares. “I couldn’t have asked for a better son-in-law. Lori used to call him ‘My big, old teddy bear.’”

Mark, 28, was outgoing and romantic, while Lori, 27, was private and practical. But according to Lori’s only sibling, Paul Soares, the combination worked.

“They were different. They say opposites attract. And that -- I think that was the situation,” says Soares.

“And we would always joke around with him. Like, how did he get such a cute woman? Everyone kidded him about that. Because, you know, he was just like this goofy dude that-- you know, goofy guy,” says Brian Hamilton, who became friends with Mark when they worked together in the children’s psychiatric unit of a Salt Lake City hospital. He said Hacking loved to entertain the kids at the hospital.

The couple had just learned Lori was five weeks pregnant, friends say. And they were about to embark on a cross-country move to North Carolina, where Hacking said he would be starting medical school.

The rest of the story

[MizSterious]

I wonder if there are some lawsuits in the future for his old employers?

---

Accused wife-killer Mark Hacking counseled psychiatric patients

Paul Foy

Associated Press

Published  August 7, 2004

SALT LAKE CITY - Former patients at a psychiatric hospital where Mark Hacking worked as an orderly said Hacking, who is accused of killing his wife, insisted patients call him ``Franz'' although they knew his real name.

The two former patients, one speaking on condition of anonymity, also told The Associated Press that Hacking once ran unauthorized group therapy sessions.

(Snip)

The University of Utah said Friday that Hacking ran group ``activities,'' not therapy sessions, although the former patients recalled Hacking relishing a role as therapist - asking about their concerns and taking notes on their behavior.

They said he acted ``like a person in authority'' and rewarded them with cigarette breaks.

Former patient Nedzad ``Ned'' Rosic said Hacking was known as a ``psych tech'' but acted as a therapist while ``shaving his head and pretending to be Franz.''

(Snip)

Administrators at the University Neuropsychiatric Institute refused to take calls from the AP on Hacking's conduct on the job he resigned July 23. Brillinger said Friday she was providing answers she obtained from institute staffers she didn't identify.

Hacking was licensed by Utah as a health care assistant, a position equivalent to his job title at the institute, which was psychiatric technician, Brillinger said.

...the rest of the story

[knarf]

I'm a profiler,
The shape of Mark Hacking's head pegged him as guilty, in my estimation, when I first saw his picture.

[dwilli]

Art Bell would go along with that.

[Rakkasan1]

stone cold steve austin wannabe's-can't trust them

[Ditter]

I truly feel his pain. May God take care of him thru this terrible ordeal.

[theFIRMbss]

>The shape of Mark Hacking's head pegged him as guilty

Well, doesn't that mean that Stone Cold Steve Austin is some how guilty, too?

[TRY ONE]

"The shape of Mark Hacking's head pegged him as guilty..."

So that's how Sherlock did it!

[cajungirl]

Not a profiler, but the shape of his head hit me too. This creepy, creepy man loved her right up to throwing her body out with the garbage.

I have a theory that Lori knew he was a liar, he had been caught in lie after lie but not enough for her to leave him and this was the last straw.

My advice to young people getting married is that one lie is as bad as 100 lies. There are no lies between husband and wife. If there are, don't stay or don't marry.

That said, men should always lie when wives ask if their butt looks big in an outfit. It is hubby's job to lie.

[knarf]

THAT is freaky!

Could be twins.

[maestro]

Four days after his wife vanished, Mark Hacking wrapped his large arms around his father-in-law's small frame and promised he wasn't responsible.

A real big.......T.V. (public school).....Sit-Com........Psycho-hug.

(Support Darwinism in the public schools and T.V. movies

....is your livingroom really 'Room # 101'...?)

/sarcasm

[MizSterious]

Yes, when I read that, all I could think of were those "large arms" stabbing the petit Lori. If there's such things a ghosts, I hope she haunts him for the rest of his life.

[television is just wrong]

?Elaborate?

[MizSterious]

Thanks to Harrycarey for finding this one--

---

KUTV | kutv.com

Claim of Early Pregnancy Adds Legal Twist to Hacking Saga

Aug 6, 2004 1:01 pm US/Mountain


When prosecutors file expected charges against the husband who reportedly confessed to killing his missing pregnant wife, they will signal whether they intend to accuse Mark Hacking of double or aggravated murder - a crime that would warrant the death penalty.

