Monday, July 26, 2004
Not much new in Hacking Case
Not very much to report in the Hacking case through Sunday, so I'll just give a quick re-hash of the new developments over the weekend.
1. Unconfirmed reports that police found a bloody knife with hair attached in the Hacking home.
2. Convenience store employee found a clump of dark hair in a dumpster near the furniture store where Mark bought a new mattress
3. Police confiscated computers, a box spring, and many other items from the Hacking home
4. Police "sources" (read: off-the-record statements by officers) stated that the investigators believe that Mark Hacking is lying to them. Not particularly a stunning revelation, considering the known lies he's told thus far.
5. The witness who allegedly saw Lori stretching in the park said they could not be sure that it was actually Lori they saw.
6. Details now out show that Mark's original claim was that around 10 a.m. was when he first knew Lori hadn't made it to work.
Now, putting all this together is something that I firmly believe the investigators have already done, but don't expect much information in the form of "confirmed" reports prior to the initial hearings. Police here aren't going to make the same mistakes as were made in the Scott Peterson case.
My own instincts about when, how, and why are certainly irrelevant, but I've put forth opinions so far that have been echoed by later media reports, so I'll go out on a limb again.
As I've previously speculated, I think the true reason Mark and Lori were moving to North Carolina will be revealed in what investigators find on Mark's computer. I have a gut instinct that he was moving to be close to someone else, and Lori would have been promptly dropped, perhaps with a plane ticket to get back home to Salt Lake, after Mark was set in a new home. The whole graduation-med school charade would be sufficient for Mark to get a lot of assistance from both families with the relocation, and by the time he gave the c'est la vie to Lori, the move would be a done deal. Something happened, though, that screwed all this up--Lori got pregnant. Mark, knowing that a child (and child support) was not something he had counted on, found himself in a fix. Why not divorce her in Utah, though? Well, Utah and North Carolina are significantly different in one aspect of Divorce law---North Carolina does NOT take into account "marital fault" in determining whether alimony is ordered. So, Mark is faced with a dilemma. He may have decided to break things off with Lori now, or He may have been caught updating his long-distance interest over the computer. Either way, the powderkeg finally exploded in the pre-dawn hours of Monday. Mark, horrified at what he's done to Lori, makes a decision to cover the crime. He cleans the house as much as possible, but there's one problem--Lori's still there. He decides to wrap her in the mattress and drop it in a nearby dumpster. Nobody would suspect a fellow discarding an old mattress, and by moving Lori's car to the park, he can sufficiently divert attention from the dumpster until it's been emptied, its contents compacted and dumped in the city landfill. He moves quickly, getting Lori's car to the park before even the earliest-morning joggers show up, then returns home. Wrapping Lori (and probably other evidence like clothes, etc.) in the mattress, he straps it to the top of his car, drives to the dumpster, then to the furniture store to replace the mattress. He's in the store when it occurs to him that he needs to show some concern about Lori's whereabouts before much later in the day, so he calls her work, then some friends. Finalizing the mattress purchase, he returns home, places the new mattress, then calls police. He counted on police coming in, taking a brief statement, then going to the park to look for Lori. That would give him some additional time to look over the apartment and make sure that everything was concealed or discarded. Instead, they stay, making Mark all the more nervous. When they finally leave, he has to make a good show of helping with the search, so he has no time to tidy up. Monday afternoon, it finally sinks in that the police will search the apartment, and that they will, inevitably, find something that ties him to the crime. He formulates "plan B", and goes to a nearby hotel, getting a room under a false name. That night, after he's finally left alone, he goes to the hotel, strips, and makes a huge scene in the parking lot. Drawing from his knowledge of the behaviour of the insane, as well as his skill at deception, he makes a believable case to be admitted for psychiatric treatment. Police return to his apartment, and find numerous pieces of evidence, directly connecting him to Lori's disappearance, but as long as he's held in the hospital, they will hold off calling him a suspect until he's either released or Lori's body is found. Whichever happens first (my opinion is that Lori will be found in the landfill within the next day or two), the police will promptly take Mark into custody. He'll attempt an insanity defense, and the rest will be in the hands of the jury.
Now, if you've read all of this, I thank you for giving ear to all my speculation. I would love to be horribly wrong, and sincerely hope that in spite of all the deception and speculation, that Lori will be found alive and well. I think to truly believe that she's still alive, however, is being overly optimistic.
