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KSL News/AP Mark Hacking will be arraigned in court this morning on a first-degree felony murder charge in the death of his wife.
The 28-year-old was charged yesterday with Lori Hacking's murder.
Salt Lake County District Attorney David Yocum says Mark Hacking shot his wife in the head with a 22 -caliber rifle while she slept early in the morning on July 19th.
Both Lori's body and the rifle have not been found, but prosecutors believe they still have a solid case, which includes the Hacking's mattress, recovered by police from a church dumpster.
Police say Hacking used a knife to cut off the top of that mattress.
David Yocom, Salt Lake County District Attorney: "We think he rolled her in that and then put all of that, including the bedding, pillows, anything containing blood in garbage sacks around that and that's what he deposited in the dumpster."
They say he disposed of her body, the gun, and the mattress in separate trash bins.
At 1:18 that morning, Mark Hacking was seen at a Maverik convenience store. Police are not sure if that was before or after the alleged murder.
Hacking was also charged yesterday with three second-degree felony counts of obstructing justice.
He faces five-years-to-life in prison on the murder charge and one-to-15-years in prison for each of the obstructing justice charges.
Bail has been set for one million dollars.
Hacking will be arraigned today through a closed circut television conference from the Salt Lake County Jail.
We now know the specifics of a phone call in which Lori Hacking unwittingly uncovered her husband's big lie-- the medical school where Mark Hacking said he applied had never heard of him.
July 16th Lori called the University of North Carolina medical school. Randee Alston, a worker in the Admissions Office, told police Lori asked about Mark's financial aid.
Alston checked several databases, finding Hacking was not registered and had not even applied to medical school.
That day, Lori's friends reported she made a tearful exit from work.
Melissa Sugden/ Lori's Co-Worker & Friend/July 27: "I said, 'Hey, that's Lori.' She came out and I said, 'Hey Lori, what's up?' She said, 'Nothing.' She started walking away. I said,'Are you sure?' She said 'Yeah' and then she got in her car and zoomed right past me."
Mark later told his brothers that he and Lori argued late Sunday night right after Mark told her he lied about medical school.
Lori went to bed and Mark played Nintendo for about an hour, and then allegedly shot his sleeping wife.
Hacking's brother Lance says Mark told him: "Lori's dead and I killed her."
On Monday, the UNC official Lori talked to Friday discovered Lori left a message late Friday, saying Mark told Lori he personally called Ms. Alston and learned the problem was a computer malfunction, and he straigthened things out. But the UNC official said she'd never spoken to Mark.
Later that day Mark Hacking told reporters he'd called Lori at work at 10 am to see how she was doing.
Mark Hacking/ Accused of Murder/July 19: "They told me she never made it in this morning."
Of course we now know that by the time that UNC medical school offical, Ms. Randee Alston, got that message from Lori Hacking that Monday morning, Lori Hacking was already dead.
A major missing link in the case, of course, is the recovery of Lori Hacking's body. District Attorney David Yocom told us the search for the body will continue in the near future. That search won't resume for a few days in order to give those involved in it a break from the grueling work.
Yocom says there is plenty to prosecute right now, but recovering the body would give them an even stronger case and could allow them to pursue the more serious charge of aggravated murder, and the death penalty.