But without a body, legal experts say, the district attorney will find it difficult to prove the elements of aggravated murder. Whether Lori Hacking was five weeks' pregnant, as she reportedly told friends before being reported missing July 19, is one element of that charge.

His lawyer, D. Gilbert Athay, has said he will raise the defense of mental illness and challenge the credibility of his client's admission to relatives that he killed his wife and dumped her body in a garbage bin.

Police are searching a municipal landfill for her remains.

Doctors say it would be difficult but not impossible to determine if Lori Hacking was pregnant without her body. They'd need more than a few drops of blood and serum to run a test. If the body is found, they can examine the contents of her uterus, using a microscope to look for cells of a nascent fetus.

Yocom has declined to say whether he would seek the death penalty, but did say he gives the wishes of the victim's family great weight in such decisions. Lori Hacking's family hasn't asked for capital punishment, even as the husband's family appears resigned to that possibility. Both Mormon families have shown an unusual bond during the ordeal, holding hands at news conferences and professing their love for both Mark and Lori Hacking no matter what the outcome of the case.

District Attorney David Yocom has until 5 p.m. Monday to file charges against Mark Hacking, who was jailed a week before on suspicion of killing his wife. Yocom was supposed to file the charges three days after Hacking's arrest, but a judge granted an extension as prosecutors prepare their case.

``District Attorney Yocom is a fine prosecutor, and there's no reason to jump the gun. He's going to evaluate all the evidence, and I'm sure he recognizes that without a body, it may be difficult to prove the aggravating circumstances allowing for the death penalty,'' University of Utah criminal law professor Erik Luna said.

Luna said the defense can try to raise one issue he called more scholarly than legal: Whether double-murder charges can apply to a victim who would have been able to legally abort an early-term fetus. But he doubts the defense would get far with an argument that ``for the most part comes down to a woman's constitutional right to choose versus an act of violence against her will.''

The Hacking case has drawn inevitable comparisons to the Scott Peterson trial - a lying husband, a pregnant missing wife and a fishy alibi.

Scott Peterson faces double murder charges under California's unborn victims law, which critics see as a backdoor attack on abortion rights. But Laci Peterson was nearly ready to deliver when she turned up missing in December 2002. Her body and that of a fetus washed ashore in San Francisco Bay months later.

Utah is among the 30 states that treat the unlawful killing of an unborn child as homicide. State laws differ, especially on how many weeks old a fetus must be to become party to a homicide. But in Utah, an ``unborn child'' at any stage of development can be a victim of foul play.

Four days before she vanished, Lori Hacking told friends she was five weeks' pregnant, based on a home pregnancy test unconfirmed by doctors.

Elements other than pregnancy can shore up the foundation for aggravated murder, but they're harder to prove, Luna said.

One element is a murder wrought in ``especially heinous, atrocious, cruel or exceptionally depraved manner.'' But that usually can be proven only by showing that death followed torture or abuse. Even a ``gruesome killing'' isn't sufficient on its own for aggravated murder, he said.

Another element is murder for personal gain. Prosecutors could allege Mark Hacking killed his wife to conceal his lack of academic credentials or failure to get in medical school, ``but that's a stretch,'' Luna said.

For years Mark Hacking lied to his wife, family and friends about his education and career plans - deceptions that began to unravel after he reported his wife missing. Not only wasn't he enrolled at medical school, he hadn't even graduated from the University of Utah. Yet, he and his wife were packing for the move to Chapel Hill, N.C., where she had presumed he was to begin medical school.

Police and family members believe that three days before she vanished, Lori Hacking discovered her husband's academic deceptions.

She took a phone call at work that left her stunned and sobbing, and she left the Wells Fargo brokerage house early for the day. Her colleagues say she had been making some arrangements at the North Carolina school and that they believe an administrator called back to say he was not enrolled there.

One of Mark's brothers and father are doctors, and another brother is an electronics engineer. The father, Douglas Hacking, has said Mark probably felt pressure by the achievements of his relatives.

Source

[SunnySide]

put me on your ping list please

[SunnySide]

Former patient Nedzad ``Ned'' Rosic said Hacking was known as a ``psych tech'' but acted as a therapist while ``shaving his head and pretending to be Franz.''

ewwwww he was role playing. Who the heck is his made up Franz character? Hacking sounds like a schizo to me.

