Mark Hacking Pleads Guilty To Murdering Wife

[Skywatch_NC]

Mark Hacking Pleads Guilty To Murdering Wife

POSTED: 4:20 pm EDT April 15, 2005
UPDATED: 5:12 pm EDT April 15, 2005

SALT LAKE CITY -- Mark Hacking has pleaded guilty to killing his wife.

Prosecutors said the Utah man faces six years to life when he's sentenced in a Salt Lake City court June 6.

Lori Hacking vanished last July as the couple was packing for a move to North Carolina, where her husband said he was going to attend medical school.

Police said Hacking killed his wife after she confronted him over lying about his education and plans to become a doctor. It turned out he hadn't been accepted, nor even applied to the medical school.

Hacking, a hospital orderly, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. He also was charged with obstructing justice by disposing of the body, the gun and a bloody mattress, but those charges were dropped as part of Friday's deal.

Lori Hacking's decomposed remains were found in a Salt Lake City landfill in October after months of searching. Mark Hacking reported her missing on July 18.

He said she never returned from a morning jog. He said because he works the night shift he was usually sleeping when Lori left to go running in the morning. He said she usually woke him so he could drive her to work, but that the day Lori disappeared he woke up late and realized she hadn't returned.

While hospitalized in a psychiatric unit, Mark Hacking allegedly confessed to his brothers that he shot his wife while she slept, and that he disposed of her body, the weapon and a mattress in a trash bin.

An affidavit states that investigators found blood on the couple's headboard and bed rail. Court papers say those blood samples matched traces of blood found in Lori Hacking's car. Police took a box spring and several boxes full of items from the Hackings' apartment. They also impounded a mattress recovered from a nearby trash bin.

http://www.wral.com/news/4384623/detail.html

Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press.

[streetsoldier]

SIX YEARS??? The very thought that he could serve so little time for such a despicable crime...I don't have the WORDS.

[kevin]

SIX YEARS?????????????

[depotoo]

i'm stunned.

[Skywatch_NC]

I don't understand the 6 years part ...judge should throw the WHOLE book at him for a life sentence!!!

Eric

[Miss Mary]

Is it because he pleaded guilty and had mental problems?

I was surprised at the 6 years also.

Mary

[depotoo]

faces six years to life when

i'm stunned over the fact that it could be as little as 6 yrs. he hasn't been sentenced yet.

[Derek Ortt]

maybe 6 years in a concentration camp would fit the bill with the beatings, lack of food, and good old fashioned hard labor. But in our country club prisons? Worst sentence ever

[GalvestonDuck]

Sentence to be handed down today.

[Miss Mary]

I bet if Scott Peterson hadn't been arrested before this murder this husband might have pleaded innocent. At least somewhere in him he has a small amount of decency, to own up to what he did and not put Lori's family thru what Scott did. Doesn't excuse what Mark Hacking did though.

Duckie - keep us updated on this story.

Mary

[alicia-w]

and now it appears he's been sentenced but i'm confused. there's quite a span in 6 years to life. how do they decide?

this guy is a nut job. first he pleads not guilty last October (he apparently confessed to his brother, i think) and then changed the plea in April. Was that to avoid the death penalty? Does Utah still have the death penalty?

[streetsoldier]

Six years isn't a sentence...it's an asterisk.

[bfez1]

At least he was "man" enough to admit it!!! And not lie about it!!!
Now let him pay his time in prison!!!

[Miss Mary]

Bonnie - my reaction also, he did own up to it. I still say all of these cases come down to one thing - honesty. Just be honest with people! If this man had told his wife he wasn't really in medical school, I suspect she would have stood by him. Scott Peterson should have told Laci he wanted out of their marriage too. By now I suspect she'd be very happy and for all we know, had found a decent man to love her and Connor. I've been telling my girls for years - just be honest. If they didn't study for a test, forgot to do a project, left it at home. Forget complicated excuses - just own up to what you did wrong.

The only good thing in this case is Mark Hacking did admit to murder.

Mary

[bfez1]

Bonnie - my reaction also, he did own up to it. I still say all of these cases come down to one thing - honesty. Just be honest with people! If this man had told his wife he wasn't really in medical school, I suspect she would have stood by him. Scott Peterson should have told Laci he wanted out of their marriage too. By now I suspect she'd be very happy and for all we know, had found a decent man to love her and Connor. I've been telling my girls for years - just be honest. If they didn't study for a test, forgot to do a project, left it at home. Forget complicated excuses - just own up to what you did wrong.

The only good thing in this case is Mark Hacking did admit to murder.

Mary

I agree with you so much, Miss Mary
I hate a liar!!! Be honest and admit your guilt!!!