True Crime/Paranormal/Conspiracy Stories Part VI

Murder of Lori Hacking

Lori Kay Soares Hacking (December 31, 1976 – July 19, 2004) was a Salt Lake City, Utah woman who was murdered by her husband Mark Douglas Hacking in 2004. She was reported missing by her husband, and the search gained national attention before her husband confessed to the crime.

Biography

Lori was the adopted daughter of Thelma and Herald Soares, formerly of Fullerton, California. Herald Soares was a Spanish and Portuguese teacher for Sunny Hills High School and was a native of Piracicaba, Brazil. He met Thelma when they both served as missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in Rio de Janeiro. Lori's parents divorced in 1987, and Thelma and Lori moved to Orem, Utah the following year. Lori and Mark both attended Orem High School, about 40 miles (about 64 kilometers) south of Salt Lake City.

Disappearance

At 10:49 a.m. on July 19, 2004, Mark Hacking called 911 to report his wife Lori missing. She was 27 years old at the time. Mark told police she had left home early for a customary jog in the Memory Grove and City Creek Canyon area northeast of downtown Salt Lake City, but had not returned home or arrived at work. A woman said she had seen Lori near the grove that day, but later withdrew her claim.

According to family members, Hacking was about five weeks pregnant when she vanished. She was planning a move to North Carolina, where her husband had said he was about to start medical school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. However, police say Mark had lied to friends and family and never completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Utah. The medical school had no record of his having applied.

Shortly after his wife's disappearance, Mark was found running naked through the streets, and was admitted to hospital for mental evaluation. While in the hospital, Mark engaged D. Gilbert Athay, a prominent defense attorney in the community.

Mark Hacking arrested

On August 2, 2004, Mark was arrested on suspicion of the aggravated murder of his wife. Police said they believed that he acted alone, killing Lori in their apartment with a .22-caliber rifle while she was asleep and disposing of her body in a dumpster.

Investigators found blood in several places in the couple's apartment, including on a knife found in the bedroom, on the headboard of the bed, and in Lori's car.

In addition, Scott and Lance Hacking, Mark's brothers, claimed that Mark confessed to murdering his wife after they confronted him on July 24, 2004. First-degree murder charges were filed against Mark Hacking on August 9, 2004.

On October 1, 2004 at approximately 8:20 a.m. searchers found human remains in the Salt Lake County landfill. By that afternoon, police had confirmed that the remains were those of Lori Hacking. Searchers found the carpet that Mark admitted to rolling her body into before placing it in the dumpster.

On October 29, 2004, Mark pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder despite pleas from Paul Soares, the victim's brother, to "save your family the grief and cost [and] plead guilty to murder."

According to investigators, on the night of July 18, Lori wrote Mark a note telling him that she planned to leave him after discovering that virtually everything Mark had told her about his background was false. She had learned that he never graduated from the University of Utah and never applied to medical school. Rather than divorce, Hacking killed her.

Guilty plea

On April 15, 2005, Hacking pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in exchange for prosecutors dropping other charges. On June 6, 2005, Hacking was sentenced to six years to life in prison, the maximum possible sentence under Utah law at the time. In Utah, prison sentences are indeterminate, with a minimum and maximum time frame. The offender must serve the entire sentence unless the Utah Board of Pardons releases him sooner. Normally, those convicted of first-degree murder were required to serve a minimum of five years before they can be considered for parole. However, because Hacking killed Lori with a firearm, the minimum was increased by one year.