[sonserae]

What does the shape of his head have to do with it? I'm just curious to know the info behind that...

[SunnySide]

stone cold steve austin wannabe's-can't trust them



Seriously I think people like Hacking who keep wanting to mimmick many other fictional and nonfictional personas have major mental identity crisis issues. He's a classic case.

[knarf]

Gut feeling.

I've known a few men that had that kind of bald and shaped head and every one of them were weirdo's.

That's not to say there aren't good men that look like that, I've just never met them.

How do you elaborate on a gut feeling?

[sonserae]

I guess I was hoping for a more scientifically based answer. I am in the visual effects biz and there are tons of bald guys with goatees. Most of them are sweet as pie. They look tough but have a tender heart...Don't know if your "profiling" is accurate across the board. Sometimes I put a towel on my head after I take a shower but that doesn't mean I'm a terrorist.

[knarf]

"I guess I was hoping for a more scientifically based answer."

Most of the time I expect that of me also, but I'm such a disappointment.

You have an important profession ... God Bless you and your work.

[spectre]

Ping to over here, DeeJay!

Earlier videos show Mark with a full head of hair. Contrast that with his shaved head and he looks very different. Odd.

What a trip down the Peterson memory lane this case is becoming.

sw

[harrycarey]

Who the heck is his made up Franz character?

Saturday Night Live

"Ve vant to pump you up!"

[MizSterious]

No kidding--Deejay keeps saying there must be a genetic match between Mark and Scott!

[the Deejay]

Earlier videos show Mark with a full head of hair.

I know. I wish the news channels would stop showing the wedding dance video. It's hard to view.

I mentioned last week, when will Mark grow hair and shave his face, in case of a trial.

[the Deejay]

No matter what the pundints on tv are saying, I think Scott will be found guilty. It's the lies Scott told. And his actions that will sink him.

Most defendants are found guilty because of the lies. Martha Stewart for example. When she lied to LE. Had she told the fessed up and been honest, she wouldn't be where she is at this point in time.

[MizSterious]

The media (aka pundits) like to think of themselves as judge and jury--and if they thought they could get away with it, executioner too in some cases.

[pke]

My 97 year old Grandfather has a bald head like that. Should I be worried?

[sonserae]

Yeah...I understand gut feelings too but one of my best friends for the last 10 years is shaved bald with a goatee and he's the most honest person I've ever met. He always calls 'em like he sees 'em and doesn't care what people think of him. He would do anything for a friend but he hates dishonesty and bad character. He looks like he could kill someone but he's a really sensitive, caring guy...so judging a book only by it's cover can be misleading.
In LA every other person has that "look"...it's part of the movie biz style I guess.

[hershey]

Mr. Soares has indeed been incredible throughout this horror. But he is discovering what countless scores of victims and their families already know: The justice system is geared toward the one in the dock. Every effort is made to ensure he has the fairest of trials and that's just the beginning. Victims are a footnote. It's insane, but that's essentially what goes on.

[spectre]

Yes, Miz. Media is not consistant. What they find incriminating in ONE case, they excuse in another, if ya know what I mean...LOL.

I'm on and off the forum for awhile, so IF you all hear that Mark has been formally charged, PLEASE PING.

PS, I think he looks better with the shaved head, tho he's still creepy looking.

sw

[hershey]

Gee, Mark Hacking might have felt pressured to achieve so he murdered his wife and unborn child, lied, and then when it fell apart, hid out in the loony bin to help create an insanity defense. Are we supposed to feel sympathy for this poor fellow, the dumb one in an overachieving family? Dumb like a fox. Lori would have demanded alimony, and then there's that pesky matter of 18 years of child support. Pregnant women are dying like flies.

[JockoManning]

MizS thanks for the ping(s); appreciate all your efforts.

[uvular]

Interesting in 48 Hours article that his parents were footing the bill for his tuition 3 years ago, or his mom thought so, until contacting college. Perhaps not so unusual, but I know my folks would have never done it, after getting married...

Sure do appreciate all the research and work you're doing Miz!

Seems I read or heard somewhere that a friend of Mark's said Mark was not too keen on having a kid.

Egads, all that has happened makes ya wonder what his plan was if they had actually made the move? Could he have gotten away with it easier, further away from the families??

