Booking Report Shows Mark Hacking Used An Alias

SALT LAKE CITY (AP/KSL News) -- A methodical search through 3,000 tons of trash was to resume Wednesday night in the Lori Hacking murder case.

The husband of the missing pregnant woman told a "reliable citizen" witness at a psychiatric ward that he killed his wife as she slept and dumped her body in a trash bin, according to a court document filed by prosecutors.

The tip, coupled with another from a neighbor and evidence of a possible crime, are leading officers to believe that they'll eventually find the remains of Lori Hacking in a county landfill.

Also, when Mark Hacking was booked into jail on suspicion of murdering his pregnant wife, he volunteered an alias that could open another chapter in his secret life.

Hacking offered the alias "Jonathan Long" when a jailer asked him, "Have you every used another name -- that could be for anything?"

Hacking didn't say why he had adopted the alias or how he used it, and jailers don't ask those questions, Salt Lake County Sgt. Rosie Rivera said on Wednesday.

City police detectives are trying to determine the significance of Hacking's alias, the latest in many deceptions they've uncovered after he reported his wife failed to turn up July 19 from an early morning jog.

It would not be unusual for a defendant to volunteer an alias during a jail booking, Rivera said, although that information more often comes from police. Hacking was booked Monday in a mental health wing of the Salt Lake County jail.

When jailers ask for an alias, "We don't ask what they've done with the name," Rivera said.

By coincidence, the jail has booked other Jonathan Longs in the past, but none are believed to have been Mark Hacking, she said.

"We book 30,000 people a year, so the odds of people having the same name are pretty good," she said.

The other Jonathan Longs used various middle initials and had different dates of birth than Hacking's, who was born April 24, 1976, the fifth of seven children to a respected Mormon family in Orem, Utah. His father, Douglas Hacking, is a pediatrician.

Jailers determined there was no criminal record under the name Jonathan Long and Hacking's date of birth, Rivera said.

They took Hacking's fingerprints at booking, and those fingerprints were fed into a Utah and national criminal database. If the system matched Hacking's fingerprints to another crime, solved or unsolved, it would alert Utah authorities, but hasn't done so, she said.

One thing is certain: Hacking does not have a criminal history in Salt Lake County, she said.

The next step in the case will be the filing of formal criminal charges by prosecutors, which could happen this week. And after that, the defense will have a shot to examine the evidence itself.

While police are gathering evidence for Mark Hacking's prosecution, the defense is employing private investigators to do the same thing from a different angle. Today we talked to a PI who works primarily for criminal cases. She gave us some insight into what the defense and their investigators could be doing in these early stages of the case.

Pamela Lindquist, Criminal Case Private Investigator: “You'd start with Mark, interviewing Mark, talk to the defendant and then interview any person, anything, any piece of evidence you can find."

Pamela Lindquist has investigated many defense cases over the years. She says PI's start digging into cases like this as soon as possible because it's the time witnesses remember details best.

Pamela Lindquist: "Most people want to help, they want to share everything that they know, everything that they've seen."

Lindquist says the DA and the defense will look over the same evidence, but the defense investigator will work to find alternate explanations for the evidence. Take, for example, the knife with blood found in the apartment bedroom.

Pamela Lindquist: "Once you get the DNA results back, if it is her blood, was it a significant amount of blood, was it a small amount of blood? was she cutting vegetables earlier? Did she cut vegetables and take them to her dinner party that night?"

Lindquist says evidence that looks incriminating isn't always that simple. The fact that Mark Hacking lied about school doesn't mean he's a killer. And she says his confession to a witness can be subject to attack.

Pamela Lindquist: "You have to know the state of mind of the defendant at the time of the confession. You have to pay attention to was it voluntary? Then after you investigate all of that, then you'd investigate who did he confess to, what was their state of mind?"

While the surveillance video from the Maverick store has been haunting to some, Lindquist says it also doesn't prove anything.

Pamela Lindquist: "Because someone looks at their hands, that does not mean that they just killed someone…First they show up together and then Mark shows up alone. We don't know, we don't know if that tells us anything."

Lindquist told KSL the investigators in a case work closely with the lawyers, even during a trial, because they're the ones who have spoken with the witnesses and they can recognize if there are any inconsistencies when someone is on the stand.

Tonight's search will take place with the help of cadaver dogs that had been away -- some on assignment, others on time off. The digging started within days of a July 19 police report from Mark Hacking about his wife's disappearance.

The citizen's statement, contained in a police affidavit released Tuesday by prosecutors, said Hacking made the comment at a psychiatric ward. Until his arrest Monday, Mark Hacking had been in the ward since police found him naked outside a hotel the night after his wife's reported disappearance.

Another tip came from a neighbor who said someone might have used his trash bin to dispose of a body. The neighbor based that conclusion on a foul-smelling liquid in the bottom of the bin after the trash was collected the day the woman was reported missing.

The witness told investigators Hacking confided to him July 24 during a communitywide search for his wife that drew thousands of volunteers.

The affidavit also states investigators found human blood on a knife in the bedroom of Mark Hacking's apartment and on the couple's headboard and bed rail.

Blood found in the bedroom matched traces of blood found in Lori Hacking's car, according to the probable-cause statement filed to keep Hacking in jail until he can be formally charged with murder.

The affidavit said police found a mattress in a trash bin near the Hackings' apartment that matched the serial numbers of the box spring recovered from inside the apartment.

Police have said Hacking was buying a mattress less than 20 minutes after he first called them to report his wife missing. He had told her co-workers that he found her car in a park and was there looking for her.

Days later, it was discovered that Hacking had lied about graduating from the University of Utah and lied about being accepted at a medical school in North Carolina, where the couple was to have moved within just days.

A judge set Hacking's bail Tuesday at $500,000, Salt Lake County District Attorney David Yocom said.

Hacking's attorney, D. Gilbert Athay, did not return a phone message.

Yocom said he still is reviewing the case and asked police to conduct more witness interviews.

The prosecutor said he was uncertain he could file charges in the 72 hours required by law after Hacking's arrest and may ask the court for an extension.

Yocom declined to say whether he would seek the death penalty, but did say the wishes of the victim's family are given great weight in such decisions.

There also is a question whether the circumstances of the case would support a capital homicide charge. Yocom would not address the strengths of the case.

However, Lori Hacking had told friends she was five weeks' pregnant, based on a home pregnancy test.

If her body is found and the pregnancy is confirmed, prosecutors could add an additional murder charge, which might provide one of the possible aggravated circumstances required for capital homicide.

Surveillance Video Shows Mark and Lori

On July 18th, Lori and Mark Hacking were in the Maverick store, located at 310 S. 900 East, for just a few minutes. The clerk says they came in to buy sodas.

The two were captured on surveillance video, and they may be the last images of Lori.

Hours later, the cameras captured Mark as he returned alone to buy soda and cigarettes.

The video shows Mark at the counter, checking his hands as he pays for his purchase. He then returns to get the change he forgot, then leaves in Lori's car.

While Mark may appear to be preoccupied, the clerk working that night told employees, Mark seemed normal.

More information and images on the surveillance video story

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)