1. Unconfirmed reports that police found a bloody knife with hair attached in the Hacking home.
2. Convenience store employee found a clump of dark hair in a dumpster near the furniture store where Mark bought a new mattress
3. Police confiscated computers, a box spring, and many other items from the Hacking home
4. Police "sources" (read: off-the-record statements by officers) stated that the investigators believe that Mark Hacking is lying to them. Not particularly a stunning revelation, considering the known lies he's told thus far.
5. The witness who allegedly saw Lori stretching in the park said they could not be sure that it was actually Lori they saw.
6. Details now out show that Mark's original claim was that around 10 a.m. was when he first knew Lori hadn't made it to work.
Now, putting all this together is something that I firmly believe the investigators have already done, but don't expect much information in the form of "confirmed" reports prior to the initial hearings. Police here aren't going to make the same mistakes as were made in the Scott Peterson case.
My own instincts about when, how, and why are certainly irrelevant, but I've put forth opinions so far that have been echoed by later media reports, so I'll go out on a limb again.
As I've previously speculated, I think the true reason Mark and Lori were moving to North Carolina will be revealed in what investigators find on Mark's computer. I have a gut instinct that he was moving to be close to someone else, and Lori would have been promptly dropped, perhaps with a plane ticket to get back home to Salt Lake, after Mark was set in a new home. The whole graduation-med school charade would be sufficient for Mark to get a lot of assistance from both families with the relocation, and by the time he gave the c'est la vie to Lori, the move would be a done deal. Something happened, though, that screwed all this up--Lori got pregnant. Mark, knowing that a child (and child support) was not something he had counted on, found himself in a fix. Why not divorce her in Utah, though? Well, Utah and North Carolina are significantly different in one aspect of Divorce law---North Carolina does NOT take into account "marital fault" in determining whether alimony is ordered. So, Mark is faced with a dilemma. He may have decided to break things off with Lori now, or He may have been caught updating his long-distance interest over the computer. Either way, the powderkeg finally exploded in the pre-dawn hours of Monday. Mark, horrified at what he's done to Lori, makes a decision to cover the crime. He cleans the house as much as possible, but there's one problem--Lori's still there. He decides to wrap her in the mattress and drop it in a nearby dumpster. Nobody would suspect a fellow discarding an old mattress, and by moving Lori's car to the park, he can sufficiently divert attention from the dumpster until it's been emptied, its contents compacted and dumped in the city landfill. He moves quickly, getting Lori's car to the park before even the earliest-morning joggers show up, then returns home. Wrapping Lori (and probably other evidence like clothes, etc.) in the mattress, he straps it to the top of his car, drives to the dumpster, then to the furniture store to replace the mattress. He's in the store when it occurs to him that he needs to show some concern about Lori's whereabouts before much later in the day, so he calls her work, then some friends. Finalizing the mattress purchase, he returns home, places the new mattress, then calls police. He counted on police coming in, taking a brief statement, then going to the park to look for Lori. That would give him some additional time to look over the apartment and make sure that everything was concealed or discarded. Instead, they stay, making Mark all the more nervous. When they finally leave, he has to make a good show of helping with the search, so he has no time to tidy up. Monday afternoon, it finally sinks in that the police will search the apartment, and that they will, inevitably, find something that ties him to the crime. He formulates "plan B", and goes to a nearby hotel, getting a room under a false name. That night, after he's finally left alone, he goes to the hotel, strips, and makes a huge scene in the parking lot. Drawing from his knowledge of the behaviour of the insane, as well as his skill at deception, he makes a believable case to be admitted for psychiatric treatment. Police return to his apartment, and find numerous pieces of evidence, directly connecting him to Lori's disappearance, but as long as he's held in the hospital, they will hold off calling him a suspect until he's either released or Lori's body is found. Whichever happens first (my opinion is that Lori will be found in the landfill within the next day or two), the police will promptly take Mark into custody. He'll attempt an insanity defense, and the rest will be in the hands of the jury.
Now, if you've read all of this, I thank you for giving ear to all my speculation. I would love to be horribly wrong, and sincerely hope that in spite of all the deception and speculation, that Lori will be found alive and well. I think to truly believe that she's still alive, however, is being overly optimistic.
// posted by Jamie @ 7/26/2004 11:09:00 AM 