[Jaded]

Think of all the money that would save both interms of court personnel and that evidence testing stuff. /so

Mark killed his wife. I can see he flipped out AFTER he realized the gravity of what he'd done and ran around nekkid. I don't really think it was premeditate like many, but he did it. Even if his confession gets tossed there is still all that pesky evidence from inside their apartment....

[theFIRMbss]

>stone cold steve austin wannabe's-can't trust them

I'm one of those guys that's hairy as a sasquatch. Every now and then the hair gets to me and I shave my face and head and look like Austin. It's not that I want to look like Stone Cold, I just get tired of ape-man . . .

[Lorraine]

I admire the Hacking family's integrity and decency in wanting to do the right thing and in obtaining the confession from their son. Anyone comparing this case with the Peterson case can only feel contempt for the Peterson family for not doing the same. If the Peterson family do know that their evil son/brother is guilty, then in my opinion, they are just as guilty as he is, and deserve the world's scorn for putting their in-laws through the terrible ordeal they have gone through with all the months of anguished searching and the horribly long trial.

[MizSterious]

That particular article (48 Hours) gave a lot of information about just how he involved this deception was. All in all, this is one of the strangest cases I've seen since the "Desert Murder Mystery" case some time back--that was the one where the guy managed to convince a woman he was an illegal alien from outer space.

[MizSterious]

There was a hilarious article from the Onion about trial by media that I used to post every so often on those threads related to the case-which-shall-go-unnamed. Of course, the Onion won't let us post those little gems any longer. Pity.

[Kackikat]

ROFLMCO ...that is too much. Profiler, I think not. Unless you are into fortune telling or palm reading...some of which offer "phrenological readings".

Phrenology has been denounced by the criminal justice system, and has no place in biological theories of crime...except to be taught as an old ignorant theory which has been disproved again and again by numerous studies. Some theorists subcribed to it in beginning of 20th century, and it was used by Sherlock Holmes (fictional character) to solve some crimes...but it is laughable to criminologists today.

[Dont Mention the War]

Mr. Soares has indeed been incredible throughout this horror. But he is discovering what countless scores of victims and their families already know: The justice system is geared toward the one in the dock. Every effort is made to ensure he has the fairest of trials and that's just the beginning. Victims are a footnote. It's insane, but that's essentially what goes on.

Sadly, our criminal justice system (heck, every criminal justice system in the free world, as far as I know) is not about establishing truth or determining guilt or innocence. It is a sport. Every trial is a game, and both sides play to win. Defense lawyers make their names and their money not by defending the innocent, but by getting their clients off with almost total disregard for the facts. DAs' careers are made not by protecting the public and insuring that justice is served, but by having the highest conviction rate possible.

I'm not claiming I have a better way all worked out in my head, but there has to be something better than what we've got.

[uvular]

I just saw that one the other night; the guy's made-up name was something like Dazen Hausenhuff or something, and his wife's name was Girly. One real creepy guy and the gal that believed he was from outer space was a piece of work herself.

[the Deejay]

Per Rita Cosby's program tonight. The Hackings family are going to have Mark plead guilty. To get this over and done with. So's not to put everyone through a long trial.

It really is the only reasonable solution, isn't it? With all the evidence Mark's facing and LE has only scratched the surface, I'm sure.

[He Rides A White Horse]

More job security for Greta Van Susteren.

[fox0566]

I think this is an outrage! Apparently, the way I understand it, is that he will NOT be charged with capital murder. It will be either 1st degree murder or even manslaughter. He butchered two human beings to death, and by simply pleading guilty to it he can receive a sentence that will allow him to be paroled one day? Life certainly is cheap nowadays.

The families involved may not want a long trial, but have they ever considered the feelings of the two that are no longer here to speak for themselves? Might they want some justice? And what about the rest of society, do we have to put up with someone like Mark Hacking roaming around free after he is paroled?

Something is wrong with this picture.

[the Deejay]

Well, Lori cannot speak for herself but her parents can and apparently have. Bottom line is, Mark will spend life in prison.

Even if there was a trial, he wouldn't have gotten the death penalty.

Besides, he'd probably die of old age in prison anyway before he'd be put to death.

[the Deejay]

Listening to Rita's program, it sounded as though the Hackings & Soares families have discussed the plea versus not guilty by insanity.

I'm sure the families discussed the options with LE and/or Mark's attorney.

Guess we'll find out for sure on Monday, what (if anything) has been decided.